Take some tips from these amazing bloggers about growing veg!
Image: shutterstock

Say goodbye to tasteless supermarket produce by growing your own delicious nutritious fruit and veggies. To help show you how, we’ve hunted down some of the best vegetable gardening blogs around.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a sprawling allotment, or a scrubby patch of urban garden – here’s the inspiration and insight you need to help you on your way.

Allotment Garden

John Harrison has 40 years worth of experience to share on his blog.
Image: shutterstock

To help you get your veg plot started, blogger John gives you all the advice you need. You’ll get growing tips categorised by month and vegetable, and for extra inspiration, a vegetable show growing section. Check out John’s pics and step-by-step instructions for growing prize-winning onions, potatoes, and more.

With 40 years gardening experience under his belt, you can be sure John knows his stuff. He says gardening is: “healthy exercise without having to pay for a gym or run around in circles and you get to eat healthy fruit and vegetables without all those pesticide residues.” Give this blog a try.

Digging the Earth

Sarah believes if her family can garden, you can too!
Image: Digging the Earth

With two years of allotment gardening behind her, blogger Sarah says, “grab a spade and have a go, if we can do it, then there’s not many that can’t.” An inspirational read, you’ll love Sarah’s 10 reasons to garden even if it’s raining – for starters, she says, you get to enjoy a cosy cuppa in the shed…

Bitten by the gardening bug, Sarah and her family now tend three plots. “A bit of planning’s in order”, says Sarah. If you’re in the same boat, check out her list of at-home allotment tasks – it’s a great place to start.

Her Outdoors

Jane Merrick’s ultimate planting tip? Garlic.
Image: Her Outdoors

Got a plot but can’t decide what to grow? Take Jane Merrick’s advice and plant garlic. The Independent columnist and Britain’s Best Allotment judge says: “If the conditions are right, it’s easy to produce a decent crop.” Plus, it’ll make you feel productive over the winter.

A blog that’s busting with excellent hints and tips, beginners will love Jane’s advice on embarking on your first allotment. And for more experienced gardeners, we recommend Jane’s post on dealing with weedy paths – the woodchip really does look great.

Plot 7 Marsh Lane

Healing and life-affirming, gardening changed Belinda’s life.
Image: Plot 7 Marsh Lane

Gardening was the perfect route back to full health for kidney transplant recipient, Belinda. Now her blog is an inspiring and informative resource for anyone who loves life in the garden.

Need some crop rotation ideas? Belinda’s scheme includes diagrams to help you decide where to plant everything from broad beans to parsnips. You’ll also love her wildlife section in which she gives the lowdown on the bugs, birds and animal visitors to the allotment.

Our Smallholding Adventure

Tracy’s smallholding seedlings.
Image: Our Smallholding Adventure

Our Smallholding Adventure is the “frugal journey from street house to small holding, fast food to self sufficiency and shop bought to homemade” for the Chadfield family.

With lots of fruit and veg to use from their smallholding,Tracy’s posts about preserving produce are sure to be of interest. As she says: “It’s a really satisfying feeling preserving seasonal produce that we’ve grown right here!” It looks delicious, too.

Check out Tracy’s quick and easy sweet chilli sauce and the homemade strawberry vodka! And with the winter fast approaching, her elderberry winter tonic looks pretty good too…

Allotment Diary

Dan grows some delicious veg on his Yorkshire allotment.
Image: Allotment Diary

Ever wondered about the dedication it takes to grow a 10lb onion? Let blogger Dan take you through the process step-by-step from sowing to harvesting as he tries to break the 10lb barrier.

Dan keeps a diary of everything he grows, which is a great source of gardening information, and check out his YouTube channel  too. We love the idea of planting your peas in lengths of guttering. It means you can “germinate them indoors and slide the plants out into the beds when they’re big enough”. What a great labour saver.

The Backyard Larder

The perennial veg Alison harvested for stew.
Image: The Backyard Larder

Veg gardener Alison is hooked on perennial vegetables like kale, sea beets, artichokes and sorrel, and once you read her blog you will be too. As she says, they’re the ‘perfect edible plants for a busy lifestyle!’ Less work than traditional veg, they even keep producing during the winter.

Ever heard of skirret? This long-forgotten Tudor veg is one of Alison’s current crops. She shares what she’s learned growing it over the past years, as well as this top tip – use it in stew! She says it’s ‘best part of the dish, so satisfying with their sweet taste and potato-like texture.’

Carrot Tops Allotment

A small yield of potatoes, but a big yield of advice from the Carrot Tops Allotment.
Image: Carrot Tops Allotment

Protect your beans and peas! This year, the Carrot Tops allotment plot came under attack from weevils. That meant holey veg leaves for blogger Adam, but the good news is, he always shares his experiences so you won’t make the same mistakes. He says start by covering your bean with fleece or cloches to help the plants outgrow any damage.

Adam’s blog runs the full gardening gamut from how to help bees to a recipe for a delicious carrot cake with cream cheese icing. And for keen composters, his top 10 composting tips reveal some good ideas – like adding paper.

Rainbow Chard

The rainbow chard grown by the folks at the Rainbow Chard blog!
Image: Rainbow Chard

Wondering what to plant after your tomatoes are finished? Organic allotmenteer Lou recommends salads like winter purslane to keep your greenhouse or coldframe producing even as the weather cools.

Pop over to Rainbow Chard every week for photos and a rundown of the happenings on this organic allotment in Norwich, along with great ideas for what to cook with your homegrown veg, like this vegetable toad in the hole. And do check out the ‘monster green butternut squash’ – a beast at 16lbs, a real monster.

Self-Sufficient in Suburbia

Jonathan’s animals love weeding day at the allotment.
Image: Self-Sufficient in Suburbia.

Is your garden more derelict that delectable? Jonathan Wallace knows how you feel. But over the past 10 years, he’s transformed the space in his ongoing “battle to be self-sufficient”.

It’s hard graft, Jonathan says, but it’s working. Today, he has livestock, bee colonies, and a thriving garden that produces more veg than you can shake a shovel at. Tune in to watch Jonathan’s videos in which he discusses a wide range of topics from making pigeon burgers to cherry-rhubarb jam and more.

Down on the Allotment

Matron’s courtyard vegetable garden.
Image: Down on the Allotment

You don’t need much space to grow delicious vegetables, says Matron. She says to prioritise climbers which will “make their own space up against the wall.” Runner beans, tomatoes, and squash are all grow well in her courtyard veg garden.

Inheriting a ‘dig for victory’ mentality from her parents, Matron has always loved gardening and her blog is a treasure trove of useful and unusual tips. If you can get your hands on some fresh walnuts, her step-by-step guide to how to pickle them is a must-read.

English Homestead

Kev and his family are trying to be self-reliant on their homestead.
Image: An English Homestead

If you’ve got budding young gardeners at home, this is the blog for you. Having grown up on a farm, today, Kev is a carpenter, homesteader, and at-home dad to his three kids.

About self-reliant family living, Kev’s kids help him forage for blackberries, collect eggs, and can now even identify edible wild foods by sight. He says, “they’re building skills and hopefully a work ethic which will last them a lifetime.” This is a top read – you’ll love his tips on making the most of a courgette glut, and dealing with rabbits evading a rabbit-proof fence…

Urban Veg Patch

The community veg patch at York Rise.
Image: Urban Veg Patch

Avid gardener Caro Shrives is part of a group that works to revitalise the overgrown gardens of the historic 1930s flats in North London where she lives.

Nurturing the community, as well as a mini orchard, Caro posts pics of the gardens from yesteryear, as well as in-progress shots of the current plots. It’s a gardening journey through history and one that’s sure to inspire.

While it’s now more of a solo project, it’s one Caro loves. Her passion for gardening is contagious – and particularly of interest to anyone involved in shared gardening.

Have we missed any of your favourite veggie gardening blogs? If so, we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch via or Facebook page.