Growing veggies “off the beaten track”

[Ecrire]

Have finally got myself a veggie patch in the garden about 2 m by 1 m. South east of England. Also a small 3/6 wooden and polycarbonate greenhouse. In sunniest part of garden.

would like to grow stuff that aren’t necessarily easy to come by in supermarket. For example see little point growing bog standard carrots.

Suggest stuff that we could actually grow whilst also being somewhat time poor? Maybe heirloom seeds, some experimental stuff, some guaranteed rewards?

Salsify ? Big in Victorian times.

I wouldn’t grow things that were cheap or easily available in the supermarket. I grow things that are nice to just pick and stick in the pan or on the plate immediately - different French beans, fresh peas up canes in a pot, loads of different heritage tomatoes, troughs full of salad leaves, flowers like nasturtiums for salads, a few early spuds in a sack.

Have a look at Pennard Plants online - they have loads of heritage varieties. I love their different salad mixes (esp the Italian one), and their costoluto fiorentino beef tomatoes.

Some of the biggest joy I've had from my veggie patch is endless fresh new baby new potatoes and lightly steamed purple sprouting broccoli that has been picked seconds earlier. Boring yes - but a taste you can't get in the supermarket!

I also get a lot of use out of my raised bed full of herbs.

Nine star broccoli. It's a perennial brassica that lasts for 3-4 years and it looks a bit like a sprouting tender stem cauliflower.

Or kalettes or frilly sprouts is how I would describe them.

I second purple sprouting broccoli

These are all excellent suggestions, thank you! Where would you suggest I go about finding either seeds or baby plants, but largely seeds from what you are saying. Is there a particular retailer you recommend?

Kings Seeds

realseeds.co.uk

Beans and peas -particularly sugarsnaps/mangetout. Yes, you can get them in supermarkets but they are so often imported even when in season. French beans are more drought tolerant than runners. Yellow or purple varieties are easier to see on the plant, and therefore pick.

Berries are generally very easy to grow and expensive to buy. As you have a greenhouse you could try physalis and tomatillos for something a bit different.

Satisfy and achocha you won't find in shops at all. The latter is easier to cook.

Peas - I love eating them raw straight from the pod

Raspberry canes - cheap, bountiful and easy to grow. Expensive to buy in the supermarket

I recommend the Veg Patch book from River Cottage. It's got lots of sensible advice about what to plant as well as how.

Make a list of veg you like. Anything ridiculously cheap to buy, put a mark against it. Anything really hard to grow - at least for your first years - put another mark. So carrots and celery, for example, aren't really worth it imo, while peas and shallots are. Whittle it down to what you have space for.

Each year, add one thing you've never tried and one thing you think you don't like but are willing to have a go at (it's amazing how different freshly picked veg you've grown yourself tastes compared to shop bought stuff. It turns out I do like sprouts!)

Any of the well known seed retailers will be fine. Winter is traditionally the time to browse the seed catalogues and plan ahead.

Have fun!

I recently saw Alys Fowler talking about perennial veg. Lots of good reasons for keeping the soil covered with plants all year and something to eat every day from your garden. https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/plants/fruits-vegetables-and-herbs/alys-fowlers-favourite-perennial-vegetables/

It really depends on your soil type, we have heavy clay and it does limit what we can grow well I find. Jerusalem artichokes are the one underground thing that grows quite easily even in our soil and flowers a bit like a sunflower - you can basically plant them in the ground and then don't have to do anything to look after them, peas are wonderful eaten straight out the pod - but you'll never grow enough to eat for proper meals (pea shoots also very tasty), strawberries and raspberries I've found grow pretty easily, perennial kales - Pennards Cottagers kale is a lovely one I've found with purple and green leaves. I didn't have any luck with nine star broccoli or turkish rocket - maybe due to soil. Runner beans and french beans always seem fairly reliable.

I love growing chinese mustard 'red giant' - really fast growing large salad leaves, also rocket and the salad mixes. It's so nice to cut it fresh each day. I tend to grow them in growing tables though rather than the ground. Oh consider a spot for spring onions too - don't bother growing from seed (although they are quite easy) plant the bottom white/green part of supermarket ones and you can keep cutting the leaves indefinitely if you leave the rest in the soil. Same with herbs, buy them from the supermarket and plant them out - chives, rosemary, thyme.

Be prepared to be in a constant fight against nature though, whether it's the weather, birds or insects. Pea/bean shoots will need protecting as will kale/cabbage. Good luck! and don't be put off by a few failures, it takes a while to work out what works where you are.

The first year I only grew purple veggies 💜 Now its only stuff I really like. Rainbow chard, rhubarb, beetroot (different colours), purple sprouts, kalettes, cavelo Nero, purple mangetout, purple spuds, celeriac, diff colour/shapes courgettes, crown Prince pumpkins 🎃 I ditched carrots as carrot fly always got them. It's Darwinian Gardening, if its too delicate or doesn't thrive in benighted neglect, I don't give it another chance+

The favourite stuff I grew at the allotment when I had one was things that tasted like an almost different vegetable from the supermarket offering because you could pick them and cook them within minutes and they were so sweet.

Sweetcorn, peas (lovely straight off the plant), purple sprouting brocolli, asparagus, new potatoes (just grow a reliable early - potatoes catch anything going so newer blight resistant ones are better), romanesco, tomatoes if you are south enough. Raspberries and strawberries. Fennel is lovely - bulb fennel, but tricky.

Tomatillos. Can't buy them fresh here. Fresh, real salsa verde is amazing. I don't need a greenhouse for them here in the southeast. I like the Super Verde variety for a big batch. The purple ones are beautiful.

Same family - physalis. They seem to be perennial down here. They don't taste all that different from the ones you occasionally see in the supermarket though. Beautiful furry leaves.

Stevia. Absolutely arse to get to germinate but fun for a party trick plant with the sweet leaves.

Cucamelon. I like them but opinions vary.

I also grow more interesting varieties of standard things - cool looking tasty tomatoes like Green Zebra, Tigerella and Black Cherry. Various chillies.

James Wong's book Homegrown Revolution has some more unusual veg that work here (well, his Croydon allotment) but I haven't tried yet - goji berry, feijoa, dahlia specifically for the tubers (yes!), Szechuan pepper, small kiwi varieties, agretti/saltwort/okahijiki (a bit like samphire).

A 1x2m plot isn't big enough though, add some more!

Nicky's Nursery is good for niche things.
https://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/

There are just so many many excellent ideas here! Got to work out how much can be realistically fitted in and companion planted in my 2 m by 1 m (and little greenhouse)…… got to start planning!

Watch Marf’s Kitchen Garden on Instagram - she grows amazing things in a small space.

I wouldn’t bother with the broccoli if you’ve only got 2 sq m. Brassicas take up a LOT of space. French beans are a good shout. The plants are small, they grow really quickly and keep going all through the summer.

Kohlrabi is easy to grow and can be grated into coleslaw or cooked as part of a casserole.
i have grown spaghetti squash as well as other winter squashes and of cured properly will last into the winter for soups and casseroles.
Pak-Choi (might not be spelled correctly) is easy and gives a bit of variety.

In a small patch you are going to need to focus on stuff that delivers a reasonable yield from a small footprint. Personally home grown tomatoes of any variety are miles better than anything shop bought. One small chili plant will yield masses of chilis. A single courgette will give you all the courgettes you’ll want.

I would get the book ‘veg in one bed’ by Huw Richards. It gives year long food from just one raised bed.

This site has interesting seeds

https://shegrowsveg.com/product-category/seeds/

2 m by 1 m (and little greenhouse)

That's pretty small be so you don't really have space for plants like brassicas that need room and are in the ground for months.

You could do a few spuds, I would recommend something like salad potatoes which do t take up so much room as main rooms, and always seem so expensive in the shops. I would usually grow Charlotte or Anya.

With small beds its probably better to stick to things like carrots, chives or spring onions, radishes, lettuce, spinach or chard. They don't take so much room. Also can look attractive if you plant in rows or blocks.

I get seeds from various places, but if you are a beginner I would recommend buying fresh seeds from an online seed company, or getting small plants from garden centres. Seeds from supermarkets etc may have been there for a while and they become less likely to germinate as they age.

And stuck to boring old standard varieties rather than the new weird and wonderful ones. As a beginner you need stuff that reliably grow and you can actually eat. Otherwise it's really disheartening. Guess how I know..😭

Experimenting with the special varieties that often don't grow well or just taste shit can happen once you get your green fingers 😁

You can definitely grow quite a lot in a small space, my last garden had 4 1x1m beds. You just have to stick to smaller stuff.

https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/planning-a-square-foot-vegetable-garden/