Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2021 i Kitchen Garden

There’s plenty to do this month as we continue to sow many of the crops that will take us through the summer and beyond. Rob Smith reveals the secrets of growing great broad beans while the KG team unveil their list of the 10 most productive veg to grow. You may well have different opinions, so please do let us know your own selection for yield and value. Love to grow onions from seed? Then you won’t want to miss veg expert Colin Randel’s round-up of the latest award-winners from RHS trials, while the top tasks from our jobs pages are planting indoor tomatoes, protecting cabbages from root fly and using mulches to grow bigger, better crops. We have plenty for herb lovers this month too with features on calming…

IMPROVING SOIL FOR CARROTS Every year I try to grow carrots without success. I add compost to soil and even sieved a whole area to get rid of stones. However, I never have but a handful of large carrots and mostly tiny ones. Is there anything I can do to improve the soil as it’s very clay-like and stony? Stuart McEwan, Essex EMMA SAYS: If your soil is very stony or heavy and wet, apart from improving it with organic matter such as well-rotted manure and garden compost (not fresh as this will cause forking), you might also consider growing in raised beds with better imported soil. If this is not an option try using a bar to make 15cm (6in) holes in the ground, turning the end of the…

Broad beans can be found on just about every allotment site and in plenty of veg patches up and down the country. The easy-to-grow legume not only produces masses of beans, most also have fragrant flowers, and you’ll know that they give off a delightful aroma too! Broad beans aren’t just easy to grow, they are really hardy too, with many varieties suitable to sow in October/November and surviving harsh winters without a problem. In fact, my ‘Superaguadulce’ have even frozen solid before, wilted - and then, as soon as the sun’s got back on them, they have perked right up again and been absolutely fine as if nothing has happened. SOWING AND PLANTING When it comes to sowing your seeds, there are a couple of methods and they work…

Putting the poppy heads on to the top of my canes is a great way of protecting your eyes. This year we had self-seeded poppies and a few months ago they looked absolutely amazing. They really did, they were wonderful! I’m actually drying some of them off now and there are still lots of them dying off. I’m probably going to use them for dried flower arrangements. I even thought of dying some of the heads with some of the vegetables such as beetroot, just as an experiment. They aren’t difficult to weed out. I know they’re not everybody’s favourite. Some people like an allotment just to be vegetables, which is fair enough. But I just love the colours like the cornflowers, which are one of my favourites. They were…

It was difficult coming up with our top 10 as we think all vegetables are worth growing even if you only get a handful of peas or one sweetcorn cob. They will still be delicious and rewarding, but we think some veg really do give you more ‘bang for your buck’ and fit into all three of the criteria below. THE THREE CRITERIA… ■ They are very prolific – most years – and offer value for money and for the time invested. ■ They are better than supermarket produce because they’re better value, travel fewer food miles or are fresher and tastier. ■ Relatively easy to grow. 1 MIXED SALAD LEAVES Pillow packs of salad leaves bought from a supermarket can go off really quickly once opened so growing your…

1 GROW A FEW ANNUAL FLOWERS Sow just a few annual flowers in the corner of your plot or in between rows of long-term crops such as brassicas and sweetcorn. Not only will you enjoy the colour on your plot, you will encourage and help pollinators such as bees, insect predators and, more importantly, you will actually confuse the pests. In between a row of cabbages or parsnips sow a row of hardy annuals such as Californian poppies, calendula, cornflowers and cosmos. Many companies sell mixtures of annual flowers too. 2 SAVE THE STICKS Save and store any straight prunings from trees and shrubs. Use twiggy ones to support peas and beans. Short sticks can be used to mark veg rows. Longer stout sticks can support climbing beans. If you…

Nurturing little cuttings to becoming new plants is a magical process and a thriving herb garden is a real pleasure. Herbs not only add flavour to your meals and provide ingredients for teas and herbal remedies but are a great benefit to wildlife that can forage from the flowers and overwinter in the woody stems. Propagation is a great way of making lots of plants to share and sell, as well as for your garden. May and June is an ideal time to take cuttings. Propagating plants from cuttings, ‘vegetative propagation’, creates new plants which have the same properties as their parent and is especially helpful for growing plants which are difficult to start from seed. It’s a bit like cloning! It’s fun, accessible to all ages and very easy,…

Chive ‘Cha Cha’ is a real talking point for your herb garden with its strange, false ‘flower heads’. It grows in clumps like a normal chive but instead of the purple-pink flowers that are the norm for a chive, this one bears ‘flowers’ which are like mini versions of the parent plant. The leaves of the main plant are edible but so are the little chive heads. HOW TO GROW Like normal chives this one likes a sunny spot and is very hardy. It is a perennial so will come back year after year but it helps to rejuvenate the clumps by lifting them and splitting occasionally (see next column). You can add the chopped leaves into egg dishes, salads or as a great accompaniment to cheese. The mild onion…

This month we tackle a fruit with an undeserved reputation for being tricky. Think of grapevines and you’ll probably imagine long lines of tightly pruned vines planted on the chalky slopes of southern France, baking under the Mediterranean sun. Sometimes it can be hard to envisage a successful crop in your own colder, wetter British garden. Growing in a greenhouse or polytunnel is one option, but this may not be possible for many. However, by picking a suitable variety you can get an excellent crop in most areas of the UK, no matter whether you grow it outside or under cover. We’ll have a look at the pros and cons of each way of growing grapes, as well as growing vines in pots, and then look at some of the…

POSH SHED BIG PLANTER This brand new planter from The Posh Shed Company comes in nine sizes. It has fully pressurised treated timber walls and a base that will not rot, made from recycled plastic board. www.theposhshedcompany.co.uk EMPATHY GROW YOUR OWN PACK This pack contains everything needed to grow delicious crops naturally. The pack contains Rootgrow, two packs of Tomato Starter, After Plant Tomato Feed, After Plant Grow Your Own and complimentary RHS bird feed.www.rootgrow.co.uk HOZELOCK BIOMIX Make your own natural and organic plant feeds in this Biomix. Just add the leaves of comfrey or nettles and water and seal the unit. There is no smell and you can mix the solution using the handle on the top. You extract the plant feed from the tap at the base. Tel:…

An iconic allotment bloom, wallflowers have long been a mainstay of the cut flower patch and ornamental borders during the spring and early summer. Hardy during the coldest winters (as long as the soil isn’t too heavy and wet), a sowing from May to July should ensure a display from the end of March to July the following year when summer bedding takes over. They are a great early source of food for bees and other pollinators too and can make lovely scented cut flowers for the home. Although the wallflowers we grow as bedding plants (Cheiranthus) are perennials they are short-lived and usually treated as biennials – sowing one year to flower the next. Modern varieties will often give a small bonus flush of flowers in the autumn and…

SAVE UP RO £23.95 (AGM is the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Under RHS garden trials these varieties performed particularly well) FREE WITH EVERY ORDER KALE NERO DI TOSCANA VEGETABLE PLANTS X20 Kale is incredibly versatile and gaining in popularity all the time. ‘Nero Di Toscana’, also known as ‘Cavolo Nero’, is one of the most flavoursome varieties and adored by many discerning chefs. The dark green, deeply savoyed leaves are perfect for adding a unique texture and flavour to a whole host of dishes and are a real treat when many vegetable sources are scarce. Baby leaves can be eaten raw and make a great addition to the salad bowl, while older leaves are great boiled or steamed. Supplied as 20 young vegetable plants. **You can claim this item…

PROTECT FRUIT Cover fruit bushes with netting to protect from birds. Choose your moment and make sure the mesh size allows insects through to pollinate flowers. Take care not to pull off fruitlets as you move netting over and do take the time to mend any holes. EARTH UP POTATOES Pile earth up around stems when around 25cm (10in) tall. The more earth you pile around, the less chance there is of potatoes turning green with exposure to light. Try not to bury leaves, although losing one or two low ones won’t do much harm. THIN CARROTS Choose a dull damp day to thin carrots. This reduces the distance that the scent of crushed foliage will carry on the wind and attract carrot flies. Remove small and weak roots and…

■ Keep sowing salads and fast-maturing vegetables on a regular basis for a continued supply through the summer. ■ There is still plenty of time to sow cucumbers to produce strong plants for planting out in a few weeks’ time. ■ Figs growing in pots can be thirsty, so water regularly and feed once a week with a high-potash feed to encourage fruits to develop. ■ Sow a selection of kale seeds in containers to provide you with fresh greens all through the autumn and winter months. ■ Make sure potatoes are earthed up and keep the soil or compost moist while the tubers are forming.…

POLLUTION TRAPPER Scientists report that the bushy, hairy-leafed Cotoneaster franchetii improves human health because of its special ability to fight pollution by trapping harmful airborne particles. Anew RHS science paper that looks at the effectiveness of hedges as air pollution barriers reveals that in traffic hotspots, the Cotoneaster franchetii is at least 20% more effective at soaking up pollution compared with other shrubs. Poor air quality has been declared the largest environmental risk to UK public health and according to a recent RHS commissioned survey of 2056 adults, air pollution affects one in three people (33%) in the UK. Research lead for the paper and RHS principal horticultural scientist, Dr Tijana Blanusa said: “We know that in just seven days a one-metre length of well-managed dense hedge will mop up…

Hi! I’m Belle and I’m here every month to share lots of fun activities for you to do at home, on your own or with your family Do you fancy growing a giant beanstalk? A real one that you can’t climb, but will be full of delicious beans? If so, here is how to do it: YOU WILL NEED: ■ 3-6 bamboo canes or metal poles ■ String or twine ■ Runner beans seeds ■ Hand trowel or spade ■ Full watering can ■ A tape measure (for measuring how tall your climbing beans grow) WHAT TO DO: STEP 1. Find a clear space in the garden or allotment. It could be on the ground or a giant, deep container at least 60cm wide, filled with multi-purpose compost. STEP 2.…

KG YOUTUBE CHANNEL SOWING SWEETCORN Emma is in the polytunnel sowing sweetcorn. Seeds are best started off in deep pots but you can use toilet roll inners or, as Emma is doing here, Rootrainers. These are great for plants that benefit from a long, robust root system to start off with. Fill cells with compost, sow seeds one per cell and then cover with the transparent plastic lid. When it’s time to plant just open up each cell – they open and close like books. Plant out after all risk of frost has gone. Visit: www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine and search ‘sowing sweetcorn in Rootrainers’ ROOTS TO WORK With many sadly losing their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic this website offers a useful resource for those looking for a job or an…

‘THE SUTTON’: Bred by Suttons, ‘The Sutton’ broad bean is recommended for small gardens. An RHS Award of Garden Merit winner, it’s perfect for attracting honeybees to your outside space too. Recommended by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, this one’s a great beginner variety. www.suttons.co.uk ‘CRIMSON FLOWERED’: Popular in the 1700s but thought extinct until the last few remaining seeds were donated to the Heritage Seed Library in 1978. These extremely pretty, red to purple flowered broad beans not only produce multistemmed plants but each flower is also really fragrant. Perfect to plant in a border as well as aveg garden! In fact, the flowers are so pretty they almost look like orchids in the garden. Growing to around 90cm (3ft) tall, the plants can even be grown in…

As we have pointed out in this feature, we gardeners have such a great choice. We can grow different varieties of the more common veg. Many of these varieties will never be commercially grown and available in supermarkets because they are not cost effective for the farmer or they have poor shelf life. As veg growers we can enjoy the wonderful diverse flavours and different nutritional benefits some unique varieties can provide. Growing your own is simply the best way to enjoy such a wide choice of veg. And of course it is fun to do and so rewarding.…

Dumfries House is set in a 2000-acre estate in the Ayrshire countryside. Many tourists, both UK and international, visit this picturesque setting to tour the grand country house or to stay in the luxury lodges on site, but, for others, the expansive grounds and gardens are the focal point. In 2007 Dumfries House, its grounds and contents were to be auctioned to the highest bidder, until the estate was saved for the nation by HRH Prince Charles. Today, Dumfries House is run by the Prince’s Foundation, and His Highness’s passion for sustainable gardening, organic produce, and local seasonal fruit and veg are part of its gardening ethos. Melissa Simpson is head of gardens, looking after 600 acres of grounds that include woodland gardens, the orientally influenced Rothesay Garden, a yew…

This was the first AGM (Award of Garden Merit) trial since 2005 of bulb onions from seed only. Planting from sets still remains the most popular method of growing onions for gardeners as they are much easier to handle and can be planted at any time between late February and mid-April. However growing from seeds can give great results and is an economical way of producing a crop. There were 30 cultivars in this 2019 trial: 17 brown-skinned, eight red, four pink/rose and just one white. The trial was replicated at RHS Rosemoor in Devon. SOWING AND GROWING The trial bed was prepared before sowing by adding potassium nitrate at the rate of 35g/m2 and the seeds were sown direct into the bed on March 26. The seedlings were subsequently…

Shiitake are the ideal mushrooms for beginners: they’re easy to cultivate and can be cooked in all sorts of ways. Not only are they extremely flavoursome, but they also have proven health benefits. The name ‘shiitake’ comes from Japanese and means ‘mushroom [take] that grows on the Castanopsis tree [shii]’. In the wild, this species grows on the dead trunks and branches of deciduous trees in the forests of China and Japan. Shiitake is the most widely grown edible variety after the button mushroom. CHARACTERISTICS The light to dark brown cap often bears white marks and can grow to a diameter of up to 10cm (4in). The stem is firmer and up to 8cm (3¼in) long. The gills range from hues of white to cream. The flesh is flavoursome and…

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The loofah is not just a body scrub you use in the shower - it has many other uses too, such as making great pan scourers. There are many other uses too, see page 86 for more ideas. WHAT IS A LOOFAH? The loofah is made from the dried inner fibrous part of the luffa fruit. Luffa is the correct Latin name for this plant and there are one or two species which make great loofahs but the most common one you are likely to come across when buying seeds is Luffa cylindrica. Luffa is in the cucurbitaceae family, the same as cucumbers, and is grown in a similar way to greenhouse cucumbers. For the purposes of this feature I will refer to it as luffa and only when it…

TOP SOIL - DELIVERED! When did you last revitalise your beds and borders? What about checking your soil for potentially toxic elements? For a bumper crop of fruit and veg that is safe to consume and floral displays worthy of Chelsea, it helps to start with organic-rich, fertile topsoil produced from carefully selected, reliable sources. A long-time trusted supplier to the landscaping industry and an RHS award-winner, Rolawn has developed a range of peat- free topsoils that are highly productive and exceptionally safe. In fact, Rolawn tests over and above the standard required for certification for residential home growing (BS3882:2015). Rolawn Beds & Borders Topsoil is a rich, light and friable blended organic topsoil with added controlled-release fertiliser. This will feed plants for longer, giving better plant health and reducing…

■ BLACKFLY Keep an eye out for this pest towards the end of May and through June. Cut the top section off any affected broad bean plants and you can stop a minor attack from becoming a major infestation. Autumn sown beans are less affected than spring sown ones. ■ ROOT ROT Large plants in pots will suddenly flop if the roots start to rot and the lower stem may be affected too. Hot wet compost helps the disease to proliferate. Avoid these conditions and get plants into the ground or large containers as soon as possible. ■ CLUB ROOT Practise crop rotation and don’t grow brassicas in any bed where club root was seen in the previous years. Spores reduce significantly after four years. Use wider planting distances than…

■ Good watering is key to success with all plants, especially those growing under cover. To maintain active growth the soil or compost should be kept constantly moist, but not saturated. If watering in the evening, aim to keep the foliage dry to prevent fungal moulds developing. When watering salads and leafy crops it’s fine to water overhead if done early in the morning. ■ Weeds grow fast at this time of the year in a polytunnel or greenhouse so make sure you keep on top of them to prevent vegetable seedlings from being smothered. ■ For a continuous supply of new potatoes through the summer, pot chitted seed potatoes into small pots of compost every few weeks. Once they are growing and are several inches tall, pot them into…

CONTACT US WITH YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS: TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK WELLIES WITH THE WOW FACTOR! Further to the March edition of Kitchen Garden (Grow With Belle), my two-year-old daughter Enya and I have completed the wellie planter activity together. We began by washing my old wellies, then Enya painted them both. We needed to wait for a few days for the wellies to dry, and then we put a few stones at the bottom of each, filled them up with organic compost, and planted two foxgloves. We’ll probably move the foxgloves to elsewhere in the garden and grow some carrots in the wellies in the spring, but I wanted Enya to see the end result of her efforts straight away instead of having to wait a while for the carrot seeds to…

When Sue Ling took on her allotment in Kidlington, near Oxford, in 2019, she faced a tangle of weeds and tarpaulin. The solution? Good old, honest hard graft and determination -and some very early mornings! Sue explains: “My husband David and I started digging at around 6.30 every morning. We were usually first on site and it was absolutely brilliant – so peaceful, with all the birds flying about. We started digging on one side, tackling one section before moving on to the next. Within a week we’d dug about half of the front area of the allotment.” Much of the soil was moved into other beds to help even areas out, with a lot of diligent sieving to remove the worst of the stones. That’s certainly commitment! Mare’s tail…

Managing weeds is probably the most difficult part of organic growing. Getting on top of weeds without chemicals takes more planning, ingenuity, creativity and sometimes patience, but it is worth it! How or when we choose to manage weeds is a matter of mindset. Some people may consider a trefoil plant growing among some salads a nuisance, others a useful contribution to biodiversity. However, as with most organic practices, it is not a question of outright obliteration but recognising when it has the potential to become a problem before it gets out of hand. A substantial covering of weeds not only creates competition for light, water and nutrients, but it reduces the airflow around plants, so that they are more susceptible to fungal diseases such as downy mildew. If you…

SEE P60 ONIONS Another crop that is popular to grow but cheap and readily available from supermarkets all year round. Onions take a long time to mature, taking up valuable growing room. However, why not grow some interesting varieties you will never ever see in a supermarket. How about onions ‘Isobel Rose’; a rose-pink flesh and mild flavour. Or a pure white onion called ‘Silvermoon’ (www.thompson-morgan.com). ASPARAGUS This one nearly made it into our top 10 due to it being such a specialist crop and a good investment. It is an expensive veg to buy in supermarkets so it is worth growing if you have the space. For a good yield you probably want a 3m (10ft) long bed or more but if you want just a few spears as…

Most of us when we think of mint think of its traditional pairing with new potatoes and as a sauce with lamb, both delicious. Many other interesting and unusual mint varieties are available, so why not add some to your garden this spring for a wider range of mint flavours? Mint has a reputation for ‘taking over’ if planted in the garden, but this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy growing this lovely plant. This rewarding herb can be successfully grown in containers and garden beds to stop it spreading; the cool, fresh-flavoured results will be well worth it! The mentha genus is part of a large family, the lamiaceae family, which also includes sages and dead-nettles. Mint is a perennial herb -the leaves are smooth or fuzzy and have a…

Other interesting cultivars which did not receive an AGM this time included: ■ ‘ISOBEL ROSE’ – the colour deepens on storage with pink tinges throughout the flesh. Milder flavour than red onions but did not store quite as well as others in the trial. (D T Brown, Suttons, T&M) ■ ‘REDLANDER F1’ – the world’s first red onion with high resistance to downy mildew. The bulb size proved too variable for an award, but it did produce solid bulbs which stored well. (T&M) ■ ‘KARMINKA’ – this attractive onion is a red-skinned version of ‘Elista’, however in the trial the bulbs reached a lower weight and afew of them rotted in storage over winter. (Available as a mix with ‘Elisa’ from T&M) ■ ‘WHITE LADY F1’ – the only white-skinned…

Stepping outside on to the towpath each morning, I have three plants that I have to feel and breathe in: blackcurrant mint, lavender and chamomile. Between them they hit all the senses, leaving me calm, awake and uplifted. What are your go-to plants? Do you have a morning garden ritual? Chamomile is another plant that can bring joy both outside in the garden and inside, infused in a mug of hot water. Rumour has it that we drink more than one million cups of it per day and that probably doesn’t count those of us who harvest our own flowers. It may come as no surprise to know that this member of the Asteraceae plant family has been consumed for centuries and is one of the most ancient medicinal herbs.…

We have all grown so used to our cloche tunnels and domes, fleece, netting, weed-suppressing membranes, weed sprays, bug potions, little plastic cold frames and greenhouses. It seemed like a tall order to find substitutes for them all. But lo, dear green-fingered reader, I think we’ve done it - almost. WEED-SUPPRESSING MEMBRANES AND FABRICS Black woven landscaping fabric just doesn’t go away; you may have noticed this when stray fibres escape and can be found fluttering on a fence wire, years after you laid the stuff. Made typically from polypropylene, which is manufactured from propene, a by-product of fossil fuel extraction, these geotextiles are designed to suppress weeds by blocking light but are permeable to allow gases and liquids to pass through them. They are designed to be long-lasting and…

There’s something of an international theme in the kitchen this month, as Anna Cairns Pettigrew welcomes in the spring with all the goodness of Chinese leaves, turnips and broad beans VEGETABLE CHOW MEIN WITH CHINESE LEAF If you have the ingredients on hand, this chow mein stir-fry is super fast to assemble. Use the vegetables in the ingredients list as a guide, or substitute them with any vegetable you have in season, or in the fridge. SERVES 3-4 Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 12 minutes ■ 225g/7½oz dried or fresh egg noodles ■ 1 tbsp sesame oil, plus more to serve ■ 1½ tbsp vegetable oil ■ 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped ■ ½ Chinese cabbage, shredded ■ 60g/2oz carrots, thinly sliced ■ 60g/2oz mangetout, trimmed and shredded ■ 60g/2oz bean…