DIrect sowing - veg

[WellTidy]

Not had much luck with veg to date, but I am going to try again!

I have a west facing 3metresx 1 metre bed. Beds next to it have rhubarb and fruit bushes. The bed is weeded, but I haven’t added any improver yet. The only things I know I want are runner beans against the fence behind the bed and maybe some peas against a willow support (?).

Please can anyone recommend how I should improve the soil before planting, and what can be direct sown and when? I don’t have a greenhouse or cool frame and don’t have enough patience to do seeds on windowsills!

Thank you.

If you are anywhere near stables have a look to see if anyone has any well rotted manure. You don’t want that where you’re growing root veg though. Runner beans are hungry growers and what people traditionally did was dig a trench and put veg peelings in so that they compost down over time whilst the plants are small then as their roots go down they are in richer soil.

Chicken manure pellets are good and often on offer in garden centres shortly. Might be worth getting a couple of bags of compost . Just check in too st this time of year and let the worms deal. Think about getting a compost heap going for next year then it’s just a matter of emptying the contents out onto the bed.

You can direct sow anything. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to get going, direct sown plants do catch up once the conditions are right for them to do their thing. With beans I usually put several seeds where I want one plant. Courgettes and sweetcorn a couple of seeds in each hole. You can cut an old plastic bottle in half to act as a mini cloche if yiunfelt like it.

Always plant in lines so you know what is weed and what is seed. Always label so you know what it is. I use twigs to mark the start and end of a row. I direct sowed a lot last year on allotment - courgette, peas, beans, sweetcorn, perpetual spinach, chard, parsnips, carrots, spring onions, radish, rainbow chard. The carrots and parsnips weren’t great the rest did well. You might need to think about slug protection though as they love the emerging shoots. I was lucky on allotment and not too much of a problem but they decimated my lettuce at home several times over,

This is really helpful, thank you very much. Peas, beans and sweetcorn would be lovely. The DC like carrots and parsnips, and I like beetroot, so we might give them a go too and hop for the best. I think that is probably enough for our first year!