Homegrown vegetables are the best. They provide you with delicious, fresh ingredients for whatever you are cooking. There are a few staples that every kitchen needs and they are easy to grow. Let’s look at how to grow your own vegetables.
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If you’re new to gardening, there are a few easy to grow crops you might want to start with. These crops will grow plentiful, and they could give you more than you can use in the growing season. You can preserve that harvest for later use, and enjoy fresh, organic veggies throughout the year.
Here is a list of vegetables that are great for most families.
How To Grow Your Own Vegetables
Growing Your Own Onions
Onions are probably the kitchen base of most recipes and fortunately, they are easy to grow. You can buy onion sets which are small onion bulbs that you simply place root end down, up to their necks in soil.
The soil does not need too much work as onion roots do not go too deep into the ground, just a dressing of well-rotted manure or garden compost, followed by a mulch later in the year, would be perfect.
Onions are easy to store, simply pick when their stems are bending and place on a rack to dry, then they can either be strung or laid on an open shelf in a frost-free well ventilated shed.
Although they will not store until your next set is ready the following year, you can also plant overwintering onions that will be picked much earlier.
If you use 3 onions per week, it is suggested that you planted 100 in the spring and another 100 in the Autumn – with losses this should see you through the year. If you are also planting bumper crops to turn into soups and preserves, add another 100 to your spring planting.
Learn more about how to grow onions.
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Growing Your Own Garlic
Garlic requires very similar soil to onions. However, they do like their bed to be free draining, so if the water is an issue, either use grit under each clove or dig in plenty of organic matter.
Garlic also requires a sunny position so remember this when planting.
The hardneck types are planted in Autumn as they do like to have a few months of cold weather to help bulb growth, and when they are ready they are racked and dried before plaiting and hanging in a cool, dry, and frost-free shed.
Fifty garlic bulbs should be enough for most kitchens, so as you plant them by cloves, and most bulbs contain 6 or 7 cloves, you’ll need to buy 7 or 8 bulbs to plant.
Here’s how to grow garlic.
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Growing Your Own Potatoes
What kitchen can go without potatoes? Buy seed potatoes in January and start the chitting towards the end of the month. Chitting is another name for sprouting.
There are three types of potato, first early, second early and main crop, but this is not complicated as it only refers to the length of time they are in the ground.
First earlies will be ready first and tend to be smaller, the main crop is last and largest. We choose first earlies for summer salad potatoes and main crop large storage potatoes.
The only thing you’ll need to remember about potatoes is tom give them plenty of manure or compost. Line the potato trenches with seaweed: it’s a great fertilizer and has the added benefit of keeping slugs away.
Dig up potatoes on a warm and sunny day and allow them to dry before storing in paper sacks.
Here’s How to grow potatoes.
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Growing Your Own Herbs
Many herbs are a permanent crop that needs a sunny location, preferably near the kitchen for convenience. They tend to be used year-round and are, other than soft leaf herbs, usually always available.
Herbs produce a lot in the summer months, and it’s a good idea to save some for winter. A great way to store herbs would be to chop them into ice cube trays, top with water and freeze, then simply drop an ice cube with your chosen herb into whatever you are making. They can also be dried, and soft leaf herbs such as basil and coriander can be made into a pesto.
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Guides to growing your own organic vegetables
While onions, garlic, potatoes, and herbs are the easiest to grow, there are many other vegetables you could grow in your garden. Here are just a few of them:
I hope you’ve learned a bit about how to grow your own vegetables, and are inspired to get started. You’ll have a blast (and some delicious veggies 😉
Adriana Copaceanu is a passionate nature lover living in the country on her dream property where she grows vegetables, lavender, and wildflowers that she shares with the wildlife they attract. When she's not in the garden, she loves spending time with her chickens and planning her next nature project.
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