The beginners guide to growing your own – Choosing the space to grow in and how.

First up I’m going to talk a bit about allotments, but if your growing in your garden or a few pots on the windowsill, skip down a couple of paragraphs where I talk about preparing your area and different growing methods. First things first, what is an allotment. I know this sounds like a silly question, but when my parents suggested I get one back in my early twenties, I had no clue about them! Plus, I get lots of you asking from overseas.

An allotment is a site of land normally owned by your local council. I googled my local council online where I found an email address to contact about applying. These sites can also be privately owned which can come with their own rules so have a good read through the contract before signing. I now rent two plots from the council for £45 a year and I pay this every January. In essence I am basically renting the land. People ask why would you not just grow in your garden? At the time I lived with my parents who were getting fed up of my butternut plants everywhere, then I moved to a flat with no garden. Even now I own a house with a garden but its quite small and I want to keep it for ornamental plants. Aside from those reasons, another benefit of getting an allotment, is the community. I have met so many different people down my site and its great to interact with people that share your passion. You find out lots of tips and can have friendships with people 50 years your senior which I don’t think I’d get from my garden.

Normally there is a waiting list but sometimes you can get lucky. I have two sites near me but I choose one that was the closest to my home and has a corner shop next door in case you forget to bring milk for the tea (priorities). I had to wait six months and was then given the choice of a few plots. When I went to view my options, some other plot holders were on the site and recommended getting a plot near the gate as the other end of the site always gets waterlogged. The plot in the waterlogged area was in much better condition, but I choose the hard work and got the plot near the gate. While the other end of the site is waiting for the water to drain away from their plot in spring, I’m out there planting my seedlings, so I am glad I made that decision.

Back to general gardening. Once you have chosen your plot or growing patch in your garden, don’t rush into anything. Planning will become your best friend and the place to start is by looking at the sun. See which way your plot faces and watch how the light falls over your growing area throughout the day. This will then give you an idea of where to place your growing beds and where to put crops. For example, you don’t want your sweetcorn blocking out all your morning light to the rest of the crops because you planted them in front. It’s just common sense and you will probably realise it without even thinking about it, although we’ve all made the sweetcorn mistake!

With growing in a garden, it can often be more problematic with fences and houses usually blocking out some of the light. This is where you can get creative, saving your prized sunny area for those crops that love it, like squash, tomatoes and chilli. You can also use pots which you can move to the best spots that you might not be able to dig up, like a patio or decking area. Carrots work really well in deep pots and lettuces are great too as its harder for the slugs to reach! You can also use shade to your advantage by planting leafy crops that would normally wilt in full sun.

After you have thought about the light, next up is soil. Now in all honesty I don’t appreciate the science of soil enough! Different plants like different soil which make sense, but its hard to find out what likes what. Whatever you decide to grow that you’re not sure of, I find google is your best friend, especially sites like the RHS website which gives you info on each variety. As a beginner I would concentrate on getting your soil right for acidic loving plants like blueberries. This is really easy to do if you grow them in pots as you can use an ericachious soil.

Another vegetable I would get the soil right for is carrots as its normally the reason for forked, stubby roots. Last year I started a fresh carrot bed by constructing a 60cm high bed, two boards high (which prevents the carrot fly). I filled this with multipurpose compost and sand, around half and half. The sand was general builders’ sharp sand so nothing fancy. After the girls helped me mix it in, I sowed some carrots and had a brilliant harvest. Carrots hate stony, manured and heavy soil. If you don’t have the time or space to dedicate a whole bed to carrots why not try growing them in deep pots. They work really well as you can control the soil and place the pots high up away from carrot white fly.

Personally, I would say not to concentrate on the scientific side of soil for the first couple of years of growing. Its fairly easy to find out what your soil is lacking with a soil testing kit, but it’s a lot of work to then rectify your soil. There is so much information to take on when you start growing your own so let’s not make things more complicated than they need to be. Generally, most crops will do fine in most soils (aside from the crops mentioned above), but if you fail with a crop and there’s no other explanation of what went wrong, test your soil. Whether you have sandy or clay soil, its always best to try and introduce organic matter in autumn or spring. Top dressing a bed with homemade compost or well-rotted manure will do the soil wonders. Next time I’ll be talking about the growing methods I’ve tried and how to prepare your ground for the year ahead!