February is the perfect time to plan your plot, browse the seed catalogues and start sowing crops indoors or under cover, writes Elly West, no matter the size of your garden…
I remember one summer in recent years when, for days on end, I was able to eat my lunch in the garden. Every day was the same – tomato and basil salad, with tomatoes picked straight from the vine, warmed by the sun, and a succession of basil leaves from seeds sown straight into the soil at weekly intervals. Admittedly, I wasn’t as organised last year, but my New Year’s resolution was to find the time and space to sow some crops from seed and enjoy the satisfaction of fresh and healthy home-grown food.
Now is the perfect time to plan your plot, browse the seed catalogues and start sowing crops indoors or under cover. Whatever the size of your garden, there are plenty of fruits, vegetables and herbs that are easy to grow and don’t take up much room. While it’s nice to dedicate an area of the garden to edibles, perhaps with some raised beds and maybe even a greenhouse, crops can just as easily be grown in pots, window-boxes, hanging baskets or in amongst the flowers and shrubs in an existing border. Growing your own food is an all-round win-win situation. Who can argue with the appeal of spending less at the supermarket and the convenience of seasonal crops at your fingertips?
Location, location, location
First steps will be to choose a space. Most edibles prefer a decent amount of sunlight and well-drained soil, so a raised bed is ideal, where you can bring in new good-quality compost or topsoil. If space is at a premium or you don’t want to create a permanent bed in the garden, then containers are perfect for crops as you can position them in a sunny spot and clear them away at the end of the growing season.
Grow-bags are designed for this purpose, or you can fill just about any container and use that. These aren’t permanent displays, so you may not be as concerned with appearances or longevity. Old buckets, half-barrels, clay or plastic pots, compost bags or upcycled pallets can provide space for some veg or herbs.
Ensure your containers have adequate drainage holes to prevent water logging, keep an eye on them daily during sunny spells and water regularly, as there’s nothing more frustrating than putting in all that care and attention, only to have your plants die while you’re away on a sunny weekend break. The larger the containers, the more you can grow and the less often you will need to water.
If you don’t have much room, then consider crops that climb upwards, maximising your vertical space. Beans are ideal as they are so easy to grow, and keep cropping through the summer. Scrambling over a wigwam they’ll add height and structure, and are attractive in their own right with their bright red and white flowers. A cane tripod for beans can easily be squeezed in amongst your ornamental plants, or you can grow them over a trellis or wires on a fence.
My favourites are the multi-coloured borlotti beans – pale pink with red-brown speckles – that are tactile and fun to dry and use in kids’ craft projects, as well as being tasty in soups, casseroles, or cooked and cooled and added to a salad.
Fruits of your labour
Don’t rule out a fruit tree in a small garden either. They are often grown on dwarfing rootstocks, which keep them small and suitable for containers or the border, or you buy plants ready-trained as cordons or espaliers, to grow flat against a fence or wall. Soft fruits such as blueberries (which like acid soil, so are better grown in pots filled with ericaceous compost), gooseberries and blackcurrants can all be kept small and are suitable for pots.
Hanging baskets are a great place for strawberries or trailing cherry tomatoes, and can be hung from a bracket on the house or attached to a wall or fence post. Both of these crops like lots of sun and regular watering, and will benefit from being high up out of the way of slugs and other pests.
Some vegetable seeds should be started off indoors or in a heated greenhouse, as they need warmth to germinate. Seeds to sow towards the end of February include tomatoes, chillies, peppers, cucumbers, squashes and courgettes. Other more hardy crops can be sown outdoors at the end of this month, with a little protection from a cloche or in a coldframe, to give them a head-start for earlier crops. These include lettuces, radishes, peas, beans and spring onions.
Once your plants are underway, consider adding fertiliser to give them a boost. Tomatoes, peppers and squashes will all do better with a liquid feed during the growing season. Or just scatter some slow-release fertiliser pellets around your plants and fork them into the soil.
If you want to find out more about growing crops, then the Bristol Seed Swap is a great place to meet like-minded people and get hold of some seeds. Bring cash or seeds to exchange, and hear from experts on seed saving and food growing. There’s also a café and kids’ area. The Bristol Seed Swap takes place at the Trinity Centre (BS2 0NW) on Sunday 23 February from 12.30pm until 4.30pm. Visit the website bristolseedswap.com to find out more. ellyswellies.co.uk
Plant of the month: Lettuce
This salad staple is on my list of crops to grow this year, as I’m fed up with buying it in bags and finding it goes soggy and brown within days of opening. Instead, I’m looking forward to picking handfuls of fresh leaves as and when I need them. Lettuce is an amazing crop and can be grown all year round on a windowsill, or outdoors from March onwards. They’ll even keep going in winter if you cover outdoor plants with cloches from October.
Lettuces come in a wide variety of colours and textures, and many ‘cut and come again’ varieites are ready to pick around six weeks after sowing. Lettuces like a spot that gets some shade, as they are prone to bolting and setting seed in full sun. Moist well-drained soil is best, and make sure you water them regularly, as they have shallow roots and lose a lot of moisture from the leaves. Keep the leaves coming by picking a few from the base each time, promoting new growth at the top.
