Green beans, peppers, kale, and squash are some of the best vegetables to grow in the UK. Southern UK is best known for its warm, sunny climate, the easy-going culture, and the glitz and glamour of Central London. But other than that, it’s also one of the best places to live in, especially if you’re into gardening.
Thanks to its beautiful sunny weather, it’s easy for homeowners to plant vegetables, herbs, and flowers in their backyards. If you’re planning on growing vegetables in your home, here are some of the best vegetables to grow in the UK.
Types of Vegetables that Grow Best in Southern UK
Before you start planting, you need to know to be familiar with the plant’s hardiness zone. By finding out your hardiness zone, you’ll know which plants grow well in your area. Southern UK belongs to plant hardiness zones 8b to 11. In these zones, the temperature varies from 15 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Since Southern UK has mild winters, you can easily grow vegetables all year round. Cool-weather crops like kale, collards, broccoli, lettuce, and more can easily be grown throughout the winter season.
Here are some of the best vegetables you can plant during spring and autumn.
Planting vegetables during spring
In the Southern UK, spring season planting can be an extension of cool-temperature vegetables. Some of the vegetables you can plant during this season include lettuce, spinach, radishes, chard, carrots, and kale.
You can also plant tomatoes when the weather warms, and the soil’s temperature rises. Most tomatoes germinate within a few days to a week, and you can harvest them after two to three months. Some of the tomato heirloom varieties you can plant include Armenian, Green Zebra, German Queen, and Brandywine.
It’s also a great time to plant peppers. You can plant them in spring, and they’ll be ready for harvest in the middle of summer.
Planting vegetable during autumn
During the autumn season, you can plant radishes each week from September to March. Radishes are fast-growing, so they’ll be ready to eat after a month and a half. Autumn is the best time to plant onions as well.
For year-round crops, you can try planting carrots every 30 to 60 days. Planting winter greens like kale, collards, and chard during early autumn let you harvest them in time for Halloween.
Seeds germinate slower in mild winter temperatures, but you can still plant them: Mustard, chard, spinach, and other greens one can plant successively. For beets, you can plant them during these times and harvest them by March.
Types of Vegetables You Can Plant in April to Reap a Summer Harvest
April is the perfect time to plant vegetable seedlings because you’ll be able to harvest them just in time for summer. You can plant carrots, lettuce, beets, corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, and herbs and harvest the product during summer and autumn.
Other than the vegetables listed above, you can also plant green beans, peppers, asparagus, kale, peas, onion, tomatoes, Swiss chard, zucchini, spinach, and radishes. Here are some of the tips you need to remember when planting in the Southern UK:
Crop rotation
Since farmers adopt this method, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t. Rotating crops not only keep your soil healthy but also maximises plant growth. An example of rotating crops would be planting tomatoes on the same patch where peppers were grown before being harvested.
If you plant similar vegetables in the exact location every year, you can pull the same nutrients from the soil. By rotating your crops, there will be less stress on the soil. You can relocate crops at least 10 feet away from their previous location.
Add drought tolerant ground cover
Surround your crops with plants that don’t need much water. For example, some of the plants that need little water include Spanish lavender, ice plant, blue fescue, and other rockroses.
Initially grow plants in containers
If you don’t have enough space in your backyard or don’t like to till and prep garden soil, consider container gardening. You can easily grow herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, eggplant, and other in-ground vegetables in containers.
Growing Your Southern UK Vegetables in Polytunnels
If you haven’t considered planting your crops in polytunnels, you’re missing out. Polytunnels are an excellent investment for gardeners and hobbyists. With a high-quality polytunnel, you’ll be able to garden in any weather, grow different kinds of plants, and protect them from the elements.
If you’re still on the fence, here are some of the reasons why many gardeners and homeowners invest in a polytunnel:
Grow plants in any weather
A polytunnel can protect your plants from bad weather. Even if it’s raining cats and dogs outside, polytunnels can keep your plants happy and dry.
Grow different types of plants
With a polytunnel, you can grow different types of plants that never would’ve survived in UK weather. You get to grow exotic plants and other vegetables that one can’t find locally.
Create the ideal growing environment
Polytunnels allow you to control the temperature, provide adequate shade, and prevent critters and insects from eating your plants. As a result, you’ll be able to grow healthier, more flavorful fruits and vegetables.
Customise your polytunnel
You can easily customise polytunnels to your liking. For example, you can add heating and cooling ventilation, lights, and shades, and you can even divide a large polytunnel into two to create different climate zones. This allows you to grow cool-season and warm-season plants regardless of the weather.
Protect plants from harmful insects
Polytunnels can protect your plants from pesky garden insects. Aphids, cabbage maggots, cutworms, Mexican bean beetles, and flea beetles are some of the insects that destroy your plants. Keeping your plants in a polytunnel can prevent them from ruining your plants.
Final Thoughts
Whether you wish to have a polytunnel full of the best vegetables to grow in the UK as a profession or as a hobby, you could never go wrong. Krostrade offers affordable and durable polytunnels perfect for home and garden use. Today, get in touch to know more about our polytunnels that can withstand harsh weather conditions simply because they’re with nothing but the best materials.