A Beginner's Guide to Growing Your Own Greens

Editorial

Gardening need not take place on a quarter-acre block. A garden need not be vast, grand or even planted directly in the ground. If you have just a little courtyard, a balcony or a window sill, you can almost certainly grow a bit of your own pantry.

Let your palate be your guide when first deciding on a crop. If you tend to eat a lot of greens, then whack these things in some soil. Actually, greens and herbs are a wonderful way to begin gardening. Let’s start with those.

You’ll find a modest spend and a little effort will save you a wheelbarrow of money. I mean, FFS, those thieves at the supermarket charge more than fifteen bucks a kilo for rocket (AKA roquette or arugula) and you’ll find that your own, fresh crop will have twice the flavour, ten times the crunch and a far more seductive colour. Just wait until you rinse your first batch of leaves; you’ll see chlorophyll surge from it like rainbows from the horn of a magical unicorn. Or something.

Rocket is a hardy plant and is easily, and best, grown from seed. Keep your rocket in partial sun and moist in a pot and you’ll be aghast that something so terribly expensive is so easily cultivated. Just whack some seeds in, or germinate them first in a moistened piece of kitchen towel, and wait to see which of your babies will prosper. You can plant standard rocket, which has a broader leaf that the wild brassica we most frequently buy in stores. The peppery broad leaf rocket (eruca sativa) is, for some odd reason, far easier to buy in seed form than its wild cousin (diplotaxis tenuifolia). Whatever you plant, and I prefer the wild variety which I can only acquire at online seed banks, you must keep it moistened.

Moisture is key for all leaves, of course. As is a good mix of organic compost, such as mushroom, and organic potting mix for those who are balcony gardeners. I never bother with fertiliser preferring a good initial soil.

Other gratifying varieties are oak-leaf lettuce, mizuna or tatsoi. Dude, tatsoi grows faster than the Chinese economy. And, it keeps regerminating itself. It has appeared in my garden pots metres away from initial planting. You’re very likely to find a similar success story; there’s always a plant that will colonise your particular patch like a CO2-eating zombie.

After a little experimentation, you’ll find out which greens grow best in your micro-climate. And, don’t ever feel disappointed by the need to keep planting your annuals or by the size of your crop. You don’t need to grow these babies to full dimensions before tucking in. There’s nothing wrong with chopping off a few micro-greens.

And, there’s nothing wrong with a little urban farming.

Helen Razer, Citysearch