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!
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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.