If you have grown some veg and loved it and are ready to start a dedicated plot, you are in the right place. By setting aside an area of the garden or allotment to grow veg, you will be able to provide the best growing conditions possible. Before you start, there are some essential things you need to think about:
In an ideal world, all veg plots would be south-facing, on moist, fertile soil. Outside of that ideal scenario, situate your new veg bed in a spot that gets full sun for at least half of the day. Crops like beetroot, salads, peas, carrots, and broad beans for example, all thrive in cooler climates. You can then try and manipulate the growing conditions as best as is possible.
One of the most important things you can do when looking at where to situate your veg bed is to think about sheltering it from the prevailing wind. In Scotland this will generally come from the south west, so look at where you can make use of a shelter belt, hedge, wall, or fence.
Few veg are drought-tolerant and our summers are getting warmer and drier so you may need to water during prolonged dry spells, especially in areas with lighter, sandier soil. That means situating your veg bed near to a water source that is easily accessible for the watering can or hose.
Different vegetables have very different space requirements so if you want to grow pumpkins or cucumbers, you need to allocate way more space than if you are growing onions and garlic. Within that space, which may look extensive when the ground is barren, individual plants need space to grow, both above and below ground, so they are not competing with each other for water and nutrients.
Plan out what veg you want to grow, thinking about what you like to eat, what tastes best when freshly picked, the amount of space available and how much time you have to tend to the plot.
Some crops, like tomatoes, will need more attention than runner beans which will romp away. Some produce like radish or lettuce, will crop quickly, others will be in the ground, like potatoes, for a much longer period. Try to avoid everything cropping at once or you will be overwhelmed with a glut and risk wasting precious home-grown harvests.
This involves sowing small amounts of the same crop at intervals of a couple of weeks apart in order to spread the harvest.
You can also use your available space wisely by planning in advance what you would like to grow so that one crop can easily follow another. Edibles that can be harvested in early summer like peas, garlic, or first early potatoes, then create room for another crop to be sown or transplanted into that harvested space. For example, carrots or beans that have been started off in modules would easily follow behind.
A good veg bed will always be determined by the soil. If your soil quality is poor, you can enrich the soil before you start sowing or planting out. Alternatively, invest in raised beds where you have more control over the growing conditions.
Raised beds can help with drainage thus preventing water-logging if you have heavy clay soil or a low-lying garden. They also warm up quicker in spring.
A raised bed needs to be about 30cm (12”) deep and no more than a metre wide to ensure you have easy access across it for sowing, thinning, weeding, inspecting, and harvesting. You want to avoid standing in it, otherwise the soil will become compacted. The greater the depth of topsoil, the better root run and improved drainage veg will have and the quicker it will warm up in spring.
This is a system which involves growing different types of vegetables on a different part of the plot each year to help with pest control and diseases like white rot in onions or club root in cabbages. It basically means that you do not grow the same crop on the same bit of soil two years in a row.
Rotating crops also helps to keep the soil nutrients balanced as some crops are heavy feeders and some have less of an appetite! Traditional crop rotation would involve rotating four groups around but for the smaller home gardener, you can start with rotating across two areas, or sides of the raised bed until you build up your growing confidence. Keep the heavy feeding brassicas together and make sure they are planted into a well-manured bed. Other crops like carrots and parsnips do not need a rich soil and so can easily follow brassicas who have had their feed. Having a system of designated growing beds makes rotating crops somewhat easier.
Next Issue: We’ll take a look at growing superfoods.