Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från Kitchen Garden

August is a time of plenty in the veg garden and despite a late start with the cold spring you will no doubt be reaping the rewards of all your hard work this month. The freezer will be starting to bulge with freshly harvested beans and peas and the first of many courgettes, cucumbers and tomatoes will be making their way to the kitchen. It's a month to be savoured in more ways than one! It's also a great time to mark our great UK veg growing heritage and this month is when we celebrate all things home-grown with National Allotment Week (August 12-18), which this year takes for its theme Celebrating Biodiversity on UK Allotments. As part of our six-page feature dedicated to the wonderful world of allotment gardening…

NET ADVANTAGE One difficulty I previously had with butterfly netting or, for that matter, pigeon was watering, weeding and harvesting without taking the netting off –not something that is ideal when butterflies are about. So this year I put lengths of water pipe on bamboo canes. The net is 4m wide, the width of the tunnel 2m (or 2.5m if you prefer) and the heightt in the middle 1.6m. It means I can get in the end, dropping the net behind me, and tend to the plants. The other advantage I forgot to mention is that it virtually stops egg laying through the net, a problem I have had with flat-top cages. Richard Belding, Dorchester STAR LATTER WINS £25 VOUCHER SUMMER VISITOR I'm always keen to attract pollinators, birds and…

GET GROWING A NEW KITCHEN GARDEN At the moment our vegetable garden is not only providing us with lots of fresh produce, it's looking good, even though I say it myself! As it's part of the front garden I wanted it to be decorative and it's lovely when people walking down the lane stop and have a chat about the garden. As well as a selection of edibles, there's also plenty of flowers that not only look good, they attract pollinators and make good cut flowers for the house. I haven't room for a separate cutting garden, but what I call my cut-flower plot (a bed around the base of an apple tree) is looking very colourful with zinnias, larkspur and cosmos that keep on flowering if deadheaded regularly. The sweet…

Do you grow your veg on an allotment or a patch in the garden? My husband Gary and I grow most of our veg on a council-run allotment which is just under a mile from home. We also have a greenhouse at home in which we grow tomatoes and chillies through the summer and use this for starting off seedlings early in the growing season. We started our allotment adventure in the autumn of 2019 having only been on the waiting list for a couple of weeks. We initially had a half plot and thought that it would be big enough, especially given the overgrown state it was in. The half plot was covered in weeds and brambles and there were no beds as such, just a path along the…

(AGM is the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Under RHS garden trials these varieties performed particularly well) SAVE £11 FREE WITH EVERY ORDER 2LT BLUEBERRY ‘BLUECROP’ This is one of the most popular blueberries in the world and there's a reason for that. It's reliable, very high yielding with an excellent flavour and ‘bite’. The mid-season fruits are a delightful powder-blue colour, the bush is incredibly vigorous and the autumn colour is tremendous with beautiful deep red leaves. Take advantage of this offer now to ensure a tasty supply for years to come. *You can claim this variety FREE when ordering at least one additional product off the page. 1x2L plant of Blueberry ‘Bluecrop’ despatched from August. WORTH £15.95 ALSO IN THE KG SHOP THIS MONTH FIG ‘LITTLE MISS FIGGY’…

CONTINUE WEEDING Lush growth can hide weeds, so keep checking for them when you're harvesting or watering to prevent weeds from going to seed. Weed seeds can live for years in the soil. INSPECT SWEETCORN Sweetcorn is ripe and ready to harvest when the silks at the end of the cob are brown. To make sure, pull back the husk and push your thumbnail into a kernel. If a milky liquid emerges, the cob is ripe. KEEP MULCHING Top up mulches on maincrop potatoes and areas of bare earth, especially if the weather is hot and dry. Mulches help feed the soil and reduce water evaporation. CHECK COURGETTES Check under courgette leaves for monster courgettes lurking beneath. These huge fruits are still edible. Use as marrows, or feed to chickens…

GROW RADISHES 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 Radishes are like bright colourful spicy balloons that you can grow in a pot or straight in the ground. They are relatively easy and fun to do, so let's grow them together! YOU WILL NEED: ■ Container with drainage holes, 30cm diameter or larger ■ Radish seeds ■ Multipurpose compost ■ Trowel ■ Plant label and pen ■ Watering can LET'S GET STARTED… 1. Using your trowel, fill your container with the multipurpose compost. Leave a space of about 5cm at the top of the pot. This will allow space for watering and feeding your plants. 2. Using your finger or…

Get in touch by post, email or via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/kitchengardenmag INDOOR EDIBLES I keep a sizeable collection of houseplants, and I'd like to grow something edible among them, but I need some inspiration. I'm specifically looking for more tropical plants rather than the classic herbs like mint and thyme. I know of ginger, but what other edible/medicinal plant do you know of that could be grown alongside tropical houseplants? Elizabeth Clark, Somerset STAR QUESTION WINS £25 VOUCHEW STEVE SAYS: There are a few plants that we grow as houseplants – or could be grown as houseplants – that are important edible crops in warmer climates. You mention ginger, but turmeric is another that can be started from a piece of shop-bought tuber and grown on in a similar…

Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow in the garden, or just about anywhere in fact! It is quick to grow, can be grown in multiple ways, and is used for much more than salads; in fact, one of my favourite things to do is add them to stir-fries at the last minute before serving. Not only are they great for growing just about anywhere due to their preference for a little shade in the summer, but they are also one of those plants that can be successionally sown for months and dotted around the garden, giving you fresh leaves all season. Plus, they aren't just icebergs like you buy in the supermarket, there's extra crispy cos which are perfect for salads, silky leaved butterheads to add to…

THE GARLIC STORY By Kumud Gandhi If you love garlic, you'll certainly love this book. Packed with great recipes, plus a potted history of the bulb and some useful growing advice, it is a must for anyone who already grows their own crops or would like some fresh ideas as to how to use it. The recipes are delicious but not for the faint hearted. Most contain at least three cloves, but others may contain 20 or more, so however many bulbs you planted last autumn isn't enough – you are going to have to plant more this year. We particularly liked the look of the Cream of Garlic Soup with Garlic Croutons, Garlic Roasted Tomato and Chilli Linguine and the delicious Garlic and Parsley Crusted Salmon. The recipe section…

GET GROWING PEARS Somehow, pears seem to be a more exotic choice than growing apples and come with a reputation for being somewhat problematic. True, they do need a slightly warmer site than some cooking apples and detest cold easterly winds, but they will thrive in quite heavy soils, are normally less prone to pests and diseases than other fruit and will live for a long time. A pear tree can easily live to be more than 100 years old, so think of it as a long-term investment. As with any investment, it pays to do your research, so this month we're going to look at some of the very best pear varieties available. ‘CONFERENCE’ Let's start with probably the best-known variety. ‘Conference’ was raised at the Rivers nursery in Sawbridgeworth,…

WORTH OVER £739 ALL SET TO GROW! Two lucky readers are set to win a bumper bundle of top products from Westland gardening brands. Kent & Stowe's SureCut All Purpose Extra Power Bypass Loppers (RRP £39.99) combine telescopic handles with the patent-pending Reflex Energy System, which incorporates rubber bumpers that absorb impact. Our winners will also get Kent & Stowe Eversharp All Purpose Secateurs (£34.99), which have blades forged from high-carbon steel and utilise aerospace technology to make them twice as sharp and 50 times harder than the average blade. The versatile Flopro Everyday Complete Hose System (£39.99) can be used freestanding or mounted on a wall. The 20m (66ft) hosepipe has a three-layer construction for durability and a braided reinforcement that prevents kinks. Westland Boost All Purpose Liquid Plant…

REBEKAH MCNAUGHTON FROM STOCKTON-ON-TEES, DURHAM How long have you been growing veg? About two years. Do you share the plot with anyone else? It's mainly me but my mum helps when she feels well enough. My little dog Cleo supervises. What do you find most challenging about growing your own veg? I struggle to limit myself. I think I can grow all the things. Have you one piece of advice you could pass on to other readers? Just give it a go. If it works, brilliant. If it doesn't work, then you've learnt something. Can you name some of your favourite crops? I'm still early in my gardening journey, but I really enjoy growing garlic. I planted it in autumn last year and was blessed with mountains of garlic this…

Nectar-rich plants support a range of pollinating insects, and you can double the benefits by planting them in a windowbox with bee nesting sites drilled into the sides. A windowsill around 1 m (39in) above the grouund, ideally in a sunny possition that's not exposed to wind and driving rain, is a good spot to locate a bee hotel. This box is made from the end piece of a wooden pallet, which you can source online or from a garden centre. 1. Saw off the end of a pallet, including the solid chunks of wood that connect the front and back. This makes four sides of the box – depending on the design of the pallet you may need to screw on an extra plank to make the base 2.…

Quarr Abbey, on the Isle of Wight, is nestled within a short distance of a body of water called The Solent, which separates the island from mainland Britain in the south of England. It is a fully working abbey, having been in continuous use since 1907. Set in glorious woodlands, the site gently meanders down to The Solent and its views of Southampton and Portsmouth. The abbey itself is an impressive piece of early 19th century architecture. Built to replace a much earlier abbey on the grounds, it comprises more than two million handmade bricks from Belgium, many of which have their maker's hand and finger marks visible to this day. You are immediately met by a lottery-funded orchard as you approach the abbey, planted with a mixture of apples…

OK FOR THE FREEZER TOO! AUBERGINE BURGERS Stack the veg tall in this satisfying summer burger featuring grilled aubergine and halloumi. Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes SERVES 4 ■ 1 aubergine, cut into 2cm (¾in) rounds ■ 1 tbsp salt ■ 1 tbsp olive oil ■ 250g (9oz) block of halloumi cheese, sliced ■ 4 seeded burger buns ■ 4 tbsp mayonnaise ■ 1 small ‘Little Gem’ lettuce, divided into single leaves ■ ½ red cabbage, thinly shredded ■ 1 carrot, grated ■ 4 tomatoes, sliced 1. Spread the aubergine out on to a cutting board and sprinkle one tablespoon salt over them. Leave to draw out some moisture for 10 minutes. 2. Rinse the aubergine slices, then pat dry. 3. In a large frying pan, heat…