In the UK, it is considered difficult to grow enough vegetables to feed your family all your round from an allotment. Oftentimes, the advice given to ‘newbie’ growers- is to grow what you like to eat and be ready for the hunger gap! The common and accepted wisdom is that you’ll never grow everything you need to eat so just accept it!
If you are anything like me then you have ‘big eyes’ when you visit a garden centre or leaf through a seed brochure. I want to try and grow everything, even if I don’t necessarily have the space or time to be able to give it the attention it wants. I also want to have a large enough harvest that means we are less reliant on shop bought vegetables.
So after a number of failed attempts sowing way too many seeds all in one big bang, I’ve come to realise the value of the phrase ‘little and often’ which applies very well to the allotment mentality. It is always better, far easier and more manageable to grow a few vegetables very well than to scatter your focus on too many. The other big advantage is that most of the crops can be grown repeatedly, giving you an ‘early, mid year and late crop’ and guarantee that you won’t be forced to visit the veggie aisle in the supermarket all year round.
So what features on the list of ‘no frills ’veggies to keep growing through the year?
- Lettuce and Salad Ingredients (Salad onions/ radishes)
- Potatoes
- Peas and Beans
- Onions and Shallots
- Brassicas- Kale, Broccoli and Cabbages
- Beetroot
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Parsnips (these take a while to grow, but provide a great winter harvest)
- Pumpkins (these provide one major harvest but store very well over winter)
As you can see, this list focuses on things which provide a basic year round delivery of fresh vegetables. There are no tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes or peppers or fruits such as strawberries although I do grow them as well. I’ve deliberately left these off the list for now, as the focus is having a ‘base’ planting list for the year that provides all the basic veggies needed in a household.
How do I go about growing these? What’s the sowing strategy?
As I’m so limited with time and capacity to sow, I’ve adopted a weekly routine (depending on the time of year and season). This gives me a great sense of focus when I do get to the allotment and ensures there’s progress at the end of each week to show. My main aim particularly over spring and summer season is to always start with sowing, followed by compost maintenance. I allow myself about an hour every second week and will be looking to start off a maximum of five different plants. This means I only have 5-10 trays maximum to look after and as the season progresses, I also dedicate some time to transplanting- which is another easy to forget task! If I’ve had problems with germination, I will often times buy young plants to fill that gap. For instance, this year, I’ve struggled to get pumpkins and courgettes to germinate reliably. This is mostly because I’ve been away, so in this instance I know I need to fill this gap.
Enhancements for 2024:
This year, I’m trying to ensure that for each of the plants in the ‘no frills’ category, I’ve got an idea or plan for growing an early, mid and late season variety. This applies mainly to the top 8 plants as parsnips and pumpkins are grown as a batch lot to deliver one main harvest. Additionally, I’m giving myself the ‘grace’ of three tries at each sowing session so as to increase my chances of success. I’ve got -wait for it- ‘a spreadsheet’ which will act as a database and reminder for when to sow each plant.
So for the record here are my ideas for an early, mid and late season variety to grow for a no-frills veggie garden:
| PLANT | EARLY VARIETIES | MID SEASON VARIETIES | LATE SEASON VARIETIES |
| Lettuce and Salad Ingredients (Salad onions/ radishes) | Red and Green salad leaf mixes (any) | Butterhead Lettuce/ Romaine or Little Gem lettuce | Rocket/ Corn Salad/ Claytonia |
| Potatoes | Swift or Rocket | Cara or Charlottes | Sarpo Mira (Main Crop) and Charlotte (Christmas potatoes) |
| Peas and Beans | Peas-First early- Onward & Oregon sugar pod | Second Early-Sugar snap peas | Any Main crop peas such as Kelvedon Wonder and for a winter crop- switch to pea shoots eg. ‘twinkle’. |
| Onions and Shallots | Any variety (mostly sown in October/ November) | ||
| Brassicas- Kale, Broccoli and Cabbages | Any variety (sown in succession through the year) into late spring for harvest in winter | ||
Beetroot | Mixed Beetroot | Mixed Beetroot- Burpees (yellow ones) | Main crop- Boltardy |
| Carrots | Amsterdam | Nairobi | Autumn King |
Over to you, what would you include in a ‘no frills’ basic veggie plan? Have you got any tried and tested tricks of the trade? If so, share them below.