Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2018 i Kitchen Garden

September is traditionally a time for harvesting summer crops of fruit and vegetables and preserving any gluts so we can enjoy them through the long winter. However, there is still plenty we can do to stretch the growing season to ensure an early and productive start next year. A cold frame is helpful to extend the growing season and in this issue Joyce Russell shows you how to make one. Soil is our most precious commodity in the garden and after a year of hard work it deserves a bit of TLC. So this month we have two features, starting on pages 42 and 73, dedicated to helping you keep your soil fighting fit. There is plenty of info on crops, too; expert grower Rob Smith has some great top…

APPLE SCAB Common, especially in wet seasons. HOW TO CONTROL: With no fungicides currently offered, control by destroying fallen foliage in early winter. Garlic-based tonics help trees grow healthy foliage less susceptible to disease and are worth trying. In severe cases consider replanting with resistant cultivars. CODLING MOTH Codling moth caterpillars tunnel and spoil apples, with damage appearing in late summer. The adults fly from early summer. HOW TO CONTROL: Pheromone traps capture male moths and give some control. Traps provide warning of fly activity and thus the best time to apply insecticides is generally mid-June and again in early July. WOOLLY APHID Fluffy white ‘mould’ on shoots often around pruning cuts, spreading to the trunk and causing swellings on new shoots indicate woolly aphids. The pest excretes the white…

■ There are many ways to approach an edimental garden, so when planning it, be precise in defining what you want from it; whether it replaces a conventional veg patch or adds to it, what you want to eat and how much time you want to spend on it. It is possible to make it very low maintenance if it is well mulched. If you don’t have a separate veg patch, you can use a mixture of edimentals and conventional annual vegetables to good effect. ■ Do your research. You will be eating these plants, so make sure you get the correct species and that plants have not been treated with pesticides. There is plenty of information available online and in books by Stephen Barstow, Martin Crawford, Mark Diacono and…

■ 'MONCLANO F1' – Calabresetype broccoli producing a main head which, once cut, is followed by tasty side shoots. Resistant to club root and mildew fungal disease, which is a real plus! Available from www.dobies.co.uk ■ WOK BROCC – Perfect for stir-frying. A tender-stemmed broccoli to grow in succession from March to June and harvest June to September. Nutritious with a sweet, nutty flavour. Available from www.organiccatalogue.com ■ RAAB ’60 DAYS’ – A favourite vegetable in Italy, it is very quick to grow. Generally, the whole plant is harvested and leaves, stems and flower buds are all eaten. Available from www.mr-fothergills.co.uk…

I often imagine the soil on my vegetable patch sighing – with contentment when I cover it with a layer of dark crumbly compost, or with despair at yet another deluge of winter rain. You might conclude that I’ve spent too long alone out there, talking to my turnips, but this idea is not as fanciful as it first appears. Traditional soil tests just measure the type of soil you have (sand, silt, clay) and the nutrients it contains (phosphorus, potassium and so on). The latest ones, however, also look at factors such as its enzyme activity and respiration rate – so soil does breathe! These measurements recognise that all living creatures in the soil contribute to producing flourishing crops – from the familiar earthworms to microscopic bacteria and fungi.…

BEES Honey bees are well known as good for the garden and pollinate our flowering crops, but bumble bees can be even better pollinators. There are in fact around 270 different bee species in this country, including buff-tailed bumblebees and white tailed. Many are solitary species, others live in small colonies. Many live in holes in the ground or in wood or even walls. HOW TO ENCOURAGE: Flowers and simple single blooms, not the double ones. Hang up good sized bundles of hollow stems and twigs tied together to provide homes for them, or buy purpose designed bee boxes. LACEWINGS Unmistakable for their pale green bodies and very lace-like wings. Their larvae in particular consume vast quantities of aphids. HOW TO ENCOURAGE: Small bug boxes with lots of small holes…

HOW TO ENTER We are looking for the UK’s most passionate fruit and veggie grower and now veg plots are starting to look bountiful it is the perfect time to take some photographs and enter our competition. So if you love your plot then share it with us and other KG readers. Simply send us a few photos of your plot and you could win some great prizes and your plot will also be featured in a future issue of Kitchen Garden. SEND US: ■ One photograph of yourself, preferably taken on your plot. Others who help you on your plot can also be in the picture but please state who is pictured. ■ Six pictures of your plot. Aim for one overall shot and then some pictures of smaller…

LEMON HERB DRESSING This is a fabulously zingy dressing! And it uses lots of fragrant herbs from the garden too. It’s worth making a double batch, as it keeps well in the fridge. SERVES 4 ■ 2 lemons, juice of ■ 4 tbsp honey ■ 100ml (3½fl oz) extra virgin olive oil ■ 3 tbsp minced shallots ■ 1 tbsp minced fresh thyme ■ ½ tbsp minced fresh rosemary ■ 1 tbsp mint ■ 1 tbsp oregano ■ Salt and pepper to taste 1. In a medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice and honey. 2. Then add the olive oil and whisk again. 3. Add shallots, herbs, salt and pepper. 4. Whisk to combine. YOGURT HERB DRESSING This is a lovely light and slightly tangy dressing, delicious with potato salad.…

LOUISE HAS USED A BLOG TO DOCUMENT THE TRANSFORMATION OF HER ‘JUNGLE’ GARDEN INTO HER PARADISE Louise is a stay-at-home mum to her two not-so-little boys. She’s learning Welsh, she’s 50 this year and she has been using her blogging platform as a place to document the progress of turning a jungle into her paradise. How long have you been gardening? I began gardening about seven months after we moved to Wales, which I suppose means I’ve worked on my little patch of paradise for just two years; although I definitely do consider myself a real novice and somebody who is constantly learning. When we first moved in, there was barely anything in order – we had to establish raised beds in the garden and my husband even built me…

■ ‘BROWN TURKEY’ – The most widely grown fig in the UK, and for good reason. One of the earliest to ripen, so produces a good crop even in a poor summer. Heavy crops of dark brown sweet fruit. ■ ‘WHITE MARSEILLE’ – The best green fig for the UK again. Early to ripen, produces large green fruit which are excellent. ■ ‘PETER'S HONEY’ – Probably the sweetest fig you can buy – each large green-yellow fruit is an absolute treat. The downside is that it does need a very warm site to do well, but is an excellent choice for growing in a greenhouse.…

“It is altogether more wholesome and fulfilling to be involved in the whole process of something, rather than just buying it” Some chefs spend their whole lives chasing down a Michelin star – and some might never achieve that goal. But for Tommy Banks, head chef at The Black Swan at Oldstead in North Yorkshire, the capturing of this iconic culinary accolade wasn’t so much a personal goal at first, more a practical business target, because Banks’ promotion to head chef came shortly after his predecessor had managed to get The Black Swan into the pages of the prestigious guide. And the then 24-year-old was keen to show the restaurant’s owners – his own mum and dad – why they could trust him to keep up the good work at…

10 MINUTE JOBS PICK APPLES The first apples of the season are ripening now and need to be picked as soon as the fruits leave the trees when given a gentle twist. The exact time of ripening varies on location and the fruits on the sunny side of the tree ripen first. PREPARE SOIL Before you plant spring cabbage plants, prepare the ground by forking it over lightly and tread the area to firm the soil. Sprinkle a light dressing of general fertiliser such as Growmore or pelleted poultry manure to give the plants a good start. DRY ‘BORLOTTI’ BEANS If you intend to pick and dry beans such as Borlotti for winter use, pick the beans when they are fully formed and the pods are dry. Do this on…

THE VEGETABLE FAIRY The soil in my garden is not suitable for growing vegetables, but I have still managed to grow my favourites – runner beans. I grow them in large tubs and had such a successful crop last year, I am doing the same this year – proof that you can still grow vegetables even if your garden soil is unsuitable. I didn’t even buy the seeds, I just dried a load of the seeds from last year’s crop. Free food that’s healthy too. Any spare beans I have, which is usually a lot, I give them to my neighbours. They call me the vegetable fairy, lol. I think this is a great tip for gardeners like myself who have to stick to pots! Angharad Meyrick, Llanelli TONY SAYS:…

When we think of cornflowers, we think of vibrant blue flowers, nodding nonchalantly in the wind. But cornflowers come in an array of colours, including blues, dark reds and pinks – plus some bicolour varieties. As a cut flower this annual is a great complement to other, more ostentatious flowers, but are beautiful too as a single variety display. In fact, a few cuttings in a simple vase can bring something wonderful to the windowsill in seconds. They are also a great flower for attracting pollinators such as bees and butterflies to the garden. SOWING Cornflowers prefer a well-drained soil in a sunny position. Sow from March to May, or alternatively August to September undercover for an early summer flowering the next year. The main flowering period is June to…

NUKED BY CUKES? If you’ve grown too many cucumber plants this summer and cucumbers seem to be dropping on you from a great height – don’t despair! The www.tablespoon.com website has Ten Things to Do with a Cucumber, including a cold cucumber soup, a quick to make cucumber pickle, cucumber and lime martini and a creamy tzatziki sauce. For the full list and recipes go to: http://bit.ly/2tktgGs On the other hand, if it’s courgettes you’ve been stockpiling, how about taking a look at the BBC Good Food website which also has 10 suggestions – all of them polite, I hasten to add – about what you can do with your courgettes. These include a spiralised courgette (courgetti) recipe and using courgettes in cake, bread, salsa, soups, pickles and pizzas. http://bit.ly/2K315X1…

There are a few vegetables in the garden that come in different guises, but broccoli has to be pretty near the top of the list. Not only can you grow it for sprouts (as in the small seedlings you mix through salads), but you can grow it for large florets like you buy in the supermarket and even as long spears in the form of sprouting or stem broccoli. The fact it has a high vitamin content and has been linked to having anticancer agents, has led to an increase in people growing their own over the last decade or so. This versatile member of the brassica family can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled and stir-fried, and pretty much served with anything from salads to soups. Broccoli is pretty easy…

Fungi foraging can be daunting to a beginner. Britain is home to a vast variety (perhaps seven times as many species as there are plants) and some of them are deadly. In many cases, identification isn’t easy (even for experienced mushroom-hunters). Going foraging with an expert doesn’t always help – some of my students, especially when the fungi are plentiful, are so overwhelmed that they are even more cautious at the end of the session than they were at the beginning. For most people, though, a few hours spent with an experienced person certainly speeds up the first steps. The internet is a mixed blessing. Sure, there’s tons of information and no shortage of people offering to help, but as with so many other aspects of life online, the problem…

The vital role soil plays in growing healthy plants and people is increasingly being recognised, both nationally and internationally, by everyone from small-scale farmers and growers to government agencies. Did you know there is now a World Soil Day on December 5 every year? In the UK, the GREATsoils project (Growing Resilient Efficient and Thriving soils) has been set up to help commercial fruit and vegetable growers, market gardeners and other professional horticulturists, to assess and manage the health of their soils. A whole range of soil tests have been evaluated and promoted, from simply digging a hole with a spade and counting worms through to the most sophisticated analysis of nutrients and micro-organisms. Plenty is happening for gardeners too. In ‘Earthworm Watch’, a project run by the Earthwatch Institute…

UMBELLIFERAS These are plants which have flower heads of little stalks off which more stalks project, then tiny flowers so you get masses of little blooms. These flowers are particularly attractive to some of our best pest predators, like lacewings and hoverflies. Good examples can be found on the veg patch, some of which we allow to flower. A prime example is dill. We harvest the seeds of these as well as use the leaves. Some veg with these flowers include carrot and parsnip, but we harvest them before they flower. I remember visiting Great Dixter garden in East Sussex and seeing some stunning yellow flowers – parsnip flowers – in the veg garden. Why not harvest all but a handful of parsnips and leave these in the ground and…

1 ST  PRIZE VALUE £921 ■ Mountfield Mower worth £329 ■ Set of 3 Harrod Trumpet Wire Rust Obelisks value £242 ■ WOLF-Garten tools worth £250 ■ Two Wests & Elliott vouchers value £100 2 ND  PRIZE VALUE £744  ■ Mountfield Mower worth £329 ■ Harrod Decorative steel Wall Trellis (and brackets) ball finials value £165.45 ■ WOLF-Garten tools worth £150 ■ Two Wests & Elliott vouchers worth £100 3 RD  PRIZE VALUE £638  ■ Mountfield Mower worth £329 ■ Harrod Vintage Round Wire Obelisk in natural rust, ideal for climbing plants. Value £109 ■ WOLF-Garten tools worth £100 ■ Two Wests & Elliott vouchers worth £100…

Send the above together with your photographs to:- Kitchen Garden Passionate Plotter Competition, Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR or email your pictures and answers to erawlings@mortons.co.uk Photocopies of the above form are permitted. We regret that photographs cannot be returned. DATA: Protection of your personal data is important to Mortons. Your data will be stored securely and only be used for the purpose of processing and publishing the competition and notifying the winners. Data will then be destroyed.…

One motivator for a lot of kitchen gardeners is the opportunity to grow healthy food for a frugal outlay. Local food is fresh food – and it doesn’t get any more local than what you’ve grown in your back garden or allotment! How much you spend on getting to harvest depends on the time and resources available to you. Arguably the more time you have, the greater the chances to be resourceful and cut costs. One area that’s an easy win is seed saving – and the benefits go far beyond the financial. WHY BOTHER? Aside from saving a few bob, seed you’ve saved yourself helps to maintain a living heritage. Just think of all the history encapsulated within heritage varieties; their unique characters and flavours passed on from one…

“ Figs have been grown in this country since 1552, when they were planted at Lambeth Palace by Cardinal Pole” Figs are probably one of the earliest fruits to have been cultivated. There are traces of fig farms in Jordan from 9000BC. Like many fruit, they are originally from the area around Iran and Iraq. They were a favourite fruit of both the Greeks and the Romans, and the Romans imported them into Britain. However, when you think of figs, you probably imagine Mediterranean scenery, scorching sunshine and dry stony soils – a fruit for growing in a warmer climate than we in the UK have most summers. Or a taste of foreign holiday, much like that lemon liquor that tasted fantastic at the time but the bottle of duty-free…

As gardeners, we know that the success of our plot is directly related to the health of our soil. Soil is our most valuable asset and, as such, needs to be protected. The best way to protect and improve our soil is by keeping it covered with crops, whether it be an edible or green manure crop. Green manuring isn’t a new concept. The Ancient Greeks recognised the value of green manures but with the advent of the Second World War and the development of man-made chemicals and fertilisers to increase productivity, the use of green manures declined. Today, as we seek more natural ways of maintaining healthy soils and crops, green manures are once again back in vogue. Green manures are plants grown for the primary purpose of improving…

WINTER GREENS COLLECTION This winter greens plant collection will ensure you have a tasty and delicious selection of vegetables to harvest from autumn through to the next spring. The collection includes varieties chosen for their flavour and reliability. In total there are 40 plants, 10 each of the following: cabbage ‘Tundra F1’ (AGM), cauliflower ‘Amsterdam F1’, kale ‘Reflex F1’ and sprouting broccoli ‘Rudolph’. Despatch from mid-August. 40 PLANTS…

WHAT TO DO IN AUGUST ■ Reduce watering a little and aim for a less humid atmosphere ■ Support stems and pick peppers as soon as they reach a good colour ■ Watch out for moulds and blight: remove affected leaves as soon as you spot them ■ Plant out and make sowings for the winter ■ Remove lower tomato leaves ■ Close doors and windows on cold nights ■ Remove crops that have finished and get new ones into the space ■ Keep harvesting and use the glut well! A NEW GREENHOUSE: SHAPE & HEIGHT Glass greenhouses tend to have pitched roofs and polytunnels tend to have curved ones, but there are exceptions. Some plastic covers fit over pitched frames and domes are common enough with both plastic or…

DOUBLE TROUBLE WITH TOMS I have grown six ‘Marmande’ tomato plants. So far all six plants seem to have a double flower on the first truss. Any reason for this anomaly? Harold Bishop, Nottingham Bob Flowerdew, Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time panellist BOB SAYS: This is unusual but not unknown. Flowers doubling can occur from many causes: cultural conditions, inherited tendency, insect or pest damage, or weather. To have all six plants do the same is exceptional and indicates a genetic tendency, which could be the case as ‘Marmande’ is an old French variety which has long been self-fertlilised and not cross-pollinated, thus is ‘inbred’. Pleiotaxy, as it is called, is a form of doubling and is quite rare in tomatoes. Doubling usually involves the conversion of other parts and…

I used to have a conventional ornamental garden around the house. It never worked though, because I don’t see the point in growing purely ornamental plants and I have too little time. It just became neglected and weedy, and badly needed a revamp. I wanted the space to produce food for the kitchen, even if it was in small quantities. I was inspired by Stephen Barstow’s book Around the World in 80 Plants to try an ‘edimental’ garden – that is, one that is both edible and ornamental. The brief was that every plant in it had to be edible or useful, and attractive too. I wanted to supply food for bees and other pollinators, and it had to be low maintenance. To achieve low maintenance I heavily mulched with…

■ When it comes to problems you might face with broccoli, there are of course the usual suspects, such as slugs and snails, plus pigeons who can decimate sprouting broccoli in the winter months when there is little else for them to eat. Be sure to secure netting well over your plants, as a fat pigeon landing on top of the net can make it sag down low enough for the feathery fiends to peck away happily at your plants. ■ Try putting up bird scarers or old CDs on string – the shiny and reflective surfaces usually scare away the biggest of pigeons. ■ I always cover my broccoli with netting to prevent cabbage white butterflies laying their eggs on my plants. If not, their caterpillars can destroy your…

Malabar spinach is a favourite of mine. It also has other names; Basella alba, Ceylon, Indian or Vietnamese spinach. It really loved the warm start to May, taking off like a rocket in the polytunnel and rapidly climbing to its 2m (6ft 6in) height up hastily-erected binder twine slung from the supports. It’s a climbing leaf veg, with heart-shaped, deeply veined fleshy leaves: in my case, a mixture of reddish and green-stemmed plants, but strictly speaking should come in either red (Basella alba ‘Rubra’) or green varieties. The succulent textured foliage has been very welcome as an alternative to lettuce when my imagination for what-can-I-put-in-yet-another salad has been severely tested, and is refreshing by itself without the need for calorie-loaded dressings. A Chinese mate says it’s like pork fat for…

“There is a lot of wildlife, some very small, that will work out of sight feeding on the pests that do our crops harm.” Encouraging wildlife into a fruit and veg plot might seem a bit like having a lion in a chicken run, but actually wildlife and crops can be mutually beneficial. Of course, there is some wildlife we veg gardeners feel like erasing from the planet, especially when our hard work is obliterated over night. Slugs and snails are two good examples, cabbage white butterflies another. However, there is a lot of wildlife, some very small, that will work out of sight, feeding on the pests that do our crops harm. With veg growing you have a choice of either creating a sterile environment with a handful of…

■ A patch of nettles ■ An area of long grass mown once a year (usually late summer) maybe dotted with a few wildflowers ■ A small pond or even a shallow dish of water with stones in and out for access ■ A pile of logs ■ Some flowers interspersed with your crops, including yarrow and poached egg plant ■ A pottery – piles of pots stacked in a higgledy-piggledy way behind the shed will create a home for all sorts of wildlife ■ A few patches of flowers among the veg, especially single flowered types like poached egg plant, marigolds and monarda (bee balm) but there are many others ■ Weeds. A controversial one but a few weeds in the right place not too close to crops can…

MOUNTFIELD Mountfield has been one of the UK’s leading lawnmower manufacturers for more than 50 years and their lawnmowers, lawn tractors and garden care products all share a reputation for outstanding quality and reliability. The Mountfield team have maintained their position as a leading lawnmower manufacturer by continually developing their products, with investment and innovation ensuring that only the best combination of performance and value for money is offered. In recent years, best-selling garden tractors, lawn riders, roller mowers and a range of class leading 48-volt garden tools have been launched. The innovations have continued with new 80-volt cordless lawnmowers. www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk HARROD HORTICULTURAL This company has been producing top quality garden products for 60 years and is innovative in bringing new designs on to the market. It offers an excellent…

WONKY Veg HOW TO ENTER 1 Send us a photograph of your wonky veg including your name, address and email address on the coupon on these pages. 2 The wonky veg does not have to have been grown this year. If you have a picture of misshapen produce that you’ve grown previously, you can still send us the picture. 3 We are looking for naturally occurring wonky/odd-shaped fruit or veg. Two or more veg entwined with each other can be sent in and classed as one entry. 4 We need high-res images so check that digital pictures are at least 400KB or larger. Kids Veggie Art HOW TO ENTER 1 The competition is for under-16s only. 2 Use at least one fruit or vegetable in your artwork. More used will…

STEP 1 Scrape or squeeze out the pulp and seeds from a ripe tomato into a glass or jam jar. Add water and, if you’re saving different varieties, add a label to avoid confusion later on. STEP 2 Cover the jar with a paper towel then leave to ferment. Swirl the jar daily. Fermenting helps to break down the gel while reducing bacterial and fungal impurities. STEP 3 Fermenting takes two to five days. Seeds are ready once they have sunk to the bottom. The surface of the mixture may have developed a thin layer of scum. STEP 4 Remove most of the liquid then tip the seeds into a sieve. Rinse under water using a wooden spoon to gently agitate the seeds to detach any remaining material. STEP 5…

STEP 1: Take semi-ripe cuttings in late September. STEP 2: Cut a nice 12cm (4¾in) length of new growth, cutting just beneath a leaf node. Remove any leaves that are still on. STEP 3: Plant the cutting about 4cm (1½in) deep in a pot filled with a soil-based compost such as John Innes No 1. Firm the compost around the cutting and water in. No need to use a rooting hormone, figs root pretty easily. They do like a little warmth, so we place on heated mats in a greenhouse over the winter. A sunny kitchen windowsill will do just fine. STEP 4: Keep the compost barely moist over the winter. The cuttings should come into leaf the following spring. Don’t increase the watering until you can see new root…

Assemble was the word that kept coming to mind when writing my book: the idea of taking a few good ingredients and tumbling them onto a big sharing platter, without the worry of complicated techniques or hard-to-find ingredients. This is my relaxed approach to connecting over food, which I’ve combined with realistic guidance on how you can quickly build interesting flavours and textures in your everyday cooking. In developing my recipes, I’ve tried to strike a balance between attainable and simple, and inspiring and informative. Throughout, I’ve considered my friends who don’t work in the food industry, who might not be as confident in the kitchen, or living on the doorstep of London’s food markets and specialist stockists. In fact, it was those friends who kindly tested these recipes, out…

As a brassica, watercress may suffer from some of the same pests and diseases as other cabbage-family members and should not, for example, be grown in soil where club root may be present. However, the most likely problem is greenfly, which will occasionally infest the young shoots. Wash them off or rub them away with your fingers. Flea beetle may also be a nuisance outdoors and these can be reduced by covering the crop with a barrier mesh. Alternatively, dust the crop with powdered dry soil. The tiny seedlings are prone to damping off disease (the seedlings rot at the base of the stem and topple over). This can be reduced by watering in the morning or from the base where growing in pots, or by spraying the seedlings occasionally…

SPRING GREENS PLANT COLLECTION These carefully chosen brassicas will bring variety and a host of different flavours to your table. The collection contains 20 plants, five each of the following varieties: ■ CABBAGE ‘ADVANTAGE’ – An excellent variety for spring greens and medium-sized hearted spring and summer cabbages. More winter hardy and less prone to bursting. September planting and will keep well into May. ■ CABBAGE ‘SPRING HERO’ – Is the first and only ball-headed spring cabbage. The large, heavy heads of ‘Spring Hero’ stand for weeks. Harvest April-May. ■ SPROUTING BROCCOLI ‘CLARET F1’ – A vigorous and high-yielding modern hybrid, which is ready in March-May, producing masses of thick spears simply packed with flavour. ‘Claret’ is good enough to serve alone steamed with lashings of butter, just like an…

PEAR DAY SEPTEMBER 16. Brogdale Farm, Faversham, Kent. Celebrate more than 500 varieties of pear at Brogdale – fruit displays, orchard tours, meet the experts. 01795 536250 www.brogdalecollections.co.uk DEVON CHILLI & CHOCOLATE FAIR SEPTEMBER 14-16. RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon. Talk with chilli experts, buy plants and produce. 10am-5pm. 01805 624067 www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor TERRIFIC TOMATOES SEPTEMBER 15. Knightshayes, near Tiverton, Devon. Find out about the 140+ varieties of heritage tomatoes grown here – displays, tastings, tours. 11am-4pm. 01884 254665 www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knightshayes PLUM TREE PRUNING SEPTEMBER 7. Crown Nursery, Ufford, Suffolk. Learn how to tackle this seasonal task. 10am-noon. Book on 01394 460755 www.crown-nursery.co.uk MALVERN AUTUMN SHOW SEPTEMBER 29-30. Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire. Celebrate the best of the autumn harvest – stalls, displays (including giant veg exhibit), gardening advice, cookery workshops.…

PEACH AND RASPBERRY PANCAKES WITH COCONUT YOGURT My take on a peach Melba with pancakes. With tropical flavours from the coconut yogurt and sweetened peaches, this dish is irresistible! SERVES 4 (8 PANCAKES) Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes ■ 100g (3½oz) plain flour ■ 2 eggs ■ 300ml (10½fl oz) hemp or oat milk ■ ½ tsp vanilla extract ■ 2 fresh peaches ■ 400g (12oz) raspberries ■ 100ml (3½fl oz) maple syrup ■ Oil for frying ■ 8 tbsp coconut yogurt 1. Gently rub peaches under running water to remove the fuzz. Thinly slice the peaches, and cut in half. Combine the peach slices and maple syrup in a medium bowl. 2. Put the flour, eggs and hemp milk into a bowl or large jug, then…