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How we all wish space in the garden was unlimited, but we have to face facts and grow according to what space we have!
So, when choosing varieties, grow your favourite vegetables and fruit and those whose freshness is the very essence of their appeal; new potatoes and baby carrots for example rather than maincrop potatoes and carrots which take up lots of room and are cheap to buy in the supermarket.
Rhubarb and raspberries, which can be expensive and have probably travelled many miles to your table also make an excellent choice for home growing.
Take advice from local gardeners to see which varieties do best in your area and follow guidelines on the seed packets when sowing.
Outdoor Sowing
- Many seeds can be sown directly where they are to grow. Beetroot, sprouts, parsnips and many cabbage varieties, for example. Just be sure to sow at the correct time according to the packet and delay if the weather is cold.
- Warm the soil before sowing by covering with cloches or fleece.
- Cultivate soil well and sow seeds into a very shallow trench called a drill.
- Rake soil over the seeds, firm down gently and water in.
- Thin out seedlings when they are big enough to handle and plant the thinnings elsewhere to minimise waste.
- Sow fast-maturing crops such as spring onions little and often to prevent a ‘glut’.
Indoor Sowing
- More tender varieties will need sowing indoors into a heated propagator. Peppers, tomatoes, early peas and beans and aubergines, for example.
- When the leaves are big enough to handle, prick out into 3” pots or cell trays and keep in a heated greenhouse.
- Gradually harden off ready to plant out in late April or Early May.
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