Five Popular Vegetables You Want In Your Garden

The five most popular vegetables to have in your garden are: Celery, Globe Artichoke, Mangetout, Roots, and Spinach.

Celery   

Celery is an expensive vegetable to buy, and it may be eaten either raw or cooked. Most people prefer the blanched to the self-blanching varieties. Prepare a trench as described for dwarf beans. Sow seeds in potting compost in heat during late March to early April. Harden the plants off when they are 2/2—3in (6— 7cm ) in height.

When there is no danger of frost, plant out in two rows in the trench with the individual plants 8in ( 20cm ) apart. When the plants have reached l0 in ( 25cm ) in height they should be blanched. Tie newspapers around the plant and earth up. Alternatively, they may be covered with a collar made from a land drain or similar. 

Globe Artichoke 

This seldom-grown plant reaches almost 6ft ( 2m) in height and yields a profusion of silver-grey foliage, making it the ideal background plant for the herbaceous bed. If space is short, serious thought should be given to including it in the decorative part of the garden where it will certainly not be out of place.

The flower heads, used either as a vegetable or as part of a floral decoration, are a bonus, added to which the young shoots may be cooked and eaten like asparagus. This perennial requires a rich, deep, open soil. Plants should be set out in April and no crop should be taken until the following year. Propagation is by means of root cuttings, which should be potted up in the autumn, and placed in the frame for planting out during the following spring. 

Mangetout 

This delicious vegetable is another variety that is rarely found in the shops, and it may be grown by the general method adopted for all peas. Prepare a drill 2/2in ( 6cm) deep in rich soil during the early spring. Scatter the seeds on the top of the drill in April, cover with soil and netting to ensure that the birds do not take the seeds, and provide some slug pellets.

Mangetout will grow to nearly 6ft ( 2m) and it will be necessary to provide some support - this may be a net, canes or the traditional birch or hazel pea sticks. Harvest the young tender pods in July and August. 

Roots 

All root crops are grown by a similar method, but with the small garden you are unlikely to have room for more than a few varieties. Roots prefer a light soil, which has been manured the previous year. Never manure the year that you intend to plant roots. As the root seeds (which are only very small with a small supply of food) will be planted directly in the ground it is important that the seed bed has a fine tilth and does not consist of heavy clods of earth. Break up the soil with a rake until this fine state is achieved. Plant the seeds in drills no more than I4in ( 0.5cm) in depth during April.

This is a good rule of thumb, as the soil is seldom sufficiently dry to plant before this time and any delay means that the plants will not benefit from the maximum growing period which is the result of the longer days approaching the summer solstice.

When the plants are about 2in ( 5cm) high, begin to thin them out. Thinning out, always taking the weakest plants away should continue until the mature plants are about 4in ( 10cm ) apart. The thinning of roots such as carrots may also be used in the kitchen. 

Spinach 

Rich in iron, carotene and vitamin C, this vegetable deserves to be more popular. If you find the flavor of the annual spinach too strong, cultivate one of the perennial versions. 

Sow the large seeds into a well-drained soil in a 1/ 2 in ( 1 cm ) deep drill in April, and for succession throughout the spring until July. Unless the plants are allowed to become too dry, when they will prematurely run to seed, the first sowing will usually last into the winter. When you harvest the leaves take only a few - this will encourage the plants to crop again.

Perennial spinach can be used in the kitchen in three ways - the leaves and stalks may be cooked and served together; the leaves may be removed from the stalk and pureed; or the stalks alone may be cooked and served in a similar way to asparagus. 

Crop Rotation 

It is often thought that crop rotation is essential for successful vegetable growing. With a small plot it is often impractical, and the better approach is to manure the plot regularly and grow the vegetables in the same position. In this way you will gradually build up the soil fertility.

The only crop which may present problems is cabbage, which will not grow well if the ground has become infected with club root, in which gnarled growths appear on the roots. If you encounter this problem you should not grow cabbage on that particular site for at least three years. 

 

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