I’m slowly learning how to grow veg – very slowly – extremely slowly. So these notes are to help me improve. If you want expert advice, this might not be the right page for you. 🥕
Courgettes
The variety called Firenze seemed to do very well in our garden. These are good and tolerant.
Cucumbers
These take way too long to grow. Get them in early.
I’ve strung them up – they don’t seem to like it. I think they’d prefer a nice trellis. I’ll try and make one next summer. See here for instructions. It might look a bit prettier this time.
Peas
You have to get them in earlier – there is just no early enough.
Peppers
Left them way too late, they need to go in March, April at the latest. Indoors and out the way. They take 2 weeks to germinate. I ended up planting way too many.
Potatoes
If you can’t plant them all at once, put the bag in a dark cupboard to stop them germinating. Haha look how that turned out.
Radishes
Sow direct. They are very quick and easy.
We don’t like the French radishes, they are elongated – that’s what the variety looks like. Get a nice round variety like we’re used to.
Spinach
This is a good one – they look like they like to grow. Pick as soon as they look big enough – leaf by leaf. We’ve got about 2 months off our spinach, but it is going to seed now. Still taking the leaves off, but I’ve planted some more in pots to replace these in a week or two.
Tomatoes
You simply cannot plant things early enough in this area. It is September already and the tomatoes are just coming in now.
I don’t like plum tomatoes. The bought ones are nice, but mine are tough skinned and not juicy. They cook nicely, so if that is what you want, go for it. But otherwise get plain round ones. That is a good starting point.
They need to be off the ground and not bushy. I did string them up but they were too clumped and heavy, and I did not keep on top of it. If you have to get rid of half the tomato bush, that is preferable to rotten tomatoes. Thin them out. If they make any tomatoes, they’ll be more than you can eat in any case.