Growing advice from Instagram star ‘mrsbeesgarden’

Take a look at our social media takeover with ‘mrsbeesgarden’

On Tuesday 26th February, Debbie aka mrsbeesgarden took over Grow Your Own’s social media channels. The social media whiz, avid gardener, and the magic behind some of the most beautiful images of fruit and veg on the internet, shared her top fruit and veg, growing advice and recommendations. Debbie’s garden helper, her dog Buddy, was even on hand to help out! To catch up on everything that happened scroll down below.

Tomatoes

So here we go! Thank you for joining me (& Buddy of course!) on our little takeover of Grow Your Own’s social media accounts. If you follow me already you’ll know I couldn’t possibly begin a Tuesday without my usual #tomatotuesday post. If I had to choose just one edible to grow it would have to be the tomato. It’s the one edible that screams “summer has arrived” and the one we miss the most all winter. When we first started growing them many moons ago our varieties were the regular round in shape and red in colour and although they were 100% tastier than supermarket tomatoes, we now grow as many shapes, sizes and colours we can possibly squeeze into the greenhouse, not to mention a few in a hanging trough. My top tomato tip would be plant deep - tomatoes sprout roots along the buried stem, the extra roots have the ability to take in more water and nutrients for a healthier plant meaning more tomatoes for you to enjoy!

Marigolds

Marigolds are a gardeners best friend, not only do they attract our fuzzy friends to the veg patch (look at the pollen pants on this little beauty) their strong scent also masks the scent of your precious veggies, deterring garden pests. Easy to care for (a little dead heading) and they are hardy enough to withstand a drought and a frost and will give you endless amounts of free seeds. We plant them alongside tomatoes, beans, squash and carrots - but remember to consider the size when buying your seed as their overall height can vary from 6” to 3ft.

Celeriac

Grow what you love to eat? I’ve added a question mark here as we’ve broken this rule many times. Homegrown veggies can taste completely different to the veggies you buy or may have tried in the past. Mr B had already decided he would not be eating celeriac which I grew for the first time last year even before the seeds were sown! Well these ‘ugly duckling’ knobbly beasts just so happened to be his favourite veg of 2018. Sow your seeds indoors now as they can take 2-3 weeks to germinate and are a very slow grower - we grew radishes in-between the rows followed by turnips and apart from keeping their feet damp and removing outer leaves to expose the crown, they were a fuss free crop.

Potatoes

The humble spud! One of the easiest and earliest crops in the veg patch and one of the first edibles we ever grew. Nothing quite beats the exciting ‘digging for treasure’ moment (an extra bonus point if you manage not to fork a single one) and the freshness of a newly dug potato straight from the plot to the pot with a big blob of butter or fresh mint if you have it to hand. We only grow first earlies as we can get them in the ground as early as the weather permits (super early in our corner of Cornwall). Last year we harvested seven weeks from planting which freed up valuable space for the next crop.

Grow the rainbow, eat the rainbow

Grow the rainbow, eat the rainbow! We (apart from Buddy) have been meat free for nearly two years now so growing a wide variety of colourful veggies has never been more important to us and of course they have the bonus of making beautiful instagram posts. The benefits of eating more fruits and veg include:
1. Reduced risk of heart disease and infection fighters
2. Healthy skin, eyes and immune system.
3. Eye health, lower risk of certain cancers
4. Cognitive function, bone and urinary health
All the health benefits plus our summer and autumn meals are a riot of colour.

Buddy

Thank you for joining me on my Grow Your Own social media takeover! After all the excitement, just remember on these lovely sunny days to be more like Buddy and sit among the flowers, and relax.

Want to see more from mrsbeesgarden? Follow her instagram account here. 

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