Adventures in small holding: vegetable growing

Vegetable growing is a part of the small holding journey that can be fruitful and maddening all at once. Depending on your soil, the changeable weather and pest control attempts, your outcome might be different each year.

No one understands this better than Bruce Darrell; resident grower at Co Tipperary’s Cloughjordan Eco Village. For over 10 years, Bruce has used his science-focused skillset to grow vegetables for his family and community, as well as to research and share knowledge on best practises for growing food. He shares his gardening knowledge via his YouTube channel, Research, Education and Development (RED) Gardens.

“When I started getting serious about growing, I bought all the books and I noticed they were all telling me to do a different thing,” he says. “That was kind of the genesis of the RED Gardens project.”

For Bruce, growing food isn’t about following all the rules of one gardening method. Everyone’s garden has unique circumstances and attributes that will shape their outcomes. Through his YouTube channel, he shows viewers his several, family-sized (100sq m) garden plots, all of which adhere to a different gardening method.

“Each of my gardens is sized in what I imagine would be useful for a single family,” he says. “That’s one-fortieth of an acre; it’s not a big space. For most people living in the country, that’s just a small portion of their back garden.”

Time is a big consideration when planning a vegetable garden. Success usually depends on the amount of time spent weeding, removing pests and protecting plants from late frosts.

Many amateur gardeners have experienced failure, which can be disheartening.

The truth is, even the most skilled growers experience failed crops; it’s all about understanding what happened and making appropriate adjustments the next time you plant.

“One of the mistakes people make is that they treat growing food as a hobby – you need to treat it with the same seriousness as having a pet,” Bruce explains. “You can’t just go away, abandon it and expect it to be OK. The most success I have is when I do all the little jobs when they need to be done.”

Perennial vegetable gardens, which are mainly comprised of fruits (like rhubarb and berries) and herbs that come back each year, can be a good place to start if you aren’t sure how much time you’ll have to devote to growing your own food.

From there, you can plan larger garden plots. Microgreens, lettuces and spinach are all quick-growing vegetables that can give you a feel for the amount of work needed to care for a vegetable garden.

Vegetables grow at different temperatures and times of year. Knowing how to prepare your plot, when to plant and how best to fertilise your garden are all necessary to research.

Estimate the amount of space to devote to your plot and plan accordingly. Research soil types and check the type you have – is it clay or sand-based, for example? Soil type can affect how your vegetables grow.

If you’re interested in a particular gardening method – like companion growing, permaculture, or a no-dig garden – there are many resources online (permaculture.ie; giy.ie) in addition to Bruce’s YouTube channel.

While good for growing a variety of vegetables through most of the year, Ireland’s climate is far from tropical. Consider growing some cold-weather varieties if you’re interested in eating your own vegetables all year round.

“I try to harvest vegetables 12 months of the year,” Bruce says. “It’s possible, in some situations, to dig carrots, parsnip and potatoes out through the winter. Kale, Brussels sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli and leeks are excellent through the winter and the spring.”

Polytunnels offer a controlled micro-climate and can help you produce food year round. In the summer months, you can grow peppers, tomatoes, delicate herbs and aubergine. They can be costly, but if you take growing seriously, Bruce says they pay for themselves in vegetables.

“I can get roughly 10kg of vegetables per square metre in the polytunnel,” he says. “Just by placing a sheet of plastic over the top (of the vegetables) I’m able to double my yield.”

Bruce explains it depends on your gardening method, soil type (and its overall health) and the crops you sow what combination of fertiliser you will need.

“Vegetable gardens are essentially fertility hogs,” he says. “Most people need a lot more fertility and organic matter than from just compost. You can buy compost from other places, use manure from your farm and then top it off with fertility bought in from elsewhere. You will likely need more compost than you can make in a year.”

If Bruce feels a soil isn’t healthy enough to provide a decent crop, he will send a sample for testing. Then he’ll mix different amounts of seaweed powder, chicken fertiliser and any other minerals that might be lacking in with his compost before evenly spreading over his garden plot. Creating healthy soil with the right pH balance often takes more than a year to achieve.

If you plan on using chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers on your garden, there is some legislation to consider before you begin. Gardening chemicals are grouped into professional and non-professional uses – to be able to use professional-grade chemicals, you must register with the Department of Agriculture and adhere to the strict rules regarding usage and storage of these chemicals. You must also pass a Pesticide Application Equipment Test before being an approved user.

If you’re unsure of whether a gardening chemical is professional or non-professional grade, the information can be found directly on the label of the product. You can also find a detailed list of approved non-professional grade chemicals, which can be used without registration, on the Pesticide Registration and Control website (www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie). Professional grade chemical sales must be recorded and shops must take your contact information upon purchasing such products.

Regardless of your chosen gardening method, some vegetables will need to be preserved if they ripen all at once. Pickling, fermenting and dehydrating are all great ways to preserve vegetables. Bruce preserves his vegetables in a variety of ways.

“We dehydrate some, mostly fruit, but I’ve been dehydrating lots of tomatoes that get turned into tapenade,” he says. “We freeze a fair amount of high-value veggies, like peas and beans – stuff you can use a handful of at a time. I also pickle a fair amount – I make a lot of cucumber pickle, cornichon, and cauliflowerpickle with mustard and turmeric. I need to be able to take (the cauliflower) and cash it in because it all comes in the same week.”

Associated costs

Bruce doesn’t use any mechanical tools, pesticides or herbicides in his gardens. Slug control is done daily by hand and netting is used to deter other pests, like carrot flies, cabbage butterflies and pigeons. If you’re just starting out, you can expect to purchase a good-quality spade, an oscillating hoe, a garden rake, a garden fork, garden fleece (for cold weather protection), pest control and wind break netting, compost, fertilisers, seeds and a polytunnel. If buying everything at once, you can expect to invest about €1,000 into your garden. Opting out of the polytunnel should cut the amount in half, or, if you need a larger polytunnel – or plan on using chemical growing aids or pesticides –you could easily spend up to €3,000 (domestic polytunnel pricing came from polytunnelsireland.ie). Chemical fertilisers and plant protection will add costs also.