Savills Portugal

Growing your own vegetables can be a fun and extremely satisfying experience, particularly when your dinner plate is full of freshly picked produce. It’s probably more simple and cost effective than you might expect and provides the opportunity to eat delicious veg free from packaging and food miles.

If you’re thinking of establishing your own vegetable patch, a good spot in the garden is crucial to get everything off to the best start possible. Choose an open, sunny plot and if you're sowing directly into the soil it’s important to create a good seed bed first. Start by removing all competition: get rid of weeds, remove any volunteers from previous years’ crops and take the time to dig everything over, adding well-rotted manure or compost so there is plenty of organic matter.

For new growers, there’s nothing more disheartening than watching your seedlings germinate only to die, so it’s worth considering crops that are easier to grow and/or hardier: peas, beetroot, broad beans and potatoes are a good place to start. These more frost-resistant plants can be planted directly into the soil from early March but it’s not too late to get them in the ground now.

Courgettes, pumpkins, squash, runner beans, French beans, peppers and lettuce are also great to grow at home though they are more susceptible to frost, so extra care should be taken with these. It’s a good idea to start them off in pots or trays on a window sill or in a greenhouse and plant out from the beginning of May onwards once the risk of frost has gone. Planting out seedlings can often get crops off to a better start, taking advantage of the plentiful sunshine in late April/May.

Stagger plants for a constant supply. It may sound obvious but if you’ve got 200 seeds, don’t sow them all at once or the entire crop will be ready to harvest at the same time - 20 seeds or so every two weeks will keep you going from June through to October.

If you don’t have a garden, don’t let that put you off. You can grow plenty on a sunny window sill or a balcony. Salads, spring onions, tomatoes and herbs grow well in pots or boxes with good quality compost. Consider having two trays of lettuce for example, planted three weeks apart, so one can be harvested while the other is growing.