Grow your own veg - Stapeley Style

Grow your own Veg with Stapeley Water Gardens

Chapter One

Hi we would like to welcome you to the ups and downs of growing your own veggies. Here at Stapeley we have chosen a small plot to grow our own and share our experiences with you.

None of the staff participating in this project have grown veg before, so we are beginners and no doubt will make mistakes along the way. Our triumphs and disasters will be recorded here weekly for you all to share. There are four staff members ‘‘their names have been changed to protect the innocent’’.

Aunty Rhinum is in charge although she has to ask her dad or read a book on 'Veg Made Easy'. Douglas Fir is an old staff member having worked here since the Magna Carta, but he knows his Onions. Loo Pins is our newest member of staff and is particularly excited at the prospect of being fed for free! Polly Anthus is ahead of the game and has already started her own plot at home, sadly everything was eaten by the dreaded plague of pestilence commonly known as a slug, so she is going to be watched carefully for produce pilfering.

We have made two raised beds from sleepers and filled with topsoil and ‘muck’ as my dad calls it although I have another term. We found some fancy edging stones lurking in a corner and feel this has given it the classy look Aunty Rhinum requires.

The area had to be fenced from the local ‘watership down’ population, who lie in wait for any stray plant, weeds they don’t find attractive, anything else is a veritable feast. The fencing proved tiresome in the extreme as nothing appeared to be straight or level and every attempt seemed to leave gaping rabbit sized holes with ‘‘welcome to lunch’’ signposted next to them, just in case the bunnies didn’t notice.

Douglas Fir was despatched to the shop to see which seeds we could sow now and still get some food at the end of the process. He came back with enough to feed a small country, we argued about which was the best variety and consequently changed Douglas Firs choices when he wasn’t in. We sowed in careful rows, possibly way too thickly, dwarf runner beans, Douglas Fir said it was not too late to sow these. We also sowed onions, these we put next to the carrots as this according to Aunty Rhinums’s dad keeps the carrot fly away. We also sowed radish, lettuce, brussel sprouts and broccoli. In containers we sowed baby round carrots and mange tout as they do not need much compost, although dad said there will be nowhere near enough for a decent crop. The spring onions and radish will be sown in two weekly intervals to have a continuous crop.

We also have strawberries in a container but I don’t think Loo Pins will be able to leave these alone and I am thinking of an electric fence which will also sort out the ‘watership down’ issue. Chilli’s, a favourite of Aunty Rhinum have been put in containers as small plants, variety 'Scotch Bonnet'. As we were beginning this plot a very good friend of Aunty Rhinum’s who is the Veg Guru and grows all his own nosh kindly gave us some of his leftover plants to start us off. So we also planted spinach, beetroot, leeks, red onions and a new variety of shallot onions which the Guru seemed most excited about. He also gave us broad beans and peas and something called celairlac which Aunty Rhinums thinks looks like an alien and is not sure it will ever be edible.

Our maintance man who will be known as ‘M’ had some cabbages left so we put these in as well. The Guru showed us how to plant leeks as apparently you make a hole, drop the baby leek in and then just fill the holes with water. The reason for this escapes us all but no doubt in time all will become clear. Aunty Rhinums is hoping our promotions lady will take stunning pictures of the plot as it matures and will keep you all posted.

Douglas Fir has been given the task of thinning this weekend as lots of our seeds have germinated, radish, lettuce, sprouts, carrots are all looking fine and the whole team was thrilled when we saw our future food!! ‘M’ keeps asking when the harvest is, Aunty Rhinums thinks this is sarcasm and he is jealous of our success so far, mmmmm must keep an eye out for saboteurs!!

More next week . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Stapeley Carrot