Want to grow your own veg but don’t know where to start? I was invited to trial a scheme run by Pippa Greenwood that aims to take the mystery out of vegetable gardening.
Most of my ‘non-gardening’ friends have a few flowers in their gardens but none of them would dream of trying vegetables. Somehow, it’s just a scary step too far.
Of course, the easiest way to learn is to garden with someone looking over your shoulder, giving advice. Easy, if you’ve friends or family to ask, more difficult if there’s no one around to help.
It’s this sort of support system that Gardeners’ Question Time regular Pippa Greenwood offers in her Grow Your Own scheme with weekly advice on how to grow the plants she supplies.
I was given a free trial of the scheme in return for a fair review.
How it works
Pippa runs two schemes: an autumn planting range, which I am trialling, and summer vegetables, which are despatched in the spring. The orders for this range have just opened and there are gift cards available, if you want to use it as a Christmas present.
With the summer veg, there are a choice of packages giving you four, six or ten packs of veg from a possible 15, including tomatoes, melon and leeks. The price, which starts at £29, includes one ‘credit’ to Pippa’s online garden advice service.
The ‘Winter Thru’ Spring’ selection was a fixed one: Japanese onions, spring onions, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbage, radicchio, rainbow chard and tatsoi, a type of Chinese cabbage. It cost £34 with between five and 10 plants of each veg – the spring and Japanese onions are also clumps that you don’t separate.
The support comes from regular emails giving advice covering everything from protecting against pests to checking the plants have enough water. If you buy the summer grow your own selection, the emails are tailored to your choices so you don’t end up with masses of irrelevant advice.
Does it work?
First impressions of the scheme were good. Before I even received the plants, there was an email giving an exact despatch date and suggesting how to choose where to grow them and how to prepare the ground.
The plants arrived in a strong cardboard box and were individually wrapped in paper – no plastic here –and clearly labelled.
Despite having been in transit, they were in great condition, green and healthy looking; we had been warned that they might look a little stressed but would pick up quickly.
The plants are grown for Pippa by someone in Lincolnshire and raised in individual cells to make them easier to transplant.
“The grower we now use is fantastic, far, far better than anything I’ve ever managed to buy mail order myself,” Pippa told me.
Following Pippa’s clear instructions for planting depths and distances was easy and my plants soon settled into their allotted space in the vegetable garden. I did have a couple of casualties among the tatsoi but that had nothing to do with the vegetables, I just wasn’t quick enough with slug protection. The rest are growing strongly.
Since then, I’ve had another email as well as a general newsletter. It’s this online ‘support system’ that makes these plug plants different to others I’ve bought in the past. Pippa grows the veg herself and, because the emails are written by her each week, they are tailored to actual growing conditions; the latest mentioned checking for wind rock given the high winds the country had experienced.
Verdict
Buying plug plants is never going to be the cheapest way to grow your own veg. Four choices of the summer selection would give you up to 86 plants for £29 depending on what you choose. It works out at roughly 33p a plant, which is good value, but you can buy a lot of seed for the same price.
Yet, seed sowing is something not everyone feels confident about and it does take space: a greenhouse, cold frame or, at the very least, several windowsills. Getting plants to a garden-ready size can also be tricky.
Buying plug plants is also means you get just the right number of plants – seed packets can contain hundreds of seeds and there are only so many lettuces you can eat. Most seed will keep to another year but it does mean growing the same thing again.
What you don’t get with a seed packet – or most other plug plants – is the emailed help. And for the newcomer to grow your own, the chatty informal tone is perfect – just like a friend leaning over your shoulder giving advice.
I tried this a couple of years ago and the plants were fantastic quality. They survived the winter and grew on well in the spring. It was reassuring to have pippa’s e mails giving advice through the growing season. He timely tips were welcome.
I really like the chatty style of the emails as well. Great to hear you rated the scheme.