If you enjoy gardening, then growing your own vegetables is a great satisfaction. Not only is it producing healthy produce but the children can help too, this will encourage them to enjoy eating vegetables.

The first thing to consider is where you are going to grow your vegetables; your vegetable patch should be situated in a sunny spot. An ideal time to start growing vegetables is early spring.

Preparing the Seeds.

Before germinating, seeds need to gain as much moisture as possible. Parsley and parsnip will benefit from pre-soaking whereas broccoli and cabbage will germinate effectively without pre-soaking.

To soak, simply put the seeds in a bowl of room temperature water for several hours or until they become plump and swollen – once this has happened drain and plant the seeds right away.

If you’re planting in cold weather, you can protect your vegetables by using water filled tepees around. These allow the sun to penetrate to the plant inside.

For quick results start with large seedlings, grown either on the windowsill or brought from the garden centre.

Larger vegetables, such as cucumbers should be planted up to the first set of leaves, this will give them extra support to allow them to remain strong.

To keep seedlings safe from cutworms place a toilet paper roll around the base puched into the soil. This cardboard neck can be removed when the seedling has become a plant.

Save space in your garden by planting vertical and let then climb a trellis, this works particularly well for beans, cucumbers and squash.

After planting

After the first harvest, carefully work organic compost into the soil, this will keep it rich in nutrients and ensure that they continue to develop vegetables.

You can extend the harvest season of cabbage, brussels sprouts and broccoli by covering the ground with straw. This will retain the heat, prolonging growth.

Lettuce

Lettuce grows bet in cooler climates so are ideal to plant in the fall or early spring. Plant lettuce with wide spaces.

For an extended harvest, pick the largest leaves first leaving the smaller leaves to grow. When the weather begins to get warm, cut off the entire plant before it grows a flower stem.

Peppers

Peppers are best grown in warm weather, over the summer where there is no threat of frost. Peppers last far longer than flowers and will fill your vegetable patch with bright colours.

Tomatoes

There are many kinds of tomatoes to consider. Small tomatoes can be grown in hanging baskets. And cherry tomatoes can be grown up a trellis.

Take into account whether you want all of your tomatoes to grow at the same time – convenient for freezing, or plants that continue to develop new tomatoes as they grow.

Gardening shouldn’t be stressful for you, it should be a way of relaxing and time-out from every day stresses. Remember start off small and do not go overboard.

More gardening and lawn care advice and products can be found on the Garden Health website.