Innehållsförteckning för September 2021 från Kitchen Garden

September is a super month in the kitchen garden; the weather can be lovely and it’s a busy time for harvesting, yet there is still time to sow and plant. Looking for great growing advice? Then apart from our usual jobs pages starting on page 6, we have ‘how to’ guides for French beans, spinach, oriental vegetables, even liquorice – ‘allsorts’ of crops then! Love your herbs? Then turn to page 24 for Julie Moore’s simple guide to drying all kinds of popular ones so that you capture all that essential scent and flavour, while starting on page 82 Annabelle Padwick extols the many virtues of rosemary for the kitchen as well as its great benefits for health and well-being. For the fruit growers, nurseryman David Patch reveals his favourite…

MAKE THE MOST OF WOOD ASH Don’t waste this excellent resource if you have it! Wood ash contains lots of potash, which is essential for healthy plant growth. Wood ash is alkaline and can help to raise the pH on acid soils. This makes it an excellent addition to the brassica bed. Scatter cold ashes around spring cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale plants – all will benefit. Do this before rain is forecast, or water over the bed to dampen the ashes and help wash some of the goodness down into the soil. Add some ashes between newly planted rows of onions and garlic and add more again early in the new year to give a potash boost. Use sparingly on alkaline soils; apply generously on acid ones. HARVEST GALORE!…

The summer might be coming to an end, says Rob Smith, but there’s still time for some sowing, including a range of oriental veg As the year progresses most gardeners have sown a multitude of veg plants in the spring and into summer and are now happily harvesting the fruit of their labours. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that there is nothing to sow later in the year, as when it comes to sowing oriental veg, autumn is the new spring! Most of the common oriental veg are from the brassica (cabbage) family and are pretty hardy. I’ve had mustard leaves happily sat under snow during the winter and been able to harvest them as a cut-and-come-again green, both for salads and to add to stir-fries. It really is…

Dried herbs are a store cupboard essential, making the world of difference to your dishes in the depths of winter. Drying your own herbs guarantees that they are fresh - store-bought ones may have been around a while before you add them to your shopping trolley! Forget the expensive dried herbs and teas that line the supermarket shelves - with an abundant supply of fresh herbs, it’s time to start your own savvy preservation strategy to ensure a continuous, year-round supply of your favourite herbs from your garden. Drying herbs is arguably the easiest and least expensive method of preservation. The object of drying herbs is to quickly eliminate the water content of the plant while retaining the essential oils. To remove moisture, all you need is air circulation and…

DWARF BEANS ‘SAFARI’: An RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) winner with long green pods held high on the plants. Good disease resistance. (Kings) ‘DELINEL’: Another AGM winner producing lots of stringless beans over a longer season than most. Good disease resistance. (D T Brown) ‘SONESTA’: An attractive yellow-podded bean producing stringless 13cm (5in) long beans on compact plants. AGM winner. (D T Brown) ‘RED SWAN’: Reddish-purple pods are produced in good numbers on these reasonably compact plants. Also performed well under cover for me. (Dobies) CLIMBING BEANS ‘COBRA’: An AGM winner producing round, green pods with good flavour and over a long season. Pods up to 20cm (8in) long. (Suttons Seeds) ‘NECKARGOLD’: Golden yellow pods are produced in abundance and said to be tolerant of poor growing conditions in a cool summer. (Dobies) ‘BLAUHILDE’: An older…

Growing cherries is one of the true tests of your mettle as a gardener. The list of potential pitfalls is long – birds stealing the fruit, canker, fruit split, birds, pollination issues, vigorous growth, frost damage... oh, and did I mention birds, who will take great delight in stealing the fruit just before it is ripe enough for you to pick? But time and time again we will persevere and try again because the fruit when it arrives is magnificent, a heady mix of sugary sweetness balanced with a tang of acidity, packed in a shiny globe of the deepest red. Henry VIII was so taken with them he set aside more than 100 acres in Kent for their production and ordered his gardeners to ‘propagate with greater vigour’ so…

PLANT AUTUMN ONION SETS Buy autumn planting varieties of onion sets and get them into the ground by the end of the month. Raise the earth on the bed a little so the soil doesn’t waterlog in winter. Cover the rows with crop cover raised on hoops. DIG OVER EMPTY BEDS Dig soil over if you need to remove weeds and to loosen the structure. You can dig in some manure at the same time, but be sure to cover beds afterwards to prevent goodness leaching from the soil with winter rains. Polythene sheet, cardboard or straw all make good protective mulches. KEEP MOWING AND MULCHING Grass growth will be slower than in the summer, but you should still keep cutting as needed. Use the clippings to cover empty beds…

■ BIRDS Harvest fruit as it ripens and before birds fly in to feast. Pecked fruit rots quickly and a bird doesn’t stick to one apple per feeding session. Hang glittering, twirling and rattling devices in the branches. This will deter some birds and you should get plenty of ripe fruit from your trees. ■ CATERPILLARS These pests can be at their worst in a dry September. Check brassica plants regularly and remove any caterpillars that you find. Lift netting if needed to get a good look at the plants. Wear rubber gloves to squash any clusters of eggs on the underside of leaves. ■ WASPS Keep an eye on ripening fruits. Wasps need a split or crack in the skin to feast on a thick-skinned apple or pear, but…

HATS OFF TO MARTIN! After reading Martin Fish’s article in the June 2021 issue, I took his advice and potted on all my outdoor strawberry plants into hanging baskets and hung them in my greenhouse. And what a terrific result I have had! Not only are they in abundance (June 10), I have not needed to protect them from predators as I would have if they remained outdoors. They also receive additional heat from being in the greenhouse and are easily watered and cared for. ★STAR★ LETTER WINS £25 VOUCHER FROM PALLET TO PALACE I just thought I would share a picture of my new garden/potting shed. After reading the April issue I thought the foldaway potting bench was such a good idea, especially as I don’t have a lot…

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 Fancy making your own paint and artwork using your own home-grown produce? We can use beetroot, berries, pumpkin, carrots and many other fruits, flowers and vegetables to make our own paints! They are super safe and edible too, so great for all ages. Be sure to check if you have any allergies to the ingredients listed before starting though. Let’s start by making our primary colours of red, blue and yellow. From these we will then be able to make many other colours just by mixing them together. Here is an idea of what foods we can use to make our colours: BLUE:…

TAKING BAY CUTTINGS I have a nice bay tree and I would like to take cuttings from it. I wondered if they would need any special treatment like bottom heat? STEVE SAYS: Bay is relatively easy to propagate and you can take softwood cuttings in June or semi-ripe cuttings (where the stems have become a little more woody) in July and August. Take soft shoots and trim them down to a point just below a leaf joint (node) and with the growing point and one or two leaves at the top (see picture). Your cutting should be about 10cm (4in) long for a softwood – 10-15cm (4-6in) long for a semi-ripe cutting. Large leaves can be cut in half to reduce water loss. Dib your cuttings around the edge of…

LYDIA DYSON OF EAST LEAKE, LEICESTERSHIRE Lydia’s garden is proof you don’t need a lot of space to grow veg; just clever planting and use of vertical spaces. Do you have an allotment or a garden veg patch and how long have you been growing? I have been growing in a raised bed and containers in my garden since the beginning of March 2020, so about 18 months. Do you share your plot with other people? I’m the main gardener in our house, but my two-year-old daughter also likes to ‘help’. She’s helped with planting her own seeds, watering and watching them grow. As well as helping harvest (and eat straight away) the strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers growing in the garden! Why did you start growing your own produce? It’s…

Garden Organic has been at the forefront of the organic horticulture movement for more than 60 years. The charity has encouraged people to grow fruit, veg and flowers organically and sustainably and has developed the garden at its home in Ryton, Coventry. This new garden addresses ways of dealing with the challenges of climate extremes such as flooding and drought, demonstrates the practices and principles of successful organic gardening and will help a new generation of people grow in a more environmentally friendly, sustainable and healthy way. The charity’s head gardener Emma O’Neill provided a sneak preview of the layout of the new garden. Emma gave us the details: “The garden contains three distinct areas – a kitchen garden, floral garden and a main working area. “The kitchen garden (potager),…

Kitchen Garden magazine BEST BUY 2021 * Prices correct at time of publication EGO CORDLESS LINE TRIMMER The ST1400E-ST cordless line trimmer has a 35cm (13¾in) cutting width with a 2.4mm diameter dual line. It has a bump head which cuts in a clockwise rotation and has variable speed settings. The loop-handle is adjustable and with the telescopic shaft you can adjust the length to suit your needs. As a kit product, it comes supplied with a 2.5Ah battery and standard charger which can also be used with other EGO products. EGO https://egopowerplus.co.uk TEL: Go online for stockists near you PRODUCT CODE: ST1400E-ST PRICE GUIDE: £269 (with battery and charger) KG VERDICT This is an excellent trimmer, suitable for trimming tougher areas of the garden or for just tidying up…

STEP BY STEP STEP 1: Split spreading plants and pot up a portion to bring indoors. This will keep herbs like chives, marjoram and mint growing through the winter. Sow seeds of parsley, coriander and basil – you can keep an impressive herb garden growing in pots on a window ledge. STEP 2: Move herbs in containers to a sheltered position against a house wall. You can protect frost-sensitive herbs like rosemary and thyme in this way and have plenty to pick through the winter. Avoid too wet, or too dry, compost and drape crop cover over the top if needed. STEP 3: Pick a variety of herbs to dry for easy use. Spread small amounts on a plate on a sunny window ledge or hang large bunches up in…

MIKEPEARCE45: I have, over many years, been an enthusiastic user of well-rotted horse manure on the veggie plot with reasonable results. I have read recently that there are some ‘experts’ that now say that although the manure is a good/ excellent soil conditioner, it should only be used sparingly on the veg plot as it does not contain as many nutrients and trace elements needed for healthy and copious vegetable production. GEOFF: What it does is improve the texture of the soil and what you might call the biodiversity. These things help make nutrients available to the plants and promote good root structures to improve nutrient uptake. So carry on using as much organic matter as you can find (not sparingly) but don’t rely on it completely, add fertiliser as…

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 HARROD HORTICULTURAL TRUMPET PEONY PLANT SUPPORT This will make a focal point in your garden. Traditionally used to support peonies, it can be used for a range of plants. Different sizes are available. Tel 0845 402 5300 www.harrodhorticultural.com 5KG BAG OF FINE BIOCHAR (SOILFIXER) Biochar, when added to the soil and compost, boosts water…

It’s pretty certain that if we had a show of hands right now, runner beans would be the most popular home-grown beans in the UK. But I’d have my hand in the air for another popular bean that I think takes the crown. I’m talking about French beans, also known as Kenyan beans, pole beans, pencil beans, or just green beans and (in my opinion) they have many advantages over their more traditional cousins. They are self fertile, so less prone to all the problems of poor pollination which can lead to low yields of runners in a poor summer. I personally think they taste just as good too (although I admit I have lots of gardening friends who would dispute that) and the range of colours from cream to…

The charity is offering a wide range of courses and tours within the garden and online webinars, and website information will continue to teach the principles to those too far away to visit. Masterclasses covering subjects such as gardening for biodiversity, climate change gardening and seed saving are all available to book now at www.gardenorganic.org.uk/events Visits to the garden are by pre-booked tours and courses only and information on how to book a visit to the gardens can be found at www.gardenorganic.org.uk/plan-your-visit-ryton-organic-gardens…

SAVE UP TO £25.85 (AGM is the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Under RHS garden trials these varieties performed particularly well) ALSO IN THE KG SHOP THIS MONTH SPRING GREENS PLANT COLLECTION Grow these four top-quality brassicas to bring variety and a host of different flavours to your table in the coming spring! Harvest March-May. ■ CABBAGE ‘ADVANTAGE F1’: – An excellent new variety for spring greens and medium-sized hearted spring and summer cabbages. More winter hardy and less prone to bursting. ■ CABBAGE ‘SPRING HERO F1’: – The first and only ball-headed spring cabbage. The large, heavy heads of ‘Spring Hero F1’ stand for weeks. ■ SPROUTING BROCCOLI ‘CLARET F1’ – A vigorous and high-yielding modern hybrid, produces masses of thick spears simply packed with flavour. Tasty enough to…

QUICK ROCKET SALMON TART This is a quick tart to put together and also fast to cook. It’s great as a starter when entertaining, or serve at a relaxed garden lunch with a salad. SERVES 4-6 Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes ■ 1 roll puff pastry ■ 1 leek, washed and chopped ■ 1 tbsp olive oil ■ 1 large egg ■ 200g/7oz crème fraîche ■ 200g/7oz smoked salmon ■ 4-5 good handfuls rocket ■ 1 handful dill, chopped 1. Preheat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and roll out the pastry on to it. 2. In a pan, heat the olive oil and sweat the leek for five minutes until soft, then mix in the rocket and cook for…

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