Successional Sowing

Successional sowing means sowing crops little and often, rather than all in one go, to ensure a steady supply of crops throughout the growing season, rather than them all being ready at once! Crops that should be sown successionally include fast growing crops such as radishes, carrots and spring onions; crops that are prone to bolting in warm weather such as spinach and rocket; and even some longer fruiting crops such as beans and peas can be sown in a couple of batches to extend their season. Your fast growing crops can be sown every few weeks to form a continuous supply, and the great thing is that these crops can often fit around your slower crops; for example you could sow radish in your courgette or squash area before those plants get big.

Weed Control

Allowing a few ‘weeds’ to remain in your garden, such as daisies in your lawn, or some cow parsley along your driveway is beneficial for the biodiversity of your garden and will attract pollinators which will benefit your vegetables. It is important however to keep your vegetable area free from weeds, as you don’t want other plants to compete for nutrients with your vegetables. Furthermore, a lot of plant cover will give slugs and snails a place to hide, which is never good! A good quality hand hoe is an excellent way to remove weeds, while a knife such as a hori hori is great for removing more sturdy weed roots.

Feed Vegetables

Fruit & vegetable crops need a continuous supply of nutrients through the growing season to stay productive. Leafy vegetables need a balanced feed such as organic liquid seaweed feed, whilst fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes need a feed which is higher in nitrogen, such as Tomorlite tomato feed. Be sure to check how often each crop needs feeding, as overfeeding can be just as problematic as underfeeding!