How to grow amazing organic veggies

It’s important to decide on how much free time you have to tend your new organic vegetable patch before you get going.

If in doubt, start off small because you can always expand.

If your chosen plot is covered with weeds, they must be completely removed using a hoe.

Another chemical-free method of killing weeds is to solarise the soil.

Simply position black plastic over the entire area, anchor it with rocks, then leave it for a month.

The heat will cook and destroy the weeds.

Once they’ve been removed, dig the garden bed to the depth of your spade, taking care to remove any rocks.

Dig in compost and cow or chicken manure over the whole garden bed.

The more you add, the richer the soil will become, and the healthier your vegetables will be.

Check the level of acidity in the soil with a pH kit, and add dolomite or liquid lime if it is acidic.

Vegetables like a pH of about 6.5.

To garden organically means you have to become more aware of the environment and also respect the balance of nature.

Using sprays that contain chemicals can alter this balance by killing off beneficial insects, such as ladybirds, parasitic wasps, and hoverflies.

The organic gardener observes the laws of nature and puts plant residues back into the soil through mulching and composting.

This in turn feeds the bacteria, fungi, insects and earthworms that prepare the soil for living plants.

These can be grown on wire attached to a sunny fence or wall, on a frame made from upright timber posts and covered in chicken wire, or on a teepee in a large pot.

Use the same frame for growing peas in the cooler months.

Care

Sow the seeds directly where the plants are to grow.

Fertilise when the flowers appear and water regularly as the pods begin to swell.

Tip

Make a cubbyhouse by creating a three-sided teepee. Get the kids to plant seeds at the base and after a few weeks it will be covered in foliage.

An adaptable crop, carrots need deep, well-drained soil so the roots expand and grow quickly.

It should be free from stones or lumpy organic matter to prevent the roots becoming misshapen.

Baby carrots can be grown in pots.

Care

Sow the seeds directly where the plants are to grow.

The seedlings may take 2-3 weeks to emerge and need thinning to 50mm apart.

Tip

Carrot seeds are also available in seed tape and the spaced seeds don’t need to be thinned out.

Also known as peppers, capsicums start out green, then turn red, yellow or purple as they mature.

At this time of the year, they’re best planted from seedlings so the fruit can mature before the cold weather arrives.

Care

Fertilise with a complete plant food when the flowers appear.

Water regularly to prevent blossom end rot.

This vegetable can be grown in garden beds or containers.

The roots are full of vitamins and the young leaves are delicious in salads.

Beetroot is ready to harvest about 10 weeks from sowing.

Pull alternate roots early and the roots left in the soil will increase in size.

Care

Sow the seeds directly where the plants are to grow and thin them to 70mm apart.

Feed fortnightly with a soluble plant food for quality roots.

An easy-to-grow vegetable, celery can provide a continuous harvest for 2-3 months if the outside stems are picked like silverbeet.

Sow the seeds in punnets and transplant them to the garden when they’re 75mm high.

Care

Regular watering is essential as celery is shallow-rooted.

Feed every two weeks so the stems don’t turn coarse.

This vegetable comes in different shapes and sizes.

Pick telegraph cucumbers when they’re 300mm long, apple cucumbers when they’re the size of a tennis ball and Lebanese cucumbers at about 100mm in length.

Care

Sow the seeds where the plants are to grow.

To save space, tie them to a support so they can climb.

At this time of the year, it’s best to plant this vegetable from a seedling to allow the fruit to mature before the cold weather arrives.

Their silvery leaves look good in large pots.

Care

Feed with a complete soluble plant food when the flowers first appear.

Regular watering is essential.

Also known as courgettes, zucchinis are immature marrows.

Pick them when they’re about 100-150mm long to encourage further crops.

They crop quickly, so you’ll be harvesting fruit about 8-10 weeks after sowing.

Care

Sow the seeds directly into a slight depression on top of a raised mound, allowing 1m between the plants.

In cool areas, plant as seedlings.