Cost saver - with these simple steps you can grow your own winter vegetables

Growing your own winter root vegetables is a great cost saver. Photo/Getty Images.

With autumn upon us, it is a great time to get some winter vege in the ground. One of the great benefits of growing food in winter is that the plants aren’t prone to so many pests and diseases. The maintenance of cooler-weather crops is also less intense than summer crops - so it really is the perfect time for any beginner to give gardening a go, and grow some food.

Change the mindset to winter-thinking - stews, soups, curries and hearty meals all require good root crops, with a side of green vege. You may be surprised to learn that plenty of root vege grow well in containers too, so you don’t have to be blessed with lots of outside space to start this season.

With onions going to cost a premium this year, we need to diversify our thought process and start planting spring onions and chives to give us that onion flavour most of us desire. Remember these plants will take time to get established, especially over the shortest-day months of June and July, so patience is important. I recommend placing a good mulch on the ground before planting through, as it can be tricky to mulch around these tiny plants when they first go into the soil.

Swedes and turnips are easy to grow and hardly need any care. They are also a great root crop to bulk out the winter food, which is a real bonus with soaring food prices.

These veg have a more neutral flavour than some, so I find it’s best to cook them in a good soup broth or rich stew or curry, so they can absorb the delicious flavours in your dish. They even roast up well, sprinkled with a few herbs or spices, and a dollop of oil or butter.

Shallow sow these seeds direct into drills in the garden, at a depth of about 1cm. They prefer loose soil, so lightly pat the soil on top after sowing the seeds. Keep moist until germination and thin out after roughly 10 days to approximately 10-12 cm apart.

Carrots are a challenge to grow, but well worth the extra effort in the beginning. I sow carrots every few weeks up until June, one row at a time. Carrots prefer sandy soil as an optimum and do well when grown in containers or pots, as long as they are deeper than 20cm.

To sow carrots, use the back of a spoon depressed slightly in the soil and drag it along in a line. Then, sparingly sprinkle carrot seeds in, cover and slightly pat the soil. Sprinkle some water along the row and cover with a paper towel, wet cardboard or newspaper. Keep moist and covered for 7-10 days and remove - voila! Your carrots will have sprouted!

Care is required in the first few weeks of growth until they get established, then water once a week if there hasn’t been rainfall. If sown too thickly, there could be lots of plants in one area. Rather than thinning them, harvest every alternate one as baby gourmet carrots and leave the rest to grow and fill the space.

Carrots keep in the ground very well over the winter/ spring season. Two things to avoid when growing carrots:

1. Sowing seed in freshly manured soil (too much nitrogen produces funny-shaped carrots).

2. Transplanting. I see carrots are available in the garden centres and I cringe every time I see this, as carrots are a root crop with tender young hairs at the young stage of life and transplanting causes these to be ripped off and damage the plant which stunts growth.

This selection of winter veg is a great place to get started for the coming season, as you have turnips and spring onions that grow quickly, followed by swedes and carrots.

Always key when growing root crops - I recommend you prepare your soil by making sure there is enough obstructive-free soil for the plants to get established under the surface.

Remember that, if this is your first winter garden, it is important to understand that crops are slower to grow but require less care. The reward is sometimes even greater than a summer garden, as your plants are happy to be in the ground, so you can harvest and eat at your own pace.

Happy winter gardening!

For more gardening advice, visit growinspired.co.nz and discover Claire Mummery’s online gardening course at www.growinspiredacademy.com