Whether you’re looking to grow a few plants on your windowsill or planning out a plot in your back garden, growing your own and seeing the fruits (and veg) of your labour is undoubtedly a satisfying experience.
But as well as being able to enjoy your own tasty produce, growing your own plants for food aids carbon sequestration, reduces the food miles on the produce we eat and eradicates the need for single-use plastics.
Last year, our West team joined forces with Goody Foody Gardens to give clients the opportunity to have their very own raised bed vegetable patch added to their garden as part of their new home purchase.
Our top tips for growing your own:
- Bring me sunshine! - A good sunny spot in your garden is ideal for your own patch, but can still grow crops such as peas, spinach, lettuce and radicchio in shady areas… Start off by marking out your boundaries using twine, before turning over the soil to break it up. Make sure you add in compost or well-rotted manure to provide your plants with plenty of nutrients.
- Maximise space - Don’t be put off if you’re a little restricted on garden space. You can purchase or even build vertical planters to grow against walls if you’ve got a spare sunny spot. Spring onions, tomatoes, salads and herbs grow well in pots and would be an excellent addition to a balcony or patio.
- Be wary of frost! - Frost is undoubtedly a seedling’s worst enemy... It’s a real let down when you grow plants from seeds, only to plant them out and be killed by a late-frost in spring. Make sure to start off your growing season with hardier plants, such as potatoes, broad beans, beetroot and peas, before moving on to less hardy summer varieties.
- Give them a head-start - Those less hardy plants, such as peppers, runner beans and squash are a lovely addition to any garden plot but are more prone to frost-damage. As a result, you can start seeds off in pots or trays in a windowsill, before planting out after any chance of a frost risk has gone.
- Don’t put all your seeds in one basket! - Those eager to get growing might be all too keen to get all their new seeds in the ground, expecting an abundance of produce to follow. The best thing you can do is to give your plants plenty of space to grow to their full potential and avoid using the whole seed packet at once. Little and often is the key and will maximise your harvest.
Bev Rodway-Smith from Benchmark gives more tips here.
Armed with this advice, we hope you’re now feeling inspired to have a go at growing your own… If you’ve got some growing tips of your own, or would like to share pictures of your plots, we’d love to hear from you on social @calahomes.
