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Friday 3 May 2024

Home produce: Grow Your Own A Quick Guide


Herbs
We have perennial culinary herbs which can be good salad crops or alternatively fantastic flavouring. When confident with herbs you will find you can not prepare a meal without them. Tubs or troughs on your patio are a brilliant accessible places to plant Kitchen herbs.



 
Salad Herbs
Wild Rocket
Salad Burnet
Sweet Sorrel
Parsley

Flavoursome Herbs
Mint
Rosemary
Thyme
Winter SavourySage
Lemon Balm

Essential Annual Herbs
(These need to be replanted in May each year)
Basil
Coriander
French Tarragon
Also essential for cooking: Horseradish root & Bay leaves.


Fruit

Fruit trees are available on root stock as small a 2ft these are called Step Overs.Cordons are trained to be narrow and flat backed and Espaliers fan out flat against a wall. We can fit fruit trees anywhere. Many fruit trees are available on a range of different sized root stocks. You can often have the same Apple as a patio variety or huge tree. Grasp this concept and you’ll understand how to make fruit work in your garden. Many fruit trees do need a mate with whom to pollinate and produce fruit but not all. It’s not as complicated as it sounds and often a tree in you neighbours garden will do the job. If its in bee flight that’s good enough!


Some fruit bushes and veg fall into the category of Perennial fruit or fruit that does not have to be planted every year whist still giving you a crop. Rhubarb, red and black\ white currents, gooseberries, raspberries and many other new hybrid berries all with strong qualities. Plant Asparagus because Its perennial and it is expensive and also find room for the attractive Globe Artichokes but replace every few years for a better crop.

For More Information On Pruning Fruit Trees:


When To Plant Your Basic Vegetables

1. Start seeding root crops (carrots, parsnips etc) from Feb onward in the spring. Plant more every few weeks to spread your crop.


2. In March plant your broad beans, cabbage, spinach and brussel sprouts . You can buy these already shooting)

3. Plant your potatoes. There are 3 categories of potatoes. 1st Earlies, 2nd Earlies and Main Crop. Allow the tubers to chit shoots, then plant then in that order a few weeks apart from late April onward. Ist Earlies are your new potatoes, 2nd are fairly general and Main crop usually store well over the winter and make the best jackets. You can pop in some onion sets and shallots alongside.

4. After the frosts in May plant out your shooting seeded brassicas. You can buy small plants of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower already seeded. You can also buy a whole selection of things like Runner beans, French Beans perfect for planting out. Never plant garlic and onions near peas and beans, they do not grow well together.

5. Late May you also want to buy Courgettes, Cucumbers, Marrows, Pumpkins Aubergine, peppers and everything else you can think of as small plants ready to plant out.

6. Tomatoes pre frost want to be in a green house. By the end of May many

7. varieties can be grown outside successfully.







Get Going With Grow Your Own
How To Grow Your Own Vegetables 
Growing Herbs