3 minute read
Dig For Victory
An Introduction To Home Vegetable Growing
BY TAMSIN VARLEY
“Dig for Victory” was the slogan used by the Ministry of Agriculture in the 1940s to encourage people to grow their own fruit and vegetables in times of severe rationing in the Second World War.
Whilst there is no shortage of food in our shops right now, we are restricted in how often we can visit the shops to pick up fresh salads and vegetables and are being encouraged to stay at home as much as possible whilst we battle an invisible enemy.
With extra time on our hands and facing the harsh reality of the fragility of our food chain, maybe now is a great opportunity to think about growing your own herbs, fruit and vegetables. There are so many upsides to doing this – it’s fun, healthy, relaxing, satisfying and, most importantly perhaps, reconnects us to the essence of what’s important in life.
Beetroot and Cabbage
It is possible to grow vegetables almost anywhere – in a more formal vegetable garden, mixed in with decorative plants in flower beds and in pots and window boxes on terraces and balconies. I can assure you that the satisfaction of growing your own vegetables is well worth the fairly minimal effort to produce them. Include children as well, as it’s a great chance for them to appreciate how vegetables are grown and how much better they taste than shop bought produce.
Firstly, I would focus on plants that have a short life cycle so you can enjoy the fruits of your labour pretty quickly. This would include most salad vegetables – cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and radish. You can either buy the plants as “plug” plants from specialist shops, which is a really easy way to start or alternatively sow seeds. Most towns have a supplier, so you just need to find them. I checked out my local suppliers in Messines and Algoz and both are open at the moment. For the cucumbers and tomatoes, I would pot the plugs up first with some soil to get a reasonable root ball before planting out into either their final pot or into the garden.
Cavalo Nero and Broccoli
If you are using pots, then the larger the better – a minimum of twenty-five centimetres across the top of the pot – as these plants require a steady supply of a lot of water. They will also require staking so ensure you have some sort of support and a means of tying them to it. Both tomatoes and cucumbers are greedy feeders too so make sure you buy some fertiliser for them and use it as recommended. Lettuce can also be bought as plugs, but for these and root vegetables such as carrots and beetroot, plant them straight away into their final positions. For radishes, you will need to sow seeds which you can buy at the specialist plug producers or in some garden centres. Plant them directly into the soil and thin as necessary once they have started growing.
Other vegetables (that have a longer life cycle) which you can buy now include bell peppers, chillies, courgettes, various brassicas such as cauliflowers, cabbage and broccoli and it might be worth looking out for aubergines too. I would try and buy these as plugs as it’s so much easier. I plant brassicas straight into the soil but with all the others I pot up first to develop the root ball and plant in their final positions some two to three weeks later.
Onions
My final tip is to consult the internet as it is a rich source of information on growing all sorts of vegetables and herbs. Some sites have step by step instructions and pictures which are invaluable. I urge you to have a go at growing even just one vegetable as the sense of achievement and satisfaction as you sink your teeth into your own home-grown produce is simply unsurpassable.
A member of Clube Dos Bons Jardins, a small, friendly multinational garden club that meets at different locations around the Algarve on the 2nd Tuesday every month except over the summer with an optional lunch afterwards.
+INFO: algarvecbj@gmail.com
Zephyr Courgette
