Grow Your Own V8

How would you like to grow your very own DIY V8 Original Vegetable Juice? It’s easy, and we’ll show you how. All you need is 8 simple ingredients:

1. Tomatoes
2. Beetroot
3. Celery
4. Parsley
5. Spinach
6. Lettuce
7. Carrots
8. Watercress

Tomatoes

It’s never too early in the season to start thinking about growing tomatoes. Just find a warm and sunny place and get planting! There are dozens of varieties of tomato to choose from, but for an ideal glass of V8, we recommend a red tomato.

Top Tomato Tips!

1. Don’t crowd your seedlings – they like to spread out nice and wide
2. Preheat your soil before planting using a black plastic sheet
3. Remove the bottom leaves when your plant starts to grow tall
4. Pinch and prune stray stems to maximise tomato growth

Beetroot

If you’re new to the gardening game, beetroot is a great place to start! It’s low maintenance, versatile and tasty – the perfect veggie, some might say. You don’t need to worry too much about soil because this robust little veg is tough and tolerant. You should start sowing your beetroot between the last weeks of April and the first week of July, ready to harvest in August/September time.

Best Beetroot!

1. Sow beetroot little and often and harvest while they’re young
2. Weed your beetroot area
3. Keep everything nice and watered during dry spells
4. Don’t forget – you can even eat the leaves as part of a colourful salad!

Celery

A staple of picnics and hummus pots everywhere, celery is one of the most popular vegetables. Packed with water and nutrients, celery is a natural detox veggie that LOVES water. When growing your celery, it’s important to keep your soil nice and moist at all times.

Super Celery Solutions!

1. Make sure you give your celery lots and lots of water
2. Keep your celery safe from slugs and snails
3. If you’re blanching, make sure to keep your stalks covered up
4. Water it some more!

Parsley

You can put parsley on anything – literally anything! Not only is it the perfect garnish, it’s also good for you; it’s rich in iron and vitamins A and C. Parsley comes in two varieties, flat leaf and curly leaf. Based on the name, you can tell which is which in a very obvious way.

Popular Parsley Pointers!

1. Parsley loves warm soil and even, moist conditions
2. Soak your seeds in lukewarm water to kick start germination
3. Plant parsley near asparagus, corn and tomatoes in your garden

Spinach

Popular with Popeye and the natural friend of ricotta on pizzas, spinach is a popular salad vegetable. Fast growing and easy to harvest, spinach is always there when your veggies run low. It is more sensitive to temperature, however, so make sure to regulate its environment closely to keep your spinach happy.

Sweet Spinach Secrets!

1. Spinach prefers sandy, water retaining soil
2. Pigeons LOVE Spinach seeds, so protect them with netting or a scarecrow
3. Rich, organic soil improves the taste
4. Harvest your spinach as soon as it’s big enough

Lettuce

Garden lettuce is the best kind of lettuce and far superior to supermarket varieties. Packed with vitamins and a perfect complement to burgers, salads and sandwiches, growing your own lettuce is a rewarding and delicious activity.

Lovely Lettuce Lessons!

1. Keep sowing, little and often, for a regular supply
2. Thin seedlings as soon the first true leaves appear to encourage growth
3. Sparrows adore young lettuce, so protect them with netting
4. Cut your lettuce when harvesting. Never pull!

Carrots

The carrot is a bunny rabbit’s best friend. This colourful veg is seen all year round, from stews and roast dinners to hummus pots and picnic tables. Carrots freeze well for easy storage and can be easily harvested regularly between May and October.

Create Cracking Carrots!

1. Grow your carrots on open ground rather than in pots
2. Carrots love the hot weather – water them only when they need it
3. Be careful not to cut or crush the foliage as this attracts carrot flies
4. Plant carrots in light, fertile soil in a sunny place

Watercress

Watercress is peppery, flavoursome and pretty. It makes a great garnish and is so easy to grow, you may have even done it yourself as a child! To grow watercress you don’t need any special skills or knowhow. All you need is a container, some soil and a sprinkling of water.

Ways of Winning Watercress

1. English Watercress and Broad Leaf Cress are the most popular
2. Don’t let water stagnate. Watercress likes flowing water
3. When planting, give each seed 3-4inches of personal space
4. Never cut more than one third of any single plant

Growing your own V8

So there you have it! Now you have everything you need to grow your own V8 Original Vegetable Juice. All you need now is a blender and over 50 years’ of vegetable juicing expertise! If you’re growing any of our eight V8 ingredients, share your progress on our Facebook page.

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