Huw Richards - Veg in One Bed New Edition: How to Grow an Abundance of Food in One Raised Bed, Month by Month

I fell in love with growing food because its a joy to eat home-grown produce. The flavour and quality of your own hand-picked vegetables is totally superior to anything you can buy from a shop, because there is no way to get food that is any fresher. Every summer I am again surprised by just how sweet home-grown peas taste straight from the pod.

There is also something magical about sowing a tiny seed and watching it grow to produce a delicious crop. You dont need green fingers and years of gardening experience to make this happen, but a little good advice will help to get you started; so I wrote this book to walk you through the simple steps needed to grow an abundance of food in a small area. If you have grown vegetables before, I hope the book will provide lots of practical hints and tips, as well as ideas to maximize the productivity of your space. If you are new to growing veg, dont worry, you will find all the information that you need to get started right here.

In this book, I have chosen to focus on cultivating a single raised bed, because for new gardeners a defined area is easier to manage. The 3 x 1.2m (10 x 4ft) dimensions of the bed make it large enough to grow a satisfying range and quantity of crops, but also compact enough to fit in even a small garden. Ive also included tips for raising crops and seedlings on your windowsill, so you always have seedlings ready to replace finished crops in the bed.

The main plan shows you how to produce harvests from 19 different vegetables (yes, 19!) from your one raised bed in a single growing season. Month-by-month chapters clearly set out the essential tasks throughout the year, helping you to make sure that everything is on track. You will be amazed how little work is needed to produce so many different crops.

I wish you every success with your raised bed, and hope that by the end of the year you cant wait to start sowing again the following spring! Ive added some ideas of new vegetables you can grow in the second year and beyond at the back of the book.

This is the beginning of your fantastic new vegetable-growing adventure. Before you start, there are a few things you will need to know, and Ill cover those topics in this chapter. Ill begin by showing you how to build your raised bed and what tools youll need. Then Ill explain how you can plan for the weather, how to work out when your plants need watering, and of course, how to produce compost that will keep your bed bursting with nutrients.

Getting Started | Contents

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THE RAISED BED

Raised beds can be found in all sorts of locations, sizes, and styles, and are a fantastic tool for vegetable growers. Let me convince you why I think raised beds help to make growing vegetables easy.

WHY USE A RAISED BED?

There are many reasons to grow vegetables in a raised bed:

• Size this small, defined space is easily manageable when it comes to adding nutrients to the soil, staying on top of weeds and pests, and planning plant spacings.
• Practicality being above the ground, a raised bed prevents your patch encroaching on lawn and means you dont have to bend down as far.
• Microclimate the soil in the bed will warm up more quickly than the ground in spring, and drain better after heavy rain.
• Convenience raised beds are easy to build and take apart, which is especially useful if you are living in rented accommodation. They can even be built on paving slabs or concrete, allowing you to grow vegetables where there is no soil depth.

THE IDEAL SIZE FOR A RAISED BED

There are many opinions on the ideal size of a raised bed, but I have chosen 1.2 x 3m (4 x 10ft), as I feel it is perfect for starting your vegetable gardening journey easy to build and fill with soil, and with plenty of space for growing. A depth of 30cm (1ft) will suit almost all vegetables.

WHEREVER YOU ARE

Raised beds can be built in almost any location, whether in a garden like mine ( see left ), on a hillside ( top center ), in an allotment ( top right ), in a backyard ( bottom right ), or even on a roof terrace or patio ( bottom center ).

FOR ME, THE BEST WAY TO START GROWING VEGETABLES IS IN A RAISED BED THEY ARE PRACTICAL, MANAGEABLE, AND WILL HELP YOUR VEGETABLES TO THRIVE.

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THE WINDOWSILL

Windowsills are a fantastic tool for gardeners, allowing them to maximize the productivity of their beds. Seeds can germinate and grow into seedlings on the windowsill, ready to be transplanted into the bed when there is space.

WHY USE A WINDOWSILL?

Sowing seeds in warm indoor conditions gives plants a useful head start on those sown directly into the raised bed. Not only can you get your harvest sooner and squeeze in extra autumn crops before winter (as plants require less growing time in the bed), but you can start tender, frost-sensitive crops earlier in the year, extending their growing season.

Sowing seeds indoors also protects young, vulnerable seedlings from pests, such as slugs and snails. By the time they are transplanted out, they will be much more resilient to pest damage.

When sowing seeds directly into a raised bed, you may find uneven gaps between plants due to sporadic germination, or that seedlings will need to be thinned out because they are too close together. The beauty of transplanting seedlings from the windowsill is that you can give plants the amount of space they need to grow. I also like the instant visual impact of transplanting strong, healthy seedlings into the bed.

Some plants are better suited to being sown directly into the bed, however, as they grow a long taproot that can easily be damaged if they are transplanted.