Guide to planting 6 popular vegetable seeds
There is nothing quite like the taste of enjoying your home-grown produce in one of your favourite meals. Here are our tips to growing healthy and delicious vegetables.
1. Beetroot
Beetroot is an old favourite which can be served cold in salad or hot with a white sauce.
When to plant: Early Spring through to early Autumn.
How to grow: Prefers a well-cultivated soil. Sow thinly and cover lightly with 12mm of fine soil, gently press. Prefers a well-cultivated soil. Space 30cm between rows. Thin out to 10cm apart when plants are at two to four leaf stage. Water regularly. From crop continuity, sow at intervals of four to six weeks. Apply liquid fertiliser fortnightly. Suitable for deep freezing.
Harvest: 10 weeks
2. Cabbage Sugarloaf
Sugarloaf is a popular home-grown vegetable choice which produces conical heads with superb flavour and weighing up to three kilos. This cabbage can be served cooked or used as a salad vegetable.
When to plant: Early Spring to early Autumn.
Location: Prefers rich, well-prepared soil.
How to grow: Sow 5mm deep in punnets, seed boxes or direct in to a garden bed. Keep moist. Transplant 45 to 60cm apart to final growing position when seedlings are large enough to handle. Seedlings usually appear in six to 10 days.
Harvest: Eight to 14 weeks when the heads are firm and small.
3. Carrot Baby
Carrot baby is delicious, sweet and packed with flavour. This vegetable is an excellent baby or finger carrot, with smooth cylindrical roots.
When to plant: Early Spring to Autumn.
Location: Prefers an open, airy situation with light, fertile soil, not recently manured.
How to grow: Sow 5mm deep direct in to a garden bed. Keep moist. Thin out to 25mm (1”) apart. For continuity, sow every two weeks. Seedlings usually appear in 10 to 21 days.
Harvest: 10 to 12 weeks. Suitable for freezing.
4. Celery Crisp and Tender
Celery has a delicious sweet flavour and has good disease resistance. Celery sticks are crisp and stringless requiring little attention.
When to plant: Spring to Autumn.
Location: Celery likes a rich, moisture retentive soil and a sunny position.
How to grow: Sow 5mm deep in punnets, seed boxes or direct in to a garden bed. Keep moist. When seedlings are large enough to handle transplant in final growing position in blocks 25cm apart. Seedlings usually appear in 14 to 21 days.
Care: Keep well-watered and fed to aid quick growth. Remove any side shoots forming at the base of the plant.
Harvest: 12 to 14 weeks. Cut blanched celery plant at ground level.
5. Parsnip Hollow Crown
A popular variety combining exhibition quality with fine flavour. The tapered roots are conical, long, white and very uniform.
When to plant: All year except Winter.
Location: Prefers an open sunny situation and friable, well-drained soil.
How to grow: Sow 5mm deep direct in to a garden bed. Keep moist. Sow thickly as germination can be irregular. Thin out gradually to 25cm apart. For continuity, sow every two weeks. Seedlings usually appear in 21 to 28 days. Space rows 45cm apart.
Harvest: 18 to 20 weeks. Roots should be pulled while young and tender.
6. Snow Peas
A delicious, sweet tasting pea that can be cooked and eaten whole.
When to plant: Autumn through to Spring.
Location: Well-prepared, rich soil and sunny situation.
How to grow: Sow seeds 2cm deep and 5cm apart in flat trenches, 15cm wide. Fill trenches with soil and gently firm down. Space rows 45cm apart. Seedlings emerge in seven to 10 days.
Care: Support plants with sticks to aid growth. During early stage of growth protect crop from birds. Keep well-watered. Suitable for deep freezing.
Harvest: 14 weeks. For best flavour cook immediately after picking.
What are your favourite vegetables to grow? Let us know in the comments below.
To find vegetable seeds, including the vegetables mentioned above, head to the Over60 Shop for high-quality offerings.