A Unique Child: Grow your own - Time to dig in

January is the time we traditionally examine our lifestyles after the excesses of Christmas, making new year resolutions and plans for the coming 12 months. In the garden, January is also the month to make plans, particularly down on the vegetable plot – whether you are taking stock of last year’s crops or starting a new venture.

At Snapdragons Keynsham, we are lucky to have a walled garden that would have supplied fruit and vegetables for the property’s original Victorian household. This provides ideal growing conditions with plenty of sun, shelter and not too many large trees. If you have a choice as to where you are going to start your vegetable plot, there are three important factors to consider.

l Most vegetables prefer a sunny position to grow to their best potential. If you are not sure which areas of your garden get the most sun, it can be helpful to take photos at different times of day to see where the shade is cast. If you have no choice then there are still some crops, such as peas and spinach, that will tolerate shade.

Shelter from strong wind and cold is helpful, which is where our lovely Victorian walls at Keynsham are such a bonus, but remember not to plant too close to your shelter because of the shade it casts.

Avoid planting too close to trees and hedges too, partly because of the shade, but also because they will compete with your crops for nutrients and water.

Once you have identified a good site, it’s time to start digging. Our chef, Raquel Kneeves, is also our garden mastermind. She designed the vegetable plot like a giant wheel with segmented raised beds forming a circle around a central tub. Raised beds enable the soil to warm up more quickly so that plants get a head start in the spring, and the wheel design is helpful for crop rotation. Some crops need to be moved on each year to prevent disease spreading and because different plants use different nutrients from the soil.

In our garden we are still harvesting the last of the Brussels sprouts and beetroot and have a supply of leeks and sage, but Raquel is beginning to plan for spring and summer. She will be digging over the beds as they empty and preparing them with lots of fresh compost to make fertile ground for the new crops. And she’ll be planning which vegetables to grow and where to place them before heading off to the garden centre to choose seeds.

More information

If you are not sure when to sow, the RHS has a year planner showing planting and harvesting seasons.

Crop rotation: www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=124

RHS veg planner: www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/PDFs/GYO/VegPlanner