THE BENEFITS OF GROWING YOUR OWN
In this new series, discover the satisfaction of nurturing produce from seed to plant, then turning your homegrown harvest into something delicious. As well as lowering your shopping bills, garden-fresh fruit and veg is more nutrient-rich than shop-bought and only picking what you need reduces waste. Plus, being outdoors or losing yourself in a kitchen project can improve your sense of well-being.
bbcgoodfood.com/article/sow-grow-glow
What to grow now
SALAD & RADISHES
Why you should grow them
Salad leaves and radishes grow quickly, particularly in late spring and summer, so they are among the most satisfying things to sow and great for growing with children. As well as lettuce, other leafy veg suitable for salad include corn salad, land cress, mustard, rocket, chicory, mizuna and purslanes. These are unfussy about situation, so good for beds and containers, indoors or outside. Lettuces grow as heads or loose leaves. Heads can be harvested whole, but you can peel away a few outer leaves before that. Heads need wide spacing to mature.
When to sow
Sow any time this month or next, but ideally in several small batches to have crops maturing at different times. Buy salad leaf seed mixes, where several different types are in the same packet, or you can make up your own mix, combining different favourites and scattering them together. If you have several part-used packets, store them in a tin somewhere cool and dry.
