To celebrate fresh, homegrown fruit & veg, our new ‘From the Plot’ series turns the spotlight on special Instagram growers who share their practical experience with others. We recently spoke to Derek, also known as the @fiveminutegardener, who told us about the magic of growing fruit and veg with his green-fingered son.
Here’s the full interview…
My love of growing began with a quest for new flavours
My gardening journey has been led by a joy of food and trying to find new flavours. By growing my own produce I’m able to try new varieties like purple carrots, new fruits like Chilean guava, and unusual things like oca tubers. None of these tend to be in the supermarkets, although different coloured carrots and tomatoes are starting to pop up.
I introduced flowers to attract beneficial insects to pollinate plants or control other pests. They quickly earned more space when I saw how much my wife loved regular bunches of big showy dahlia blooms!
Yellow tomatoes are one of my favourite things to grow
It’s tricky to name just one favourite thing to grow as it changes each year. However, based on the number of tomato seed packets I’ve ordered, I’ll have to go with tomatoes. From the tiny tomato currants to the giant purple beefsteak varieties, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. The yellow cherry varieties and the multicoloured shimmer varieties are some of my favourites.
Apples might win when I learn to graft lots of varieties onto my existing trees…
My favourite flowers are dahlias
While I used to say I loved the humble oxeye daisy, a quick glance on my Instagram is enough to see my dahlia obsession. I have a 2.4m raised bed on the allotment especially for dahlias and I grow even more in my front and back gardens.
Gardening with children allows you to experiment
The allotment has quickly become a safe space for my son who, at 6 years old, reckons he’s the Head Gardener! He loves bringing friends to the plot and teaching them about “his” plants almost as much as he loves to share his homegrown apples at break time in school.
Gardening with children really helps you to take a step back and to embrace the magic of the little things through their eyes. It instills a “what’s the worst that could happen” mindset. We don’t like to focus on the rules too much and are happy to experiment.
One of my proudest moments was when my son got elected to his student council for his plans to grow food in the school. He already has the green environment badge from Blue Peter so technically he’s a more qualified gardener than I am!
Top gardening tip
Mulch! Look after your soil and the soil will look after your plants. Add an inch or two of organic matter to your soil over winter to lock in nutrients and get your garden ready for new plants in spring.
Grow like Derek
Image: Tomato ‘Artisan Bumble Bee Mix’ Seeds from Suttons
If you want to try some of the fruit and veg Derek and his son grow, here’s a quick shopping list:
- Tomato seeds
- Carrot seeds
- Chilean guava
- Apple trees
- Dahlia tubers
- New and exciting veg seeds (anything unusual)
You can follow Derek over at @fiveminutegardener. And if you want to read about other inspirational growers, check out our #suttonsfromtheplot series over on Instagram.
Lead image courtesy of @fiveminutegardener
