insideKENT Magazine Issue 36 - March 2015 | Page 105

OUTDOORLIVING grow your own Although the idea of growing your own fruit and vegetables might sound like something other people do, it’s not as hard as you first think. Once you’ve done the initial planning and preparing, many foods take care of themselves, with little need for any technical skill. As long as you have patience, you should get some great results from your veggie patch. BY LISAMARIE LAMB clay), then raised beds could be a great idea for you – you can add inches of good quality topsoil to enable your seeds to grow to their full potential. The first step is to choose where to set up your new food-producing garden. A lot depends on what you want to grow, and how much room you have in which to grow it. However, generally, you can start in containers, a greenhouse, a few feet of lawn turned over or, if you are lucky enough to be able to become part of one, an allotment. A good tip when it comes to location is to ask yourself where you would like to sunbathe – somewhere sunny with some shelter from the wind. Don’t allow overhanging trees or garden sheds to get in the way of a bountiful crop. Once you have decided on the place and type of vegetable patch you want, you need to prepare the ground. Remove all of the turf and turn over the earth, making sure that any stones or lumps of brick and building debris are removed. All of the weeds have to go too. It may be tempting ju