The Beginner's Kitchen Garden Mini Series: Sarah’s 5 Essential Categories of Edibles
episode description
Join us for the launch of our brand-new podcast miniseries 'The Beginner's Kitchen Garden,' where Sarah will be guiding you through everything you need to know about cultivating a Kitchen Garden for the very first time. This episode covers all the basics which will enable you to get started, so pens and paper at the ready!
in this episode, discover
- The best varieties to grow in your Kitchen Garden
- Top tips for getting the best from your vegetables
advice sheet
Top tips
Sarah recommends choosing vegetables in categories. Here are her recommendations for the perfect beginner’s Kitchen Garden:
‘Big producers’
These are the plants that are super easy to cultivate and are ‘cut and come again,’ so the more you pick, the more they will produce. This list includes, flat leaf parsley, salad rocket, annual herbs, kale, chard, spinach, and courgette. Runner beans and French beans are often very prolific. Rhubarb is another good choice for shade. Peas and mangetout are worthy additions. Don’t forget about tomatoes and mini cucumbers.
‘Chuck in and ignore’
Great for those who have an allotment that they can’t tend to all the time. Sow these one weekday evening, and then water, and check in on them around 10 days later. These varieties include beetroot, broad beans, kale (needs netting) kohlrabi, leeks (hardy), purple sprouting broccoli (needs netting in spring and autumn), and squash.
‘Easy perennials and shrubs’
This includes globe artichokes, rhubarb, bush and cane fruit like blackberries, asparagus, and evergreen herbs. Some potato varieties are a good choice too.
‘Flavour first’
High-sugar content vegetables and fruit such as new potatoes peas, broad beans, and tomatoes. Carrots and asparagus also work well, the sugars convert rapidly to starch, so the flavours change quickly.
‘Unbuyables’
Chicory, borlotti beans, coloured French beans (in yellow and purple), unusual tomatoes, chervil, and summer savory. Although not so easy to buy from a traditional greengrocer, these are absolutely delicious grown at home.
‘Ornamentals’ or ‘edimentals’
These look simply gorgeous and are edible too. Globe artichokes, Kale ‘Redbor’ F1, scented leaf pelargoniums, and rainbow chard are all must-haves.
Sarah’s book ‘A Year Full of Veg: a harvest for all seasons’ is out now. Visit sarahraven.com to order your very own copy
