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Growing Guides |
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These growing guides do not try and provide a definitive guide to growing your own organically. Think of it more as a list of tips, ideas and food for thought.
Basic growing tips for baby plants available from Rocket Gardens
In many instances your plants will arrive growing in individual biodegradable pots. The plants and pots are designed to be planted directly into the ground. There is no need to remove the pot.
Most plants that we supply will benefit from the addition of natural worm cast fertiliser. Dig some into the area in which the seedling is to be planted. Worm cast by its nature will not burn the roots of young plants and seedlings. This can be a problem associated with using manure that is not well composted.
During the early part of the year we strongly recommend the use of a layer of horticultural fleece to protect plants from cool weather and potential frost risk.
If you are a gardener who likes to have a few weeks summer holiday away from home then we recommend you try using biodegradable paper mulch around your vegetable plants so that when you return from your holiday your veg patch isn’t overrun with weeds!
Organic gardening
Organic gardening is all about gardening in as environmentally a way as possible. No one is going to be watching how organic you are so it is totally up to you at the end of the day how seriously you take it. Hopefully though you will feel that it is beneficial to banish artificial fertilisers, chemical pesticides and weedkillers from your vegetable garden.
There are lots of useful products available through the Rocket Gardens website to help you in your organic quest!
‘Feed the soil, not the plant’
Improving soil structure should be one of the main aims of the organic gardener and this can be helped along by adding plenty of organic matter for example manure, garden compost, leaf mould etc. Worm cast available through Rocket Gardens is an amazing natural fertiliser excellent for increasing the fertility of soil and promoting the healthy growth of a wide range of vegetables.
Most vegetables appreciate a fertile soil and you won’t go far wrong if you mix some worm cast into the area in which each Rocket Garden seedling is going to be planted!
Crop rotation
The same type of vegetables should not be grown in the same location year after year. Nutrients will become unbalanced and soil living pests and diseases of that particular vegetable will build up.
Rotation is the practice of grouping together closely related vegetables and growing them in a different part of the garden each year.
If you only have a small vegetable garden try and keep your rotation simple –
Year 1
Roots
Brassicas
Others
Year 2
Others
Roots
Brassicas
Year 3
Brassicas
Others
Roots
Year 4
Same as in Year 1
If you are growing in containers you shouldn’t need to worry about rotations too much if at all.
Growing in containers or window boxes
Where space or garden area is limited, growing in containers or window boxes is a really good way to grow vegetables and herbs. They are easy to manage, you shouldn’t have any trouble with weeds and there are lots of types of plant that will do very well grown in this way. These include peppers, beans, courgettes, tomatoes, salad veg to name but a few.
Mulching
Mulching takes on a number of forms. Most commonly it is the spreading of a deep layer of mulch (typically 2-3 inches of garden compost or well rotted manure) on soil around the base of plants. This process helps to smother weeds, save water and improve soil.
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