Everybody’s doing it, even Michelle Obama has re-instated the White House vegetable garden. For those of us who’ve been growing vegetables for years we know the rewards are endless (plus the occasional frustrations) and apart from the obvious benefits of nutritional, chemical free, seasonal food on your plate it’s one of the most therapeutic pastimes around.

First thing is to prepare the ground. Ideally this should be done before Christmas but January or February is not too late. Dig the soil using a garden fork turning the bottom soil to the top, aerating it and getting rid of weeds. Don’t dig really wet or frozen soil, leave till it has reverted to norm. The soil could be nutrient deficient and will need help in the form of rotted compost or manure. In the West a naturally abundant compost is seaweed. Pick seaweed near the sea after a good windy spell. It can nourish the human body as well as the land, being a rich source of minerals. Put a decent layer of seaweed over your soil after digging especially for greedy feeders such as spuds. It’ll disappear after a few weeks so keep adding. Seaweed will also act as a weed suppressant and help prevent leaching of nutrients by open soil over the winter. Another bonus is slugs don’t like it, probably because of the salt but it should retain the worms and other organisms essential to healthy soil. Don’t skimp on the preparation part, if the soil is healthy the crop is much more likely to be, in the same way if we look after ourselves in terms of diet, exercise and enough sleep our resistance to disease is better.

Next find out what type of soil you have. Just because you’re in Galway don’t presume its limey soil (limestone or alkaline) because frequently soil was transported in from elsewhere so it could be acidic soil or clay soil. You can buy a soil pH tester kit for under €10 which will also come with a list of plants suitable for your soil type.

Then pick your spot in the garden. The sunnier the better because most vegetables don’t like being shaded and if you have an area in front of a south facing wall more the better as it will also give shelter from the wind.  Keep away from trees and hedges as these will compete for soil nutrients as well as casting shade. If a shady spot is all you have spinach, endive, peas and lettuce are your best bet. If space is limited remember potatoes and onions take up lots of room whereas rocket and garlic doesn’t. If cost is an issue remember onions are cheap to buy whereas leeks are relatively expensive.

Next get your seeds in from seed suppliers (I recommend the Irish Seed Savers Association or Mr Middleton’s), garden centres or friendly gardeners you know.  Some vegetables are grown from seed in pots but many can be grown by sowing the seed directly into the soil.  Using a trowel make a shallow trench a few cm deep, put the seed in following the instructions on the packet and cover with soil and lightly firm down. A general rule of thumb is to plant seeds at twice their depth. Always sow evenly and think of the size of the resulting vegetable leaving plenty of space in between and then water.  For early seedlings such as potatoes, cabbage, onions and garlic plant after Paddy’s day. This can be done earlier if you have the luxury of a green house or poly tunnel. By April the ground is warming up and the frost should be totally gone so you can sow beet, carrots, kale, Swiss chard and leeks which are late bloomers and will come into fruition towards the end of the year. Perpetual beet is always a winner, it’s more rewarding than spinach because it goes on for longer and does well in the wet.

Garlic is dead easy to grow and a good one to get children involved with, you don’t even need to dig a trench. Break up a bulb of garlic, separate the cloves and stick in the ground, pointy side up about 2cm below the soil surface. Garlic is a natural anti-biotic and anti-fungal so more resistant to disease than many other vegetables.

As wallets get tighter there has never been a better time to put your Wellingtons on and head down to the vegetable patch. If you want to learn more on growing veg I recommend an excellent evening course run by Kinvara Sustainable Living commencing mid January. I finish with a quote from American writer Lewis Grizzard “It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a home grown tomato” I couldn’t agree more, grow your own veg – it’s food for the soul.