Creating a vegetable patch
There’s nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables, just pulled from the earth or picked from the vine. A vegetable patch gives you the convenience of having instant produce to hand, and, by growing your own, you can minimise or avoid the use of pesticides or manufactured fertilisers.That’s good for your health and good for the environment. And if you plan carefully, it’s possible to have fresh vegetables all year.
Share it
Vegie patch know-how
1. Don’t make your first vegetable patch too big. Start on a small scale, and if you find you need more space, you can extend the area later.
2. Choose disease- resistant varieties that will grow well in your climate or situation.
3. For a continuous supply of vegetables, make small, successive sowings. Use seeds or advanced seedlings rather than buy entire punnets that may have more plants than you need.
4. Use a mulch between the rows and between individual plants to sup- press weed growth. If any weeds do appear, pull them up straight away.
5. Provide shade for plantings made in summer with a tempo- rary shadecloth screen, which you can then remove as the plants become established.
6. Give the growing crops a quick check every day. All you need is 5 minutes for watering, harvesting any crops and keeping an eye out for pests and diseases.
7. Accept some damage to leaves and other parts of the plant that you won’t eat rather than use chemicals to control pests.Try companion planting as your first line of defence. If you need extra help, consider using biological controls or introduce some beneficial insects.
8. Water your vegetable garden in the early morning or evening, never in the heat of the day as the moisture will be lost through evaporation.
9. To maximise the use of nutrients and to prevent the build-up of pests and diseases, avoid growing members of the same vegetable family in the same part of your garden in successive sea- sons. For instance, don’t grow broccoli after a crop of cabbage – they are both members of the brassica family.
10. Plant flowering ornamentals such as lavender among vegetables to attract pollinating insects. Planting sweet peas next to runner beans will encourage early pollination of beans.
|
| ||||||
1 Comments |
| Rousselot on 23 August 2011 ,11:32 Useful tips |
Post A Comment
| Name* | |
| Email* | |
| Comment* | |
Comments are published and responded to (if required) on a weekly basis. For queries or comments about our Sweepstakes and product purchases from our online store, please call Customer Service on 0860 111 462 or email customercare_sa@readersdigest.com. Comments containing personal or inappropriate material may be modified or removed at our discretion.
How many hours on average do you sleep each night?1 Vote
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Most Popular
Most Popular
word hunt
Have You Seen...
 Life Well Shared |  Healthy Eating |  Embrace Life |  Medical Health |  Food & Recipes |  Entertainment |
| Reader's Digest |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Care | |||||
| | |||||
 | WIN! WIN! |
 | Shop at our store!• Books
• DVDs • Music • Gifts |
|
|
