Choosing What to Grow
Match the plant to your plot, your kitchen, and your patience
1 min read
The most common first-season mistake is growing what looks exciting in a catalogue rather than what suits your space and your meals. A shortlist of reliable crops you actually cook with beats a long list of experiments.
Three questions before you buy seed
Ask how much sun the crop needs, how long it occupies the bed, and whether you will eat it weekly. Leafy greens and radishes are quick and forgiving. Tomatoes, peppers, and squash need warmth, room, and a longer commitment.
Good beginner crops
- Salad leaves and rocket β ready in weeks, re-sow every fortnight.
- Bush beans β heavy crops with little fuss once the soil is warm.
- Courgette β one or two plants feed a whole household.
- Herbs like chives, parsley, and mint β picked little and often.
Grow a metre of something you love before you grow ten metres of something you have never tasted.
Once you have a shortlist, check each crop's spacing and days to maturity on the packet, or in a reference like the list of common vegetables.
