Growing your own veggies

Andrew Donkin and his wife Karen are your usual busy professionals, but discovered a passion for growing veggies and herbs. After a while, Andrew left his job as an engineer to start up his own company – Home Organic – Grow your own veggies and herbs. He shares his tips to veggie garden success.

“Start off small!” We all want to have the biggest veggie garden around and be able to reduce our dependence on the supermarket, but start off with something that will fit in with your current lifestyle and available time. If you go too big too quickly, you will be destined for failure. Keep it simple and you’ll enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Choose a garden to suit you What kind of gardener are you – old jeans and willies in the dirt or holding a glass of wine, while you tend your container garden? Containers help retain moisture, keep numerous pests and moles at bay and they are portable. Plus, these are great for courtyards, driveways and balconies. Pop down to your local plastic shop for some food safe plastic basins.

Location, location, location! Veggies and herbs want sunshine and most of them like full sun, so choose a spot that gets a minimum of five hours a day. Make sure your garden is close to your kitchen and convenient for you. Most people put a veggie garden right at the bottom of the garden where it out of site… and thus out of mind. Keep it closeby so you can pop out to grab your fresh veg for dinner.

Keep it beautiful Build or buy something that will blend in with your home environment. Make the veggie garden look cool, stylish, fun, attractive and be part of your current lifestyle. That way it will attract you to it opposed to being another chore.

Creating the right soil Pop down to your local nursery and get a good quality growing medium. Or mix up a half/half mix of potting soil and compost, with a generous handful of organic fertiliser for good measure.

Choosing seeds and seedlings Some seeds germinate easily while some can be a bit trickier. If you’re a beginner gardener, choose the easy plants like radish, carrots, beans, tomatoes, spinach and rocket. Just pop them in the soil, around 2cm deep. Don’t worry about too many seeds, you can thin them out later and use them in salads. Water every day and your seeds will be sprouting in no time.

For the slightly slower and trickier plants, just buy ready-sprouted seedlings from your local garden nursery. All you have to do is transplant the seedling into your soil.

You must remember to water your plants and keep the soil moist, especially when growing from seed. I recommend water every day until the plants are more established or you can do every other day during the colder months.

Almost there… To give your plants the best chance to grow, feed them with fertiliser on a regular basis. There are several different types, from liquids once a week to pellets every 2 to 3 months. Mix it up and give your plants a change every now and again.

Home Organic offers a wide range of veggie garden kits suitable to grow your own organic veggies and herbs right at your doorstep, complete with installation. Call 0790484232 or visit www.homeorganic.co.za