Smart tips for starting and maintaining a vegetable garden

Freshly picked home-grown vegetables are full of flavour, nutritious and immensely satisfying to cultivate. Here's are some tips for starting and maintaining your vegetable garden.

A sunny place is vital, ideally one that is sheltered from the wind, which can impede plant growth.

• Vegetables prefer a well-drained soil, so you'll need to add generous amounts of organic matter if it's heavy clay or very light sand or chalk.
• Easy access to water is also essential.

If you have the space, and the inclination, your garden will benefit from one or two compost bins, a space to stack manure or other bulky materials like leaf mold, paths for easy access and a place to store gardening tools.

• In a small yard, go for tall compost bins that have a smaller footprint.

Begin with the vegetables you most like to eat, and match them to your space. Quick-growing lettuce, spinach and peas are good to start with. On a small plot, choose vegetables that can be grown close together, such as lettuces, beans, garlic and onions. Plant in blocks rather than rows.

Divide the plot roughly into quarters and plan to rotate crops to avoid build-up of pests and diseases. Each year, alternate positions of the four main types of crops: legumes (peas and beans), brassicas (such as broccoli and cabbage), potatoes, and root vegetables and onions.

These little plants are so easy to grow. They are great fun for children — and a tasty addition to a salad. If planting straight in a garden plot, try mesclun, a blend of several leaf lettuces that are quick to spout and produce a variety of colours and tastes.

You will need: Plastic tray without drainage holes, paper towel, seeds, scissors

• Line the tray with paper towel and dampen.
• Sprinkle in the seeds and put in a sunlit place, keeping the paper moist but not sodden.
• Leave until well grown, moistening as necessary.
• Harvest with scissors.

You can grow vegetables almost anywhere outside, in borders or in containers, but a traditional plot, if you have enough space, will give better results and be easier to maintain. Keep these tips in mind and create a delicious vegetable garden today!