Are you disappointed with the quality of your own-grown fruits and vegetables?
The last two years, I have grown sweetcorn that was stunted, celeriac without roots and lettuces which ran to flower even before the leaves were ready for eating.
Courgettes harvested last year – not exactly a glut…
We’ve enjoyed cooking our own beans and courgettes.
It was then that I decided to return to the veg-growing class to see what else was wrong.
The Sarah Raven year round veg one-day at Perch Hill was the course I chose. In the interest of full disclosure, every other month I write a guest blog for Sarah Raven ‘s. So they invited me, but I would have still chosen the same course if I had paid.
The Sarah Raven Cutting Garden Course got me started 13 years ago when I had a new, middle-sized yard and little knowledge of what to do with it.
Since then I have attended many gardening classes and given talks. In addition, I read numerous gardening books, magazines, and blogs. So, I was not sure which level of course I would need.
The Year Round Vegetable course was just right for me. I had dabbled with veg-growing but needed a plan. Others on the course were people like me who wanted to have more success, less failures and enjoy eating home-grown vegetables longer.
A number of husband and wife or mother and daughter pairs were enjoying the day together. One professional gardener wanted to improve her vegetable-growing abilities.
Sarah’s explanations are so clear that even a beginner could understand them.
Choose the best veg for growing
Sarah’s success in growing vegetables is based on a simple grid system that she made herself.
You should write down a list with the vegetables you plan to grow and then assess them against key questions.
What is the space required? When can you expect to reap the harvest after planting? What is the ease of purchase? How long will it grow? How does it taste compared to the stuff you buy? Does it grow easily? What is its versatility in the kitchen like? How many colanders do you receive for every sowing of the seeds?
You can also include other criteria, such as “is it ornamental?” or “how much do you want to impress others by planting unusual varieties?”
You should also grow vegetables that you like to eat. Sarah pins paper on her refrigerator door, and records the vegetables she ate that day. She does this until she has a good representation of what she eats.
My list is made by looking through all of my favorite cookbooks.
You can quickly identify which vegetables to grow by looking at the grid.
Savoy cabbage, for example, gives one colander in a year and it takes between 7-8 months to plant.
Swiss chard is harvested in about 8-10 weeks. It can be cut and re-planted again. You will get about 60 colanders worth of leaves per season, over about 6-8 month. You can grow it in pots.
Chard grown in containers at Perch Hill (accompanied by tulips)
Vegetables that are popular in this grid include chard and kale. They also feature beans, herbs, salads, and beans.
Harvesting vegetables correctly can increase your yields
How you harvest the vegetables you grow at home can have a huge impact on how many you receive and how long your season will last.
Sarah at Perch Hill has tried two methods of cutting and coming again lettuce.
First, cut off the leaves a few inches from the ground. This will allow for the new growth of lettuce.
Second, you can pick up 2-3 leaves at a time. The second method increases the harvest by as much as one-third, since the plant continues to produce for longer.
If you see any signs that your lettuce, kale or chard are about to bloom, simply cut the entire plant.
It’s clear that I was wrong here – although I pick, I didn’t get chard and lettuce cut across at the first sign of a bloom. From now on, I’ll be cutting chard, lettuce and rhubarb with scissors at the first sign of a flower.
We were served delicious rhubarb cake from the garden….
Sarah explains that rhubarb in particular benefits when it is harvested “hard”. Ha! Ha! I have stepped around my rhubarb nervously, trying to “save” it. Around twice a month, I should’ve been carefully removing stems from the rhubarb.
Look again at ‘winter veg’
Winter vegetables are the ones that take up a lot of space: Brussels sprouts, parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes, for example.
Coriander is more productive in winter because it prefers wet, cold weather. In summer, it bolts. The wild rocket, Swiss chard, parsley, chervil, and other lettuces are all the same.
Some plants need the protection provided by a polytunnel or greenhouse, but mini versions of these structures are available. Sarah suggests using horticultural fabric on a regular schedule to keep plants warm and to prevent flea beetles from getting to your rocket.
We ate lunch from the Perch Hill garden, despite the fact that we’re in the midst of “the hungry gap” – a time when the vegetables aren’t as plentiful. This included kale spanakopita, rhubarb cakes, and salads.
Salad cut from the garden, spannakopita made with kale from the garden and edible flowers – lovely lunch!
Sarah shared with us her secret to the ‘perfect’ salad, which was revealed by a Kent-based salad farmer.
You need to add lettuce as a base, then a leaf like mizuna or rocket. Choose a herb that will go with your main course. Next, slice a thinly sliced salad vegetable, like cucumber or bulb fennel, with a mandolin.
Top your salad off with a flower that is edible. All edible flowers include primroses, marigolds, dahlias, and violas.
The benefits of attending a course over reading a book
Other people’s questions can help you identify your problems. As an example, at some point during the day I realized that my celeriac was probably suffering from being too closely planted and in a very busy bed.
Add a ruler of good quality to your gardening tool bag. Use it.
It can also help to admit failure (e.g. Sarah: “I regret always planting sweetcorn because it is so hit-and-miss, although its flavour is superior than sweetcorn bought in the store .’).
My sweetcorn problem is now answered. Even people who grow vegetables in their gardens have difficulty growing sweetcorn. My best sweetcorn crops were when I first moved here and it was a hot, dry summer.
It’s good to hear that some people have a harder time growing spinach than chard. It’s better to stick with chard because it grows prolifically, and won’t turn into nothing when cooked.
This kind of feedback is only available on courses. Many books make it seem like everything is easy. This encourages people to give it a try but then makes them feel bad when things don’t go well.
Better use of your space
Perch Hill tests everything on a domestic scale. The garden is not a “middle size” but each planting area is quite small.
Salad leaves and tulips growing in a box
It is very helpful to plant the same area twice as high. Sarah plants winter salads ‘ontop’ of tulips. It looks stunning, too.
Her advice to gardeners with limited space is to choose climbing vegetables instead of dwarf ones. This will allow you to use the air and increase your productivity.
You can grow a variety of vegetables on a climber, including La Diva cukes (which do not require a greenhouse), Summer squash, which you can eat as young courgettes, or grow them into squashes.
We then went to see the polytunnel and veg bed demonstrations.
- Plant basil twice a year – once in April, and again in August.
- The soil does not need to be lumpy or textured. It should however, be relatively fine.
- Cover a card in foil, and place it on the rear of your seed tray. (The one furthest away from the window) Foil-covered cards will reflect light and make the seedlings healthier.
- In May, give chives an ‘herb cut’ all over to prevent them from going to flower. This will also keep their flavor.
You can see from the photos that I found these pots to be inspiring. There’s also a “Pots At Perch Hill” 1-day course.
Pansies and succulents displayed at Perch Hill. The pansies are edible.
Perch Hill is a great place to learn and have fun. It’s also very informative. After the course, I felt confident and knew what I had done wrong. I also learned that failure can be part of gardening.