Growing Everyday Vegetables: The Good Life

By Linda Gray

Growing Everyday vegetables takes you step-by-step through the process of growing, harvesting and storing ten everyday vegetables:

Beans, Broccoli, Carrots, Garlic, Lettuce, Onions, Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Zucchini.

Organic at your fingertips!

And, as an added bonus, there are recipe ideas for every vegetable, so you can serve deliciously different recipes that the whole family will enjoy, without getting bored.

Treat yourself and your family and friends to the best food this year. Veggies are gluten-free, (processed) sugar-free and most definitely vegan!
 

In the interests of full disclosure, and not wanting to offend anyone, there are references to meat in a few of the recipes although alternatives are always possible!

Please note: This  edition is a collection of ten individual 'how to grow vegetable' guides published in the 'Growing Guides' category.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Gray
• Release date: Jun 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386432371

Linda Gray

Linda Gray lived off the land as a stay-at-home mum on a tiny budget for many years and, among other things, learned how to connect with nature and the simpler things in life. Her experiences led her to pursue her childhood dream of writing and she has been sharing her ideas via books and blogs for more than a decade.

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GENERAL GARDENING TIPS

Here are a few general growing tips that may come in handy.

**always make sure plants are in well-drained soil or compost. Check your soil outside for drainage and make sure containers and pots have good drainage. Very few plants will survive in waterlogged soil.

**check your plants every day. Get someone else to do this if you are away for a few days. They must be watered in dry weather and sometimes need shelter from a hot midday sun. We don’t tend to have that problem very much in the UK, but you never know.

**grow what you like to eat. Doesn’t matter how great the beetroot harvest is, if no-one wants to eat it, it’s a waste of your time and energy.

**local growers may have valuable tips that will save you from a crop failure, especially if you are intending to grow fruit or vegetables which are not acclimatized to your region. Chat over the fence with your gardening neighbour and get them to talk about their crops. Guaranteed they will love to share their tips!

**Don’t rush into the garden and dig over the ground in one go, especially if you aren’t used to daily physical (hard) work-outs.  Back ache isn’t comfortable, and could keep you from pottering in the garden for weeks. Take it slowly – even half a square metre a day will soon give you enough prepared soil for seeds or small plants.

**Always use good potting or seed compost in pots and containers to give your plants all the nutrients they need.

** Use bio-degradable pots so that you don’t disturb the roots when planting out.  

Save cardboard tubes from the inside of toilet rolls, kitchen towels etc; Cut them in half so you have 2 tubes and then cram them into a seed tray. Fill with compost and sow your seeds as usual. The cardboard should survive just long enough to plant out and then will decompose safely.

You can also buy a ‘pot-maker’ tool these days from most garden suppliers. Or simply roll newspaper a few times round a rolling pin or something similar. These home-made pots only need to last a few weeks so they don’t have to be perfectly symmetrical or garden works of art! There are ready made biodegradable pots so you don’t have to spend the time doing this at all.

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HOW TO GROW BEANS

Healthy Reasons, Growing, Watch-out For, Harvesting, Storing and Recipe Ideas

Although green beans have been cultivated for home use since the 16th century, string-less varieties weren’t really known until the turn of the 20th century.  Most hybrids we buy now are string-less unless left too long on the plant.

Healthy Reasons:

Green beans are a good source of vitamins A and C, and Folate. They should be cooked before eating to remove any toxins in the skin.

Beans are also high in protein and dietary fibre.

GROWING

There are hundreds of different types of beans and, and different varieties will have different sowing and growing requirements. Choose carefully, considering:

**Climate

**Growing space required

**Attention needed

**Something you will actually eat!

Check on your seed packet for manufacturer’s growing recommendations before you buy, or start sowing seeds.

Preparing the land

Most everyday green beans will prefer a fairly sunny spot in the garden, and well-drained soil. Beans won’t do well in water-logged ground.

Dig over the soil and remove any large stones, perennial weeds and non-organic debris. Rake to a fairly fine consistency. Then before you actually start putting seeds in the ground, think about any support structures that may be needed for your plants.

It’s very important that structures are in place before sowing seeds, otherwise seeds or young plants can be damaged when pushing poles or canes into the ground.

A very practical and popular way of supporting climbing bean plants is to construct a tepee using bamboo or other long straight canes.  Push them into the prepared soil in a circle, as if making a tepee. Many climbing plants will climb to 2 or more metres high so you will need canes to be around 2.5 metres or longer.

Canes can be placed at 6in (15cm) intervals or more, depending on how many canes you have. You’ll need a fairly solid structure though, so go for more if you can.

Using a strong garden twine, tie the tops together securely and then tie them together at regular intervals (about 8ins or 20cm) all the way up. The strings will help the bean plants cling on as they’re climbing.

And finally, really make sure it’s as solid as it can be. In a high wind, you don’t want it blowing down and taking your precious bean plants with it.

A trellis against a sunny wall will also work well. However, be extra vigilant with watering. A brick or stone wall will absorb a lot of moisture from the soil away from your plants so they may need watering much more than usual. Unless of course you live in a high rainfall area, then don’t worry about it!

Bush varieties of green beans rarely need any support system, although it’s best to position them out of draughty pockets in your garden. And again always check on the recommendations for your particular variety. There are hundreds, probably thousands of different types of bean and of course your climate will also determine growing conditions and care required.

Broad beans will benefit from a structure or support system. Pig wire stretched between posts can be good enough. Always make sure the structure is strong enough to support heavy plants and not blow down in a sudden gust of wind.

growingeverydayvegetables©LindaGray2020

Sowing and growing

Generally, green bean seeds should be sown outside after all danger of a frost has passed.  Again though, check your seed. There are many new hybrid seed varieties on the market every year that are tolerant to colder/warmer temperatures as well as various diseases.

Sowing a short line of seed every two or three weeks throughout the growing season will ensure a regular supply for many months. Beans tend to crop very quickly and very abundantly, so if you can spread out the sowing a