This month and next, getting the vegetable garden into shape is a priority for those who plan to grow their own produce. Gillian Vine suggests 10 easy-to-grow veges.
You've dug the ground, added some fertiliser and now comes the exciting part - sowing and planting.
If you have not grown vegetables before, begin with the easy ones, then add more difficult crops as your confidence grows.
Starting with seed is the most economical way to grow vegetables but, for the beginner, buying punnets of plants is easier and, if you have only a small area to fill, a more sensible way to go, as a small household would take years to use up a packet of 250 lettuce seeds.
Ten for beginners are:
• 1 Potato: Not only is the spud our most popular vegetable, it is also one of the easiest to grow and is invaluable in improving soil texture.
Seed potatoes can be bought in bags or individually, handy if all you want to do is grow a spud in a bucket. Go easy on the lime, as potatoes prefer a slightly acid soil.
• 2 Oca: Commonly called yams, oca is a member of the oxalis family, which explains not only its shamrock-like leaves but also the tendency for the tiniest tuber left in the ground to bob up the following season.
For this reason, some gardeners like to grow them in buckets. Being a sub-tropical plant, oca should not be planted until after frosts are over, in fairly loose soil.
Lift them from May, after the foliage dies down. They are just about disease-proof but occasionally grass grubs will get in and chomp them.
• 3 Jerusalem artichokes: These grow very easily from tubers, maturing into a 2m or 3m plant with attractive yellow flowers, and are happy in almost any soil.
Garden centres do not often stock them, so buy three or four from the supermarket or farmers market, or ask a friend for some.
• 4 Broad beans: Generally, broad beans are grown from seed sown in autumn or spring, or plants can be bought from garden centres.
If you want to sow seed now, this should be a priority, as broad beans need to be sown by mid-September at the absolute latest.
• 5 Peas: Easy to grow and superior to the frozen kind, peas can be sown from now until mid-January, although later crops are more prone to powdery mildew.
Sow a small number every fortnight and that way the crop will not be ready all at once. Peas need support, so grow them on a netting frame. I've seen an old bed wire used for this, as they will grow to 2m.
Too rich a soil means more leaves than peas and the ground needs to be kept damp (not wet) to give peas their best shot.
• 6 Silverbeet: Rich in vitamins and iron, silverbeet likes a rich moist soil to which lime (about 100g a square metre) has been added.
Sow seed in spring and use the plants over summer, then sow more seed late in summer for winter crops. The variety Bright Lights has coloured stems, making it a fun one for children to grow.
• 7 Cabbage: Although sprouting broccoli runs it close, cabbage is the easiest of the brassicas to grow, being happy in well-manured soil to which lime (100g/sq m) has been added.
They are perfect for new gardens, especially those established on what was lawn.
• 8 Lettuce: Sow seed from now until late summer for an ongoing supply, planting out seedlings in rich soil.
Oak-leaf or salad-bowl varieties, such as Solsun Red Frill and Royal Oak Leaf, can have the leaves picked progressively, making them better for small households than the fat heads of Webbs Wonderful or Great Lakes.
• 9 Radish: Easy to grow in fine sandy soil to which no manure has been added, radishes should be sown in small quantities at fortnightly intervals to keep a supply of tender roots.
• 10 Celery: The quick recipe for celery is to dig a trench, toss in all your weeds, lawn clippings and vege trimmings from the kitchen, then some manure, with a handful each of lime and blood and bone.
Stir it with a garden fork, top with a 10cm to 20cm layer of soil and pop in a row of celery plants. Keep well watered in hot weather.
When you lift the celery, the compost underneath will have broken down into soil suitable for artichokes, potatoes or oca.
• Tips
If you live in the Dunedin area and want to learn more about getting the best from your vege plot, join the Dunedin Vegetable Growers Club. Contact Barrie Mayfield, phone 455-1940, for details.
Buy a cheap exercise book and note what you sow and plant, with dates planted. Later, add notes on how well plants have cropped and any other information, such as which variety of cabbage tastes best. You may also want to include the prices of seeds, plants and fertilisers bought for the vege garden.
