Book: A Vegetable Growers Handbook
€9.95
Description
The Book: A Vegetable Growers Handbook is a clear and concise guidebook for growing a wide range of vegetables both outdoors and with protection. The handbook is written in a way that is designed to give the reader a visual guide to growing vegetables.
You can be take it out into the garden with you and it is packed with practical information on how to grow all your vegetables. It covers seed sowing, plant care, planting and harvesting and is aimed at getting people out into their gardens and helping them to grow their own food.
Sample pages from A Vegetable Growers Handbook:
Sowing and Planting
Most vegetables are sown from seed. Only some are planted as sets (onions, shallots) or tubers (potatoes).
Direct sowing outdoors
In theory, most vegetables can be sown directly into a well-prepared seedbed. Many, however, perform much better if they are raised indoors first.
– Root crops such as carrots, parsnips and radish should always be sown direct.
– Other root crops such as beetroot, swede, turnip can be sown direct or raised indoors.
– Peas and beans can be sown direct or raised indoors.
Seedbed preparation:
Dig the soil over in late winter (January to March) as soon as the soil is workable. Wait until the soil doesn’t stick to your boots.
About four to six weeks later rake over the beds roughly and break up some of the sods still leaving it reasonably rough. Do not fork it over again otherwise you bring up the grass sods. Repeat after a week or two and ensure that the soil is loose enough and has a good tilth.
Mark the drill lines with a tight string attached to two pegs and make a drill using a trowel – or much better even – a draw hoe. The depth depends on the type of vegetable.
Then sprinkle the seeds in thinly into the drill. You can practice first on a table or some guttering pipe. Sow thinly to minimise thinning and to save on seeds.
After having sown the seeds in the bed rake over diagonally to close in the seeds and then tap lightly with the rake to gently firm in the seeds. Water if the soil is very dry.
Book: A Vegetable Growers Handbook
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https://greenvegetableseeds.com/newsletters/
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