Plants aren’t my priority in the vegetable garden. My priority is nurturing the healthiest soil possible in my raised beds and containers through an eclectic mix of techniques influenced by no-dig gardening and managing my soil without herbicides or pesticides. No dig serves as my foundation, upon which I include other ideas and methods that I believe hold merit and potential to make my soil and plants healthier and my life easier!
Experimentation is at the heart of my growing journey. I am constantly pushing the boundaries to see what is possible for gardeners to make the most of their space, and I will be sharing many ways that you can help unearth your garden’s full potential throughout the year.
Being in the depths of winter, it is the ideal time to double down and think carefully about what you want to achieve from your growing space this coming growing season. The plans on these following pages will show you what you can achieve in a single 1.2m x 3m raised bed, season by season. If you have more space to grow, these ideas are all easy to scale up.
Spring
The new growing season can be hectic, so I prefer to gently ease into it by only starting a handful of crops in March. Tomatoes on the windowsill, broad beans in pots and new potatoes in the ground.
Salads are also sown, usually in pots in order to free up bed space. The trick for any salad crop is to only sow a little every couple of weeks from March to September, so you get a continuous flow of leaves throughout the year. If you don’t have a greenhouse or polytunnel, you can start seedlings off on a sunny windowsill – just be sure to rotate seedlings 180° daily to avoid bendy plants.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2022-Ausgabe von Gardeners World.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2022-Ausgabe von Gardeners World.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
A new plot for tasty crops
Taking on a new allotment needn't be hard work. By simply following a few easy tips you can have bumper crops in no time, just like Alessandro Vitale
We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
Now, at the height of summer, Frances Tophill shows how to boost your plants' health and productivity with a timely cut
Hassle-free harvests
Flowers are out in abundance this month and for Jack Wallington, many of these blooms make delicious, low-effort pickings
Bite-sized bounties
Glorious doorstep harvests can easily turn into gluts, so let Rukmini Iyer's recipes help you savour every last bit
Upcycled outdoor living
Create unique and stylish garden features for minimal cost using reclaimed materials and simple DIY skills. Helen Riches shares four step-by-step projects and more inspiring eco tips
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Buildings and landscapes can play a vital role in supercharging your space, as Nick Bailey demonstrates
Greening up a city balcony
Looking for sustainable, small-space gardening ideas? Take inspiration from Oliver Hymans' transformed balcony garden in north-east London - now a lush, green haven for humans and wildlife
The dry and mighty garden
As we adapt our gardens to a more volatile climate, Alan Titchmarsh reveals how to create a drought-tolerant plot and picks his top plant performers
Nature knows best
Carol Klein explains how to choose plants for specific growing conditions, based on what has naturally adapted to thrive there