Top grow your own veg for April

When growing your own veg, April is the traditional month for planting out potatoes; with salad and early varieties at the beginning and main crop towards the end of the month. Main crop potatoes can be planted out without first having ‘chitted’ them.

‘Picasso’ is a really tasty and versatile potato, making great chips, baked, and mashed potatoes as well as staying firm when cooked in soups. It’s an early maturing main crop (about one month earlier than other main crop varieties) producing a huge crop of large potatoes. It’s also very disease resistant, which makes it ideal for beginners.

Plant each tuber to a depth of 10cm with 25cm spacings. When the foliage reaches 20cm above ground make sure you mound up soil around them, especially before June as late frosts can damage the foliage.

Since these veg are expensive to buy in shops it’s a great idea to grow your own, and April is a good time of the year to sow the seeds. Soak them overnight, then sow the seed with the pointed end facing upright, one to a 9cm pot. When the plants develop 5 or 6 leaves they are big enough to plant outside.

However, ensure you acclimatise them to the change in temperature first by leaving them outside during the day and bringing inside overnight for a week. Seeds can also be sown directly in the ground outside in May, but in both cases it’s best to wait until after the last frost before planting outside.

If planting outside, it’s ideal to cover with some form of protective cloche.

This lovely variety has distinctive ribbed stems and light green outer. What’s more, they have wonderful flavour and texture, also producing huge flowers which can be stuffed and fried after dipping in a light batter. It’s a good idea to succession sow the seeds to extend the period of harvest. Sow seeds on their sides to stop them rotting 2-3cm deep into a 9cm pot of compost.

They can also be sown directly into the ground outside after last frosts have passed. If growing inside, you’ll need to pot on the seedlings into a large pot before planting outside.

Again, plants will need to be hardened off before planting outside after last frosts. With a bit of luck, you should be able to start picking courgettes about 8 weeks after sowing the seeds.

No veg garden is complete without onions. It’s easiest to grow them from ‘sets’ rather than seeds, which are young onion bulbs grown from seed the year before.

‘Sturon’ stores well and planting sets now means you’ll have fresh onions early summer, when stored bulbs from the year before are running out. They don’t like cold, wet soil so if possible, warm the soil first by putting a cover over it for about 7 days to help the sets establish and grow well.

It’s also important to keep the area around the onions weed free whilst they’re growing.

Push the sets gently into the soil so that the tips are level with the surface and space them 10cm apart for larger bulbs, 2.5cm apart for smaller ones, leaving 15cm between rows. Sprinkle some dry sand around them to disguise them from birds who might otherwise be tempted to pull them out!

There is nothing quite like the taste of freshly picked corn on the cob and, as the name implies, this variety is quick to reach maturity. It crops well, producing tasty super-sweet cobs.

Sow this month in single pots or modules because the seedlings don’t like to have their roots disturbed too much. Keep them under cover until ready to plant out after last frosts.

Another vegetable that tastes best straight from the plant are peas. The good news is that different varieties can be succession sown to give you continuous crops throughout summer.

However, if you only have time to sow one variety ‘Alderman’ is a great choice as it will keep you in peas all summer. Stems grow to around 150cm long, containing tender and sweet peas. Sow from now until June directly outside in rows.

Alternatively, sow peas under cover and plant the seedlings outside in late May against their support cane, spacing them 25cm apart.

Next is a very hardy prolific, long cropping vegetable that deserves to be more widely grown. It is commonly known as spinach, but it is actually a chard.

It looks and tastes very similar to spinach, but unlike spinach, will continue to keep producing new leaves for months on end. What’s more it’s easy to grow and is a very good choice for people with little time or space to garden. Crops are ready to harvest around seven to eight weeks after sowing.

They do appreciate a fertile soil to grow in so it’s worthwhile taking the time to dig in a lot of well-rotted organic matter before sowing seeds at a depth of 2.5cm, 30cm apart. They’ll also grow well planted in a container, provided they’re kept well-watered during dry spells.

These are a really tasty, small and tender broad beans. Once harvested, they are great eaten cooked or raw and their ‘skin’ covering is so thin that you can leave it on making them quick and easy to prepare.

At this time of the year, you can plant out directly into the ground and can continue to succession sow until early May for continuous harvests during summer.

Fork in some compost or well-rotted manure before sowing and they will grow happily. Plant the seeds 5cm deep and 20cm apart in double rows with a 20cm space in between.

Eternally popular with the British public, this variety of runner bean is both stringless and tasty providing a continuous supply of beans for weeks on end. Try making an early and a late sowing to extend the period of cropping into autumn.

Sow seeds singly in their own pots under cover and do not plant out until all risk of frost has passed, usually June.

Don’t forget to put your support canes up before planting out and remember to water well in dry weather.

Finally, French beans have become more and more popular as a veg to grow with many different varieties to choose from, both dwarf and climbing.

This is a climbing variety producing loads of beans with pretty white flowers. Soak seeds for about 30 minutes before sowing one or two seeds to a pot and keep under cover until ready to plant out late May after risk of frost has passed when the seedlings are about 5cm tall.

You can also sow the seeds directly in the ground between June and July. These will need support canes in place before planting out.