insideKENT Magazine Issue 36 - March 2015 | Page 106

OUTDOORLIVING grow your own cont. Salad Salad vegetables such as lettuce, rocket, endive, arugula, and radicchio are super easy to grow, and come back quickly once harvested, meaning you could have a homegrown salad at least once a week just from what you are growing in your own garden. Plant your salad leaves in any month you choose – they grow all year round. You can harvest them as soon as they are ready, at any time. Perfect for grow-your-own beginners! Tomatoes Ideal as an addition to your salad or as an ingredient in any number of homemade dishes, the tomato is a lovely thing to grow. Many people like to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, but if you haven’t got one that’s not a problem – they do well in a bag of compost or well-composted soil, so you can plant them directly into the patch you’ve prepared. Bear in mind that you will need to tie your tomato plants to stakes as they grow. Plant tomatoes in late April, and harvest them in August to October. Courgettes Courgettes will give you a bumper crop, so don’t plant too many or you’ll have more than you know what to do with! They don’t take long to grow, and you’ll be amazed at the difference in taste when you pick them from your own garden. Plant courgettes in late May to June, and harvest them in late July to October. Strawberries If you don’t have the space for a full-grown vegetable patch, strawberries are a wonderful fruit as they are happy to grow in the ground or a container on a patio – and they grow fast too, so once planted you should have beautiful fruit within a few weeks. As a bonus, strawberry plants produce attractive flowers too. Plant your strawberries in April to June, and you’ll be eating them in June to September. Plant them early and they’ll be ready for Wimbledon! 106 Beetroot Beetroot is one of the UK’s best selling seeds, and it’s no wonder considering the big return you get on whatever you plant; these crunchy, earthy vegetables are a ‘super fruit’ so they are a great thing to have on hand. Plant beetroot between March and July, and you’ll be able to harvest them between July and October. Herbs Herbs are a great thing to add to your homegrown supplies; they are great for adding to recipes and can really boost the taste of pretty much anything, which means you can use less salt when cooking. Most herbs will fare well when outside, and these hardy plants don’t need much looking after. Mint is especially good, as this versatile herb can be planted at any time of the year and harvested as soon as it is ready.