The 6 Ultimate Vegetables to Grow for Self-Sufficiency

Hello and a very warm welcome back to the garden. And it's a beautiful spring's late afternoon. And there's been a lot of chat recently about self-sufficiency and trying to produce as much of our own food as possible. And I think it's all well and good that we can get excited about this, but self-sufficiency is very difficult. So in this video, I thought I'd do a collaboration with Liz Arab, who I think is one of the most inspirational people when it comes to self-sufficiency, to show you what we think are six vegetables that do actually make a massive difference. So if you wanna get started with self-sufficiency, start with these six vegetables. So today I'm actually planting some broad beans. And what I'm doing here is I'm creating a bit of a tilth, just so it makes the ground a bit nicer to work with. And all of these stones that I remove, I'll eventually move them all the way up and then collect them. I'm gonna be planting bunyards, which is a variety of broad bean. And it actually links in with the first vegetable to get started with, one of the top six ultimate vegetables when it comes to self-sufficiency. And broad beans are wonderful. I am a huge fan of them. Some people aren't so keen on the flavor, but what I love about broad beans is the fact that you do get two crops and you also get an early crop. So I'm hoping end of June, early July, these will be heavily cropping. And the other crop as well are broad bean tops. So if you ever have spare seeds, then you can go and plant them, which is absolutely brilliant. So what I'm gonna do here is just come onto the raised bed. I've got some compost here just to put a little bit more compost because here we were growing leeks and we hadn't had enough opportunity to mulch this properly. Now, broad beans are very easy to grow and the seeds are pretty cheap. And I like them because they're very hardy as well. And there's a lot of people who will start them off in autumn time to have really good success. But I found our winters here can often be a little bit too challenging to try that technique. So broad beans are very productive. And the great thing about them being a bean is that it means protein, which is really important when it comes to actually wanting to be self-sufficient. So all you need to do is actually blanch and freeze the beans and keep these in your freezer so you can have a great source of protein during winter months, where it can be more challenging. Now, Liz Zorab actually has an alternative to broad beans. So here's Liz to give you her alternative for you to try out as well. I'm with you, Hugh, on the broad beans. They are absolutely fantastic. My favorite bean is the runner bean for its sheer versatility. So it's a climbing bean. So it takes up its space height-wise, but it also adds some shelter and some architectural interest in the garden. And it can be harvested for the long green pods, which if you get them when they're young, they're very tender. If you leave them to get old, they can sometimes get a string down the sides of them, particularly if they've had uneven watering or it's a very dry summer. And then when I get into the kitchen, I use my wonderfully old-fashioned 1960s bean slicer, which cuts them in a diagonal slice. It's something my parents did. So it just, you know, it reminds me of my childhood. And I think they taste better that shape rather than slicing them by hand. I do that too. And then when you've got through the latter part of the summer with these beautiful green sliced beans, I then leave them on the plant to mature until September, October, sometimes even as late as November. And the pods will dry out. And what you'll have inside are these fabulous white beans. So they're like white kidney beans or lima beans. And the variety that I grow, well, I grow two varieties. I grow White Lady, which gives me a slightly smaller bean than this. And I really like the taste of. These ones are Greek Gigantes beans, which you don't eat the outer pod for. You only eat the inner pod. But beans have become a real staple in our winter and spring diet. Lots of protein as well as carbs, very filling. And they take up not an awful lot of room to store them. Once they have dried out, we just store them in a jar with a sealed lid. They can sit in the cupboard or on a shelf, well, for ages. And then in the spring, the next year, you can use any spare beans that you have left over to sow and to get new plants. So really you only need to be buying them once and then you can be saving them. And each year they will become more acclimatized to your local conditions. The other thing that I do and I've been experimenting with is leaving runner beans in the ground over winter. So at the end of the year, I just cut the stems off about six inches above the ground, give them a really good mulch and just leave them. And I'm finding that here in Southeast Wales, that they are regrowing the next year. So effectively they're perennial beans. And I've been hearing from people right across the country who have been growing their beans in the same place in the garden for 30 years or more. And all they do if a plant dies and doesn't make it through the winter is they plant a couple of beans in that one's place and off that will go ready for the next year. Now to keep it simple, pick either broad beans or runner beans to get started. So you have space to grow other things. And the next thing I'm gonna recommend are beetroot. And beetroot are wonderful. They are highly underrated. And I think people have been a bit fed up of having quite tasteless beetroot from shops. But the great thing about beetroot is that, again, it's easy to grow and pretty hardy. In fact, I've just finished harvesting the last of the beetroot that I'd actually sown last year in summer. So they had survived all through the winter last year, which is just brilliant. Now beetroot is fantastic and there are so many uses for it in the kitchen. And it's all about experimenting. And I think beetroot tastes great with feta cheese or you can put it into omelets and things like that or pickle it or turn it into kimchi. There were just so many uses. And it's one of the easiest vegetables to grow out of the root vegetable variety. Like carrots, they're a lot more difficult, I find, in comparison. And you'll get lower yields. I'm a big fan of beetroot too. These are Chilgia and they're very nearly ready to harvest. For the last couple of years, I've not only been doing successional sowing of beetroot throughout the summer, I've also sown seeds as late as the end of August and the end of September in the hope that I could overwinter them and have a really early crop in the spring. So here are the ones that I've had in the polytunnel. And here are the ones in the garden. And indeed, these are not very far away from being ready to harvest. And they will only be baby beetroots. And if I don't harvest them before too long, they will go to seed. But we could still eat the leaves and there will be some small roots that we can harvest before the next crop comes into this bed. So start off with beetroot. But another thing that you can try, which is almost a root vegetable, even though strictly is a Brassica, are swedes and not the people. Because swedes are a winter vegetable. So you plant them around May and then you can start harvesting them from October, November, all the way through to early March. And they just store outside. And storage is one of the hardest things with self-sufficiency. Because when you think about all of the plants and crops that we like to get in summer, like our peas or our lettuce, but usually we end up with gluts of these. And the issue with gluts is having to store them. But winter vegetables mean that we don't have to worry so much about gluts. I've also found that swedes don't really seem to suffer from many pests or diseases. And that's another thing when thinking about self-sufficiency, is what are the most reliable resilient crops that I can grow? And it's a really important question that you need to ask yourselves. Now, Liz has an alternative to swede. So let's hear what that is. I'm not sure I agree with you on the best root veg. Actually, Huw, possibly. It's that I'm not very good at growing them. So these are what's left of our swedes. And these are particularly small and weedy. They'd be fine in a tray of mixed baby vegetables. But the thing for me about a root veg is that I want it to be really, really versatile. And I know there's lots you can do with swedes, but there's something else that I do even more with. High up on my list of ultimate vegetables to grow is parsnip. And I know some people think they're difficult to germinate. I find them very easy. I wait until later in the year rather than try really early. So I've actually sown my parsnip seeds this week and I have a few spare seeds in case any don't germinate. But all across the garden, seeds from previous years, where I've let them go to seed and the wind has scattered their seeds everywhere, they're all germinating, which tells me that the conditions are just right for parsnips to be germinating. So I'm going to take my cue from nature. The thing about parsnips is they don't take up a huge amount of space. I grow these in rows about eight inches apart all the way down the bed. And they will just sit in the ground for the whole winter. And in fact, parsnips are best once the frost has got to them. And the action of the frost on the carbohydrates in the root turns that into sugars until they become sweeter and nicer to eat. And then they will sit in the ground quite happily all through the winter. They are beginning to come to the end of their season now in April. But there's still got plenty to go here. And we do get some fairly enormous parsnip. And the reason that I am so keen on parsnips is that I find them so versatile in the kitchen. So you can boil them and roast them. You can mash them. You can make chips and crisps out of them. You can deep fry them. You can shallow fry them. You can do all sorts of things with them. You can make parsnip wine, but also when times get really tough, you can use parsnip because of their sweetness. You can use them to create puddings as well. So you can use them in tarts and in flans and in pies. One of the most important things that you need to bear in mind if you're going after self-sufficiency or at least trying to grow as much food as you can possibly grow in your space is that for it to really work, you have to be good at being able to adapt your diet because you have to kind of accept that you can't always get strawberries in February or swede in June. You've really got to make do with what's available. And it's a big mindset shift, but as long as you then just realize that, okay, I can't have everything I want. I've just got to make do with what's available. I think it's a massive positive because you get bored of things and it makes you actually look for recipes to make boring things a lot more interesting. And one of the kings of perhaps boring vegetables, but also in terms of productivity, a two in one is definitely kale. So I'm adding kale to the list because again, another winter vegetable, but it's very flexible. You can harvest kale all through the year just depending when you plant it. So you can have it all through the year. It's packed full of nutrients. And the great thing about it being able to be enjoyed throughout the year means that you don't, again, have to worry about freezing and storing it. You can just go up as and when you need it. But for me, the really exciting thing about kale is it offers an amazing crop for the hungry gap. And again, the hungry gap is a very important thing that we need to bear in mind if we're trying to be self-sufficient because the hungry gap is a period between kind of March until June, roughly, here in the UK of when we're really lacking in crops because the winter vegetables are over and the summer crops aren't quite ready. And there's a real lull. So kale, actually, when it bolts in the second year, sends up loads of flowers, kale shoots. I kind of call it poor person's purple sprouting broccoli because it's basically the same thing. And you can keep on harvesting these shoots from March, April, sometimes even into May. And they're so sweet and delicious and make a great alternative, especially if you've been bored of greens and kale throughout winter. I'm not as big a fan of kale as you are, Hugh, so only for the reason I'm not 100% keen on the taste of it. But I am growing some. So I've got some, I've got some Cavallonero, the black kale. That's just coming. And here I've got a red curly kale. So this is just beginning to get its first true leaves. And I'm actually growing that one to plant in the flower borders because it's a beautiful burgundy red color. It's got very frilly leaves. It grows to about three feet tall. I'm going to grow it in the flower borders as my sacrifice plants. So each year I put in some brassicas to support the butterfly and moth population. I net the things I'm going to eat, but I do like to leave some out to support the wildlife. So those are the ones that are going out for the wildlife. And my favorite brassica is a red cabbage. And these ones were planted 22 days ago. So they germinated and they've come up, they've got their seed leaves and the first true leaves are coming. I'm so excited about these. Red cabbages, I grow two different varieties. One is a red drumhead. This one is red acre. One of the reasons I really like red cabbages, I find them so versatile. So I start these ones off now and I can be harvesting these in August and early September. And if I sow some more in about six weeks time, that will then delay the development of those until October, November. So I get two harvests. So they form these big, really tight heads of leaves. Which I harvest and then I can shred it really finely and use it in coleslaws instead of a white cabbage. I like the color that it adds. I like the flavor. And then I can do a similar thing, but not shred it quite so finely. And I chop it up and I make a braised cabbage, which I freeze for the winter. And that is our staple pre-cooked cabbage that I keep in the freezer. So it's on hand and we can use it anytime we like. I like the mildness of that cabbagey flavor and I like the color that they bring to our plate. Okay, so I've just popped to the final leek bed. And a lot of you know that I'm a fan of leeks. And I kind of have to be because I am in Wales after all. But leeks, again, I think are underrated. And they're also another winter vegetable, which I'm adding to this list. And the reason why is because, yeah, you've got your leeks, you've got your greens, and you can harvest them from October until March. They're easy to freeze, all this kind of stuff. But they make a fantastic alternative to onions because we love onions. We use onions all the time if we're creating casseroles or stews or soups and things like that. But onions don't always fare well. And they're sometimes a little bit harder to grow than leeks. That's my personal experience. It might be different for you. But what is a connection? Well, leeks and onions are alliums. They're in the same family. And you can actually use leeks as an alternative to onions. So instead of, say, using onions if I'm making soup these days, I now chop up a leek and use that instead. And it tastes very similar. And in some cases, I think the taste of leek can actually be superior to onions in cooking savory meals. One slight downside of leeks, though, is that they are a winter vegetable. And if you don't have loads of freezer space, then it can't always be a complete alternative. So what you could do instead is, if you have a raised bed, grow one third of onions and two third of leeks. And that should balance you through the whole growing season in terms of proportional sizes. You've got to work out how much you actually need. But if I was going to be self-sufficient on alliums, I would do that one to two ratio. So I'd have one part onions to two parts leeks. And I think that's a really good way of being self-sufficient and in good flavor. Hugh, I completely agree with you about leeks. Incredibly versatile. You can eat the scapes. You can eat the white bulb bit. You can eat all the leaves. They stand in the ground for an incredibly long time. And they actually don't take up very much room. So I planted 150 to 200 leeks in this space. They're only spaced four inches apart. Now the five vegetables I've included so far are broad beans, beetroot, swede, leeks, and kale. But I'm going to hand you over to Liz to give you the sixth. And I'll give you a clue. It's to do with a hungry gap. And the last, but absolutely by no means the least, is asparagus. What could be nicer than fresh asparagus from your garden? Asparagus is not a quick investment. You buy crowns and you need to get them in the ground. And you don't harvest from them in the first year. And you take just one or two spears from each plant the second year. And then after that, you can harvest more and more from it. But it will go. Continue harvesting for a good 20 years or more. And it is so expensive in the shops. And it just doesn't taste the same. Young asparagus tips are so tender and so tasty that you can actually eat them without cooking them. If there's one tip I'd give about self-sufficiency right now, it's just to remind yourselves that it's a constant journey. It's a journey of learning, of adjusting, of adapting, and to have fun. Because I know it's very easy to set ourselves really ambitious goals and targets. But the best thing to do is to actually spend a little bit more time thinking and planning before doing. Because a lot of self-sufficiency is about that thought and planning and then acting upon. Because spending just a little bit more time thinking about how much you need to grow of what and when will make such a massive difference in the long run. And I hope that these six vegetables and also the three alternatives have given you a really good idea on how to get started. And the great thing about a lot of these is that you've got plenty of time to plan and get started. And finally, you might disagree with a couple of the vegetables. So let me know what you would change or what would be different. And to also check out Liz's fantastic YouTube channel, which I think is perhaps the best channel to go to if you want content on how to become more self-sufficient.