The best thing about this time of the year is the wonderful selection and wealth of fresh produce in supermarkets and greengrocers. Some people are lucky enough to have allotments and veg patches in their gardens too so they have been smugly collecting their own produce in recent. Growing your own veg and other seasonal goodies has become increasingly popular recently. Everyone seems to be doing it.
I think allotments are great but lots of people, especially in the inner cities, don’t have access to enough outside space to cultivate. And, even if everyone could find a bit of ground to grow on, not everyone can find the time to prepare, tend and harvest even the smallest veg bed. Getting started can be expensive and lots of people (like me!) wouldn’t really know where to start.
But just because you can’t grow a full veg patch, it doesn’t mean you can have a few fresh treats. Even at this time of year you can enjoy some great success with a few pots and a sunny windowsill.
Herbs are very easy to grow. Basil and parsley are dead simple to propagate from seed. But do try chives too as well as mint and coriander. Fresh herbs add so much to a dish and if you have a surplus it’s great to freeze that. You know when you buy potted herbs from the supermarket and they die? This is because they don’t have room in the pot. So another option is to buy one of those pots and split the plants out so they have more room. They usually flourish.
Rocket can be grown on in a tray on a windowsill and takes about three weeks from sowing to being ready for a salad. It’s actually impossible to screw up. Get the kids involved!
Other small salad lettuces can be quickly gown inside too, in pots meaning you have instant salads if you’re a tiny bit organised. You don’t need to be Percy Thrower to have a little homegrown fresh produce in your life. Best of all you should save yourself a few quid and all the smugness of an allotment without the hard work and manure.