Self-Sufficient Veg Gardening

Course outline

• The Self-Sufficiency handbook

  In this lesson you will cover the basics of becoming self-sufficient. How much land do you need to be self-sufficient (less than you'd think); what you'll need to get started and ways of getting more land if you don't own much yourself. You will also learn about managing your time and how to eat with the seasons to plan the perfect veg-growing year.

• Keeping It Growing

  The secret of self-sufficiency is to keep a steady harvest of something to pick every day of the year. This lecture is all about getting the timing right, planning your sowing so you never go short, with sucessional sowing (and never have too much of a good thing, either). You'll learn how to choose your veg varieties cleverly so you get the longest possible harvest, as well as some good tricks for coaxing extra crops from your space, giving you even more to pick, with clever techniques or using the space under slower-growing crops. We'll also be looking at how to look after and boost your soil and some more advanced techniques and growing methods to keep your crops healthy and guarantee the very best results.

• What to Grow

  There's a bewildering range of vegetable varieties out there, so this is your guide through the maze of choice you'll need to make to ensure your veg garden is well stocked every day of the year. I will pass on my recommendations for really high-cropping, long-lasting vegetables no kitchen garden should be without. And you'll discover some less commonly-grown veg which give spectacular savings and liven up your dinner menu, from artichokes and asparagus to perennial onions, yacon and traditional heritage varieties. Include sweet, juicy fruit and aromatic herbs in your day-to-day harvest and your year of plenty is complete: learn which it's worth growing, and how.

• The Winter Veg Garden

  Most gardeners retreat indoors with the first frost – but if you're putting something on the plate every day of the year, winter is as important a season as any. In this lecture we'll look at how to beat the cold and grow a spectacular harvest of winter crops, from gorgeous crinkly kale to fat Brussels sprouts for Christmas lunch. You'll learn how to extend the seasons at both ends so you start as early as possible and pick till the snow lies on the ground. You'll also find out how to face up to the biggest challenge the year-round veg grower faces, the Hungry Gap in early spring