Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Kitchen Garden

WISE WORDS “A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.” (Gertrude Jekyll, British horticulturist) “Have you viewed us on YouTube yet?” IT'S THYME, LETTUCE AND CABBAGES Steve sowed some lettuce back in the autumn in cell trays in a propagator in the hope of some early pickings this spring. The variety is an attractive heirloom type called ‘Bronze Arrow’ originally from the Heritage Seed Library and it has proved to be very hardy, having come through some very cold spells early in the year in an unheated polytunnel. He has been picking for a while now, along with some rocket sown at the same time, and now coming to an end. Tony has been checking…

PLOTTER OF THE MONTH REV ELAINE AND REV GRAEME HALLS FROM NEAR LLANELLI, CARMARTHENSHIRE Elaine and Graeme clearly have a real passion for their garden and also open it to visitors in the summer, raising a lot of money for charity. Elaine takes up the story… Do you have an allotment or veg patch in your garden? Just the garden on a wet and windy Welsh hillside. The whole area including bungalow is about a third of an acre. I guess it is divided roughly into 20% bungalow, 20% herb labyrinth with cottage garden border at the front, 20% banked shrubbery with some herbaceous planting immediately behind the bungalow, 20% vegetable beds including polytunnel and brassica tunnel (Wonderwall www.walk-inwonderwall.co.uk); 20% orchard and wildflower meadow. How long have you been growing…

GET GROWING SCHOOL FOOD MATTERS What prompted you to set up the charity? I founded the charity in 2007. I founded it because I put my children in the local primary school after living abroad in Australia and when I walked into this rated outstanding primary school in London the first thing I heard was the office manager say, sorry about the smell, that's lunch! It was the most appalling food and not only in our school but across the whole London borough. So, I hadn't realised I was setting up a charity, it was just a grassroots campaign if you like that has grown year on year. It was in the same breath really that I heard a headteacher at a primary school in Hackney say that children at his…

CROPS FOR SHADE GET GROWING If you wish to create a vegetable plot but don't have the luxury of an open, sunny aspect you can still grow some crops if you have a shadier spot. Some crops will even benefit from being out of the fierce summer sun. However, if you can position the veg beds in a spot that has some sun for at least part of the day (3-4 hours) then you will be able to grow better crops and more varied ones too. PREPARING THE BEDS If the area is partly shaded, look at what you could do to improve the light and improve the soil the crops will be growing in. Add plenty of organic matter such as garden compost to improve the fertility and water-holding capacity…

BUTTERFLY NETTING With a mesh size of 7mm², this butterfly netting is made from heavy-duty polyethylene. It is available in 4m, 6m and 8m (about 13, 19, 26ft) widths and lengths 5m-100m (16-323ft). Can also be ordered to exact measurements. GARDENSKILL www.gardenskill.com TEL: 01902 725055 PRODUCT CODE: N/A PRICE: From £21.98 * Prices correct at time of publication KG VERDICT This butterfly netting will serve you very well indeed and will prevent the most persistent of cabbage whites getting to your crops. Being both flexible and tensile, and in a green colour that is pleasant on the eye, this netting will drape over hoops and cages without springing back before you've pegged it down, so is very easy to handle. Highly recommended. Kitchen Garden magazine BEST BUY 2023 ULTRA-FINE VEGGIEMESH…

LAST WORD With the forecast of hotter summer temperatures and warmer springs it could be wise for gardeners to consider planting vegetable crops that can be harvested in June and July rather than in August and September. With this in mind I have chosen to grow two early maturing potato varieties – ‘Maris Bard’ and ‘Rocket’. They should be planted in April and will produce new tubers by July. Early maturing carrots will also be sown. The ‘Early Nantes’ variety is what I have chosen. I usually go for autumn carrots but I have learned that it can be hard, and expensive, to keep root crops supplied with water all summer. Early maturing crops should avoid the need to be soaked twice a day. They may be smaller on harvest…

BUDGET GARDENING GET GROWING Perennial edibles are a low-maintenance way of producing delicious, abundant crops with less work. Ideal for a budget-savvy garden, they save time too: plant once for years of food. Often cropping in the spring, many perennials can provide delicious meals during the hungry gap periods, helping to increase your home-grown abundance. Edible perennials, which include herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers, are plants which are expected to live for at least two years, and usually crop for much longer. Requiring less attention than annuals, they are ideal for people with busy lives. Many, such as globe artichokes, alliums and sea kale, are structurally beautiful and perfect for cottage garden-style ornamental borders. These established plants are more resilient, with greater resistance to pests, drought and other problems. Many help…

GET GROWING SCONE PALACE Scone Palace is primarily recognised as the crowning place of Scottish kings at the celebrated Moot Hill. Monarchs, from King Robert the Bruce to King Charles II, were destined for Scone. But, for green-fingered guests, the palace's rich interiors, chapel and replica Stone of Destiny are a mere preamble to the palace's 100 acres of grounds and flourishing kitchen garden. According to old gardening magazines of the 1800s, the original kitchen garden featured paths lined with pyramid-trained fruit trees and a north wall festooned with well-trained ‘Morello’ cherries. Today's modern gardening team, led by the Beechgrove Garden's Brian Cunningham, is working to bring this area back to life – including plant sales, nursery, and apple and pear orchards trained in a pyramid fashion – but most guests…

GET GROWING BASIC CARE OF FRUIT I make no apology for concentrating on the basics when it comes to looking after your fruit. The term ‘marginal gains’ has been around for the past 10 years or so, and comes from the world of elite sports where, in the pursuit of excellence, coaches would try and find small techniques which individually would make an imperceptible improvement in performance, but when added together might make the difference between a gold medal and coming fourth. I think it's easy to get distracted by these final touches, the tips and tricks which promise perfection and neglect the fundamentals. The basics may not be so exciting but they do form the bedrock for success. So let's look at the three tasks which will get your fruit…

SUBSCRIBER SAVING: 15% off until May 28, 2023 TLC FOR GARDENERS Treat hard-working hands and aching muscles to the Pure Gardener Gift Set from Pure Lakes Skincare. This lovely gift set of natural products, which are handmade in the Lake District, contains Chamomile, Calendula & Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Hand Balm; Black Pepper, Ginger & Chamomile Muscle & Joint Bath Soak; Black Pepper, Ginger & Chamomile Muscle & Joint Balm; and Chamomile, Eucalyptus & Tea Tree Gardener's Skin Repair Bar – the perfect end to a long day in the garden! Price: £50 www.purelakes.co.uk Tel: 01539 580119 SEEDS FOR BEES Birmingham-based garden company Lupin has launched Brumblebee: a simple and stylish seed mix selected to support local bee populations. The pretty paper packets are also ideal for gifting. A bespoke mix…

JOBS FOR THE MONTH TRY AUBERGINES Aubergines have a bit of a (somewhat deserved) reputation as precious princesses. They love it warm – very warm – and the cosseted environment of a greenhouse or polytunnel is an absolute must in all but the very hottest summers. It is too late to start aubergines from seed, but now is a great time to buy a few ready-to-plant specimens. All the uncertainty and slow stages of growth are done with, and plants should be raring to go. For added performance consider ordering grafted plants, which will fruit a lot earlier as they grow stronger and keener. Set your plants in the sunniest corner of the greenhouse. Water as needed and begin feeding with a liquid tomato feed the moment they start flowering.…

NATURAL PEST CONTROLS GET GROWING The prospect of a biological control can sound both attractive and alarming at the same time. In effect, we are unleashing an army of tiny creatures to fight off the pests that are spoiling our plants. So many gardening catalogues offer biocontrols and the concept sounds great, but should we be doing this? Is it considered organic? WHAT IS A BIOCONTROL? Biocontrols are useful predators or parasites that will attack or consume pests. Most of them are found in our gardens anyway but introducing them gives their numbers a boost to keep pest numbers down. The products sold to gardeners are not toxic to humans and of little risk to the environment. The most common types are mites, predatory wasps and microscopic worms called nematodes. They…

HOT COMPOSTING GET GROWING Hot composting is a rapid composting process that breaks down your materials much more quickly than the more traditional cool compost process. This means compost can be ready in as little as a month – but is it worth the effort? IS HOT COMPOSTING FOR ME? The main attraction of hot composting is that you produce something very quickly. Some believe it also creates a better product. Because it reaches a higher temperature, hot composting kills off weed seeds, perennial weed roots and plant diseases. It also produces a larger volume of material than a cool compost pile, which breaks down over a longer period. Hot composting is only suitable for those that like to pay attention to detail. This is because you need to get the…

WORTH OVER £1790 GET SET TO BLOOM! The Spear & Jackson Kew Gardens Collection of tools and accessories has been developed in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew – and 10 lucky readers are set to get their hands on two of the newest items in the Kew collection, the Flower Spade and the High Performance Gloves. The Flower Spade (RRP £33.99) is designed for working in raised beds and borders, with its round-nosed head, pointed tip and chamfered edges making it perfect for planting, lifting and dividing. At 53cm (21in), it's smaller than a typical spade, so it is lightweight and comfortable to use. The mirror-polished stainless steel head is easy to clean and rust-resistant. The pointed tip makes quick work of breaking the ground, while the chamfered…