At Pure HQ we have recently started up a gardening club as a bit of fun and to help educate people a bit on how to grow their own veg, and also, to yield fresh produce for people to take home for free to help with the cost of living crisis.
Pure HQ Veg Patch
We have spoken to our Gardening Club Captain Ian who gave us all the details on what’s currently growing in the Pure Veg Patch:
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We have 2 courgette plants and a spaghetti squash plant. Courgette plants are easy to grow, fast growing and heavy cropping, bearing lots of yummy courgettes. Everyone at Pure HQ loves to watch these plants grow as they literally grow overnight, and the fresh courgettes and squash are very tasty!
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You can buy young courgette plants at the garden centre in late spring, but they are also easy to grow from seed as are spaghetti squash. They are best to sow between April and June, and best to harvest between June and October.
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For a step by step guide to grow courgettes have a look at RHS ‘Grow your own guide’ https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/courgettes/grow-your-own
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We are growing lots of tomatoes, specifically the “Cordon” variety. They grow vertically and need support on canes, and they produce the standard size “truss” of tomatoes. We have also grown “tumblers” which are bush varieties which ‘tumble’ over their container producing small, sweet cherry tomatoes.
- Next to our tomatoes we have chives growing. They produce purple flowers which bees love and who also propagate the tomatoes.
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Next up are our scrumptious dwarf green beans which are also heavy cropping and quick to grow! They take approximately 10 weeks to grow and are best to be planted between the months of May and July.
Being dwarf green beans means they only need minimal support, which is ideal for our small space outside the office.
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Finally still in pots, is our purple sprouting broccoli! They take almost a whole year from seed to harvest - ready in late spring they will stand all over winter and be one of the 1st corps of the year, with their beautiful purple sprouts.
- As a team we all look after the veg patch, watering and feeding the plants three times a week.
Top Tips from the Team
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Our first ‘Gardening Tip from the Team’ is from Gail! ‘Discovering more slug repellent friendly ideas to save my lupins – coffee grounds sprinkled around the base of the plant seems to be working so far. I was using eggshells, but my dog Poppy kept eating them!’
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From Ian: ‘Start to water regularly but NOT “little and often”, it is better to leave a gap and water thoroughly as this gives a deeper soaking and encourages stronger deeper roots’
- From Hannah E: ‘I planted out my sweet peas this weekend but have been bringing them out of the greenhouse every day for a week first to get them acclimatised… but now they are in the ground and ready to climb our very rustic homemade trellis (from hazel wands!!)’
- From Wendy: 'My top tip is…. go for plants that make you happy, don’t be afraid that you don’t know what you are doing, just pot them in some peat free compost and water them. If they don’t like the position they are in, move them. Start by buying plants from your local nursery as they are then grown in similar conditions to your garden'
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From Ellie: 'I love anything that attracts animals into my garden. I have two lavender plants and love to watch the bumble bees! So, my sister over the weekend bought me a buddleia which supposedly attracts butterflies! Plant them in an XL pot or even better in the ground to watch the butterflies visit. Buddleias will grow to 1.5m and flower July - October!'
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From Lucie: 'I have some beautiful wildflowers growing in my garden, so I like to mow around them to create areas of long grass and flowers, giving it a meadow like feel. This is also great for biodiversity as the flowers attract lots of pollinating insects!'
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From Hannah P: 'My new thing from this weekend that I have learnt is slugs hate eggshells! Apparently especially good for hostas!!! So, I have eggshells all over the front flower bed! '
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From Ian: 'Keep on top of weeds that will compete for light and water'
- From Ellie: 'I recently bought a pink hydrangea as I have a shady spot in my garden and they like shelter apparently. Rumour has it, add some copper coins to the soil to make the soil more acidic, and watch the hydrangeas turn from pink to blue (although I'm yet to test this theory!)'
