Growing your own is exciting but a little scary at first. So here's a crash course.
Other people's gardens always seem far more promising than mine. Time (and the lack of it) has taken its toll on my patch. A well-worn gardener's excuse - "You should have seen it last week" - has had to have its statute of limitations extended: "You really should have been here last year." So when I hear of other people's new gardens - such as the readers who have written to say they are embarking on their first vegetable plots - I get all enthusiastic. Their far-off hills seem an awful lot greener than my tired domain.
The size of your plot doesn't matter. When you grow your own, especially organically, you know what's going into your food - or, rather, what's not: no pesticides, no artificial fertilisers and no chlorine. You're doing your bit for the environment, too: zero food miles and no packaging. You'll never eat fresher food, either. It's exciting but a little scary, so here's a tiny crash course.
THE PLOTVegetables need plenty of sunshine, so don't tuck them away in some shady niche. They also need shelter. Wind desiccates plants and soil, loosens roots, and buffets leaves around so they are unable to gather sunlight efficiently. Food crops also need fertile, moisture-retentive ground. If you have that already, then you're lucky. If not, never mind. You can build up healthy soil in a couple of years, with nothing more than garden compost.
Organise the growing area into beds. Even if the individual beds are a bit weedy or chaotic, the regular structure puts some manners on the space. Make the beds no more than 120cm wide, so you can plant and weed from either side without stepping on the soil.
Raised beds, made from sturdy timber, can be a pain to make, but they let you have deeper soil and to plant more intensively. If you have heavy, damp clay you'll be grateful for their height, which helps to drain the soil.
TO DIG OR NOT TO DIGTraditional vegetable gardeners used to double-dig (cultivate the soil to two spade's depths), incorporating manure or compost as they went. Some did it every year, and indeed some still do. No-dig (also known as no-till) gardeners believe that any human digging is harmful to the soil structure and that compost or other organic matter added to the surface will be worked in by worms over time. I started out as a double-digger and have graduated to being a no-digger. It certainly is less work. If you have persistent weeds, though, you'll have to dig them out, and you may as well dig in some organic matter while you're at it.
WHAT TO GROWThat's easy. Grow only what you and your family like. If you're a parsnip-hater, it's unlikely you'll reform just because you have raised them yourself. If you have just a little space, grow quick crops, such as salad leaves and spring onions. If you have plenty of room, experiment with everything and anything.
SOWING AND GROWINGIf your patch is sluggy or snaily, then sow most seeds in small pots or modules and plant the seedlings out as soon as they have made their second or third set of leaves, and are less vulnerable - but you still need to be vigilant. But carrots should be sown directly into the soil, and salad rocket and beetroot are usually more successful direct-sown. When transplanting module-grown seedlings into light soil that is prone to drying out, water the hole well first, pop in the plantlet and its root bundle, pull a little soil around it, water again to settle the roots, then cover with dry soil. Do not water from above at this stage, as the soil will dry out more quickly.When you do need to water your vegetable beds, water them very well, then cover the damp soil with a mulch of straw, or dried grass clippings.
ROTATIONPests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies build up in soil where the same crops are grown year after year. The wise gardener practises rotation, using a three-, four- or five-year plan. The easiest is over three years: roots (potato, carrots, beetroot, parsnip) followed by brassicas, followed by everything else (peas, beans, spinach, lettuce, courgette and son on). Too complicated? Just make sure you move potatoes and brassicas around every year.
COMPOSTEvery garden should have a compost bin or heap. Almost anything organic can go into it: grass (but not big clumps, which go soggy), plant material, chopped up prunings, hedge clippings, vegetable peelings, eggshells, manure from herbivores. Don't add the roots of perennial weeds or diseased material, and avoid cooked foods, meat, fish and dairy products. It may take a year for the stuff to turn into lovely, crumbly humus. But this is the best thing you can add to your vegetable beds, ensuring the soil is fertile and your yields are cornucopian.
DIARY DATES:Today at 1.30pm, Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland plant sale in Taney Parish Centre, Taney Road, Dundrum, Dublin 14. Also today, 2.30-4.30pm, Howth & Sutton Horticultural Society Spring Show, at St Nessan's Community School, Baldoyle, Dublin 13.