Page 46 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2023

Malabar spinach – Red (Basella rubra)
expected maintenance of the crop such as hoeing, weeding, tying in plants etc. But
if space is short and care is taken when hoeing, thinning etc. the row and plant distances can be closed up giving more plants per metre or square metre. This usually results in smaller vegetables but as there are more plants the overall yield is often higher, and the smaller vegetables are better for the smaller families in most households these days.
Smaller crop spacing works well with lettuce, carrots, onions, beetroot, most Brassicas salad crops and many other vegetables. If you grow on the bed system, then closer spacing works very well as any work is carried out from the paths
on either side of the bed. Commercially
the small carrots grown for canning and freezing are grown in beds with a row spacing of 50mm and the plants barely a centimetre apart. Smaller crop spacing is
a very good method of increasing the yield and productivity of the plot, plants may just need a bit more food and water as there are more of them.
Vertical Growing
I have mentioned vertical growing in previous editions of the magazine as it is one of the up-and-coming trends in indoor commercial vegetable growing especially salad leaves and other salad crops. There are now producers in many parts of the country including central London giving low food miles. From an amateur growing perspective there are three main methods of vertical growing, the first is making use of walls, fences, trellises and other vertical supports and growing areas by growing plants up these usually with some form of support. Crops that can be grown include trained fruit trees like cordon, fan and espalier apples, pear, cherries and plums and good harvests can be achieved from a very small ground area but making
use of the vertical space. There are also
vegetables that will climb or can be trained up supports including runner and French beans, peas, courgettes, squash, pumpkin, cucumber, and tomatoes. These will climb up canes, poles, arches, trellis, or similar supports.
The second types of vertical growing is to grow the vegetables in trays or troughs one on top of another with LED lights lighting the lower trough, this is how most of the commercial growers are producing their crops like salad leaves and herbs. It is questionable whether this is financially viable for an amateur grower especially with the current high energy costs even
if you have your own solar panels. This is purely my opinion and I have not seen any figures to prove or disprove this comment, if any members know of or have any figures, please let us know; or could it be an experiment for a keen member?
What I have seen on a couple of occasion is a single tray or container supported on a stand above a crop underneath giving two crops from the same area, although the lower crop needs choosing carefully as it will need to tolerate a reasonable amount of shade if it is to produce a reasonable yield. Having said that any yield is a bonus if the higher crop is giving a good yield.
It is also possible to grow crops on steps or crop ladders where the vegetables are grown in troughs with each higher one set back slightly from the lower one (like steps) so light is available for each step. These can be leaning against a wall or back-to-back and free standing and can be a couple of steps high or up to a couple of metres high
The third method of vertical growing is to buy or make growing containers that can be fixed to a wall or fence and can be used for a range of vegetables and flowers and work well with strawberries and herbs. Lettuce, spinach, salad leaves, beetroot, peas, runner and French beans will all grow in this type of container; the peas and
Herbs in vertical wall
beans usually trail down rather than up! These vertical growing walls can be
brought as kits and are fixed to the wall or fence and then planted up although some can be brought ready planted with certain flowers or herbs. They have a semi or automatic watering system which makes maintenance very easy as all you have to do is pick the crop! Watering and feeding is automatic, there are no weeds so little work other than any pest or disease to control. These vertical walls have been used over the whole façade of hotels in London and Paris and no doubt other cities so are well tried and tested and worth a go if you have the wall space.
Plot Design
The old-fashioned allotment takes a lot
of beating with its regimented lines of vegetables, it may not look particularly attractive to modern eyes but makes very productive use of the allotment space and will give a good yield for the area if the soil fertility is properly maintained. The modern trend on allotment sites seems to be raised beds, if correctly designed these can still be productive but many people use fancy shapes and end up wasting a lot of space. Too high an area is wasted in paths or other non-productive area. Too many allotments seem to have areas of lawns or mown grass which to me seems to be a bit pointless, we do not eat grass so unless you have an animal that does what is the point of a lawn especially if you have to keep cutting it.
Depending on the size and shape of your plot draw a plan on paper (graph paper
is best) and fit in the crops you want to grow making full use of the space and also using intercropping, catch cropping and successional sowing. Your aim should be to be self-sufficient in vegetables for the year and keeping your food miles to nearly zero. Please do your bit to reduce the effects of climate change!
46 Simply Vegetables