Growing herbs

Herb Gardens

Why Grow an Herb Garden?

Growing herbs has been a part of life on every continent for thousands of years. Herbs are prized for their scents, medicinal and aromatherapy properties, but are most popular locally for their use in seasoning in cooking. Planting a small sized kitchen herb garden is easy and satisfying. The flavourful, therapeutic, and fragrant plants are beneficial to the family and the garden. Herbs grow perfectly in the beds and borders, pots and even on the windowsill, so there’s absolutely no excuse not to grow at least one type of herb, even if it’s to keep flies away from the kitchen worktops. (Basil is good for this).

Herbs are easy to grow

Herbs can tolerate all types of tough growing conditions. Most of them were originally wild plants that grew in poor soil. Some varieties can be spoilt by the lush conditions of a garden. If they grow too large their flavours and properties become lessened. It's a myth that all herbs like full sun; even good old basil likes partial shade at midday. So when planning your garden, you can divide your plants into two sections. There are those like thyme, sage, rosemary, French tarragon and oregano that like full sun and those that like partial shade, such as rocket, sorrell, lettuce, mustard, parsley and chevril.

Which herbs are best to grow for a beginner?

Coriander, rocket, chives and parsley are easy to grow from seed. Seeds can be sown where you want the plant to grow and don’t need any repotting. You can still grow rocket seeds now – they are ready to eat in a few weeks. Cuttings can be taken of sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and marjoram –or you can buy them in your local garden centre. Mint can be divided from a friend, but best keep it in pots as it is rampant. Basil is a lovely herb for cooking with –especially yummy in tomato and Italian dishes. It needs good sun though, and is usually repotted when grown from seed. It is prone to greenfly. All these herbs are useful for a basic culinary herb garden and they grow well in containers.

Growing tips for herbs in containers

Herbs grown in containers can be the perfect solution if you are limited for space.
They are a convenient way to have your herbs handy so you have quick access when preparing a meal.

• When growing herbs in containers, use a soil-based compost, either organic or something like John Innes potting compost. This is because there are very few herbs that grow in peat, and a soil-based compost retains moisture, which is a must to stop containers drying out.
• Water the containers in the morning rather than the evening because this gives the plants a chance if the temperatures are hot during the day, especially for containers grown in full sun.
• Feed container plants weekly from March until September. This keeps the plants healthy, helps them produce tasty leaves, especially on cut and come again salads
• As we are on the coast, a seaweed-based feed is ideal or you could make your own comfrey or nettle juice now. These are not too strong and both will keep the plants healthy.
• Try not to plant invasive herbs such as mint and lemon balm in a container with other herbs. They will swamp the other plants and take over. It’s better to grow them in separate pots instead.
• Harvest herbs by pinching off the tips of the plant for use in the kitchen. This will encourage new plant growth, and help keep the plant more compact.

.

Outdoor Herb Garden

Look at the final size of the herbs when planting. In a small bed there won’t be enough space to cultivate herbs such as lovage, lemon balm, fennel or angelica. These large herbs would dominate the other plants and appear out of scale. Many popular choices of growing herbs can be fitted comfortably in a bed sized about 3.5m x 1m. Confine annuals and invasive type herbs such as mint to containers.

Add Herbs to Traditional Vegetable Garden or Flower Borders

Sow dill, borage, and marigold seeds in containers for use when gaps appear in the garden. Add young marjoram, savory, and feverfew plants to the edgings of other low perennials.

Indoor Herb Gardening

• Many herbs can be successfully grown indoors in a container herb garden.
• Choose a sunny windowsill to arrange the containers.
• As with most indoor plants, over-watering can be a bigger problem than under-watering.
• Be sure that your containers have adequate drainage. A few small holes will be more effective than one big one.
• Harvest herbs by pinching off the tips of the plants. This encourages bushy plant growth

Harvesting Herbs

Most plants will benefit from being harvested regularly. This encourages vigorous, new growth & prolongs the supply of fresh material. It also improves the shape of the plant, making it bushy & sturdy.

What to look for when harvesting

• Leaves should be harvested just before the plant flowers.
• Flowers are at their best when they have just opened.
• Fruit should be just ripe.
• Seed is ripe when it changes from green to brown. For seeds in pods, shake the stem. You will hear the seeds rattle when they are ripe.
• Roots are at their best when the top growth of the plant has completely died back, in autumn or winter.

Here are some ideas to help you get the most out of the herb garden and enjoy the soothing, medicinal and flavoursome delights that these plants have to offer all year round with a bit of preparation.

Drying the herbs

Harvest herbs for drying on a dry, sunny morning.
Cut the stems just above ground level on a still day after the dew has evaporated off of the leaves.
Trim and compost any discoloured or damaged leaves.
Tie into small bunches and hang in a dark, dry, airy place, or put them in a paper bag punched with holes. This will keep them clean and help the drying process.
When the plant is completely dry, it will become brittle. Remove the leaves from the stems and store in airtight jars, preferably in a darkish place.
To keep the maximum flavour, store the leaves whole & crush, if necessary, just before using.

Freezing the herbs

Freezing is the best method for preserving the colour, flavour and nutritional content of herbs with soft, lush, green leaves, (eg. chives, dill, basil, mint, tarragon).

• 
  
• If the herbs have any strange looking things on them, you might want to give them a rinse. Dry afterwards. If you can avoid washing them, all the better as I think it holds the taste better
• Freeze the dried leaves in plastic bags, in bunches, on the stem. There is no need to thaw before using, just add at the end of cooking.
• Alternatively, chop the herbs finely, put them in ice-cube trays and top up with water. Flowers, especially borage, can be frozen in ice-cubes for adding to drinks.

Preserving herbs in Oil or Vinegar

Herbs preserved in oil or vinegar are very useful for adding flavour to many dishes. The leaves discolour slightly but it’s the infused flavours in the oil or vinegar that are important.

Herb Oils

Fill a wide-necked, sterilised jar with the fresh herb, broken into pieces with your fingers. When the jar is full, cover with good quality olive, sunflower, safflower or almond oil -preferably organic. Put on a tight fitting lid. Stand the jar in a warm or sunny place, covering it with brown paper if it's in a sunny position. Shake at least once a day for 14 days. Strain and store out of direct light.
Suitable herbs to use in oil are: basil, garlic, fennel, lavender, rosemary, savory, tarragon, thyme.
Spices, chillies and orange or lemon peel can be added to help enhance the flavours.

Herb Vinegars

Bruise the herb by rubbing through your fingers and fill a wide-necked jar. Top up with warm (not hot) wine or cider vinegar. Treat the same as you would for the herb oils by shaking and keeping out of bright lights.

Suitable herbs for vinegars include: bay, chervil, dill, elderflower, garlic, fennel, lavender, mint, rosemary, tarragon and thyme. Spices, chillies and citrus rind can also be added.

Fruit vinegars are made by the same method. Roughly chop the fruit in a food processor first.
Suitable fruits to add to vinegar are: blackberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries.

Herbs for Companion Planting

Most herbs can be perfect companions to other plants in the garden. Here are a few ideas.

For an effective deterrent against greenfly try:

Aphids and greenfly: Lots to choose from here: Catnip, Chives, Coriander, Dried & Crushed Chrysanthemum, Eucalyptus, Fennel, Feverfew (attracts aphids away from Roses), Garlic, Larkspur, Marigold, Mint, Mustard, Nasturtium, Onion, Oregano, Petunia, Sunflower.

Basil – Plant with tomatoes. They also repel flies and mosquitoes.
Borage - Helps strawberries to thrive. Assists tomatoes and squash. Borage attracts bees into the garden too.
Chamomile - Plant with onion and cabbage.
Chives - Plant near carrots and apple trees. Chives steeped in water makes a great spray to kill powdery mildew disease.
Comfrey - This herb is often used in compost and as organic fertilizer made into a compost tea. Enriches soil.
Dill - Plant near cabbage, lettuce, corn, and cucumber. Don't plant near fennel to avoid cross-pollination.
Garlic - Plant near fruit trees and tomatoes. Repels red spider mites. Great insecticide steeped in water .
Horseradish – Keeps pests off of potatoes.
Hyssop - Plant near cabbage and grapes.
Lemon Balm - Great for tomatoes.
Lovage – Good planted near practically everything.
Marjoram - A close second to Lovage.
Mint - Plant near cabbage but never near parsley.
Nasturtium - Loves broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower), fruit trees, and radishes. Great insect repellent.
Oregano - Loves grape vines. Insect repellent for cucumber beetle.
Parsley - Loves tomatoes, carrots, chives, and asparagus but doesn’t like mint.
Rosemary - Loves beans, carrots, cabbage and sage but not potatoes.
Rue - It is effective near strawberries and fig trees but never near basil. Plant it wherever you don't want cats to go.
Sage – good with rosemary, cabbage and carrots but never with cucumbers.
Summer Savory - Likes onions and beans.
Tansy - Likes fruit trees.
Tarragon - Likes almost everything.
Thyme - Keeps worms away from cabbage.
Valerian - Good in compost heaps and good for earthworms.

There is no reason why you can’t grow at least one herb. All you really need is one plant pot, a few seeds and a bit of soil and you are ready. Why not try being self sufficient in just one herb, pick one that you enjoy and would normally buy from the shop. Try parsley, coriander or chives.

Herb Seeds

Introducing the attractive sight and deeply aromatic smell of herb varieties to your garden is a real sensory delight, but that's nothing compare to the taste explosion you experience once these culinary plants hit the kitchen table; just imagine turkey without sage and onion stuffing, lamb but no mint sauce and pasta missing a sprinkling of just-picked basil...But you can banish those unpleasant kitchen thoughts with the help of Harrods selection of 100% organic herb seeds which features all the old favourites such as basil, thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley, and a few highly rated but lesser known examples such as borage, savory and chamomile.

Community Gardens

Community Gardens

I’m working for the council in Nottingham. “Here take this”. Jim, the foreman of the local parks gardening team throws me something shiny. “It’s a golden key”. He says with a smile. “With this key you can get access to any padlocked council owned area in the town, look after it well”.

This was a big responsibility for me. From my first days there the foreman dished out responsibilities, some of which I rose to, others made me crumble. In my six months of working with them, they had trusted me to look after hundreds of budgies and care for the bowling greens as well as allowing me on the road in a tractor and trailer, all of which I achieved with honours. Then there were times when I was asked to dig trenches five feet deep by a mile long, across wasteland. If that was a test, I failed and spent the day watching trains go past on the local freight line from the colliery. I was ready for the responsibility of a key though- it’s wasn’t too physically demanding. “First thing I need you to do”, continued Jim, “is to define the edges of the paths on the allotment sites around the town.”

Off I went in my tractor to hole up the traffic and visit the first of five allotment sites. I pushed the key into the lock of the heavy steel gate, and with a satisfying click, I was in to another fabulous world of lush green growth, recycled pallets, old plastic bottles, manure heaps and a very knowledgeable group of gardeners.

The allotment sites were created in the war when it was necessary to Dig for Victory. Food was scarce because of the lack of workers, but in the area where I was working the mines had to stay open to keep producing the coal to make the trains run and to smelt the iron to produce tanks, planes and bombs and anything else the war asked. The allotment sites were all near to largely populated areas, and over the years had matured to be central focal points for the communities. Home made huts, greenhouses and polytunnels were dotted around the allocated sites and everyone on the allotments were on hand to give tips and advice in the art of vegetable and fruit growing to their neighbours. My job was to re-instate the edges of the paths with a spade. It should only take a few days to shovel the fallen soil, but I managed to spin it out for a few weeks, as there was so much to learn from the men working the land.

Being close to the houses meant that the gardeners only needed a wheelbarrow for their tools and picked products. They could get home in two minutes with enough vegetables to feed their street.

The golden key meanwhile played a big part in my teenage years mainly due to the fact that it unlocked the cricket pavilions on the parks, where I would sleep undisturbed for hours on foggy mornings.

Boom times

The boom times in the economy caused allotments to fade in popularity in some areas and unfortunately it was more profitable to develop the land, destroying the culture and history of the social allotment. So much so that nearly a whole generation have lost the art of working with the land. Other social initiatives such as the LETS system of bartering without exchanging any money dwindled in interest as people opted to buy new instead of making do and mending. With the recession though has come a resurgence of interest and popularity in community based projects as we realise just how important these are for a healthy life. The growth of new allotments around Ireland is unprecedented with new initiative springing up in all the counties, the old skills are being re-taught.

Comparing the allotment to a Community garden

There is a bit of confusion about comparing allotments to the new trend of community gardens and although they both serve to supply people with healthy home grown food and a more active lifestyle, there are a few differences between the two.

Allotment

An allotment is a green space, which is divided up into small plots of land of which individuals, or families rent from the town council, county council or entrepreneurial landowners and farmers who put unused land back into being productive in return for financial payments, usually on a yearly basis.

Community garden

A community garden on the other hand is more focused on communally growing crops. Individuals are guided by more experienced gardeners and all work together as a group. The produce from the community garden can be divided among those involved in growing the particular produce, divided equally amongst the members and in some cases sold to raise funds to enhance the facilities on the site. They provide spaces for community interactions and social events, for learning and creativity, for experiencing nature and for exercise. Community gardens bring people together, build relationships, re-connect people to nature and the soil. They can be places to educate young people about where food comes from and how it is grown. Community gardens help subsidise people who are on low incomes, saving money on regular trips to the shops It has been demonstrated that the growing of food, either as a community, on an allotment or in your own back garden can build self-esteem, confidence and encourages medium levels of exercise.

The titles are different but the positive results speak for themselves. Statistics from the Cuban crisis back in the late 1990’s speaks volumes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country went into a severe economic crisis as Soviet subsidies dried up, generating severe food and fuel shortages. People were forced to slash their calorie intake, eat more natural food and to travel everywhere on foot or bicycle.

According to a study in the Journal of Epidemiology, between 1997 and 2002, deaths in Cuba caused by diabetes declined by 51%, coronary heart disease mortality dropped 35% and stroke mortality by 20%. Another interesting point about this is that as the economy improves, obesity is rebounding. Around 30% of adult Cubans are now overweight and a quarter have a tendency toward obesity.

More reading

There are a couple of websites where you can get more information about community gardens. GIY Ireland, set up by author Michael Kelly, which has groups all over the country and are setting a couple up in Donegal this year. There is also the Irish Community Food Growing (ICFG), which is an all-Ireland network of Community Food Initiatives (CFIs) – community gardens, allotments, school gardens, education gardens and market gardens.

Questions and Answers

Gardening questions from around the peninsula

The mailbox is bulging with questions from intrepid Inishowen gardeners. The garden always gives us something to think about and this year is no exception. Watering and drought in the vegetable patch has been the biggest issue this year, with many of us opting to collect rainwater in barrels from the roof to water the beds and borders. Let’s see what else is on our minds.

Shrubs for a north-facing doorway

Q. I have some planters to put either side of our front door. The wall is north facing so they would never get any sun and it would be very dry. I don't like conifers, dwarf or otherwise. Any ideas what shrubs might be up to the job?

A. Try pyracantha, rhodos, pieris (forest flame) and ivies. You could also try hydrangea petiolaris, it’s not evergreen but does have a bit of winter interest with the flower heads. Then there is aucuba, choisya ternata Sundance, mahonia, sarcococca and viburnum. We are spoilt for choice really. It might be worth lining you pots with bubble wrap for extra insulation for the roots for when it gets cold in the winter.

Climbers for south facing fence

Q. I am about to have new fence put in my garden, which is south facing, the fence in question receives morning sun, and just a little in the afternoon, it now has a huge pyracantha on it and has to be removed, I have an actinidea that loves it and has grown large, so I am going to keep that, preferably something with winter interest, spring and summer, it is a long fence so could incorporate all three. I do like the berries on the pyracantha and the birds love them too, so could plant another.

A. You could try honeysuckle, winter jasmine, clematis, hops or a grape vine if it is a really sunny, sheltered, south facing spot.

Ants in the pots

Q. I have ants in all of my containers. I don't know how to get rid of them without harming my plants. I have flowers and vegetables in them. Any advice would be warmly welcome.

A. You could order nematodes online. You simply add water to them and add to the soil. It’s a bit unnecessary though as the ants are an indication of the soil being too dry, the pots might look well watered but are bone dry after an inch down. The first thing to try is pour a lot of water into the pots. The ants will soon pick up their eggs and move house.

Ants on runner beans

Q. I have noticed lots of ants scurrying up and down my canes with my runner bean plants on them. Any suggestions how I can get rid of these unwanted visitors and do you know if they will have harmed the runner beans?

A. It's not the ants you have to worry about; it's the black fly. Whenever you see ants on a plant you can be sure that it either has green fly or black fly. The ants eat the sugary substance, which both of those give out, and they will protect them from predators.

Well-ie never

Q. I have kept my sons wellies with the idea that I could grow small alpines in the tops.
If I fill with compost, put holes and crocks in the bottom for drainage, what are my chances of success?

A. Plants will grow in any container if the growing conditions are right.
My most successful sedum lived happily in a hole on a building for years. Make sure there is good drainage by making holes in the base. Unless of course you are planting aquatic plants, they would be more than happy in a pair of old wellies.

When to pull up garlic

Q. Can any one tell me how long after garlic flowers do you pick it? Mine is just starting to flower.

A. Plants that were put in the ground in autumn should be looking good by now.
Pull off any flower stems when they appear. Once the leaves turn yellow they can be dug up and dried off for storage by plaiting them and hanging them up in a dark room. Alternatively leave them in the ground, and just harvest as and when you need them.

Onions going to seed

Q. Some of my onions have started to run to seed and they are only the size of a golf ball. Why is that?

A. Probably through lack of water. It has been so dry over the past few weeks that if the soil has not been kept moist continually, most vegetables tend to run to seed. Try giving the ones that haven’t gone to seed a drink each night and see how you get on.

Courgettes in pots

Q. I am growing courgettes in a pot for the first time this year and the first few were fine, but now they are starting to rot at the ends when they are only 2"-3" long. Any ideas please?

A. Growing veggies in pots is always a bit trickier than in the ground. Irregular watering could cause a few problems, like blossom end rot in tomatoes. Humidity can be an issue too, if you see the flowers get mushy, remove them, leaving the courgette intact. If any do start rotting, take them off before the rot spreads to other courgettes on the plant. Growing in pots will avoid the courgettes laying on wet ground though, so it does have it’s advantages. Nip off the leading shoot after the third flower and then nip sideshoots at the third or fourth leaf. This will give you a plentiful crop.

Tomatoes

Blow me down

Until last week you would have been forgiven for thinking we were living in a dry inland country with no wind. Our small frogs as they developed from tadpoles had never seen rain water. The pond was completely dried up and the temporary dwelling of the washing up bowl was kept topped up from the tap. There was not much fun for kite flyers but it was fantastic for the micro light plane that adored the skyline on the Swilley every evening for an hour.

I was driving around town early last week and it looked like autumn, in a leaf drop sort of way. There were loads of detached leaves blowing around the pavements and piling up at the side of the road. The difference was that the leaves were green and they were mainly still attached to young fresh pieces of the branch they had happily clung onto during the long, warm, sunny spell. The perfect growing conditions produced plenty of new soft growth on trees, shrubs and plants that didn’t really seem to have any need to protect themselves and toughen up to the rigours of what life will eventually be throwing at them. Just like us humans, plants need a bit of turbulence every now and then to cope more effectively with life.

As the weather changed, I put out a tweet for people to put their summer bedding pots and hanging baskets in a sheltered spot. Hanging baskets don’t cope very well with the wind and the weight of the container, could fetch the plaster and bracket off of the wall, and the banging could keep you up all night.

Cosseted Tomatoes

I was so involved spreading the word that I forgot to check my own plants. I don’t have bedding but do tend to my tomato plants. The indoor ones were obviously fine, if the temperature gets a bit chilly for them we light a fire and the only wind they are subjected to is when we walk past them on the way to the kitchen.

It was the ones on the outside wall that didn’t fare well. I had supported them with natural twine, perfect for the planet because of its biodegradability, but not so good for coping with tension as the plants bowed. It didn’t take much to snap the string. The weight of the plants combined with the force of the wind soon had the string ends flapping aimlessly in the air. Thankfully all was not lost. I had left all of the bottom leaves on and this supported the plants, stopping the stems from being damaged.

The indoor plants were stripped of their lower leaves, partly due to the fact that they were going yellow and brown and it is easier to get the watering can nozzle to the soil, but mainly because we needed to see out of the windows occasionally and let a bit of light in. I didn’t see the point of removing the ones outside and I’m glad I left them on.

Because the plants outside are growing in bags, fixing sticks was a bit awkward, hence the string being used. I think I have solved the issue by simply doubling up the twine and tying it around the drainpipe, I’ll keep you posted.

Here are a few tips for getting the most from your tomato plants:

Location: Give the plants as much light as you can. Ideally no less than 6 hours of sunshine per day, 10 hours if you can. (We can dream).

Soil: Use a rich mixture of high nitrogen compost, this applies to pot grown or ground planted tomatoes.

Variety: There are 2 general groups of tomatoes:
Indeterminate tomatoes: these are upright vine or cordon plants
Determinate tomatoes: These grow bushy and the miniature ones are ideal for baskets and don’t need pruning.

Care: Regular watering keeps the plants healthy and also stops the fruit splitting. Regular watering times reduces this problem significantly. Ideally the water will be slightly tepid. This will prevent any shocking of the plants or cooling of the soil.

Pinch out: As the upright plants grow it is a good idea to pinch out the side shoots that you find growing from the main stem at the base of the leaf. Once the plant has the required number of trusses, (four in my case, but 5 would be ideal too) the main stem can be pinched out to top the plant and prevent further tomato production. That way the energy will be channelled to fruit growth. Keep an eye out for the side shoots though, as the plant will throw more of those out to compensate for loosing the growing tip.

Feeding: Once fruit starts to appear, the plants can be given a bi-weekly supplement of a suitable tomato feed.

Pests and disease: check for pests and disease, removing any dead or discoloured leaves. Removing the old leaves at the base could also prevent soil borne infections getting into the plant. Insects can usually be picked off if you catch them early, if not you could use a natural organic pesticide, washing up liquid usually does the trick. There are a lot of things that could go wrong with the plants, like blight (as in potatoes) mould, fusarium wilt, leaf miners, aphids, whitefly and cutworm attack.

Let’s stay positive though. If the soil is good, the water is regular and there is plenty of fresh air circulating, you probably won’t have to bother looking for ways of coping with pests and diseases. What you will have to look forward too is a healthy crop of delicious tomatoes, ready to compliment the salad bowl

Comparisons

Sunday morning Miscellany

 I don’t believe it. No time for growing vegetables?

I’m driving along the road listening on a beautiful Sunday morning listening to Sunday Miscellany on RTE Radio 1. Usually I just let the voices drift over me but today I’m taking notice as a woman reminisces about how their parents used to grow vegetables. She was pondering on how they managed to find the time to garden without having two cars, a dishwasher, microwave and other modern day devices to save precious time, as she can barely have time to cut her grass.

I’m finding myself talking to the radio; I suppose it makes a change from chatting to the tomatoes on the windowsill in the front room.

Making comparisons

Grass is more labour intensive than growing your own vegetables, I tell the unresponsive box. If you think about it, most of us are out every week for hours in the heat of the day looking after our lawns. No sooner have you finished cutting and composting, it looks untidy again as the weeds start to appear before the mower goes back in the shed. It’s a constant battle with the mower, buying petrol, coaxing it to start in the first place, unblocking the grass without chopping your fingers off. It’s not good for the environment either with more and more chemicals on the market claiming to give you that bowling green finish and insects being sliced by the mower blades.

A vegetable patch on the other hand, when set up in early spring will only need a slight tickle with a hoe to keep the weeds down once a week. The rest of the time can be spent relaxing in the garden (without a noisy mower and strimmer), harvesting the peas and beans and munching on the strawberries. Its not that we need to completely get rid of lawns but there can be a balance. A manicured area of grass, a patch of meadow, fruit trees and bushes and of course a veggie garden.

Positive mental attitude

The person is telling me that her parent’s incentive for the edible garden was to be more self-sufficient and save money. But after a few years of hard labour and poor crops the father gave up and put grass seed down instead. The crops that didn’t perform were beetroot; they were tiny specimens because of the poor soil (see last weeks article), and peas. It wasn’t that the peas didn’t produce but that as a child she loved eating them straight from the pod so few reached the plate. It’s simple, I shout, stop growing beetroot and grow more peas.

Muddling through

The hardest part of changing your lawn to a bed is not just growing the veg, but growing your confidence and getting a little bit of know-how, I think to myself as I navigate a roundabout. I recall when I became a parent for the first time. I bought the parenting books, watched the DVD’s, listened to endless stories from other parents and bought all of the equipment that was supposed to make the transition from self-indulgent singleton to responsible parent. When the baby was born everything I learnt went out of the window and I found myself just muddling through from one day to the next, with the least amount of discomfort for both the baby and me.

Switch off your brain

The same fate can befall someone who is considering starting vegetable growing. It’s the thinking that’s the hard, tiring part, and on the whole should be avoided at all costs.

“Switch off your brain for a while”. I’m telling the person on Miscellany. I’ve been gardening now for 30 years and I still can’t get to grips pests and diseases. Why clutter up your brain with a load of information about pests that you don’t have? If something does start munching your crops then it’s time to ask a friend or go on the internet. I’m still muddling around myself in the garden and every year pick up more pearls of wisdom.

Of course there will be an initial learning curve –which does take time, preparing a bed, making sure that you give appropriate space to each plant but it’s a slow process –if you make a mistake in one year, its not a disaster, just change it next year –this time scale is maybe why older people like gardening more than younger people who don’t do delayed gratification well. There is never any rush, what you can’t do at one time, you can even leave for another season. Sit by a big open fire in winter to plan your planting. Prepare the feeding of the beds with compost and manure late autumn when it’s cooler and you are not being chased around by midges and dopey flies. The edible garden has a relaxed, all year calendar, not just a few mad months of growing in summer like a lawn.

Is it just a fad?

The woman on the radio feels that growing your own might be a fad and after waning interest, will re-appear in 30 years time. Hopefully then, she says, she might have enough time to grow her own like her parents used to do.

Do it now. I am encouraging the voice over the airwaves. Start small. Try planting some salad –lettuce, radish, spring onions, Maybe a couple of strawberries and a currant bush, something easy and that you will enjoy eating.

Her fantasy garden could become a reality a lot more easily than she imagines. There are companies springing up around the country that will make you a raised bed, fill it with soil, plant the vegetables in it for you and even come back to do the weeding throughout the growing period, if that’s what you want.

Thankfully the Suburban Farm piece on Sunday Miscellany is only five minutes long. She concludes by saying that her parents found the vegetable gardening “backbreaking and tedious”. They are two words which I may associate with looking after a large lawn, but not my raised beds.

The voice fades out and another person pops up to talk about leaving school when she was young. Thank goodness for that, I am feeling my blood pressure lower and fall back into the verbal comfort that makes this radio show generally so relaxing.