Innehållsförteckning för January 2023 från Kitchen Garden

So, it's that exciting time again when we look forward to a brand-new gardening year ahead. Spring will soon be here and with it the rush to get all those seeds in the ground. But if you are still to buy yours then you won't want to miss our feature on page 69 with some more great suggestions for new varieties to try this season. With all the added expense of Christmas you may be looking for ways to save some money about now and we have lots of great ideas to help you do that. Stephanie Hafferty starts her new series on frugal gardening this month, deputy editor Emma Rawlings explains how you can make your own potting composts easily and cheaply at home and Ben Vanheems is making…

This month Steve is cleaning and trimming his ‘Black Hamburg’ grapevine; it is best to do this when the vine is completely dormant. He removes any dead leaves which are still to fall and cuts back sideshoots to within a couple of buds from the main stem (rod). Any loose bark is gently scraped off as this helps to remove scale insects which have been a real problem in past years in his polytunnel. Emma has been surprised to be still enjoying a few harvests from seeds that were sown at the end of August and the beginning of September. The mild autumn, at least in the Midlands, has meant they have just kept growing. Rocket, coriander, pak choi, radish, spinach and lettuce have all done well and given a…

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 Make your own cress head and watch their tasty hair grow! They are such an easy way to grow your own food inside and even in the smallest space. YOU WILL NEED: Yogurt or jelly pot Cotton wool Cress seeds Kitchen roll Water Paint and paint brushes WHAT TO DO: 1. Take the label off your yogurt pot, then use your paints to create a funny face on the pot. 2. Wet a piece of kitchen roll and place it in the bottom of the pot. 3. Now place a few pieces of damp cotton wool on top. 4. Evenly sprinkle some of…

Get in touch by post, email or via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/kitchengardenmag LITTLE LUFFAS My luffas only grew to the size of small cucumbers. Is there anything I could do if I am growing them again next year? Jade Huang, Leicester STAR QUESTION WINS £25 VOUCHER STEVE SAYS: Your luffas look to have some way to go yet to mature to the size you would want for pan or back scrubs and are unlikely to do so before the frosts kill them off, unfortunately. While still young and tender they can be eaten but may be bitter unless you have a variety chosen for consumption rather than for back scrubs. Luffas need a long growing season, so sow in April for planting at the end of May/June. Growing under glass…

SAVE MONEY NEW SERIES Growing your own food is an inexpensive way to add delicious, fresh, wholesome ingredients to your meals. I started growing as much of my own food as possible out of necessity. With three young children and a tiny income, my edible garden was a key way of helping stretch our household budget. The harvests not only save money on food bills, but also can be made into drinks, home cleaning products and body care. It can be done spending very little money. In this series I will share my tried and tested tips for growing your own food, year-round, on a budget. Home gardeners and allotmenteers are a thrifty lot, finding ways to reuse and repurpose on their plots, seeing possibilities in items others consider to…

GET GROWING NEW SERIES Most of the ingredients of a curry are originally from much warmer climates, but with a little care and an unheated greenhouse or lean-to you can easily cultivate your own curry. The base to most curries (and perhaps my favourite vegetable) has to be the onion; after all, onions add a richness to the dish once they are cooked down until golden brown and luscious. ONIONS Brown-skinned onions are the best for curries and also happen to be easy to grow in the UK, with most of us now starting our onions from sets (immature bulbs) in the autumn or spring. However, there is a resurgence of gardeners starting this pungent allium from seed as there are far more varieties you can have a go at…

Have you always wanted a career in horticulture? Or, as your new book suggests, maybe you'd have loved to have been a sportsman? I've always been very keen on sports and had I been good enough at any of them I may well have gone down that route. I never seriously thought about it because I was always okay, but never the best. For example, I played left back in the football team at school and managed to score more goals each season than our striker. Unfortunately, they were own goals! No, ever since I was a little boy, I always had a plot in the garden. The problem was that when I was growing up, my dad was a landscape gardener, and you don't take little kids on the…

(AGM is the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Under RHS garden trials these varieties performed particularly well) SAVE UP TO £35 ALSO IN THE KG SHOP THIS MONTH LONG CROPPING STRAWBERRY PLANT COLLECTION The perfect strawberry runner collection to extend your strawberry picking. The collection contains 10 A+ runners each of the varieties below: ■ 'MALLING CENTENARY' (Extra Early) – This variety has a superb flavour with uniform and glossy, bright red, conical shaped fruit which is well displayed on the plant, making picking quick and easy. Fruiting from early to late June. ■ 'ELEGANCE' (Mid-Season) – Expect exceptional fruit quality with a large number of heavy fruited trusses on strong disease-resistant, upright plants. The attractive fruit has strong skin, firm flesh and a magnificent flavour. ■ 'MALWINA' (Late Season)…

KALE, TOMATO & COURGETTE BAKE I like serving this juicy dish with rice, but you can serve it with potatoes or pasta instead if you prefer. SERVES 4 Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes Can be frozen 2 large red onions, chopped A big handful kale, chopped 5 tbsp olive oil, divided 1 medium green courgette, sliced A few sprigs of oregano 6 garlic cloves, finely sliced 2 tbsp olives, halved 2 tbsp capers 5 beef tomatoes, sliced 1 ball of mozzarella, sliced 3 tbsp fresh oregano leaves, or basil A handful finely grated Parmesan A few basil leaves 1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. 2. Fry the onions in 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan until they soften and…

MAKE CELERY TRENCHES Prepare for trench-grown celery. Dig out a 40cm (16in)wide trench then dig manure into the bottom. Refill with soil to within 15cm (6in) of ground level. HARVEST LEEKS Use a garden fork to carefully ease up leeks as and when needed. Wrap them up in damp kitchen towel and store in the fridge to keep them fresh. KEEP PLANTING Continue planting bareroot and container fruits, so long as your soil remains workable. Once you’re done, finish with a mulch of organic material. LIME SOIL Brassicas like cabbage prefer a neutral soil pH. If your soil is acidic apply garden lime to raise its pH. Use a soil test kit or pH meter for an accurate result. PLAN THE PERFECT PLOT New year, new veg plot! Whether you’re…

I am moving house and it’s times like this that I sometimes wish I wasn’t quite so keen on gardening as I have loads of plants in pots, which also need to be moved. I always like to keep some of my more unusual perennial veggies in pots like these variegated Daubenton’s kale (pictured). They are my stock plants and I take cuttings from them. In the months before moving I often take cuttings of other favourite plants or just remove a chunk of root from any perennials that can be split up. I will leave the majority of the plant in the ground for the new owners, but I get to take a small piece of the plant with me.…

KALE GET GROWING Kale, which used to be known as borecole, is fast becoming one of the most popular winter vegetables. This is because it’s hardy, easy to grow and packed full of vitamins and antioxidants. When I was a young gardener the choice of varieties was limited, but nowadays there’s a much larger selection of excellent hybrids that will provide you with fresh, nutritious greens for many months. Kale can be grown in the veg plot, polytunnels and in pots on a patio for much of the year. SOIL CONDITIONS Like all brassicas, kale prefers a fertile soil that is slightly alkaline, but it is very adaptable and will grow in just about any soil. However, it pays to sprinkle some garden lime on the plot in late winter to…

The National Trust’s Gunby Hall Estate in Lincolnshire has a beautiful walled garden, with areas dedicated to fruits and vegetables. Clive Ironmonger, the gardener who manages the vegetable plots, is one of three full-time staff, augmented by a small team of loyal volunteers. “We have 54 varieties of apples, 21 different types of pears and assorted plums and gages,” he says. “We grow both heritage and modern varieties. The ‘Cat’s Head’ apple is the oldest variety of cooking apple we grow – it dates to 1629. We also have modern ‘Falstaff’ apples and ‘Jonagold’. “We don’t have huge quantities of produce at any one moment. This year we hope to show a selection of apple varieties in a dedicated display within the walled gardens, just as we did last year.”…

GET GROWING PART ONE In the first of this two-part feature (part two in the February issue) I am looking at making potting compost to sow seeds into. It can get confusing when we use the word compost as it can mean two different things. There is potting compost which is usually bought from a garden centre in bags to be used for container growing or sowing seeds into. Garden compost is made in compost bins from garden waste and usually makes a good soil conditioner. However, it can also be a key ingredient in some home-made potting composts. SEED SOWING COMPOST We have deliberately separated seed sowing compost and potting compost for more mature plants because they have very different qualities. It isn’t so easy to make a good…

BLACKCURRANT 'BEN CONNAN' FRUIT PLANT Early summer would not be the same without a crop of home-grown blackcurrants and 'Ben Connan' (AGM) is one of our favourites. This excellent and reliable blackcurrant tolerates frost and resists mildew to produce a heavy crop of really large, juicy berries with an outstanding flavour. Packed full of goodness, 'Ben Connan' is ready to pick from mid-July. **You can claim this item FREE when ordering at least one additional product off the page. WORTH £12.95…

Well, I hope you’ll all have a jolly old Christmas, feasting on your lovely home-grown veg and maybe even a little tipple or two of home-made wine. It’s a good one for Emma and me as boss Steve has even let us have Christmas Day off this year, so I’ll be out practising my hoeing technique on my bed of garlic. Two varieties this year, one I haven’t tried before called ‘Tropadome’ and an old favourite ‘Germidour’, both softnecks. Not too many weeds coming up as yet but any precocious ones have been duly despatched with this super-effective onion hoe. Well worth investing in one with any unspent Christmas vouchers you may have. Hoe-pless without one.…

OVERGROWN PLOTS I have been a subscriber to your magazine for a number of years and am always envious of the pictures you include showing neat, tidy and manicured allotment sites. I'm enclosing a picture of the site my plot is on, taken last year, and was wondering if other readers find their sites in a similar state to mine? At the time of writing, almost 50% of the plots are either vacant or unworked and have been such for more than 12 months now. One of the reasons for the unworked plots is that they were let out in 2020 to a number of tenants with young families. This was a great situation for them during lockdown but once everybody got back to normal, plots were left unattended and…

■ Tall growing varieties such as 'Nero di Toscana' can benefit from some support over winter with canes or sticks, to prevent them leaning over. ■ Despite the thicker leaves on kale, caterpillars will decimate the plants in summer if you don’t protect them. The best way to do this is to grow kale and other brassicas under fine mesh to keep the butterflies away. ■ Potting composts quickly run out of nutrients, so when growing in containers, if the plants start to look a little hungry and stunted, try sprinkling around 15-20 dried poultry pellets around the plant and water them in. You’ll soon notice an improvement in growth. ■ In exposed sites or for container growing, try the compact types such as ‘Dwarf Green Curled’.…

WORLD SEEDS Callaloo from Asia, turnips from Finland and peppers from Italy are just a few of the rare vegetables being saved and shared by horticultural charity Garden Organic. For the last 40 years Garden Organic has been growing uncommon and unusual varieties of vegetables, through its Heritage Seed Library, with the sole purpose of saving endangered seeds for future generations. A team of volunteer ‘seed guardians’ from across the UK work with the charity to grow the veg – which often come in a remarkable mix of shapes, sizes and colours – in their own gardens and then save the seeds to donate back to the library. Garden Organic also grows a selection of varieties itself at its organic demonstration and learning garden, near Coventry. Together the charity and…

GET GROWING NEW SEEDS 'BUFFALOSUN F1' This tomato is a meaty beefsteak variety. It has a ribbed shape, an unusual colour – amber with a red blush – and a fleshy interior with a marbled appearance. The plant will produce 10cm (4in) sized fruit and has a good resistance to blight. Six seeds for £4.99. (Suttons) 'RAPUNZEL F1' With this variety you can expect long, cascading trusses loaded with up to 40 sweet, red cherry tomatoes. Grow as a cordon in the greenhouse or polytunnel. Six seeds for £3.99. (Suttons) 'EMILIE F1' This all-female flowering cucumber is for greenhouse growing, producing a plentiful crop of half size (midi) cucumbers 20cm (8in) long. It has earned an RHS Award of Garden Merit for its reliability and excellent performance with good resistance to…

Kitchen Garden magazine BEST BUY 2023 TIMBER GROZONE This growing unit is made from FSC certified wood with UV stabilised polycarbonate panels. It has two front doors and a hinged lid for ease of access. Grey in colour but the timber can be painted a different colour of non-toxic paint if required. Dimensions: H100 × W57 × D41 cm (H39 × W22½ × D16in). Self-assembly required. GARDENING NATURALLY www.gardening-naturally.com TEL: 01285 760505 PRODUCT CODE: GROZ6 PRICE: £99.99 * Prices correct at time of publication KG VERDICT With pre-drilled holes, this self-assembly unit is very easy to put together. It is very light so can be moved to different places in your yard or garden as you wish. With three tiers it offers ample space for trays of germinating seeds and…

Call the credit card and debit card order hotline on 0333 003 0869* Monday to Friday – 8am to 6pm; weekends – 9am to 5pm (subject to change). To qualify for the free item at least one item must be ordered. Only orders above £10 by phone please. *Calls cost 3p per minute plus your phone company's access charge. Please contact your phone provider for confirmation of your agreement. Or send a cheque made payable to D T Brown Seeds to: Kitchen Garden JANUARY Offers (KG23JAN), D T Brown Seeds, Unit 8, St Leger Drive, Newmarket Business Park, Newmarket, CB8 7DT. Orders will be despatched from March 23. Offer subject to availability, only one FREE collection per household. D T Brown reserves the right to substitute with a product of…