Vegetable patches are ideal for home cooks with a love of fresh food, and you can enjoy spontaneous cooking sessions as you’ll have all your favourite greens within easy reach. Designated growing areas are easy to create with wooden sleepers or planters and take up small amounts of space, so they are ideal for all sizes of Suffolk gardens.
In this article, Nelson Potter highlights some of the ways to prepare your garden for your vegetable patch, and focuses on the various vegetables that you might consider growing. Suffolk has very sandy soil, which makes it ideal for cultivating onions, parsnips, potatoes and sugar beet.
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Location
The first step is to decide on where to place your vegetable patch in your garden. This should ideally be somewhere which receives a lot of sunlight and rain, while also being protected from strong winds. Our Waney Edge Fence Panels block out the wind and are very heavy duty to protect your vegetables from even the strongest of winds.
Weeds
Before you plant your new vegetables you’ll need to prepare the ground for them. This can be done by clearing the grass which can then be stacked somewhere and turned into top soil at a later date, to help the vegetables grow. The next step is to dig over the soil and to remove any weeds and their roots to ensure that they won’t grow back up with your vegetables.
Salad Leaves
These are incredibly easy to grow and taste delicious in a variety of meals, including in your sandwiches. They grow throughout summer, and will be ready to harvest every 3 weeks. Salad leaves can be planted in a decking planter to help them catch all the valuable rays of the sun, while also looking striking. You can harvest them either by pulling off the outer leaves by hand, or by cutting the whole lot off with scissors. About 4-5 cm should be left behind when you do this, and you should try to avoid the growing tips down the middle as this could stunt their growth.
Chillies
Chillies are surprisingly easy to cultivate, and, if you don’t have much space in your garden, they can be grown in planters during the warmer months. If you are a lover of hot food, chillies can be made to taste hotter by occasionally snapping one off from the plant, or by rationing the amount of water they get each week. This unusual method works because the chillies become hot and spicy to stop animals from eating them, so the more you pull them about the hotter they will get.
Peas and Runner Beans
These can be grown in planters or up trellis, so that you can keep them upright and create a gorgeous, flourishing touch to your garden. Peas grow best in the cooler months, and can be sown from March to June and then picked from June to August. As they reproduce the more you pick them, you’ll have a healthy flow of peas each week to enjoy with your family meals. Runner beans grow in a similar way, and can be fashioned to climb up the trellis as they grow.
Onions and Garlic
Onions and garlic can be grown effortlessly in wooden planters or vegetable patches alongside your other plants, with no maintenance required. To grow these frequently used vegetables, simply plant them during spring or autumn in well-drained soil. Then harvest them in late summer, before drying them and storing them to enjoy for the rest of the year. Onions and garlic don’t take up much space, and with the right care you will have a good amount of produce at the end.
Beetroot
Beetroot is the perfect addition to salads and roast dinners, and is recognised for its deep red colouring. Beetroot should be sowed slowly and repeatedly for the best results, and should be harvested when the roots are young and about the size of a golf ball. The leaves of beetroot can also be eaten for a healthy and nutritious snack. These can be planted alongside the rest of your vegetables for a splash of vibrant colour.
Contact Nelson Potter timber merchants for all your wooden garden requirements including sleepers and planters