GROWING ORGANIC VEG ALL YEAR ROUND

Dr Anton Rosenfeld, knowledge officer of Garden Organic, explains how you can have tasty veg to harvest every month of the year

- Dr Anton Rosenfeld

One danger of growing your own veg is that the year turns into a series of alternating periods of gluts followed by sparse periods. Having too much produce can almost be as stressful as having very little, so with good planning we want to iron out those peaks and troughs. We want to turn our production landscape from resembling the Alps to the gently rolling Suffolk countryside!

The most common mistake people make is to just focus on summer growing and then suddenly, come autumn, they are left with bare beds over the winter. Many winter crops such as leeks, winter brassicas and root veg all need sowing in the spring, so you need to consider them right from the outset when you are planning your plot in the new year.

CHOOSING YOUR VARIETIES

If you only have limited space, it makes sense to focus on loose-leaf crops, such as kale (e.g. 'Ragged Jack' kale from Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library), that are produced over a long period of time, rather than single harvest heading cabbages. Also go for lettuces that are productive over a longer period such as 'Marvel of Four Seasons, where you can pick off the outer leaves rather than harvesting a whole lettuce all at once.

During the winter period, it is also worth bearing in mind that different varieties are ready at different times, so grow two or three varieties, otherwise you will end up with everything being ready at once. So go for an autumn leek such as 'Pandora' in partnership with a late winter leek such as 'Bandit', which remains productive well into spring.