How to grow your own vegetables: Helen Young’s guide

What better time to grow your own vegies? Here’s what you need to know...

Green fingers: this’ll be you in no time. Picture: Getty Images

If you’ve ever thought it might be nice to grow some of your own vegies or herbs, this is the ideal time. Autumn is gardening heaven, when temperatures are mild but the soil is still warm. Many of us have had good rains. For vegie growers (except those in the tropics), summer crops of tomatoes, basil, capsicums, melons, beans, corn and eggplants have finished, making way for planting winter crops.

It’s best to start out small and easy. Build your skills and confidence on some rewarding crops, then move on to trickier produce. If you’re a regular reader of my Q&A column, you’ll have some idea of how complicated – and frustrating – growing your own can be. The reward-to-effort ratio is highest if you choose vegies that are productive in a small space and in a relatively short time. Top picks to plant at this time of year are salad greens and Asian greens, spinach and silverbeet, kale, broccoli (especially broccolini or sprouting broccoli), spring onions and peas. Most herbs are in this category, too.

Harvesting carrots. Picture: Simon Griffiths

All of these grow happily in pots, troughs or perhaps recycled polystyrene boxes, good for balconies and courtyards. Modular, raised beds in steel or timber are a great option too. The secrets to success are a sunny position and top-quality potting mix (most cheap mixes won’t grow anything well). And for sweet, tender herbs and vegetables, you need to make them grow quickly with fortnightly applications of liquid fertiliser with some added seaweed solution.

Each crop has its own peculiarities. Some resent being transplanted and should be grown from seed, such as carrots, beetroot, radishes, peas, rocket, coriander and dill. If you’re not ready for this skill set, stick to peas (snow peas, sugar snaps and regular peas); the large seeds are easy to handle. Peas need something to climb but are fast and relatively problem free. Their pretty white flowers turn into pickable pods within days; harvest every day or two to keep them producing. The new leaf shoots are also edible.

Brassicas.

If you don’t have much sun, stick to leafy greens. Loose-leaf lettuce leaves – mignonette, butter, oakleaf and cos – can be picked to put straight on a sandwich. Harvest the outer leaves first, keeping four or five leaves on each plant. English spinach, kale and Asian greens such as bok choy are similar, as are mizuna, mustard greens and corn salad. You can grow these from seedlings, bought in punnets, or from seed. Seed is a much cheaper method and gives you access to more varieties; it also lets you sow a batch every few weeks for a continuous supply. Silverbeet and rainbow chard are bigger plants that grow all year in frost-free climates. Use young leaves in salads and mature leaves in cooked dishes.

Spring onions are great value. You can grow them by planting the bottom bits you cut off when cooking – remarkably, they usually re-shoot – or buy a punnet of seedlings. Plant them closely in a big pot and harvest as needed by cutting at the base instead of pulling them out. This way you may never need to buy them again.

Is it cheaper to grow your own? Maybe not for vegies but for herbs, I’d say yes, due to the wastage factor on bought herbs. More importantly, what you pick is as fresh as it can be, it’s at your door, and you know there are no chemical residues. And the pleasure is deep.

To do now...

Fertilise lawns to strengthen them before growth slows and stops for winter Re-program irrigation timers to reduce watering. Divide and transplant crowded clumps of agapanthus, cliveas and kangaroo paws Plant strawberry plants or runners. Plant spring bulbs such as daffodils, snowflakes, Dutch iris, Spanish bluebells, anemones and ranunculus. Put tulip and hyacinth bulbs in the fridge to chill for six weeks before planting. Prune geraniums and use the pieces to strike cuttings. Move pots of cymbidium orchids into a sunny spot to promote winter flowering. Prune hedges, hopefully for the last time until next spring.

Q&A

We have several baby blue-tongue lizards in our garden, so I’m reluctant to use snail bait. I don’t think they’ll eat enough of the many snails though – what’s your advice? Bill Sutterby, Portland, Vic

You are right to be concerned, as most snail baits would harm the lizards too. Regular night hunting with a torch, especially after rain, is effective at reducing numbers. Put out saucers of beer; snails will crawl in and drown. Copper barrier tape is long lasting and effective around vegie beds; it gives snails a reaction similar to an electric shock. Snails also won’t cross a line of spent coffee grounds, but keep fresh grounds away from young seedlings. Alternatively, you can buy organic snail pellets based on iron, which are safe for other organisms.

My passionfruit vine has bountiful large fruit but they drop when still green. It’s happened two years in a row. Claire Bowland, by email

Premature fruit drop is most commonly caused by dryness; passionfruit roots are extensive but shallow. Mulching will help. Strong winds can cause fruit fall, as can pests such as fruit fly, mealybug and passionvine hopper.

I’m growing Rhoeo as a groundcover but it’s long and gangly after the recent rains. Can I prune it? Bill Metcalf, Brisbane

Moses-in-the-cradle (renamed Tradescantia spathacea) is popular in frost-free climates for its purple and green leaves. It is better when kept drier; fungal problems can attack when too wet. Shade encourages lanky growth. You can prune back gangly stems, ideally in spring, but do it now if it’s in a warm spot. The sap can cause skin irritation in humans and dogs, and the species can be invasive. Dwarf forms are available.

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. The best question for March wins Fiskars’ PowerGear X loppers, worth $100.