DELIVERY INFO: If you order plants today we expect to ship within 1-2 weeks. - See FAQs for more info.
Plug The Gaps Collection
(70 Plants)
Easy-to-grow plug plants
Certified organic plants
Plastic-free packaging
Shipped within 1-2 weeks
£24.99
Out of stock
Perfect for those empty spaces
With a selection of space saving, quick growing plants, this collection is ideal for midsummer as gaps pop up in the veg patch, whether that’s from being harvested or being eaten by pests!
Number of plants: 70
Contains the following baby plants:
Spring Onion x 20
Wild Rocket x 10
Beetroot x 10
Lettuce x 10
Chard x 10
Minipop Baby Corn x 10
*Contents may vary depending on plant availability
Spring/Summer veg plants are shipped through the planting and growing season, from late April to late July/August. See our FAQ's for up to date delivery information
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[blogtitle] => Let's get you growing...
[blogintro] => Here are a few articles that will help you to get started with growing your own using our plug plants.
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[post_date] => 2017-04-10 16:23:09
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[post_content] => We've got a few ideas to share with you that will help you to make the most out of your kitchen garden this summer. In no particular order, here they are:
Improve your soil and your crops will improve too. By adding loads of nutritious, organic matter (well-rotted manure, good quality compost, leaf mould etc) to your soil you will help to improve both its texture, its moisture retention and the amount of nutrients it holds. And all this helps your plants to put down roots well and get what they need from the soil in order to really flourish. Read more on this here.
Use wooden planks for walkways. If you don't have easy access to all the rows of veg in your garden, then we highly recommend getting a few wooden planks to use as walkways between the rows. This is so important to make sure you don't compact the soil so that your plants' roots can spread easily (it also helps to keep weeds down and stops your wellies from getting clogged up with soil!)
Make sure you water regularly. Unless it has rained, then your plants will be quite thirsty. A generous watering on a daily basis will benefit most plants, but if you can't manage this make sure you give them a really thorough soaking every 2-3 days. A good way to check that you are watering enough is to prod your finger into the soil - it should be moist right the way through, not just on top. It's best to water early in the morning or late in the evening.
Plants in pots need more nutrition. Add a couple of handfuls of fresh compost or liquid feed to plants growing in pots every 3-4 weeks to top up their nutrients. Most compost will be depleted of its nutrients within a month of being applied, so when you're growing in pots it is sometimes hard for plants to get what they need.
Grow lots of companion plants. One of the very best ways to keep pests down is to attract lots of friendly insects (natural predators like ladybirds and lacewings will keep things like aphids at bay) by planting marigolds. You can also plant nasturtiums to keep caterpillars away from your brassicas. And, all these have the added benefit of attracting bees which will pollinate your veg plants and lead to a better crop! Read more on companion planting.
Use horticultural fleece. Honestly, we can't tell you how helpful it is to use horticultural fleece in the veg patch. It can help you to protect your plants from frost early in the season, it can help you to warm up the soil nicely after a cold snap, and it can help keep all sorts of pests away from your crops. Trust us, we're gardeners!
Harvest regularly. If you want to keep your crops going for longer, then be sure to harvest them regularly. As soon as your crops are ready you should be constantly picking beans and peas, harvesting tomatoes and peppers as soon as they ripen, cutting off the outer leaves of lettuces, spinach and chard - you'll get much longer harvesting time if you do!
Be clever with storing produce. Going on from no. 7, if you're harvesting loads from your veg patch then you don't want to waste it...remember that you can freeze things like beans, make sauces or chutneys from tomatoes and peppers, concoct flavoursome butters and oils with your herbs and so on.
Mulch. It's such a good idea to apply a mulch as it helps the quality of the soil, it helps to regulate the temperature of the soil, it keeps moisture levels nice and consistent and helps to keep weeds down. Please mulch!
Don't put diseased plants in the compost. You can put nearly all the cuttings, pruning and cleared down veg plants on the compost heap, but be careful not to add diseased plants (e.g. potato plants with blight or courgette leaves with powdery mildew) as the "germs" will live on in the compost and infect future crops when you use the compost!
[post_title] => 10 Top Tips for a Successful Veg Plot
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[post_content] => Cooler weather, wetter soil and damp in the air - autumn tends to be very slug-friendly which is bad news for the veg patch. Here are some ways to protect your plants without resorting to chemical slug pellets. Using a combination of these different tactics will make a big difference.
Make sure your plot is as free of slug-friendly hiding places as possible: Remove any big stones, fallen branches, empty pots etc etc. Put watering cans and trugs away at the end of the day. Keep your plot as weed free as you can.
Make slug traps: Sink some old cups/ramekins into the soil in between rows of plants and fill with cheap lager or sugary water. The slugs will hopefully be sidetracked by the traps before they get to your veg.
Use hollowed out citrus shells: juice half an orange/grapefruit/lemon, then take the remaining shells to the veg patch and prop them up with a small stone. Slugs and snails will be able to use it as shelter. You can then do a regular removal.
Use a barrier of something gritty: For the particularly vulnerable plants, like lettuces, brassicas and corn, a barrier of something gritty around the base of the plants is a good technique. Our Slug Deterrent works well for this, and many people use dried crushed eggshells.
Try copper tape around pots - we don't find this hugely effective, but done in conjunction with a regular check for slugs/snails hiding underneath the pots tends to keep slug damage to a minimum.
Do a dusk patrol: For those of you that really struggle with slugs, you may need to get your hands a bit dirty during a nightly dusk patrol. Grab a bucket, get your gloves on, don your head torch, and gather up slugs from raised beds etc. What you do with the slugs is up to you…relocating them and hoping that the hedgehogs eat them before they find their way home is probably kindest.
[post_title] => Dealing with Slugs & Snails
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[post_content] => If you are planning to start a veg patch in your garden then you may find a few of these pointers are helpful. We cover a few things, like site choice, raised beds, access, paths etc.
Step 1 - Don't Panic!
It can often be a little overwhelming to start a brand new veg patch completely from scratch, but it needn't be. If you approach it step-by-step it can be surprisingly easy, and incredibly rewarding. Use this cold, wet time of year to read around a bit and decide how big a plot you want to start with. We would really recommend looking into No-Dig Growing as a starting point, as this is very simple and straightforward. And we would also recommend starting out with just a couple of small raised beds (or equivalent) and adding to your plot as time goes on.
Step 2 - Decide where to situate your new veg patch
You want to choose the part of your garden that gets the most sunshine hours, preferably in a nice sheltered spot out of the wind. A south-facing garden is ideal, but don't worry if you don't have this luxury. Just choose the part that gets the most sun and then choose plants to suit your plot - partial shade can offer great growing conditions for lettuces and salad leaves, for example. If you're growing on a slope, we'd recommend terracing using raised beds if you can.
Step 3 - Decide what you will be growing in - pots/beds/traditional plot
This will largely be dictated by your garden - if you have a patio then pots make sense, or you could go for a wooden planter or trug. If you have space for a raised bed (or several!) then this is ideal, or you could simply have a traditional single square(ish) patch of soil that you fill with rows and rows of veg, leaving just enough space for you to walk in between rows to be able to harvest crops.
Step 4 - Measure out your space & layout the garden
If you're going to build raised beds or dig a bed into the ground, you want to measure out your space first. As a general rule of thumb, 4 foot is the ideal width for a bed as you can access it from both sides and still reach the middle.
Try to leave enough space along walkways between beds so that you can easily wheel a wheelbarrow.
It's quite helpful to use string to mark out your beds/walkways or draw it out on a piece of graph paper.
Step 5 - Build your beds
If you're going for raised beds, then these next few winter weekends are the perfect time to build them. Again, we would really recommend reading around the No Dig Growing as this is a very simple way to get started.
Step 6 - Make your pathways
We highly recommend lining pathways with cardboard and covering them with compost or wood chips. But you might prefer a grass path or stepping stones. It's up to you. Here's a useful post about paths to get you started.
Step 7 - Fill your beds
Whether you're growing in pots or beds you want to get plenty of good quality compost or well-rotted manure in there and dig it over really well. You can always line the base of raised beds with cardboard before filling them to keep weeds at bay.
If you start this process nice and early and do little bits over a few weekends, you'll find it much less overwhelming and it's quite a good activity for late winter/early spring. Ideally, you want to have your plot ready for late April/early May so that you can make the most of the growing season, but there is plenty you can plant in summer as well, and even in September/October, so don't worry too much about timings.
[post_title] => Creating a New Veg Plot
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[post_content] => Whether you're on the waiting list for an allotment and want to get growing in a few pots while you wait, or just want to make the most of your little town garden, we've got a few tips for you.
Choose smaller plants that can be planted close together
Wild Rocket, lettuces, spring onions, beetroots and carrots can be planted nice and close, so you'll be able to fit far more into your plot.
Choose plants that provide a longer crop
Cut & Come again leaves and fruiting vegetables like beans, peas and tomatoes that you can harvest from regularly for many weeks will give you more to eat from a single plant.
Look for dwarf and bush varieties
We have lots of dwarf bean varieties available which take up far less space than climbers. Likewise, we have bush tomatoes that can be grown in hanging baskets or pots without taking up too much space.
Grow vertically
Make the most of walls with hanging planters - these are great for herbs and salads. Or you could put up a trellis to enable you to train courgettes and squashes up the wall.
Use suitable pots and containers
You can grow almost anything in pots and containers, but make sure that they are the right size (particularly depth) for the plants that you are growing - some plants have shallower roots than others etc.
[post_title] => Growing in small spaces
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[post_content] => We've put together some useful ideas for you to help you decide what to grow this year. If you're growing in a small space, new to growing veg, need some ideas for a shady garden...we've got some suggestions for you! We haven't included advice for those growing in larger gardens and allotments, because we think you can probably squeeze in most crops, but if you have any other things you'd like ideas for, just drop us a message and we'll see if we can put together a few more suggestions in our next Veg Out newsletter!
First Time Growers
These plants are easy to grow and a good way to dip your toe in the water with growing your own food. You won't need to worry about building supports, or earthing up or staking or anything else that requires gardening jargon. Just plant them in pots or in raised beds in a sunny spot in spring, and water regularly and they should do fairly well.
Courgettes
Dwarf Beans
Lettuces & Salad Leaves
Spinach & Chard
Bush Tomatoes
Beetroot
Spring Onions
Herbs
Strawberries
Growing in the Shade
If your garden gets little sunlight, there are still things you can grow. They will need some sunshine, but with a couple of hours of sunshine here and there, you can still expect to get some harvestable crops. We've grown all the plants below in north-facing beds that only get a couple of hours sunshine in the morning and evening:
Lettuces
Salad Leaves
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Spinach & Chard
Coriander, Parsley, Chervil
Growing in Small Spaces
These plants can all be planted reasonably close together and take up minimal space while they are growing. Great if you just have a couple of smaller raised beds, or planters. You can also grow them in pots and grow bags quite happily.
Lettuces
Wild Rocket
Mizuna & Frills Mustard
Spring Onions
Beetroot
Dwarf Beans
Baby Sweetcorn
Carrots
Leeks
Peas
Growing in Window Boxes
Choose deep 20cm window boxes, and as long as you fill with good quality compost and water/feed during the summer, you can actually grow a fair bit of food on windowsills or on a balcony.
Spring Onions
Wild Rocket, Mizuna & Frills Mustard
Herbs
Lettuces
Coriander, Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Chervil
On a Budget
These plants are ones that will keep cropping for a long time, and give multiple pickings per plant. They're a good way of getting the most bang for your buck! You could also check our new Money Saving Veg Collection
Lettuces & Salad Leaves
Spinach, Chard & Kale
Mangetout, Peas, Beans
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Chillies
Courgettes & Squash
Sprouting Broccoli
Herbs
Living in the North
If you live further north in the UK, then you may find these plants do well. Most will do well in cooler climates, and with lower light levels as autumn creeps in.
Spinach & Chard
Kale
All Brassicas - cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli etc
Parsnips
Carrots
Beetroot
Lettuces & Leaves
Peas
Minimal-Fuss Plants for Busy People
This selection includes plants that can, for the most part, require very little care once planted. If you mulch heavily when you plant (to help suppress weeds,) and remember to water regularly, you should find they do really well without much input from you.
Spinach & Chard
Lettuces & Salad Leaves
Peas & Beans
Bush Tomatoes
Chillies
Sweetcorn
Courgettes & Squash
Leeks
Beetroot & Carrots
[post_title] => Choosing the right plants for your garden
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[post_content] => With a bit of well-planned planting you can keep your veg plot going strong for longer, with plants that will give you produce well into autumn and winter. This guide explains what you can plant, when, for a longer harvest so that you can make a plan.
[post_title] => A Quick Guide to Spring & Summer Planting
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Let's get you growing...
Here are a few articles that will help you to get started with growing your own using our plug plants.
We’ve got a few ideas to share with you that will help you to make the most out of your kitchen garden this summer. In no particular order, here they...
Cooler weather, wetter soil and damp in the air – autumn tends to be very slug-friendly which is bad news for the veg patch. Here are some ways to protect...
We’ve put together some useful ideas for you to help you decide what to grow this year. If you’re growing in a small space, new to growing veg, need some...
With a bit of well-planned planting you can keep your veg plot going strong for longer, with plants that will give you produce well into autumn and winter. This guide...
Just wanted to say thank you for the hints, tips and recipes. I really find them enjoyable and so often right on the money with what’s going on in my veg patch.
J. M.
“”
Just a quick message to say your packaging is excellent, plants arrived unscathed unlike a recent order from T&M which though shrouded in plastic, plants were DOA. The leeks are looking a bit down but hopefully will perk up!
S.M
“”
Food bills have rocketed so here is a great way to save yourself a fortune and grow your own. A Rocket Garden is a great start for any would be vegetable gardener.
