Growing Your Own 2 – Planning the Produce

Following on from my introduction to our intentions for a vegetable patch, things have slowed down some, for various reasons – not least due to the weather which does not encourage any of us to go out and dig! And not much else can happen until we’ve done that, really – there are too many weeks, I think.

What we will do is borrow someone with a rotovator and go over the lot in readiness, so that the soil can break down nicely with the frosts – or whatever it is the soil does over winter – generally has a bit of a rest, I am sure. Then as soon as the weather warms, we will start sowing and planting.

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Before all of this we are enjoying the  planning – just what will we grow. An obvious and easy beginner choice would be potatoes, and we will grow plenty, not least because I understand it’s a good first plant for ground that has been left fallow for a while. The children are all for growing odd things, like blue potatoes and purple carrots (though it seems this was their original colour) as well as some ornamental squash. These will all certainly be included, not least as it may encourage my boy to eat more healthily!

And we do want to experiment – peas are fun – building the “twiggy pea stick” supports and almost aching to eat those first, freshest possible peas straight from the pod – something my girl loves doing – she’s happy with those instead of sweets, so has to be encouraged. Then some runner beans – again nothing better than these from your own garden, picked within the hour of steaming them. With raspberries and strawberries – few of which are likely to make it into the kitchen, never mind with sufficient for jams and the like!

My herb garden will expand too, to accommodate garlic, I think, and a large rosemary bush – that is always welcome.

So all this dreaming and plotting is all we have to report for now, and I’ll return next year with our first sowings and plantings to share with you. In the meantime, what else should we consider for our first year’s harvest? What has worked most successfully for you?

Babs