Square Metre Gardening Savings possible by GYO in your raised beds

Let’s face it, we don’t all have the luxury of a huge allotment or large kitchen garden, yet for almost all us, to be able to grow fresh herbs and veg is still a possibility!

Now more than ever, people coming from all walks of life are recognising that growing your own are some things they can try and the nation is hungry to grow their own fruit and vegetables, for better taste, and healthier living, conserving money and food miles into the bargain!

Everyone can grow veg,if they have space for a wooden planter or ideally a small raised bed. Salads even sown as late as August will rapidly create a lovely mix of leaves to cut and come again. The Wood BlocX range of planters and raised beds offer a flexible and simple solution to get you Growing Your own!Read for more raised red.

Growing your own veg can also mean significant cost benefits, so it is worth the initial investment to create your growing space. The unprecedented snowfall we experienced earlier this year, badly affected vegetable production in the UK, and that has been accompanied by very dry spells. Indeed we have had the driest Spring since records began! This has all resulted in crop losses and in the case of varieties such as sprouting broccoli and cauliflower, half the crops have been lost.The dwindling supply of produce is giving you vegetable prices soaring in the shops, with vegetable prices set to reach new records for the fifth year in succession as the affects of the big freeze and droughts hit the crop harvest.

So is about time that we realised that from a a small number of square metres you can grow an enormous amount of salad leaves for example.

There has been a lot more varieties created to produce a high yield in small spaces, so you don’t even need a garden, just a planter on the patio or a raised bed. If you are truly short of space, interplant your vegetables with your flowers. There’s no reason why you should not mix the two. With prices the way they are and an increasing demand for better tasting veg, there has never been a better time for those to grow their own individual and using Wood BlocX to develop your planter or raised bed couldn’t be simpler to start you off! Visit for more raised bed in London.

Wood BlocX Top Ten Vegetables for Small Spaces

1. Runner Beans 2. French Beans 3. Salad Leaves incl. Lettuce, Little Gem and Dazzle 4. Rocket 5. Carrots 6. Tomatoes (Grafted) 7. Aubergines 8. Spinach 9. Baby Beetroot 10. Baby Turnip

Just what exactly sort of yields are you able to expect? With a typical seed packet of runner beans, you can sow a single 25ft/7.5m row. Typical yield will be around 30lbs/13.6kg for a 25ft row. With an average cost for a regular packet of seeds being around £2.85, that equates to just 21p a Kg! With average supermarket prices hitting up to £7.50 a kg that’s around 37 times more expensive than growing your own!

Mentioned previously at the start, Broccoli supplies have been badly hit and average prices per kg will soon be rising to over £2 a kilo.Yet a £1.75 packet of Early Purple Sprouting Brocoli will give around 20kg from a 50ft/7.5m row, providing supplies at around an average of just 9p a kilo!

Bags of fresh salad will set you back around £1 for a 100g bag. A £1.55 packet of Baby Leaf salad mix will give you a 25ft/7.5m row, which, if you use successional growing techniques (little and often) mentioned in an earlier blog, and cut and come again, should offer you with the equivalent of around 3.3kg of fresh leaves, or 33 bags!In addition to savings made, other advantages of home grown vegetables include increased range of varieties, freshness and retained nutrients, better flavour, reduced carbon footprint (reduced transportation) and control over pesticide and fertiliser used.Read for more raised bed in London.

Still possible to get a late sowing outdoors in June of the following;- French Beans Runner beans Beetroot Carrots Courgettes Kale Lettuce Marrow/Pumpkin/Squash Salad Onions Peas Summer radish Rocekt Spinach Swede Early Turnip July Sowings;- Spring cabbage Kale Lettuce and Rocket Salad Onions Winter Radish Winter Spinach