Grow Your Own

Irish Summertime has arrived and we've all probably rediscovered the garden in these past few weeks. Does yours have the potential to grow plants to eat?

Your garden has the potential and so do you but it really comes down to growing what you actually want to eat and how much space you have.

Why G.Y.O.?

Its healthy, it's nutritious and it's extremely satisfying to transform a tiny seed into a meal. If you're looking to provide food for the table or to simply enjoy the 'headspace' that gardening provides then mother nature is waiting to help you.

Many people suffer from the over convenience of supermarket shopping and have strawberries and fruits all year round. Mother nature wasn't meant to be treated like that hence many of those crops will have never touched real soil or seen real sunshine. Locally grown and seasonal crops were once the only option for our grandparents and yet most of ours will have traveled many km for our convenience.

With the current Coronavirus impacting heavily on our lifestyles we're not visiting the supermarket as often and we're being less frivolous with our purchases. Bread, pasta and perishables flew off the shelf but Ireland is a fantastic location for growing crops, it provides good exercise and it's very educational for children and adults with time on their hands.

Start Small, Quick & Tasty.

There's no point growing foods you don't like to eat or those that take too long to reach your plate so get motivation by starting small, tasty and fast.

Within 1 to 2 months quick growers such as salads, spinach leaves, dwarf green beans, peas and carrots will have food on your plate. Small quick wins will encourage you.

What Space have you got?

• Window sills, hanging baskets and plant pots are great for herbs, chillies, tomatoes, salads, peas, carrots, and onions.
• Large deep sacks are great for potatoes.
• Crops such as beetroot, turnips, courgettes, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli grow best in the ground.

The ground usually provides better watering conditions with space to let the air pass around plants to produce healthy crops. Containers and Pots can be moved around to suit your garden uses and to maximise the sunshine / shade.

If you wanted to grow enough food to feed a family of four then 100sqm is needed which is the size of the average back garden and this doesn't suit many. In the absence of local allotment gardens you can still strike a balance.

What space do crops need?

A one square metre patch could provide you with either 3 courgette plants producing 30 fruits, or 5 cabbages, or 100 onions, or 1,000 carrots, or all summer long salads? You get the idea. Available space determines what you can have and how often. Carrots don't have to be fully grown to pluck them as and when you need them, whereas courgettes need to flower before they'll fruit. Strawberries on the other hand will often come as a glut and always risk being eaten by the birds if you don't get there first.

When to grow?

Don't be in a rush since some crops can go into the ground now like potatoes but other's will perish in the cold winds and morning frosts. Timing is a crucial element for success and every seed packet gives planting times. However it pays dividends to prepare the soil now ready for next month's planting.

Allotment Gardeners typically have follow on planting plans where a quick growing crop can have a second or even third planting before the season ends. Alternatively a slow growing crop will use the space right up to winter. Salads can be sow weekly to ensure a continuous season of pickings. Carrots can be plucked whenever you want them even before their fully grown and therefore over seeding can be thinned out and eaten.

Soil

This will make or break your plans and is something to be preparing now as it warms up. Carrots and onions like sandy well drained soil whilst others will be more tolerant of wet deep soil. Very few plants enjoy waterlogged conditions and therefore raised beds will solve the issues faced with Johnstown's clay soil gardens. Some crops particularly berries prefer slightly acidic soil whereas other plants prefer alkaline and they won't do well in the wrong conditions.

Compost is not soil !

If you compare the volumes and weight of the store bought bags you'll discover that they are very different materials. Compost is typically made of shredded leaves and twigs with some organic matter such as food scrapings and peelings. Peat is sometimes added but they're best avoided since it is stripped off the earth and therefore not environmentally friendly.

Compost will improve the growing structure of soil to allow roots to more easily absorb nutrients but the compost will only last one season. If you're trying to produce healthy crops to eat you should avoid using harmful chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides or you'll be eating that too. Organic farming uses natural products and practices to feed plants and control pests without passing it on to the consumer.

What are we growing?

Every year we grow something in the back garden and Sunflowers always feature. They're impressive, motivating and the kids enjoy seeing which will be the biggest.

Onions and Rainbow Carrots since they grow side by side and will last us through into winter without rotting quickly like some shop bought varieties.

Rocket, Spinach and Salad leaves since they're easy and available fresh whenever you need them.

Sprouting Broccoli since you can harvest them over a long period they feature many raw and cooked dishes.

Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Chives and Mint since they return every year and they smell nice even though we don't use them that much.

Finally black, yellow and cherry tomatoes simply because there's so many different varieties available which don't appear in the shops.