Between now and mid December is the best time to plant your garlic, although the sooner the better. In theory you can just take some garlic out of the cupboard and plant it, but you won’t get a great return on it. Your best option is to go to a local garden centre and pick up some garlic bulbs designed for growing from and not eating.

To plant out the garlic, prepare either a small square area or just spots around the garden, mix up the earth with a little compost to give the ground some nutrition to help with the growing. Then take a garlic bulb, split it into the individual cloves (you don’t need to peel them), and then put them into the ground about an inch deep with the point/top at the top. Garlic will create quite a lot of roots so if you plant them together then try to keep about half a foot gap between each one. I’ll be aiming to fit about 8-10 cloves in one of our wooden troughs this year.

The garlic can then be left until the end of June to early July time. Eventually the tops will die off and dry out and the garlic can then be pulled up. You’re then best off leaving the garlic out in the sun to dry off, allow it to dry out the outer coating to protect the cloves inside, and you can then even have a go at plaiting what you’ve pulled up and hanging it up somewhere cool.

Garlic that we’ve grown in the past has lasted us over a year and doesn’t go off or start growing like shop bought garlic. Definitely worth a go!

So last week I wrote about getting some strawberry plants and raspberry canes back in the garden. I’ve chosen these two as they’re easy to grow and are effectively self replicating, so once you’ve got a few plants you will rarely need to buy any more. So how do strawberry plants work?

Strawberry Runners

First of all we start with strawberry runners from July/August onwards. These are like long stalks that grow out of already established plants (see the photo above). As the runners grow a little plant will appear on the runner and leaves grow. You need to get this plant to root into earth or compost. If the main plants aren’t already in the ground (e.g. like mine are in a pot above), then try to train the new runners into a pot or two, or place them on a patch of ground so they can root there. Once the roots are established then the new runner should be able to look after itself, as up until that point the main plant will feed it and give it what it needs to keep going.

You can usually get one or two new plants off a runner, although ideally you should only take one so that there is more energy going into that single new plant. I just pushed it to two per runner in the photo above as I want to increase our plant numbers. Once your new plants are well rooted you can cut the runner off and relocate your plants to a new patch. I would recommend to keep them separate from your more established plants so that you know the age of your various plants.

New Plants – Year 1

There’s a good reason to keep your new plants separate from the others. For the following spring/summer you shouldn’t try to grow fruit on them. Any flowers that appear, pick them off. This allows the plant to put any energy into establishing itself fully. You’ll still get runners off these new plants but again, I would cut them off and just let the plant grow strong ready for a few years of good fruit and runners.

New Plants – Year 2 to 5

For the following 2-4 years you should get a good crop of strawberries off these plants. You’ll also get one or two runners off most plants and that allows you to continue the process.

Over time you’ll get into a cycle of growing the new plants, getting strawberries off the established plants and then removing the oldest plants to replace with new plants again. A complete rotation system and you can easily increase your plants over time, or give some away. One of the cheapest solutions to getting probably one of the best fruits going!

Next year isn’t going to be as easy for us. We’ve got a baby on the way, due at Christmas, so any plants with a medium to high maintenance are just not an option next year. However, we still want to grow some fruit and vegetables, so what’s easy to do?

Potatoes

We’ve (aka I’ve!) decided to stick with potatoes as they’re really low maintenance and we loved the early potatoes (new potatoes) that we grew earlier in the year, hopefully the main crop will be just as good. I’ll have two wooden troughs and 2 potato sacks spare so I’ll get a set of early potatoes on the go followed by some main crop potatoes. Easy to manage and great to eat!

Garlic

I’m also going to grow some garlic again, which we’ll be getting planted as soon as possible. Garlic is best grown from proper seed garlic which you can buy from garden centres from about now. They usually say sow on the shortest day (21st December?) and reap on the longest day (21st June), but it’s best to plant it out from October onwards, however you can also plant it in January, just leave it in for a bit longer (usually when the tops die off and dry out).

Garlic is grown by taking a bulb, splitting it into the cloves and then planting the cloves about an inch into the ground. I’ll be growing about 8-10 in a wooden trough. Once they’re in then I don’t need to worry too much about them. Also, the colder the temperature, the stronger the final garlic should be

Strawberries

Usually I have my strawberry plants in pots, however I’ve not had a great amount of fruit off them, probably a bit stifled by the pot and also pots don’t retain water as well as the ground does so they dry out quicker. Thanks to my Dad and husband, David, we’ve now got a clear area at the back of the garden after they chopped about half the trees down/back over the weekend! I’ve already got 8 strawberry plants in the ground now, 7 of which are from runners this summer (I’ll write about getting new plants off runners soon!). I’ll be transplanting more into the ground from the pots where there’s space.

Raspberries

Of course good plants to grow when you have little ground space are tall plants, and raspberries are perfect for this. I’m hoping to get 3-4 raspberry canes off my Dad and put them at the very back of the garden up against the fence. It gets some great sun now, during the afternoon, and in the summer will get plenty more. Again, it’s very low maintenance, you just have to take a bit of time to pick the fruit when it’s ready! Towards the end of the year (around now), you cut the canes back down to the ground and they’ll grow new canes the following year. No need to replace

Carrots

Hopefully I can get my Dad to start us off some carrots in a decent sized pot, and then we just need to keep them watered and remember to use them Smaller baby carrots are easy to grow in a pot or an old bucket with a few holes for drainage. You can sow them around the outside of a round pot and then pick every other one to allow the others to grow and expand a little more.

Tomatoes

Again, I’ve asked my Dad to see if he’ll start off a couple of tomato plants in hanging baskets for us. We’re not going to have the time or chance to start tomatoes off from seed and he has a better climate down south and more space than us. He’s just brought us a large 2l box of tomatoes and has some many more at home. Made a great roast tomato and garlic sauce for pasta and pizza usage

Lettuce

Hopefully I can keep a little bit of ground free to do some lettuce next summer. That’s the only plant I’ll probably grow from seed, and will probably go for the type that you can just pick leaves from and leave it to continue to grow. By then the new arrival will be happily sitting in the pushchair or can lie out on a playmat in the shade if it’s warm enough, giving me a bit of time to tend to some basic salad items

I’m looking forward to our garden next year. I think the clearing of the trees has given me a chance to plan planting a few plants in the ground here, which has given me a few ideas/reminders of what we can do. Even if it produces just a handful of fruit and vegetables for us, it’s still worth it for a taste that you just can’t buy in the shops

So what’s on the go this year?

Potatoes

This year I decided I wanted to do potatoes again. It’s not easy when you don’t have much space but I got a couple of potato sacks and my Dad built me a couple of deep wooden troughs to use. So I’ve got 4 first earlies and 4 second earlies on the go, and I’ve got my main crop (King Edwards) sitting in an egg tray waiting to go in next month.

I planted the potatoes out at the beginning of March and they’re growing well, despite the cold weather we’ve had.

Pak Choi

I sowed some Pak Choi seeds out in one of the troughs next to a couple of potato plants around mid March. Despite not thinking to cover them over to protect from the cold weather, they’ve all germinated well. I now keep a piece of clear plastic board over the top of them just to create a mini greenhouse under it to help them along.

Pak choi can be picked as leaves and eaten in salad or you can let them grow and they’re like a chinese cabbage, great stirfried.

Carrots

I love raw carrot but I’ve never tried growing it. We got a baby carrot variety, designed for growing in pots. I’ve sowed a few rows of carrot seeds in the other trough, again next to a couple of the potato plants. These took longer to show the initial seedling however the main work is going on underneath the surface.

If you want to grow carrots you need to sow them where they’re going to grow as they’re obviously a root vegetable and will set the root in before you even possibly see the seed leaves.

Again, I didn’t think to cover them over for a few weeks but once I’d put the clear plastic board over them they seemed a bit happier. I’m not sure if some of the little seed leaves have been eaten by slugs however, as some have disappeared, hopefully they’ve not damaged the growing vegetable underneath.

Leeks

We got a baby leek variety (but can also be left to mature to a bigger size), and I’ve had some seeds on the go since January. I’m not sure if they’ve hit a wall in growth as they don’t seem to be doing much now! So I’m going to try another batch now that the weather is warmer and the light better, and hopefully get these going.

Red Onions

David loves onion, particular red onions for sandwiches, so I’ve got red onions growing all around the garden. They’re so easy to grow, just push them into the ground with the tip showing. I’ve put some in a plastic trough, which are growing very well (probably because they’re in pure compost), and I’ve also put some in a tiny patch of ground in the back garden, and then a few are dotted in between the flowers in the front garden!

Red Spring Onions

These we saw at a garden centre, pre-grown, with a long tray of them for just 99p. I’ve never seen red spring onions so figured it was worth a go just to see what they tasted like. I’ve split most of these up into their single plants now, there’s loads of them!

Cherry Tomatoes

Last year my Dad gave me a cherry tomato plant in a large pot. It didn’t suffer with blight (I’m not saying they won’t, but this one didn’t!), and it happily grew outside of a greenhouse. So this year I decided to do a couple and have them in hanging baskets instead. I’ve had these plants growing in the propogator and then in the conservatory since January, and now they’re in their hanging baskets outside.

Green Bell Pepper

We picked a few of these plants up very cheaply so I gave a couple away and kept a couple. I’ve put them both into large pots and am going to keep them in the greenhouse, or may even move them into the conservatory, depending on how well they do outside. I’ve never had much luck with bell peppers but I’d love to crack them as we go through about 3-5 a week!

Cucumber

I’ve never grown cucumbers before (well I may have when I was a kid but I’m sure my Dad will have helped me out there!). We picked up a cucumber plant for 99p and I’ve got that in a decent sized pot in the greenhouse for now. Cucumbers are ideal if they’re trained to grow up a net or frame so that the fruit grows off the ground, to avoid bugs.

Pea Shoots

David loves pea shoots as I do I. They’re great for going in sandwiches or having with salad, however they’re also very expensive to buy. We watched a programme on TV where this woman grew her own pea shoots a bit like growing cress but on a larger scale. She just had a small plastic trough/tub, filled with compost and a box of cheapy dried peas from the supermarket (the type you put into soups). She just put a good handful or two of these peas over the top of the compost and pushed them under the surface.

The pea shoots then grew to about half a foot (15 cm) high and then get cut off. Such a cheap and easy way to grow a fab salad leaf. So I’m giving this a go too!

Chilli Peppers

Every year I’ve tried different chilli peppers and this year we have two types. A hot carribbean blend and scotch bonnet chillis. These are all being kept in the conservatory as the hotter the environment, the hotter the chillis

Green/dwarf beans

I’ve had a few of these plants the last two summers, but they were pre-grown by my Dad and given to me, so this year I bought my own seeds to start them from scratch. We’ve got a couple of large plants at the moment and more seeds on the go. I’ve got them in a small wooden trough. They’re so easy to grow and the great thing with beans (plus other veg) is that you can blanche and freeze them for use later in the year.

Courgette

A couple of years ago we grew courgettes and found them to be one of the easiest things ever to grow. We go through a lot of courgettes so I decided that we’d get a couple of plants again this year. So simple to grow and all you need is a small growbag to put them in. As you pick the courgettes, more appear!

Garlic

Our garlic is still growing well. I’m hoping the really cold winter will have helped it as the colder the winter, the stronger the garlic. This will be ready around late June / early July.

Lettuce

Another easy salad item to grow. There is nothing like picking, washing and eating fresh lettuce. We’ve got a few different varieties in a seed tray at the moment. I got some new lettuce seeds of a frilly green lettuce, plus I’ve also put in rocket, mixed spicy leaves and a lettuce mix, all of which are older seeds so may or may not grow!

Easy to grow, but you need to keep a continuous supply of seeds on the go (a new crop every 1-2 weeks), and then you can enjoy them for as long as they’ll keep growing.

Radish

Something for David as I don’t eat it. Very easy to grow but you need to sow them where you’re going to keep them, so a decent pot and compost in it and away you go

Strawberries

As usual, we’ve got our strawberry plants. A few of the plants died off in the winter with the cold weather but we’ve still got a few going so we’ll hopefully get a small crop off them. Of course come the strawberry season and you can pick them up so cheaply off the markets or even find a ‘pick your own’ field. Personally I think strawberries are the best fruit you can get

Gooseberries

Our gooseberry bush is still going strong. It’s still in its large pot where it’s been for over two years now. Last year it had a semi good crop of gooseberries but the squirrels got them before we did! So this year I’ll be keeping an eye on it and possibly covering it with the strawberry netting once the fruit start to appear.

So, as you can see, we’ve got a fair bit on the go and besides a few onions in the ground, everything else is in pots of some sort. I’ll get some photos up soon and try and keep this a bit more updated with the progress of it all

I’ve also planted some hot chilli plant seeds (scotch bonnet and habanero chillis) that we bought last week to keep David happy.

Whilst out last week we also picked up some packs of potatoes for growing, some red onions and a couple of potato sacks for growing potatoes in. I’ve got 3 types of potatoes, first earlies, second earlies and main crop. I’m hoping that I can time it so that the first earlies can be picked and then the main crop can go into the sack straight after, then plant some more after the second earlies are picked.

We also went out to another local garden centre yesterday (I love these places!) to see if they had any scotch bonnet chilli seeds. Whilst there I also picked up a couple of potato grow bags (deep bags with a slit on the side) and 3 different types of potatoes which’ll be ready at varying times throughout the summer and the main crop (King Edwards) should keep a fair while (whether they last that long or not who knows!). We won’t get a massive amount of potatoes I doubt but it does mean we can get a few crops going.

I checked on my garlic yesterday too and all 6 cloves that I planted are now showing shoots, even the one that the squirrel dug up!

So, after winning some vouchers for a local garden centre, we finally took a trip over there today and I got a decent sized heated propagator (photos to follow once it’s set up!), plus a few packets of seeds designed for the compact/patio garden. I bought seeds for dwarf beans (I’ve grown these the last two summers in a pot), cherry tomatoes (going to put these in a hanging basket), spring onions, baby carrots and baby leeks. Plus I’ll be seeing if my existing seeds (courgettes, lettuce, radish and rocket) are still ‘working’.

My plan this year is to stick with the pots and growbags, as there is no ground space to put plants in. I’m also planning to do a couple of troughs of potatoes, using a couple of deep wooden troughs built by my Dad (from old scrap wood, no expense spared!). That, plus the pots and two wooden troughs I already have, plus maybe 3 growbags and I think we should get a nice little crop of vegetables and salad this year

If you want to try growing your own then whilst it is a little bit later than the ideal time, you can still get them planted, but do it as soon as possible! Ideally you should buy specific garlic for growing from your local garden centre, but you can use normal garlic cloves, however the results may not produce large sized bulbs, but it’s still a good way to try it.

You need to plant them about half a foot to a foot apart (although I cheated, but we’ll see how they fare) and about an inch under the surface. You don’t need to ‘unwrap’ the clove, just make sure the pointed end is pointing upwards. Then you can just leave them until about the end of June or early July.

I’ll keep you updated on how mine go

One little fact, the colder the winter, the stronger the growing garlic will be!

For a while I wondered if bringing them indoors was the right thing to do as the flowers were coming but just dying and falling off. Then I remembered what a friend of mine had told me last year about how he had manually pollenated his plants and cross pollenated them as well, and that suddenly hit me. Of course, being indoors, there are no bees/wasps/flies to help with the pollenation process, so with a little brush I’ve been keeping an eye for any newly opened flowers and get them pollenated, and most of them so far have started to product the chillis.

At present they’re still growing and still green, but judging by the packet they came out of they should turn red so I’ll just keep tending to them and hopefully they’ll start to turn to red at some point

So note to self, next year keep them in the conservatory and remember to manually pollenate them!

Despite repotting the chilli plants, they’ve not been very happy outside, so I brought a couple in to our conservatory (came with the new house!) and they’ve perked up in there, so I’ve started to bring them all in. A couple of the taller plants have got flowers on them now so I’m hoping to maybe get a few chillis off each one if I’m lucky. It’s quite warm in the conservatory but doesn’t get too much direct sunlight so they seem quite happy in there.

That just leaves the gherkin plant, which has about one gherkin on. I’m not sure when to pick that however, so I’ll need to check on that and not leave it too long!