Grow It! April 2013 by Kelsey Publishing Ltd

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How to grow: ● Strawberries ● Runner beans ● Globe artichokes ● Chilli peppers

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Editor's welcome

www.growitmag.com Published by: Kelsey Publishing Group, Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s Hill, Cudham, Kent TN16 3AG Telephone: 01959 541444 Editorial team Gi.ed@kelsey.co.uk www.growitmag.com Editor Benedict Vanheems Sub editor Martin Oldaker Designer Mark Baker Publisher Stephen Curtis Friends and contributors Rebecca Wells, Dawn Francis-Pester, Anne Swithinbank, Martyn Cox, Paul Wagland, Steve Bradley, Lucy Halliday, Wade Muggleton, Charles Dowding, Ann Somerset Miles, Alex Mitchell, Andy Cawthray, Liz Dobbs, Mark Diacono, Lia Leendertz, Terry Beebe, Victoria Poolman, Dave Hamilton, Andrew Haynes Advertising Advertisement Manager: Kara Goodwin Telephone: 01959 543586 Email: gi.adsales@kelsey.co.uk Advertisement Director David Lerpiniere Telephone: 01959 543507 Email: gi.adsales@kelsey.co.uk Production Manager: Charlotte Riley Telephone: 01733 353367 Email: charlotte.riley@kelseypb.co.uk Subscriptions Save money by taking out a subscription to Grow it! See offer on page 8. Distribution Problems getting your magazine in the shops? Please contact our distributors, Marketforce, on 0203 1483333, or better still, SUBSCRIBE - it makes good sense! Printing William Gibbons & Sons Limited Willenhall, West Midlands. Kelsey Publishing Group Gold Winner, Printing and Publishing, National Green Apple Awards 2006 for Environmental Best Practice by Commerce and Industry.

Grow it! magazine is printed on environmentally accredited paper which is sourced from forests managed in keeping with environmental, economic and social sustainability standards. The paper is bleached without the use of any chlorine chemicals.

As I write it genuinely competitions (saving you the faff and cost feels like the first true of posting entry slips), send your growing moment of spring. questions to Anne Swithinbank, take part in Living way above sea regular polls, or write in with your own news, level up here in the thoughts and achievements. If you have any Cotswolds, the last time ideas for polls, want to share a picture of we saw temperatures your plot or just tell us what’s on your mind, in double figures was the website is the forum through which to November. Today the do it. But don’t worry if you aren’t online – mercury edged past we’re still accepting good old snail mail! the magic 10°C mark I was saddened to learn of the recent and I expect (and hope!) that by the time you passing of actor Richard Briars whose most read this the soil temperature will have warmed famous character, Tom Good brought the up enough to commence idea of self-sufficiency to outdoor sowings. millions for the first time. Warmer days and While in real life Richard I’m not alone within these pages – our brighter evenings may not have boasted compendium-of-ideas such green fingers, the compiler Ann Somerset promise many grea t The Good Life was the Miles lives just a few miles original touchpaper away from me and has harvests to come that ignited the grow-itbeen gardening in sync yourself movement. In with late springs for decades. In this issue some way his passing marks the closing of a she brings us up to speed on her orchard chapter – that time in the 1970s when people and its collection of old and not-so-old caught a new awareness and were inspired specimens. Patience is a virtue they say and to give growing food a go themselves. it’s good to read that Ann’s careful restoration Today more of us than ever before and enhancement of her fruitful corner has have been bitten by the growing bug. It’s served her and her family in good stead over one infection that does us the world of the years. Turn to page 50 for more on this good, particularly in these times of heavily and Ann’s ever-inspirational suggestions. processed foods, spurious provenance and The past month has been busy here in ever-higher prices. Whether you are new to the office. We’ve revamped our website kitchen gardening this spring or a seasoned and, thanks to the magic of our web hand, I wish you the very best growing designer, I have to say it’s looking the best season. Warmer days and brighter evenings it ever has. If you haven’t yet paid a visit promise many great harvests to come. there’s no time like the present – head to www.growitmag.com where you will find all sorts of growing advice, pictures and news to browse. I hope it will encourage more of you to get directly involved with the magazine. Benedict Vanheems, Editor On the site you can now enter our

In this issue...

www.kelsey.co.uk

Rebecca Wells Springtime jobs, p11

Martyn Cox

Small space plots, p28

Victoria Poolman Chilli growing, p74

Andrew Haynes Perennial alliums, p82

Grow it! April 2013

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58 54 FOR TASK THE S L O TO

62 April 2013

inside... Regulars 6 What’s new

Read up on the very latest news, products and events. This month, celebrating asparagus and native hazel beanpoles, a fast food lecture and Christmas veg

8 Subscribe!

Love Grow it! magazine? Then why not subscribe – it only takes a minute

10 Your say

Readers share their observations, growing tips and horticultural conundrums

11 Grower’s diary

A final clear-up and bonfire and Exeter allotment holder Rebecca Wells is ready for spring, the first glimmers of which are already to be seen

On the

COVER

The lowdown on globe art ic hoke s, p4 2

14 Reader offer

Eight oh-so delicious ‘Sungold’ tomato plants and fertiliser are yours for free! Plus we’ve also got some superbvalue offers you won’t want to miss

20 Ask Anne

Radio Four’s Gardeners’ Question Time’s Anne Swithinbank helps you grow with confidence. This month follow her tips on intersowing, how to grow wasabi and edible windbreaks

39 Competition

Set your productive plot off in style with a handsome set of plant supports and vegetable cage from the Agriframes’ Elegance range. We have three sets up for grabs On the

COVER

40 Free seeds

Put your kitchen garden to work this season with our carefully

collated selection of heavy cropping varieties. Find out how to grow your free seeds

50 The productive garden

Ann Somerset Miles introduces us to her orchard (over 40 years in the making) and shares tips on crop protection, including making a bird scarer

62 Tools for the task

Handheld weeders are the subject of Liz Dobb’s review this month. Discover which ones come out on top

74 Young Grower

Chilli peppers are popular with young gardeners; their fiery flavours and bright colours certainly appeal. Victoria Poolman helps the little ones get started

82 Notes from the potting shed

Andrew Haynes always struggles with spring onions, which is why he’s advocating some perennial alternatives

April 2013 Grow it!

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14 PAGES

of seasonal advice, top tips & expert know-how

The

Practical team April

Every issue our team of regular experts reveals the main jobs for the month along with bags of ideas

70 Features 16 Fresh and free

Dawn Francis-Pester visits an inspiring urban gardener who has escaped the rat race while living the good life in suburban London COVER

42 The lowdown on… Globe artichokes

On the

44 The dry allotment

On the

COVER

The fruit grower

On the

COVER

The city grower

Salivate over summer strawberries! Benedict Vanheems picks out some favourites and shares his tips on planting them p25

Variety is the spice of life – especially when you’re growing chillies! Martyn Cox has advice on this and shady gardens p28

The organic allotmenteer

The under cover grower

This easy-care Mediterranean native will add a touch of drama to the veg plot. Lucy Halliday gives us the lowdown on these gourmet globes COVER Growing without a mains water supply

sounds like a daunting prospect but for many allotment holders this is the reality. Wade Muggleton explains how he copes without on-tap water

48 Dried and delicious

Organic market gardener Charles Dowding shows us how easy it is to raise a bumper crop of beans specifically for drying for winter use On the

54 The Rurbanites

It’s a wise allotmenteer who makes provision for pest-munching wildlife, says Paul Wagland. Try making Paul’s toad house p33

Greenhouse and polytunnel guru Steve Bradley offers words of wisdom on hardening off plants ready for planting p36

COVER Alex Mitchell visits three urban

growing projects that are bringing the countryside to city dwellers. Plus how to go about setting up your own community garden On the

58 Practical project

COVER Our step-by-step ideas man Andy

Cawthray shows us the best way to grow prolific runner beans

60 Over the garden wall

There’s no limit to the inspiration to be had from visiting other gardens. We pick our top ten National Trust walled kitchen gardens to call on this spring On the

64 Fast food!

COVER Don’t hang around for your supper

– Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz select four vegetables that are ready from just three weeks after sowing!

68 Sheltered housing

Quality roofing on a poultry house is essential if chickens are to remain dry and healthy. Terry Beebe considers the options On the

COVER

70 How to grow… Peppers

Heat-loving peppers require a little cosseting to ripen their sought-after fruits. Get it right this summer and you’ll be picking plenty

76 Easy come, easy grow

Grow-it-yourself doesn’t have to mean hard graft. Self-sufficiency expert Dave Hamilton offers some methods for cutting the corners without compromising harvests

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE! Subscribe to Grow it! and you will never miss another issue. Head to page 8 right now!

Grow it! April 2013

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What's new Send your news stories to gi.ed@kelsey.co.uk

Christmas – already?!

Edible Britain Streets across Britain are set to become grow-it-yourself havens as a result of the launch activity for the RHS Britain in Bloom 2013 programme. The ‘Edible Britain’ campaign will result in community gardening groups creating 2,000 herb and vegetable patches in public spaces around the country from 8-14 April. RHS community gardening groups can apply for free seeds and it is expected that some 30,000 packets of seed, including chives, dill, parsley, carrots, coriander, spring onions and ‘Red Frills’ mustard, as well as edible flowers such as nasturtiums and marigolds, will be distributed to 2,000 gardening groups. Stephanie Eynon, RHS Community Horticulture Manager, says: “Britain in Bloom isn’t just about pretty hanging baskets – it’s about improving the

Social impacts • An RHS survey found 90 per cent of groups claim the biggest benefit of participating in Britain in Bloom is community development. • More than half of groups have seen a clear decline in crime and antisocial behaviour. • Since the RHS took Britain in Bloom over in 2002 it has grown into one of Europe’s largest community gardening and environmental programmes. • It is the UK’s biggest voluntary campaign. environment, enhancing lives and bringing communities together.” Anybody can set up or join their nearest group by typing in their postcode into an online map found at www.rhs.org.uk/getinvolved

It is never too early to start thinking about Christmas, according to DT Brown’s general manager Tim Jeffries, who is encouraging us to grow our own Christmas lunch in 2013. “Now is the time to start planning for this year’s festive season. This makes a great project, especially for those newcomers to vegetable growing,” says Tim. The seed company has put together a package of Christmas favourites at a discount price. The collection includes seeds of Brussels sprout ‘Montgomery F1’, frost-resistant carrot ‘Eskimo F1’, thick-stemmed leek ‘Giant Winter 2’, parsnip ‘Gladiator F1’, the late maincrop ‘Santé’ potato and broad-leaved sage. The collection also includes 250g of heat-treated ‘Hercules’ onion sets. The Christmas Lunch Collection costs £9.65 with free postage – a total saving of £10.95. Order it at www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk (type ‘lunch’ into the search box) or by calling 0845 3710532.

POLES AHEAD National Beanpole week, held from 13-21 April, will highlight the worrying decline of British woodland flowers. Gardeners are being urged to choose British-grown hazel beanpoles to help increase demand for coppice woodland management, which in turn benefits woodland wildlife, especially rare flowers. Coppicing is the oldest form of woodland management and helps increase sunlight at the woodland floor, encouraging woodland flowers to seed and grow. Richard Thomason, a

coppice restoration manager explains: “Britain lost 90 per cent of its coppiced woodland last century. To protect what remains we need to support the coppice workers who manage these woods by buying their products.” Beanpoles are just one of many products sourced from coppiced woodlands, which include plant supports, hurdles and screens. More about coppiced products and details of local suppliers can be found at www.beanpoles. org.uk and www.coppice-products.co.uk

April 2013 Grow it!

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Asparagus season launches The UK’s eight-week asparagus season officially launches on 23 April. To celebrate, the Great English Asparagus Run will see the first cut of asparagus travelling under escort from the National Trust’s only pub, the Vale of Evesham’s Fleece Inn, to destinations such as Buckingham Palace. Following the launch a series of asparagus-themed events will be held during the British Asparagus Festival. Visitors to Worcestershire, which grows much of the UK’s asparagus, can hop on board the Asparabus for a tour of local growers to learn more about this venerated vegetable. Find out more about the British Asparagus Festival 2013 at www.britishasparagusfestival.org

GOOD FOOD, FAST Fast foodies Lia Leendertz and Mark Diacono will be lecturing at West Dean College, near Chichester, West Sussex on 27 April. Mark will encourage those attending to put flavour to the fore while Lia will talk about zingy and lively quick-turnaround crops. The lecture, entitled ‘Grow your own food: fine and fast’ costs £66 with money off for new attendees and those booking online. Head to www.westdean. org.uk/college or phone 0844 4994408 for more details. • Turn to page 64 for Mark and Lia’s article on speedy vegetables!

Free podcasts The RHS has launched the first in a series of new gardening podcasts to be issued fortnightly. Aimed at gardeners of all levels, the podcasts will provide advice and practical solutions direct from experts at the Royal Horticultural Society. The first podcast, recorded at RHS Garden Wisley, will focus on problem solving with hints on how to deal with seasonal challenges. The free podcasts will be available to download from iTunes or can be accessed via www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

BATTLE OF THE GIANTS Gargantuan parsnips, mammoth pumpkins and the longest leeks in the land – the UK National Giant Vegetables Championship, which has been held at the Royal Bath & West Showground since 1997, is being relocated to the Malvern Autumn Show from September. The Championship is a welcome addition to Malvern’s now famous amateur growing exhibition and will bring another ten classes to the show’s giant vegetable section. Some of the vegetables grown for the show come from all corners of the country, weigh in at over a tonne and require special lifting equipment.

Malvern has a long history of breaking records thanks to the giants, which are the star attraction of the show’s Harvest Pavilion. Tickets to the Malvern Autumn Show, which runs on 28-29 September, can be order online at www. threecounties.co.uk/malvernautumn or by calling 01684 584924. Advance bookings attract a discount.

Corking finish Tool manufacturer Fiskars has unveiled a new range of gardening tools with cork handles. As well as smooth, light and strong aluminium bodies and quality blades, the Quantum range uses cork handles to provide a snug and comfortable grip, shock absorbency and insulation. The Fiskars Quantum range is available in garden centres and DIY stores nationwide and consists of four loppers, a hedge shear and bypass secateurs. Visit www.fiskars.com or call 0115 9277335 to access full tool descriptions and details or where to buy. Grow it! April 2013

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Your say Write to us, with a picture if possible, at Grow it!, Kelsey Publishing, Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s Hill, Cudham, Kent TN16 3AG. Alternatively email: gi.ed@kelsey.co.uk

✪

This month’s star letter wins a potting tidy set from Two Wests and Elliott.

Drop us a line and share your growing stories, advice, questions and opinions

Squared up I was interested in your article on square metre gardening by American Mel Bartholomew (see ‘Square ayes’, pages 62-65, Spring 2013 issue). I had become aware of ‘square foot’ gardening having followed up your news article ‘Cyber growing space’ in the February 2013 issue (see page 7). The online garden planner mentioned in that news article gives the option to plan a square foot setup as well as rows. This inspired me to search the internet for Mel’s book All New Square Foot Gardening, which was published in 2005. The process, as described in your

Spring issue, appeared to make a lot of sense to me and I used the online planner to plan my garden with four new beds ranging in size from 1.2x1.2m (4x4ft) to 1.8x1.8m (6x6ft). These beds were to replace the five-year-old beds I had originally made from discarded timber when I moved into the cottage, which are now rotting away. I have started with a 1.2m (4ft) square raised bed (pictured) from a local company in Lowestoft. This was fitted with a liner and filled with Mel’s formula for the growing medium. I will replace each of the remaining three beds as the time comes to plant new seeds. I am looking forward to seeing if this method is indeed more productive than planting in rows. D Shiret, Norfolk

Editor replies: I am delighted that Mel’s article has inspired you. By the looks of it you have made a strong start already. Keep us up to date with progress.

Box clever What’s not to love about the simple but wonderful plant box? You can’t go wrong with it, either as a beautiful border plant or to provide a centrepiece in even the smallest of gardens. To me, box is the most useful plant in the garden. My first experience of taking a cutting was when I took one of box. Taking a cutting was as easy as snipping off the end of a stem, stripping the leaves and sticking it into a pot. There are many gardens across the country that owe their existence to this superb plant. Some of these gardens have created magnificent patterns out of foliage, providing tranquil places to just sit and enjoy. M Secunda, aged 14, Hertfordshire

Editor replies:

I couldn’t agree more, box is a very versatile plant indeed!

Safety first

Hair apparent My wife uses disposal hair nets where she works as a cook. These are just the right size for fitting over pots and seed trays up to about 20cm (8in) in size to offer protection from colder weather and pests. They would make ideal aids for hardening off plants. M Bull, via email

Gardens are dangerous places, particularly for young children. Could you please make that point in your next editorial. The picture on page six of the March issue (see ‘Dig in!’ news story) shows a very young child, in soft shoes, leaning on a full-sized garden fork with the prongs facing towards his legs. If he’d have lost his balance he could have been skewered! Encourage the young gardener but also teach them basic safety rules at the same time. B Miles, Warwick

Editor replies: Thank you for pointing this out to us. Of course, young children should always be appropriately dressed for gardening and supervised at all times. Children’s gardening tools are widely available and will make their working safer and more fun.

10 April 2013 Grow it!

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G r ower's diary

Has spring arrived?

Rebecca Wells rides the rollercoaster of early spring temperatures as she finishes preparing her Exeter allotment for the coming growing season The song of the blackbird is mesmerisingly beautiful

Below: A steady burn sees the last of the noncompostables dealt with

hey say that it is on Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day that birds choose their mates. Certainly, at dawn on 15th February, a blackbird took up his position on the end of the roof ridge and sang his heart out in a beautiful, territory-establishing song. In the distance, as I listened in delight, I could hear a rival blackbird

also pealing out what, should I ever be asked, would be one of my Desert Island Discs. The idyll was broken be some thuggish gulls scaring my songster away but he was replaced by a wren, whose fluting song seemed to bubble with joy and life. Alas, this early promise did not hold and, since then we have had snow flurries, leaden skies and a bone-penetratingly cold spell often with vicious north-easterly winds.

r-up Finishing the clea My children are grown up now and one gets quickly out of the loop when it comes to the timing of school holidays and half terms. I have been aware, however, that half term is often wet and cold. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but feel sorry for those confined

Rebecca Wells is a garden designer and keen kitchen gardener based in Exeter. She tends three full-size organic plots on her local allotment field.

inside during this break. Unusually, half term this spring was consistently sunny and, even, warm. During the winter months we are allowed to have bonfires on the allotment field on the first Saturday afternoon of the month and every Tuesday afternoon. A fine Tuesday in February was too good an opportunity to miss to continue some of the winter clear-up. We had gradually amassed a pile of un-compostable material, ready for the fire. There was a pile of thick, white bindweed roots which I had dug out of the few areas on the plots where it still has a foothold, plus a few strings of couch grass that had sneaked into the asparagus bed from the track verge. Although I have dug out what I can, I know that this will be a war of attrition and that I will have been very lucky not to have missed a small amount of either. It will re-grow and I will need to watch and spray any emerging remnant. I had completed the pruning of the briar fruits and roses in the cutting garden and these, too, needed to be burnt. It was good to have a gentle, steady fire to which I was able to add all these, as well as some bay and laurel from the shrubs which act as cover around the pond. Surprisingly, both burn very well despite being green. By the end of the afternoon I had cleared the whole pile. As I worked, several new plot-holders arrived, bringing their children with them. These are people who have taken over an allotment since the winter and were taking advantage of the good weather and, I dare say, the extra pair of hands to begin to make a start on making the garden theirs. Grow it! April 2013 11

11-13_GI_APR13.indd 11

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14/03/2013 20:00

EXCLUSIVE OFFER

IPTION UBSCR

OFFER

Hello, Subscribe today and receive the next 3 issues of Grow it! Magazine for just £3, SAVING 76% on the shop price! Receive hassle free delivery with every issue delivered hot off the press direct to your door - PLUS, you will never miss an issue during your subscription term.There has never been a better time to subscribe, so go on what are you waiting for? If you don’t want to miss out – subscribe today! Benedict Vanheems, Editor

Fast track to success...

Globe artichokes are so easy to grow yet so utterly indulgent. Plant some and prepare to be dazzled!

Globe artichokes

FEED THEM UP Give a generous annual mulch of well-rotted manure mixed with leaf mould if you have it. DRAINAGE MATTERS Avoid any soil that is heavy and easily waterlogged; globe artichokes rarely survive a winter in these conditions.

gives you the ntenance perennial that artichoke, says Lucy Halliday The highly ornamental, low-mai ? It can only be the globe taste of an Italian summer his tall, elegant, architectural

with tightly packed scales. Cook by steaming whole. Removing sideshoots gives bigger heads.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER Only select the largest offset for replanting to keep your stock really vigorous. Discard the rest of the plant.

ENCOURAGE WILDLIFE If possible leave old plants in place to flower for an extra year – they are wonderful for attracting pollinating insects.

REAP THE RICH REWARDS Harvest heads when plump and still tender

magPIE-mOOn

to plant is a wonderful addition space any garden with enough would to accommodate it. You to keep you in need a large field of plants would advise this a year’s supply so no one it is one of those as a crop to live off. Yet I that treats quintessential midsummer is easy to grow and would not be without. It to go in on my was one of the first crops new allotment. only hard to Fresh artichokes are not As a come by but also very expensive. input that so little perennial crop they need a corner to, they are really worth dedicating an ornamental or even incorporating into foliage, green and border. The silvery-grey (if left) giant purple purple flower buds and of any display. thistle-like flowers are worthy heads that Unusually it is the flower and these are provide the culinary interest The base of each eaten before they open. up the outer triangular ‘scale’ that makes a tender, creamy portions of the bud has is a fleshy plate section to it and then there

The unopened flower heads of the globe artichoke are eaten

Healthy young plants ready for planting

WHEN DOWhen TOdo tTto WHA s:S:Wha HOKE hoke ARTIC eEartic GLOB Glob May april February

January

Order plants online or through mailorder catalogues ready for spring planting.

Remove or clear away last year’s frost protection before growth starts.

March

If you haven’t done so, clear away old leaves and stems to allow for new growth.

Propagate offsets from mature plants to bulk up or refresh your stock, or to give away.

AUGUST

JULY Keep an eye out for swelling flower buds so you catch them before opening.

Ensure that new plants remain well watered as the weather warms up.

to heritage variety dating a good about 1835. It produces show of varying sized buds of good flavour. Marshalls

Harvest flower heads while still closed but large and firm with tight scales.

❖ ‘Romanesco’: This traditional

gorgeous variety has the bonus of make purple-tinted globes that use. it perfect for ornamental with a Heads are tight and firm Nursery good flavour. Victoriana

might a good plant, ask if they spare you one or otherwise need to order plants in. You will like this replenish your own stock in order to keep every three or four years productivity. peak plants at the risk Plant out new plants once the soil by of frost has passed. Prepare holes at least cultivating generous planting well-rotted lots of 60x60cm (2x2ft), adding to create a rich, manure and grit if needed for these free-draining environment hungry plants. A good annual mulch, regular watering in warm weather during their first year, combined with a little frost protection is all the work these laidback plants require. If you can resist, remove any emerging flower buds in the first year to encourage the plant to put all its energies into establishment.

❖ ‘Tavor’: A modern selection

of the heritage ‘Green Globe’ to that’s been bred for tolerance well in colder winters. It can crop crops its first year and gives heavy Nursery once mature. Victoriana with ❖ ‘Purple Globe’: Globes stunner an intense purple hue. A a and for the back of a border Suttons particularly heavy cropper.

Suppliers

• Marshalls: 0844 5576700, www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk • Suttons: 0844 922 2899, www.suttons.co.uk 01233 740529, • Victoriana Nursery: www.victoriananursery.co.uk

NOVEMBER

OCTOBER

SEPTEMBER Harvest any smaller flower heads from side shoots while still closed and firm.

Free delivery direct to your door

hardy tasty, as artichokes go. This very erect-growing and thorn-less variety has attractive rounded Suttons scales to its flower buds.

❖ ‘Emerald’: Tough and

Hang unused flowers to dry as ornaments or for harvest wreaths. Spray gold for Christmas.

Cover plants with straw, bracken or fleece to protect from frosts over the winter.

DECEMBER Mulch new and mature plants with compost, manure or hay annually. Grow it! April 2013 43

*PLEASE NOTE: 3 issues for £3 offer is a Direct Debit, UK subscription offer only. You can cancel at any time in writing in the first three months and £3 will be your only commitment. If you do NOT cancel in that time, a regular quarterly payment will continue at £23.70 still saving 20% on the shop price, taken via direct debit from your bank every six months. **76% discount calculated on your first 3 issues.

14/03/2013 20:14

42 April 2013 Grow it!

042-43_GI_APR13.indd

of dismantling the buds. you will Harking from warmer climes a sunny, freeneed to find globe artichokes draining site, ideally sheltered from strong winds as these plants can reach up to 2m (7ft) high. It is raise possible to artichokes from seed but this is rarely done as the results are variable. Instead, divide or separate the naturally occurring offsets in April to yield more plants. If you know someone with

June

Keep an eye out for aphids, the only real pest of globe artichokes. Hose off growing tips.

❖ ‘Green Globe’: A reliable

Below: The handsome silvery foliage makes globe artichokes at home in either ornamental or veg beds

Beneath this at the base of all the scales. which forms the is the bristly thistle down A rich and ‘choke’, known as the heart. reward for the effort distinctive flavour is the

Never miss an issue

TRY THESE...

Left: If left to open, the flowers will attract pollinators to your plot

14/03/2013 20:13

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columnist for the Martyn Cox is gardening of nine books. Mail on Sunday and author on the south coast. He has a small, city garden

THIS THIS MONTH MONTH

shade shade forfor • Plants • Plants • Strawberries • Strawberries peppers peppers • Chilli • Chilli

a north-facing garden requires Deciding what to grow in on Cox puts his thinking cap careful thought. Martyn been able to grow or the past ten years I’ve fruit, vegetable just about every type of fancy, all thanks to and herb that’s taken my garden. Everything I owning a fully south-facing or raised in pots romped planted into the ground me with plenty of good away quickly and provided apricots, kiwifruit, stuff to harvest. Figs, peaches, , tomatillos, cucumbers, redcurrants, blackcurrants aubergines, peppers, ‘Black Tuscan’ kale, beetroot, of other edibles thrived tomatoes and a whole load d plot in East London. in that warm, sun-drenche challenge. About four But I’m now facing a new the big smoke, from months ago I upped sticks garden in the south taking on a slightly bigger essentially the seaside coast resort of Southsea, two minutes from suburb of Portsmouth. Living and the pace of life down the seafront is wonderful

Colourful stems of rainbow chard will brighten up even shady gardens

city grower The Practical Team The

Fall for French beans! W

The Practical Team

The city grower

A ‘Morello’ cherry will add welcome blossom in springtime

blood pressure. Yet there here is far better for my new plot faces due north! is a slight problem... my the garden in summer, I’ve not yet experienced dark and gloomy but over winter it has been swathe at the very (apart from a 2m (7ft)-deep in the afternoon). It is back that gets the light imagine growing not the kind of place I could above. On most of the plants I’ve mentioned surrounded by the upside, it is completely to be troubled by walls, sheltered and unlikely to the sea. frosts due to its close proximity structural changes of lot a make to is My plan few months, as it looks to the garden over the next of course, we’ll be And, really boring at the moment. will do well, or at least cope, introducing edibles that found outside my backdoor. in the kind of conditions trees have been All of my sun-loving fruit the garden in their moved to the bottom of the most of the make can they where pots, of raising this area available light. I’m thinking even more. The walls up, which will help them of my garden will make that run down the length ‘Morello’ cherry, red and excellent supports for a and gooseberries. white currants, raspberries that can deal with low Elsewhere, I’ll grow veg radishes, Swiss chard light levels. Lettuce, beetroot, are all ideal. Closer to the and mixed salad leaves gloomy, I’ll plant alpine house, where it is really c croppers in full sun strawberries – they’re prolifi in the deepest shade. berries but will still produce

hile our summers are highly quickunpredictable there’s one will always growing vegetable that it’s given a sunny happily oblige so long as patio. French beans corner of the garden or weeks earlier are ready to pick up to three with a number of than runner beans and to grow you can dwarf varieties available for supports. even do away with the need or dotted in among Plant them in short rows free. other crops as space becomes own, give If you’ve never grown your very easy to raise them a try. They really are a range of pod sizes from seed and come in do well in tubs and colours. Dwarf types climbing beans and window boxes while or canes to make can be grown up netting you have. Sow efficient use of the space weeks and you dwarf varieties every few supply of these can be sure of a constant delicious pods. fine-textured and completely which means French beans are not hardy, them outside its best to hold off sowing last frost. However, until a week before the it’s a small risk to in sheltered city gardens earlier crop sown try your luck with an even Should frost in the second half of April. a harvest, simply scupper your chances of to lose but a few sow again; you’ve nothing or fleece set over seeds. Of course, cloches your seedlings safer. the sown area will keep direct into To grow in pots sow seeds setting them multipurpose compost, thinning to leave about 5cm (2in) deep and each plant. about 30cm (12in) between of seeds of a Alternatively sow a couple each supporting climbing variety against seedling strongest the to thin and cane can also be after germination. Seeds greenhouse or started off in pots in the once they have cold frame to plant out leaves. Keep produced their first adult pick regularly. the plants watered and

Dwarf varieties of French will happily grow in pots

* French beans are ready to pick up to three weeks earlier than runner beans

1. ‘Stanley’ A whiteseeded bean that won’t fail to produce plenty of long, straight pods of excellent quality beans.

The Practical Team

The fruit grower Benedict Vanheems is editor of Grow it! and is a passionate home-grower.

FIVE OF THE BEST... 1

bean

g 2. ‘Duel’: Quick-growin ‘Duel’ holds its pods above its foliage, making it easy to pick. The pods have a fine taste and texture.

you into weather will be tempting The start of the warmer says Benedict Vanheems. the fruit garden this month, on with! as there’s plenty to be getting

as well really, suppliers SeedJust

• Dobies: 0844 7017625, co.uk that the evenings are so much www.dobies. It’s lucky3710532, 0845 a busy time for • DT Brown: lighter this month as it’s a little and www.dtbrownseeds.com us fruit growers. As always • Marshalls: 0844 5576700, is the key to keeping approach k often lls-seeds.co.u www.marsha of everything, from harvesting top 9222899, 0844 • Suttons:on dry weather. rhubarb to watering in tasty.co.uk www.suttons

of April showers Make the most of a spell centre and to get to your local garden Weed invest in a few bags of mulch. then apply around fruit trees and bushes each under a generous layer of mulch it doesn’t one, being careful to ensure as deterring 5 touch the trunk. As well in moisture hold to weeds, this will help of watering. all year, saving you hours bushes, Newly-planted trees and wall or fence and anything growing by a are any plants growing in containers and out, drying especially vulnerable to A prince benefit of a good mulch 5. ‘The with the evenPrince’:

dwarf French beans 3

3. ‘Soleon’: High yields of bright, golden pods with a delicious and almost sweet flavour. The plants have good disease resistance.

4. ‘Amethyst’: A fine choice for a small garden thanks to its incredibly pretty flowers. The 15cm (6in)-long purple pods are string-less.

among French beans! The slender, string-less pods will keep on coming if picked regularly.

fruit grower The Practical Team The

››The lowdown on...

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a good drench they will probably need dry weather. at least once a week in ed trees that are If you have newly-plant steel yourself and coming into flower, then that you can tell pick off all the fat buds rather than leaves. will open into blossom will be glad you It seems harsh, but you have a good strong did in future when you to withstand tree with roots deep enough the plant to extremes of weather. Helping established put all its energy into getting it takes to is well worth the few minutes yourself with the do this. You can console give any fruit thought that trees rarely anyway. year first worth harvesting in their be left to Any established trees can Where possible bloom their hearts out. with fleece or try to protect the blossom nights. Many an old blanket on freezing for pennies charity shops sell blankets

THIS MONTH

• Planting strawberries • Applying mulch • Tending new trees

task. Keep a and they are ideal for this forecasts watchful eye on the weather an unexpected as some areas can get May. Remove frost up until the end of to allow the protection in the morning pollinate the to bees and other insects crops. blossom and give you heavy Where possible, protect fruit tree blossom from late frost

Enjoy the taste of summer ed nce you’ve tasted freshly-pick own strawberries from your back garden you will never go Plants are to shop-bought crops again! grow and they inexpensive, a doddle to Even if you have take up very little room. a few limited space, you can squeeze get bowls of plants into a container and sells a kit fruit all summer long. Suttons plants and two including 12 strawberry means you growbags for just £24, which fruit on a balcony! can even grow your own fussy are s strawberrie One thing light they get. about is the amount of receives full Ideally choose a spot that These plants sun for most of the day. ing soil, so also thrive on freely-drain make to enough if you’ve been clever amounts some leaf mould, dig generous Alternatively into your strawberry bed. to last soil that you added manure add manure year is ideal – but don’t of mountain a this year or you will get any berries. leaves at the expense of all part of the Choosing your plants is a few varieties, fun. If you have room for and a few go for some early fruiters that is a term ‘everbearers’. The latter offer fewer berries applies to plants which to crop over at any one time but continue expect a steady a longer period – you can August to supply of fruit from around don’t the first frosts. While everbearers

Plants are inexpensive, a doddle to grow and take up little room

Strawberries grow very well in growbags

all at once that offer the huge harvest they are just you need for making jam, enjoying bowls the job for keeping you long. of just-picked fruit all summer to bear fruit Plants will generally start or June in May if given cloche protection,owers The fl if left to their own devices. If frost frost. from must be protected centre of each catches them then the spot this, nip bloom turns black. If you they will never (as blooms affected off plants are covered grow fruit) and ensure be uncovered at night. By day they must

them. so that bees can pollinate beginning to You will soon see fruits to put straw form and this is the time the plants. or a similar mulch around t of keeping This has the dual benefi protecting the moisture in the soil and may think You ground. the from fruit berries, but birds haven’t spotted your turns red, it the minute the first fruit Cover will attract unwanted attention. net tunnel the fruits with an extending system similar a or ls or use Build-A-Bal cage. to make a temporary fruit

g bare-root strawberries STEP-BY-STEP Plantin

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iner tree care STEP-BY-STEP Conta Add a layer of mulch

Newly-planted fruit trees and any grown in containers need extra care throughout the summer to avoid letting their roots dry out. First ensure no weeds are competing for moisture.

Water the plant well. A good drench allows the moisture to get right down to the bottom of the container. Daily watering may be required in really hot and dry weather.

to keep moisture in and weeds out. You can use gravel, chipped bark or leaf mould. Coir hanging basket liners are a quick and effective option.

Make the most of a spell of April showers Grow it! April 2013 25

14/03/2013 20:06

025-27_GI_APR13.indd

are Bare-root strawberry plants have often good value as they less packaging than pot-grown time to plant options. Now is a good up. them as the soil is warming

26 April 2013 Grow it!

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in a Choose free-draining soil if sunny spot. Dig in leaf mould plants you have it available. Remove in water for from packaging and soak the roots. three minutes to untangle

for the Dig a hole deep enough with earth, whole root ball. Backfill are fully under ensuring that the roots just proud of it. the soil and the crown is

14/03/2013 20:07

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G r ower's diary

e Biochar updat I was once told that in any garden one of the most valuable tools is a deckchair. Tool? A deckchair? Well, yes. So often as gardeners we are so busy doing chores that we don’t allow ourselves time to look and consider, time to make our plans for future developments and projects. As I fed and watched the fire, I checked out the three beds which I have prepared for my experiment to see whether, and how, adding biochar to the soil helps me grow better plants and harvest more food. One has the manure and charcoal

mix, one has manure only and the third has had nothing added. I’d like to grow as wide a range of crops as possible and from as many of the different plant groups as I can in the comparatively small space I have allowed. From the legume family I shall try some runner beans and mangetout peas, grown up a tepee. I should have enough room for a row of leeks, so that’s the alliums covered, and some lettuces. Although I know that parsnips fork in rich ground, I shall try a few and some beetroot too. The brassica family will be represented by dwarf curly kale, which will go in as some of the other crops make space. I shall try to fit in a courgette and a

The warmth of the sun was not the only welcome harbinger of spring Sweetcorn, which is wind pollinated, will feature in my biochar trial

couple of outdoor tomatoes. It may be ambitious but I would also like to add a few sweetcorn plants. These are normally planted in a block because they are wind-pollinated but, if I site the main sweetcorn bed close by, I may be lucky enough to set some cobs in the study beds.

ers Spring harbing The warmth of the sun was not the only welcome harbinger of spring. We have hedges on the boundary of the field and these contain both blackthorn and damsons. At the entrance to the field a fruitful cherry-plum hangs over the gate, scattering its small, sweet fruit on the track as early as the beginning of August. These trees are now in full blossom and make a dramatic sight, although I was concerned to notice a couple of fat woodpigeons among the branches. They appeared to be eating the buds as if they were bullfinches. Pigeons with an identity crisis perhaps? Last month I bought three peonies to add to my cutting

Up and away: The tomato seedlings make a break for it

Dazzling shoots from my new peonies

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garden. I love their extravagant flowers which are prohibitively expensive to buy. People say that peonies do not transplant easily and tend to ‘sulk’, flowerless, for a long time. In my experience, this is because they are planted too deeply. They must have the crown of the plant very close to the surface so that the lipstick-red buds are clearly visible. These are now unfurling into vivid crimson shoots which, with the sun behind them, gleam like stained-glass windows. I remember seeing them in Monet’s garden at Giverny, surrounded by forget-me-nots and thinking what a lovely combination it was. Mine are backed by the green spears of tulip leaves under-planting roses grown from cuttings last year. I may have to wait a while for the peonies and roses to produce flowers but I am thrilled at the promise this part of the cutting garden holds.

Quick results

The lupin seeds get their soaking

The propagator on the kitchen windowsill is full of pots of seeds and the germination of some has been very rapid. The tomato ‘Brandywine’, which is a huge and very tasty fruit, was the first away and already the seedlings have opened their seed leaves. They are at the stage now when I can move them from the heat of the propagator but still keep them in the warmth and light of the kitchen. Other tomatoes have been slightly slower but they are all coming now. Although I have room in the two small greenhouses on our plot, I mainly grow varieties which can be outside and many of these normally come earlier than the ones in the greenhouses. Some seeds need special treatment to speed germination or to trigger them off. A few need stratifying, that is a period of cold, to break their dormancy. We gardeners can reliably provide this by putting the pots in the fridge for a time. Others, with a very hard or thick coat need this breaching artificially. This year I am growing various perennial plants for cutting in the hope that I can cut down the work at this time of year in the future.

Lupin ‘Morello Cherry’ has rich cerise flowers with a slightly darker lip and so I was tempted to try them, even though I know I shall have to guard the emerging shoots from slugs, who love them. The seeds are fairly small and, in their dried state, very hard. The advice is to chip or file off some of the hard outer coating and then soak them in tepid water for a couple of hours. It was a fiddle to file them, even using a nail file, but I acted as instructed and the seed was through three days later. Peas and sweet peas have similarly thick coats and I always soak these overnight before sowing. They, too, are up and beginning to spread their leaves. It will soon be time to pinch out the growing tips so that sturdy, well-branched plants develop. I had meant to plant out the potatoes into the containers in the greenhouses but the cold weather has delayed that. I don’t want to check the plants by setting them into cold compost so I have got the pots ready by putting about 15cm (6in) of home-made compost into the bottom, with a little biochar added to some as part of my study. I shall leave the pots in the greenhouses to come up to ambient temperature before I plant the seed potatoes.

Rebecca's tips

Hardier plants such as pot-grown broad beans and early peas, sown under cover this spring, can be hardened off in a cold frame. Watch out for sneakily late frosts and be prepared to cover vulnerable plants with fleece to protect them. Slugs and snails love emerging new growth so be vigilant! Use your favourite method to deal with them. I find beer traps are very effective and dark beer is their favourite. Garden centres now have young tomato, aubergine and pepper plants in stock. If you’d like to try something new, buy a few and bring them on.

Grow it! April 2013 13

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JONNY BACK

Family affair: The four-strong Ward family with a few of their feathered friends

Fresh and free › Garden ﬁeld FACTFILE

Location: Brentford, West London Size: 600m2 Soil type: loamy Garden age: six years Key features: raised beds, chickens, bees, fruit trees Owners: Sara and Andy Ward

Dawn Francis-Pester discovers how former banker Sara Ward is investing in the future and managing to save a small fortune on supermarket shopping in the process

s healthy snacks go, you can’t get much fresher than a handful of mange tout harvested from the garden the same morning, a few cherry tomatoes ripened on the windowsill, or a couple of apples grown on your own tree. These are typical daily pickings that Sara’s children add to their lunchboxes ready for school at their garden, Hen Corner. Free-roaming hens, home-grown vegetables and fruit trees might not be quite what you’d expect to see in a fairly average-sized garden in Brentford, West London, but Sara, her husband Andy, and their two children are passionate about

self-sufficiency and freshness. Rows of raised beds, surrounded by brick-built pathways, will soon be bursting with colourful produce, while the fruit trees grow heavy with eyecatching blossom and delicious fruit.

Banking on savings

A former banker for Coutts, Sara was always ready for a challenge, but not without doing her sums. She’d never even touched a bird before her family bought her two chickens and later had a whip round to purchase an Omlet Eglu to keep them in. Now, with 12 different breeds of hen, including some pure breeds and some hybrids, she estimates

16 April 2013 Grow it!

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Jonny BaCK

that the eggs, along with home-grown vegetables, fruit, honey and other related produce such as home-made preserves and chutneys save her family around £1,500 on supermarket shopping each year. While the savings make their efforts worthwhile, Sara stresses that the venture isn’t just about saving money: “As we’ve heard from recent news stories, people are demanding cheaper and cheaper food, without thinking of its source, or the consequences. I got to know Brentford through a gap year, working with local churches. I fell in love with the place and began to see how our choices affect not just ourselves, but the wider community. I hope my children will grow up to be aware of the implications of their choices and how they affect the rest of the planet too. “It’s important to think and act ethically, in mind of the environment and society at large. When you grow your own food you are far more careful and creative. You wouldn’t want to waste vegetables you’d carefully tended, or eggs from the hens you’d lovingly reared.”

A bit of welly

But if you thought ‘the good life’ meant an all-day uniform of knitted jumpers and wellies, or life within the confines of the garden fence, you’d be wrong. Sara and her husband Andy leave the house regularly, managing to work the gardening around their jobs, children and other commitments. “Somehow we manage to weave it into everyday life,” Sara explains. “At peak times I probably spend a couple of hours gardening each weekend and little bits here and there during the week, perhaps planting seeds out, watering from the water butts or harvesting produce. My children like to help too, and my 10-year-old daughter made a good job of cleaning the brick pathways

Brick paths separate raised beds to give an ordered finish to this area of the garden

last year. They are both intrigued by the more unusual vegetables and currently class globe artichokes among their favourites. “Luckily the soil here is quite neutral and loamy. We don’t have too much of a problem with weeds – or at least we try not to make them a problem. The main culprits are wild rocket, which we eat, and poppies that look quite pretty if left.”

Seed to plate

The family manages to grow an extraordinarily large range of brassicas, legumes, roots and alliums in their town garden, using a four yearly rotation system. All the vegetables are grown in the raised beds, except for potatoes that Sara grows in rubble sacks to avoid them spreading too far and getting lost under other vegetables. Sara takes pride in enriching the soil with

her own home-made compost. She has two large wooden boxes with old duvets on top to help keep the temperature up and uses a compost wand to stir regularly and help with the aerobic breakdown. Once one box is decomposed it goes onto the beds while the second box is built up, carefully secured from raids by squirrels or foxes. At Hen Corner, nearly everything is grown from seed. This is clearly the cheapest method but also makes the family more aware of their food sources and helps save energy consumption. This year peppers, aubergines and chillies, as well as tomatoes which she likes to get growing ahead of the blight, are already germinating indoors. Sara is anxious to move these into the raised beds soon, to make space for other crops, later in the season. To keep costs low, Sara is always on the lookout for seed bargains, and tried and



Spuds are grown in sacks

Keeping the chooks in order at Hen Corner, where crops and hens coexist in harmony

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tested annuals are a bonus. Asparagus is one vegetable that has become a real hit in the household. Grown with the minimum of fuss each year, family and friends still see it as a treat, but one that has almost become a staple item during the early summer months and is particularly enjoyed with hollandaise sauce. An adventurous streak also encourages Sara to try something new each year. For 2013 she is looking forward to growing some more unusual vegetables from James Wong’s Home Grown Revolution range, which were given to her for Christmas last year. Asparagus pea is one variety which grows as pods but tastes like a combination of peas and asparagus. Cucamelon sounds intriguing too – apparently a cherry tomato-sized watermelon that tastes of cucumber with a hint of lime. Sara recognises that the last two years didn’t bring the best weather for gardeners, but she still feels her family benefitted hugely from their home-grown efforts. “Even if the crops weren’t as big and succulent as I might have hoped, you get an instant hit with home-grown produce. You just can’t beat the freshness of homegrown food and somehow the Brussels sprouts and cauliflowers in particular loved last year’s consistently wet weather.”

Tasty and fruitful

While the vegetables provide a fresh and tempting alternative to expensive, plasticpacked supermarket fare, the fruit at Hen Corner is rich, succulent and perhaps a little-known part of local history. “Not so long ago, Brentford and the surrounding neighbourhoods of West London were a market gardening area,” she tells me. “So although we have only built up the gardening since we moved here six years

Sara and her brother-in-law hard at work sorting apples for cider making

ago, some of the fruit trees are over a hundred years old. We have calculated that the two biggest apple trees must predate the house and are from the old orchard land that supplied London fruit markets in Victorian times.” Out of five apple trees in the garden, Sara explains that one is a cooking variety, probably ‘Bramley’, while another is very similar to a ‘Cox’. Unable to label the other types, she is definitely hooked on their freshness and taste, describing them as ‘firm, green and crisp’. Certainly Sara’s cider doesn’t need to be stored for long and Cider Sunday, when local friends and residents are invited to work at sorting, chopping and pressing apples, is a popular annual event. If apples aren’t your favourite fruit, there are pears, plums and peaches to sample, as well as grapes from the vine and different varieties of soft fruit, including gooseberries and raspberries. Sara also manages to grow tasty figs and says these are quite straightforward, so long as you restrict the roots to encourage fruiting. She first planted the fig tree at Hen Corner in a terracotta pot, before burying it and leaving the roots to force their way through to slowly absorb water and nutrients. The family have even made a success of nut growing, having planted an almond tree soon after moving to Brentford. Almond trees take about five years to yield their first harvest, so everyone was immensely proud of the 80 almonds that finally hung on the tree last year, after one lonely nut appeared the previous year. Unfortunately eager anticipation soon turned to bitter disappointment when local squirrels helped

You can’t beat the taste of fresh raspberries

themselves to the produce, clearing every single nut from the tree within a few days.

A future investment

As the day winds down and empty lunchboxes are returned to the kitchen, Sara usually sets about tidying up the garden and securing the chickens in their Eglu house for the night. “Food wise, we’ve got ourselves in a fix as a nation,” she reflects. “It’s up to families and individuals to go back to basics and make sensible choices that will help to secure a healthy future for our children and the planet.” The contented looking hens, sprouting crops and budding fruit trees all indicate that Sara and her family have made the right choices. Hen Corner is about more than just chickens. It’s freshness and freedom in an urban setting, the pull of instant rewards as well as a wise investment in the future.

Pay a visit • To ﬁnd out more about Hen Corner or sample some of Sara Ward’s recipes head to www.hencorner.com or contact her to arrange a visit. The Wards run courses on keeping chickens, making cider, bee keeping, growing food and artisan cooking skills. If the course is a present, they can send you a Hen Corner gift card. • Sarah Ward is also experienced at working with schools and community groups and can provide a tailor-made program at Hen Corner or on your site, to complement your curriculum. This may include egg-hatching projects, a talk about bees, or advice on how to get started with chickens.

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1 3

4 7

6 8

1. Sara Ward checks on Ascot the chicken. 2. Globe artichokes are a particular hit with Sara’s children. 3. Liquid gold: Honey from the busy Hen Corner bees. 4. Artistic touch: A heart of young herb seedlings in spring. 5. Luscious rainbow chard. 6. Pow! Heads of ‘Romanesco’ cauliflower make a real impact! 7. This year the almonds will be protected from raiding squirrels! 8. A peek inside the cold frame in April.

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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED Anne Swithinbank, one of Britain’s favourite gardeners and a member of Radio Four’s Gardeners’ Question Time panel, answers your growing questions

Intersowing options We’re always told to sow radishes in between slow growers like broccoli or leeks, but I’ve had enough of them! Are there any other really quick-growing vegetables that can be treated in the same way? L Johnson, Perth and Kinross Do you know I’ve taken against that piece of advice too. The last time I tried, it was between station-sown parsnips (the wretched radishes are there to come up first and remind you where the parsnips ought to be). They came up all right and tried to out-compete the parsnips. We even tried roasted radish (not nice) but failed to eat more than half a row. I tried some cut-and-come-again salads between broccoli and sprout plants but they were overshadowed by the large leaves and became drawn. Lettuce planted out at a good size out from 9cm pots seem to do pretty well and I had good results from these in between red cabbage. It helped that

the cabbage didn’t tower over them. You could try planting germinated and growing clumps of carrots raised in 10cm (4in) pots into large gaps between brassicas. The smell of the cabbages plus the fact you are probably covering them to exclude butterflies would also keep away carrot root fly. As for leeks, there isn’t a great deal of space between them. In fact, I plant mine in the base of deep drills with a bit of a mound in between rows, earth from which is meant to fall in and blanch the stems, so it is all a bit unstable. I think we’re old enough to disregard advice that doesn’t suit us. Except mine, of course!

Crop covers

We’re told we have to net plants against flea beetle, root flies, aphids etc, as well as pigeons and larger animals. With so many crop protection products about, does this mean we should simply cover everything with fleece/micromesh? D Laxness, Lancashire You don’t have to do anything unless you want to. However, for those of us not keen to spray chemicals on our food at home, crop protection covers do seem a good option. I use them for difficult pests such as pigeons, carrot root fly, cabbage white butterflies and now, increasingly, leek moth and miner. I don’t bother too much about flea beetle or aphids. Fortunately, aphids are not a big problem in my garden, probably because there are a lot of natural predators. Black bean aphids are nipped off in the broad bean plant tips above the crop, or I will resort to spraying if

there seems little choice, opting for a soft soap solution or plant extract spray. I would hate to see my entire plot disappearing under fleece and mesh and with careful timing, only a small proportion ever is. Crops like calabrese started early don’t require covering because they’ll be cut before the butterflies start laying eggs. I cover carrots but not the other root crops and soft fruit is draped in mesh only when the fruit is ripening. When we’ve harvested enough, the covers come off so the birds can finish off leftover blackcurrants or gooseberries.

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EDIBLE WINDBREAKS

Fruit tree mulches

I have ready access to an almost limitless supply of wood chips, which I’d like to use to mulch my apples, pears and plums. However, I am concerned there aren’t enough nutrients in the chips to make it worthwhile. Am I right to be concerned? E Crawford, Surrey I think you can use the wood chips as a mulch as long as you are clear about your aims. A mulch spread a good 8cm (3in) deep over clean soil will help keep the area around the fruit trees clear of weeds and conserve moisture over the roots. Young fruit trees in particular will do better if competition from grass and weeds is removed. Should you need to apply fertiliser to the trees, this will be easier through the mulch than grass and weeds. Fresh or slightly composted wood chips will draw nitrogen from soil but the effect of this is negligible Ask Anne, Grow it!, Ke as long as they stay on the surface lsey Publishing Group, Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s rather than being dug in. The effect Hill, Cudham, Kent TN 16 3AG. of nitrogen withdrawal (it is used up Alternatively email: my microbes proliferating during gi.ed@kelsey.co.uk or submit the decomposition process) varies a question via the according to whether there is lots Grow it! website: of bark, if it is hard (deciduous) or soft ww w.growitmag.com (coniferous) wood and what age the wood is. You could try piling the wood chips to let them break down and decompose for a year or two before using them. On poorer soils, you may want to add a high-nitrogen feed to compensate. After a while, they begin to decompose naturally and add a little nourishment to the soil. So these wood chips could be an effective, low-maintenance way of managing the area around the trees but is not going to feed them significantly.

WRITE IN WITH YOUR QUESTIONS FOR ANNE TO:

Growing up at 200m above sea level makes for an exposed and windy growing experience. Can you recommend any trees or shrubs that will offer a proper windbreak while also supplying something edible? K Baker, Oxfordshire Creating a windbreak sounds like a great idea for your plot but will require thought and planning. In addition to supplying food, there are other benefits, such as the prospect of nitrogen fixing from certain trees and shrubs, some may attract bees when the air is still and you might be able to crop poles and sticks from the likes of hazel. Bear in mind that the area of maximum wind protection (where speed is reduced by half) will extend for eight times the height of the trees or shrubs used. Further inside the garden than this, there will still be some relief from the wind, but also more likelihood of turbulence. You might want wind breaks at both ends of the garden (south-westerlies are worse in autumn and north-easterlies in late winter and early spring). Crab apples, elder, damson, amelanchier (the juneberry or Saskatoon, pictured) and blackthorn (sloe) will yield edible fruits. Tilia cordata (smallleaved lime) may be good too. In his forest garden, Martin Crawford uses young leaves in salads. The trees would be best coppiced and on the inside of the windbreak. In fact, if you are interested in this sort of thing, then Martin’s book Creating a Forest Garden would be a good read. Grow it! April 2013 21

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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Growing wasabi As a fan of sushi I’d love to be able to grow my own wasabi. What’s the best way to grow it and where can I source the seeds/ plants to get me started? R Scott, Norfolk I am shamed, because I know so little about sushi and even less about wasabi. So much so, I am resolved to take the next opportunity to visit a proper sushi restaurant. This may take time, as they are thin on the ground in my part of rural east Devon! I have read that the packeted lunch snack offerings of sushi typically contain little real wasabi and that a true aficionado would expect it to be ground, fresh, from the rhizome.

Sometimes known as Japanese horseradish, this plant belongs to the brassica (cabbage) family and grows naturally in shaded stream beds in mountainous river valleys in its native Japan. The Watercress Company (01929 463241, www.thewatercresscompany.co.uk) has started growing it commercially in Dorset, proving that it will grow in the UK, though they do provide their plants with shade and flowing water with high nutrient levels.

You can buy single rhizomes but they are more for using than growing on. From what I can gather, seed is hard to find but I suppose one could send off for a rhizome (pictured), start it and try planting it out in a shaded spot in moist but well-drained soil to see if it would bulk up or produce offsets which could be rooted and grown on. Under any kind of growing regime it takes at least two years to produce anything worth lifting and using.

Parsley germination My track record with growing parsley is very hit and miss – but usually miss! Often it’s down to germination, with seeds simply failing to make an appearance. I use seed within its sow-by date. What’s going on? I Sanders, Cornwall Parsley is said to be difficult to germinate because it needs a variety of temperatures to break dormancy but I don’t have any trouble persuading seedlings to appear. Firstly, I never sow straight into the soil, as this has always failed in the past. Neither do I wait until the weather has warmed up in spring. The best time for germination is from December to February . This I discovered by accident while sowing parsley for a photograph to be used later in the year.

I sowed the seeds into a tray of good seed compost (I tend to mix my own using 50:50 John Innes Seed and multipurpose, plus some sharp sand). The seeds were sown thinly and evenly and compost scattered lightly over them by hand so they were covered by no more than their own size. Then the surface was pressed very lightly to bring them into contact with the compost. They were watered in using a fine rose on a small can. The tray was then placed inside an unheated propagating

case, in an unheated greenhouse. The case was more to protect the seed from mice than to warm it up. In this environment, there was a good variety of temperatures and seedlings showed within a month. They appear to need a good range of temperatures from cold to warm. Now, in April, you’ll have to work harder to get a variety of temperatures. Perhaps move the tray between a shaded propagating case and shaded cold frame so the compost doesn’t dry out.

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The Practical team April

Benedict Vanheems

Martyn Cox

Paul Wagland

Steve Bradley

Celebrate the joys of spring with the Practical Team! As temperatures climb, so too does the list of jobs that must be done! Our Practical Team will keep you up to speed with all those essential tasks. This month Benedict’s tending to recently planted fruit trees while dreaming of summer strawbs, and city grower Martyn has a taste for spicy chillies. Paul’s down on the allotment sparing a thought for slug-munching amphibians, while Steve is in the greenhouse seeing to his veggie seedlings. Let the team guide and inspire you this spring.

14 PAGES

OF FRESH IDEAS TO KEEP YOU BUSY

What better way to start the growing season than with the prospect of fresh strawberries? Benedict Vanheems plants some

Martyn Cox is making plans for his new north-facing garden. Find out what types of crops will thrive in shady conditions

It’s all about the peas this month as Paul Wagland recommends his favourites and builds a pea cage for protection and support

Warmer weather means some plants can be hardened off. Steve Bradley has all the tips you’ll need to make a safe transition

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The Practical Team

The fruit grower Benedict Vanheems is editor of Grow it! and is a passionate home-grower.

THIS MONTH

• Planting strawberries • Applying mulch • Tending new trees

The start of the warmer weather will be tempting you into the fruit garden this month, says Benedict Vanheems. Just as well really, as there’s plenty to be getting on with! It’s lucky that the evenings are so much lighter this month as it’s a busy time for us fruit growers. As always a little and often approach is the key to keeping on top of everything, from harvesting tasty rhubarb to watering in dry weather. Make the most of a spell of April showers to get to your local garden centre and invest in a few bags of mulch. Weed around fruit trees and bushes then apply a generous layer of mulch under each one, being careful to ensure it doesn’t touch the trunk. As well as deterring weeds, this will help to hold moisture in all year, saving you hours of watering. Newly-planted trees and bushes, anything growing by a wall or fence and any plants growing in containers are especially vulnerable to drying out, and even with the benefit of a good mulch

they will probably need a good drench at least once a week in dry weather. If you have newly-planted trees that are coming into flower, then steel yourself and pick off all the fat buds that you can tell will open into blossom rather than leaves. It seems harsh, but you will be glad you did in future when you have a good strong tree with roots deep enough to withstand extremes of weather. Helping the plant to put all its energy into getting established is well worth the few minutes it takes to do this. You can console yourself with the thought that trees rarely give any fruit worth harvesting in their first year anyway. Any established trees can be left to bloom their hearts out. Where possible try to protect the blossom with fleece or an old blanket on freezing nights. Many charity shops sell blankets for pennies

and they are ideal for this task. Keep a watchful eye on the weather forecasts as some areas can get an unexpected frost up until the end of May. Remove the protection in the morning to allow bees and other insects to pollinate the blossom and give you heavy crops. Where possible, protect fruit tree blossom from late frost

STEP-BY-STEP Container tree care

Newly-planted fruit trees and any grown in containers need extra care throughout the summer to avoid letting their roots dry out. First ensure no weeds are competing for moisture.

Water the plant well. A good drench allows the moisture to get right down to the bottom of the container. Daily watering may be required in really hot and dry weather.

Add a layer of mulch to keep moisture in and weeds out. You can use gravel, chipped bark or leaf mould. Coir hanging basket liners are a quick and effective option.

Make the most of a spell of April showers

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The Practical Team The fruit grower

Enjoy the taste of summer O

nce you’ve tasted freshly-picked strawberries from your own garden you will never go back to shop-bought crops again! Plants are inexpensive, a doddle to grow and they take up very little room. Even if you have limited space, you can squeeze a few plants into a container and get bowls of fruit all summer long. Suttons sells a kit including 12 strawberry plants and two growbags for just £24, which means you can even grow your own fruit on a balcony! One thing strawberries are fussy about is the amount of light they get. Ideally choose a spot that receives full sun for most of the day. These plants also thrive on freely-draining soil, so if you’ve been clever enough to make some leaf mould, dig generous amounts into your strawberry bed. Alternatively soil that you added manure to last year is ideal – but don’t add manure this year or you will get a mountain of leaves at the expense of any berries. Choosing your plants is all part of the fun. If you have room for a few varieties, go for some early fruiters and a few ‘everbearers’. The latter is a term that applies to plants which offer fewer berries at any one time but continue to crop over a longer period – you can expect a steady supply of fruit from around August to the first frosts. While everbearers don’t

Plants are inexpensive, a doddle to grow and take up little room

Strawberries grow very well in growbags

offer the huge harvest all at once that you need for making jam, they are just the job for keeping you enjoying bowls of just-picked fruit all summer long. Plants will generally start to bear fruit in May if given cloche protection, or June if left to their own devices. The flowers must be protected from frost. If frost catches them then the centre of each bloom turns black. If you spot this, nip off affected blooms (as they will never grow fruit) and ensure plants are covered at night. By day they must be uncovered

so that bees can pollinate them. You will soon see fruits beginning to form and this is the time to put straw or a similar mulch around the plants. This has the dual benefit of keeping moisture in the soil and protecting the fruit from the ground. You may think birds haven’t spotted your berries, but the minute the first fruit turns red, it will attract unwanted attention. Cover the fruits with an extending net tunnel or use Build-A-Balls or a similar system to make a temporary fruit cage.

STEP-BY-STEP Planting bare-root strawberries

Bare-root strawberry plants are often good value as they have less packaging than pot-grown options. Now is a good time to plant them as the soil is warming up.

Choose free-draining soil in a sunny spot. Dig in leaf mould if you have it available. Remove plants from packaging and soak in water for three minutes to untangle the roots.

Dig a hole deep enough for the whole root ball. Backfill with earth, ensuring that the roots are fully under the soil and the crown is just proud of it.

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5 to try... strawberries

‘Anablanca’: If you want early fruits this is the one to try. They taste a little like pineapple!

‘Christine’: Delicious, large, disease-resistant fruits make this early cropper well worth trying.

CONSIDER CRAB APPLES Few spring sights are lovelier than a crab apple covered in blossom. The trees are extremely decorative again in autumn when covered in tiny apples. Some varieties even hold their fruit through the winter, when they are gradually picked off by grateful birds. Crabs are great for wildlife, providing abundant pollen and nectar for bees every spring. And it is the fact that they attract bees from miles around that makes these trees A fine se such a boon for the gardener. of crab applection les Many orchards plant a be found a can crab as every sixth tree, or Pomona Fru t cut branches from the trees 0845 676 its: 0 to place in a bucket of water www.pomo607, near the beehives so their fruits.co.u na k apple trees are pollinated. If are a wonderful source of pectin, your apple trees aren’t cropping so adding a couple to the fruit being very well, making room for a crab cooked for jam can help you to achieve a among them could make all the difference. good set. You can also make spicy crab apple Although the fruit is too sour to eat raw, jellies, which are great with strong cheese. it is far too good to waste. The tiny apples

Prune fig trees Whether a fig tree is being grown as a fan against a wall or you are letting it develop a more open globe shape, now is a good time to prune it. As ever you’ll need to remove the three Ds (dead, diseased or damaged wood) first. You may spot some branches that have been damaged by frost, cut these back to a 5cm (2in) stub. Next check for suckers at the bottom of the tree. These tend to be straight twigs that grow up at the base of the trunk. Snip them off at soil level. If you have inherited a tree that is overgrown, don’t prune it all at once. Over the next three years remove a third of the unwieldy branches each year. This is less likely to shock the tree and you should still get a crop.

‘Buddy’: This new everbearer offers large fruits of exceptional flavour and crops from July to October.

‘Toscana’: Perfect for patio pots, you get pretty flowers and delicious crops with this new variety.

‘Malwina’: Exceptionally juicy red flesh makes this the cook’s choice. It is reliable and heavy-cropping.

The first glut By the end of this month you may find you have more rhubarb than you know what to do with. Select the largest stalks and pull and twist at the base of the plant to remove them cleanly. Harvest two or three stems per plant as they appear, aiming to leave at least five stems per plant so it always has the vigor to keep throwing up new stems. Look out for any of the extra-bulbous buds that will grow into flower heads if left and cut them off straight away. If you leave plants to flower they may never fully recover. In the unlikely event you find yourself getting bored of crumbles, take an hour or so to make a few jars of jam. Adding extra touches such as vanilla pods or some finely-sliced stem ginger makes all the difference. Grow it! April 2013 27

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The Practical Team

The city grower Martyn Cox is gardening columnist for the Mail on Sunday and author of nine books. He has a small, city garden on the south coast.

THIS MONTH

• Plants for shade • Strawberries • Chilli peppers

Deciding what to grow in a north-facing garden requires careful thought. Martyn Cox puts his thinking cap on

Colourful stems of rainbow chard will brighten up even shady gardens

or the past ten years I’ve been able to grow just about every type of fruit, vegetable and herb that’s taken my fancy, all thanks to owning a fully south-facing garden. Everything I planted into the ground or raised in pots romped away quickly and provided me with plenty of good stuff to harvest. Figs, peaches, apricots, kiwifruit, redcurrants, blackcurrants, tomatillos, cucumbers, ‘Black Tuscan’ kale, beetroot, aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and a whole load of other edibles thrived in that warm, sun-drenched plot in East London. But I’m now facing a new challenge. About four months ago I upped sticks from the big smoke, taking on a slightly bigger garden in the south coast resort of Southsea, essentially the seaside suburb of Portsmouth. Living two minutes from the seafront is wonderful and the pace of life down

A ‘Morello’ cherry will add welcome blossom in springtime

here is far better for my blood pressure. Yet there is a slight problem... my new plot faces due north! I’ve not yet experienced the garden in summer, but over winter it has been dark and gloomy (apart from a 2m (7ft)-deep swathe at the very back that gets the light in the afternoon). It is not the kind of place I could imagine growing most of the plants I’ve mentioned above. On the upside, it is completely surrounded by walls, sheltered and unlikely to be troubled by frosts due to its close proximity to the sea. My plan is to make a lot of structural changes to the garden over the next few months, as it looks really boring at the moment. And, of course, we’ll be introducing edibles that will do well, or at least cope, in the kind of conditions found outside my backdoor. All of my sun-loving fruit trees have been moved to the bottom of the garden in their pots, where they can make the most of the available light. I’m thinking of raising this area up, which will help them even more. The walls that run down the length of my garden will make excellent supports for a ‘Morello’ cherry, red and white currants, raspberries and gooseberries. Elsewhere, I’ll grow veg that can deal with low light levels. Lettuce, beetroot, radishes, Swiss chard and mixed salad leaves are all ideal. Closer to the house, where it is really gloomy, I’ll plant alpine strawberries – they’re prolific croppers in full sun but will still produce berries in the deepest shade. 28 April 2013 Grow it!

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The Practical Team The city grower

Fall for French beans! W

hile our summers are highly unpredictable there’s one quickgrowing vegetable that will always happily oblige so long as it’s given a sunny corner of the garden or patio. French beans are ready to pick up to three weeks earlier than runner beans and with a number of dwarf varieties available to grow you can even do away with the need for supports. Plant them in short rows or dotted in among other crops as space becomes free. If you’ve never grown your own, give them a try. They really are very easy to raise from seed and come in a range of pod sizes and colours. Dwarf types do well in tubs and window boxes while climbing beans can be grown up netting or canes to make efficient use of the space you have. Sow dwarf varieties every few weeks and you can be sure of a constant supply of these fine-textured and completely delicious pods. French beans are not hardy, which means its best to hold off sowing them outside until a week before the last frost. However, in sheltered city gardens it’s a small risk to try your luck with an even earlier crop sown in the second half of April. Should frost scupper your chances of a harvest, simply sow again; you’ve nothing to lose but a few seeds. Of course, cloches or fleece set over the sown area will keep your seedlings safer. To grow in pots sow seeds direct into multipurpose compost, setting them about 5cm (2in) deep and thinning to leave about 30cm (12in) between each plant. Alternatively sow a couple of seeds of a climbing variety against each supporting cane and thin to the strongest seedling after germination. Seeds can also be started off in pots in the greenhouse or cold frame to plant out once they have produced their first adult leaves. Keep the plants watered and pick regularly.

Dwarf varieties of French bean will happily grow in pots

* French beans are ready to pick up to three weeks earlier than runner beans

Seed suppliers

• Dobies: 0844 7017625, www.dobies.co.uk • DT Brown: 0845 3710532, www.dtbrownseeds.com • Marshalls: 0844 5576700, www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk • Suttons: 0844 9222899, www.suttons.co.uk

FIVE OF THE BEST...

dwarf French beans

1. ‘Stanley’ A whiteseeded bean that won’t fail to produce plenty of long, straight pods of excellent quality beans.

2. ‘Duel’: Quick-growing ‘Duel’ holds its pods above its foliage, making it easy to pick. The pods have a fine taste and texture.

3. ‘Soleon’: High yields of bright, golden pods with a delicious and almost sweet flavour. The plants have good disease resistance.

4. ‘Amethyst’: A fine choice for a small garden thanks to its incredibly pretty flowers. The 15cm (6in)-long purple pods are string-less.

5. ‘The Prince’: A prince among French beans! The slender, string-less pods will keep on coming if picked regularly.

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The Practical Team The city grower

*Quick jobs for APRIL

✦ Move newly germinated seedlings into their own pots before they become leggy and weak. Handle carefully to avoid damaging the plants. Break free of the meagre selection of chillies offered at supermarkets by growing your own

SPICE UP YOUR LIFE

ave a look at the vegetable aisles of your average supermarket and your choice of chilli peppers is likely to be restricted to Scotch bonnet, bird’s eye and unnamed red and green fruits. Boring! There are in fact hundreds of different named varieties available in a range of colours, shapes, sizes – from those that are safe to eat fresh to those that are so hot they should come with a health warning (and indeed some do). So, if you are fed up with what you’re being offered in shops… grow some of your own from seeds. Those sown now will germinate quickly indoors, resulting in young plants that can be placed outside in summer, producing masses of fruits that will be ready for harvesting from mid-summer into autumn. There are some cracking varieties to try. ‘Joe’s Long’ has been a favourite of mine for years thanks to its slender, 25cm (10in)-long fruit, while jalapeno types are among the most useful – ‘Summer Heat’ is a particularly fiery form. The under-

STEP-BY-STEP

ripe, yellow fruits of ‘Aji Crystal’ have a distinctive citrus kick and ‘Padron’ is a variety popular in Spain as a tapas dish. If you are really hard, try ‘Naga Jolokia’, reputed to be the world’s hottest. Start plants off by sowing a few seeds into small pots of compost. When seedlings are about 2cm (1in) tall, they will need moving into their own pot. To do this, gently break up the root ball, hold the seedling’s leaves and lever it up with a pencil. Make a hole in the centre of the new pot and lower the seedling in, making sure the roots are all covered – the leaves should be just above the surface of the compost. Firm in, water and place in a light spot under cover. When roots begin to show through the bottom of pots, move plants on into 12cm (5in) pots. They will need staking when stems are about 20cm (8in) tall, or before if they start to lean. Pinch out the tops when they are about 30cm (12in) tall to encourage lots of branches. Plants are ready to go outside in late May or when all danger of frost has passed.

✦ Spring clean your greenhouse. Tidy up pots and trays, evict dead plants and remove dying leaves and flowers. Finish by sweeping benches and the floor. ✦ Wrap a sheet of horticultural fleece around early flowering fruit trees if frost is forecast. ✦ Cover newly sown carrot seeds with a sheet of fine plant protection mesh to deter rootboring carrot fly and other pests. ✦ Feed tomato plants weekly with a high-potash liquid fertiliser once the first truss of tiny fruits appears.

Starting oﬀ chillies

Scatter seeds thinly across the surface of a 7cm (3in) pot filled with seed compost. Most will germinate, so only sow two more seeds than you need, in case of losses.

Cover with a fine layer of vermiculite, water and label. Pop into a heated propagator or put a clear plastic bag over the top, secured in place with a rubber band, and place on a windowsill.

When seedlings are about 2cm (1in) tall, carefully lever them out of the pot and place each into its own 7cm (3in) pot filled with multipurpose compost.

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The Practical Team

The organic allotmenteer Paul Wagland is an RHS-qualified gardener with a passion for allotments.

THIS MONTH • Frog houses

• Growing peas • Allotment

associations

With many amphibians under pressure, providing them with a safe retreat is a sound idea

The allotment comes to life this month, wildlife included. Paul Wagland looks at ways to make your plot productive as well as eco-friendly

ne of the most important animal allies for the organic gardener is the common frog, whose appetite for slugs and snails can do wonders for the life expectancy of your seedlings and tender crops. While you are less likely to spot slower-moving, better camouflaged toads, you shouldn’t underestimate their

impact either, and some species are rather rare now so it’s worth encouraging them for self-less reasons too. So what can you do to bring these useful creatures to your plot – and to keep them there? An important first step is to stop using slug pellets (yes, even the organic ones). These products may claim to be unattractive to hungry wildlife (I

dread to think how they find this out) but of course once the pellet is inside a slug it may then accidentally be eaten be a bird, frog or hedgehog. Every predator lost in this way means hundreds, if not thousands more slugs marauding around your plot instead of being eaten, so buying pellets really is a false economy. Much better is to promote a natural balance of predators on your plot, which will help to keep slug numbers down. Building a pond somewhere on your plot will attract all kinds of beneficial wildlife and provides hours of entertainment too. This doesn’t have to be a grand affair – an old sink or bathtub sunk into the ground is ideal. The next good deed you can do is to build a safe, appealing place for amphibians to hide, nest and hibernate. This won’t take up much room and can be put together in an hour or so. The simple design shown below includes one dry and one damp chamber, the latter being open to the soil below and featuring a reclaimed clay roof tile to maintain humidity. This gives your guests a choice of environment, keeping them happy whatever the weather conditions. Place the finished box somewhere it won’t be disturbed and out of direct sunlight. At this time of year it won’t be long before somebody makes it their home, and the protection it offers will be appreciated year-round.

STEP-BY-STEP Build a frog and toad house

Make the four walls of your habitat first, using timber planks screwed together at the corners. A good size is around 40cm (16in) wide by 30cm (12in) deep and 18cm (7in) high. Make a 6cm (2.5in) hole for the entrance.

Add a partition wall (with another 6cm (2.5in) access hole) across the middle of the box. This divides the wet and dry sides and adds strength. Add a floor to the dry side, screwing through the walls from outside.

Screw batten along opposite sides of the wet side, low enough to accommodate a reclaimed clay roof tile. Soak the tile in water and rest it on the battens. Screw a plywood roof in place and the habitat is ready.

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The Practical Team The organic allotmenteer

Succeed with peas

It’s hard to resist peas as you work on the allotment!

eas provide a huge reward for very little effort. They aren’t too fussy about soil and situation, and the flavour of home-grown crops is incomparable to anything you can find in the supermarkets. Every year I get carried away trying out new varieties on top of the numerous old favourites that I can’t resist. The main problem with peas is that you can’t walk past the beds without stopping to eat a few! Half an hour later, when your thumbnails are bright green from shelling so many pods, you can still find yourself thinking ‘I’ll just have one more then I’ll do a bit of weeding’. This is the time of year to plant peas outside, as long as the ground isn’t too cold and wet. It is well worth investing in a row cloche or mini polytunnel, which will help to warm the soil before you plant. Peas do best in a sunny spot but they will also do well in partial shade as long as the soil is rich and moisture retentive. If you want to get a head start on your pea harvest, it’s worth planting some pea seeds in lengths of guttering. You can pick up lengths in DIY stores; expect to pay around £5.99 for 3m (10ft) from somewhere like Screwfix. Stick duct tape across each end to stop the compost falling out, drill drainage holes at regular intervals and fill with compost. Plant peas 7cm (3in) apart along each side and grow on in a cool greenhouse or cold frame. When the seedlings are around 10cm (4in) high, you can simply dig a shallow trench the same length and width as the guttering, remove the tape from one end, place it on the ground and literally slide the whole lot into place. The roots will hold it all together, and all you have to do is water it in then cover with a cloche. At first you may need to encourage the peas to grow up their supports but they will soon grab on and will climb up vigorously. You should see the first

flowers start to appear around 11 weeks after sowing, while the first peas will begin to form another three weeks after that. Pea varieties vary in their hardiness (smooth-skinned ones tend to be hardier than those with wrinkled skin).Even hardy, early peas benefit from having a row cloche over them.

Every year I get carried away trying new varieties

5 tips... for pea growers

1 Watch for mice: Rodents love to dig up freshlyplanted peas. If necessary, start the seedlings indoors or cover the planting site with fleece.

2 Looking good: Many varieties of pea have beautiful flowers, so why not make a decorative feature of them on a patio or in a flowerbed?

3 Aim high: Climbing peas like ‘Victorian Colossal’ (from Victoriana Nursery: 01233 740529, www. victoriananursery.co.uk) will make the most of your space, growing to 2m (7ft) or more.

4 Rustic appeal: If you like a cottage garden-look, weave a wigwam of twigs and sticks for pea supports, or use rusty bits of steel reinforcing mesh.

5 Keep harvesting: Peas will crop for longer if you harvest before the pods fully mature. Get into a routine of picking them every couple of days.

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STEP-BY-STEP Building a pea cage

Plant your peas (or transplant seedlings) to make two rows about 30cm (12in) apart. At the end of these rows, and 10cm (4in) outside the planting lines, bang-in four strong timber posts, leaving about 60cm (24in) above ground. Make a loose fence of chicken wire around the outside of the pea rows, using the timber posts as supports at the four corners. You probably won’t need to fix the wire to the posts – just twist the loose ends together. As the peas grow larger they will climb into the wire for support. You can easily reach over the fence to harvest the peas inside. The wire also makes an excellent support for a layer of fleece in a cold spring.

2 3 1

Hardening-off Seedlings raised in the warmth of a greenhouse will soon be ready to go outside, but the shock of the change can damage or even kill them. You need to acclimatise them gently to the outdoor conditions. If you have a cooler but still protected environment, such as a polytunnel or cold frame, move modules and pots here as a first step. After a few days you can start moving the young plants outdoors during the day, returning them to shelter overnight. After a couple of weeks of this special treatment they should be tough enough to withstand the final transplanting to the open air, but keep an eye on the weather forecast and cover them with fleece if there is any sign of a frost.

Catch crops Much as we gardeners can all appreciate the allure of a freshly dug and raked vegetable bed, some crops can present us with a long wait before they cover the soil with greenery. This presents problems – open ground allows weeds to take hold, the weather dries and erodes the soil and pests will quickly home-in on the delicate seedlings that appear. One way to

prevent all of these problems is to sow a fast-growing, space-filling crop in the gaps between your longer-term plantings. Salad leaves and radishes are ideal, putting on leaf quickly to shade the ground. They will be ready to pick in a matter of weeks, making space for the main crop to expand and mature. In this way you can double the productivity of your available space.

Allotment associations Allotmenteering is all about doing things for yourself, but this doesn’t mean you have to do everything on your own. Some people share plots with friends and family, others may garden as a community group or perhaps with work colleagues. On a larger scale, plot holders have a tradition of banding together to form allotment associations and these can be very useful organisations indeed. They vary in size from being specific to one site, through those that perhaps cover one town’s allotments, up to national umbrella groups such as the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG).

The smaller groups are often a great social network and a good source of seed swaps, sage advice and local knowledge. Some sites have an association shed, where tool loans and cheap, bulk-bought gardening supplies are available to members. They may also organise social events – my site has a yearly allotment barbeque. Groups which cover several allotment sites will be better funded, perhaps having rotovators and strimmers available for loan. They more than likely have influence with the council and are good allies if you want to campaign for improved services, security and so on. Grow it! April 2013 35

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The Practical Team

The under cover grower Steve Bradley has an RHS Master of Horticulture diploma and lectures widely on gardening. He has written over 30 books on the subject and is gardening editor of The Sun.

THIS MONTH

The soil’s warming up, the sun has more power, days are both lighter and longer and plants are starting to grow really quickly. Steve Bradley shares some vital tips for this changing time of year

F Fleece will add an extra layer of protection to delicate seedlings on chilly nights

or most people with protected structures (frames, cloches, greenhouses or polythene tunnels), the main concern at this time of year is a lack of available space. There never seems to be enough room to fit everything in! Seedlings need far more space once they have been pricked out or potted on and everything is growing much more rapidly as the growing conditions improve. The larger these young plants become, the more space they need to prevent distorted growth and avoid creating ideal conditions for pests and diseases. Cramped, overcrowded

• Air temperatures • Ventilating • Hardening off

growing conditions mean expensive wastage as plants become unusable. If you use multi-level or shelved benches in order to make better use of the available space, rotate the plants around to prevent them becoming thin and weak due to lack of light – something that can often happen to any plants left on lower benches. As the days get warmer and longer, it is tempting to place plants outdoors to free up space inside. However, transplanting outdoors is not an option for many plants yet, as the soil temperature is still quite low and there is still a risk of overnight frost. A single frost can devastate young plants and mean any chance of an early start is completely lost over a few short hours on just one cold night. Even under cover it is wise to have plenty of fleece handy as frost protection, as well as a heater on standby for the more tender plants like cucumbers. If the air temperature drops below 10°C these plants soon start to suffer. The power of the sun should never be underestimated at this time of year. The temperature outside may not seem all that warm, but it can increase very quickly under protection, causing soft and sappy plant growth. This means the plants will need more ‘hardening off’ before they can be moved elsewhere. Ventilation can work well to control temperatures but remember to avoid draughts, especially if you open the doors to help cool things down. In a period of really warm, sunny weather, you should consider applying a light covering of shading paint to prevent plants being scorched by the bright sunshine.

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The Practical Team The under cover grower

Manage the environment T

his month can be exhausting if you are using protection to raise plants for cropping either inside a polytunnel or greenhouse or for transplanting outside later on. It is rare that two days are the same in terms of both weather and growing conditions. Dramatic fluctuations in air temperature bring clear, sunny days (often producing readings in the high 20s Celsius) dropping to below freezing at night. In any 24-hour period gs can be Young seedlin you may need shading temporarily protected by and ventilation to prevent above in ad g directly suspending sh seedlings and young plants t an ore perm en the plants. A m t, suffering from scorch ki e ad sh e tractabl solution is a re p and then, a few hours to e th at d le instal which can be later, frost protection in kit nhouse. Each ee gr e th of the form of horticultural ic br fa ading includes the sh fleece or a heater to protect d. ro e bl and a retracta those same plants from

TOP TIP

being damaged by cold. Ventilation is the first course of action for lowering high temperatures in a greenhouse. Many can be fitted with automatic ventilators that can be set to respond to temperature fluctuations, opening and closing in response to the changes. If extra cooling is required, the door can be opened to improve the amount of air change within the structure. With polythene tunnels (which often build up heat faster than a greenhouse), ventilation can be more of a problem. In smaller structures, the only ventilation is provided by opening the doors at each end. Longer structures may have side ventilators or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;skirtsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that can be raised to allow warm air to escape.

STEP-BY-STEP

The problem with low level ventilation, whether it is doors opening or ground level ventilators, is that it can subject the plants to cold draughts which will not only slow down growth, but can cause the plants to be chilled to the extent that growth is retarded and may even suffer a growth check. For both types of structure, it is worth considering shading. If you are using spray-on shading, it is advisable to apply only a light covering now as the light levels are not consistently high enough to justify heavy shade cover at this time of year. You can always add more when you need to.

Above: Adequate ventilation will ensure young plants remain in prime condition

Maintaining steady conditions

Automatic greenhouse roof ventilators can be set to respond to a range of temperatures, but they will need to be adjusted to different settings depending on the time of the year and the requirements of the plants.

Side ventilators can be lowered, rather than raised, to allow the warm air to escape without subjecting the plants to draughts. In July these vents are fully open, but in spring they would only be open a small amount, just below the roof gutters.

Spraying a light application of shading material (about 25 per cent of the recommended summer rate) over the roof and sides of a structure can greatly reduce the risk of scorch on tender young plants.

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The Practical Team The under cover grower

Hardening plants off E

ven plants that would Cold frames are normally grow and invaluable in the crop outdoors need hardening off process some conditioning before they can be moved from the protected environment into the garden. The earlier these plants are propagated and grown on to a size suitable for transplanting, the more important this conditioning or ‘hardening off’ process becomes, simply because without protection these crops would not yet be growing. The desire to get an earlier start in the spring means that you need to take care to keep the growth going. Although temperature is usually seen as the limiting factor (and often it is), the biggest challenge is likely to be soil temperature rather than air. This is much more difficult to deal with and prepare for. Warming the soil prior to up areas of You can help warm planting can with dark em th g rin ve soil by co help to keep only will t No g. plastic sheetin plants growing lp the soil he ll wi it at, he this trap t winter. after they are we e th to dry out from wn the do pin transplanted to et rg fo Don’t nes so sto or s and, although edges with staple ay in a aw w blo n’t es this may not do that it gust of wind. be practical on a large scale, some areas can be covered to help specific crops. Shelter can also be very important, with plants transplanted into soil on an exposed site often producing 30 per cent less growth compared to those growing in a sheltered spot. A soil thermometer will tell you the temperature at the planting depth, where the plant’s roots will be soon after planting. Most plants will need a minimum soil temperature of 12°C, with members of the cucumber family (courgettes, Soon after seedlings have ridge cucumbers and been pricked out or potted squashes) needing 14-15°C on, the hardening off process can begin, ventilating or opening propagators or closed The biggest challenge cases to toughen the leaf and is likely to be soil stem growth. This slowing rather than air down of top growth may also encourage root development. temperature

TOP TIP

STEP-BY-STEP

Preparing plants for outdoors

Cold frames are ideal for Cloches can be used to helping plants to adjust to 3 protect early plantings; not 2 outdoor conditions, but they only do they provide warmth need to be well ventilated when conditions allow as part of the hardening process.

and shelter, but they can be positioned in advance of planting to help raise the soil temperature and transplants to establish more rapidly. planted in autumn.

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STOP P R ESS! You ca n now en

online ter postag . Save the e! Visit : www growit . mag.c om

Competition

WIN!

An Elegance Kitchen Garden collection!

itchen gardens can be places of great beauty! It’s easy to add a touch of class to your plot, as the new Elegance range from Agriframes demonstrates. As its name suggests, the Elegance range provides beautiful shapes to complement your planting schemes. The Kitchen Garden element of the range offers grow-it-yourself products that

are both practical and stunning. We’ve teamed up with Agriframes to offer three readers the chance to win a complete Elegance Kitchen Garden collection. Each collection includes a crop cage with height extensions, runner bean and pea frames, plus pea and bean hoops – plenty to get your plot looking shipshape this summer. Straight out of a Victorian kitchen garden, the Elegance Crop Cage is the sophisticated way to protect your crops. All crop cages can be extended from a single quadrant into multiple configurations to suit any garden. The height extensions for the crop cage

3 se ts up for grabs!

increase the height of the cage by a full 50cm (20in). Simply unscrew the finials from your existing cage, screw on the height extensions and replace the finials. The Elegance Runner Bean Frame is both striking and practical with solid steel arches and steel cross struts to support the heaviest crop, while the Pea and Bean Hoops will ensure ready support for your favourite varieties. The Elegance Pea Frame is the Downton Abbey of garden frames – certainly a cut above a garden cane! Solid steel poles arches with a playful gothic arched top will support your plants in aristocratic style.

✄ Grow it! Elegance Competition, Kelsey Publishing Group, Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s Hill, Cudham, Kent TN16 3AG

Q What metal is the Elegance range made from? ........................................................................ Name .................................................................................................................................................................... Address ................................................................................................................................................................ ................................................................................................................................................................................ ................................................................................................................... Post code ........................................ Telephone number ............................................................................................................................................. If you would like to receive emails from Grow it! and the Kelsey Digital team containing news and special offers, please include your email address here. .................................................................................................... Kelsey Publishing, publisher of Grow it! would like to contact you from time to time by post and phone with special offers and information that we think will interest to you. Tick here if you prefer not to receive these offers Occasionally we may pass your details to carefully selected third parties whose products we think will be of interest to you. Tick here if you would prefer not to receive these offers

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All Elegance structures are engineered in a rust-resistant, solid steel coating with a handsome sage coloured matt finish. Many of the products feature a signature solid steel finial. This collection is worth a total of £280 and will lift any kitchen garden.

● Agriframes offers a made to order service for its Elegance Crop Cages and extensions. For further details of the Elegance range or to discover the full breadth of fruit cage, pergola, arch and other Agriframes products visit www.agriframes.co.uk or call 0845 2604450.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the competition simply fill in the coupon, left, answering the question, and post back to us at the address shown. The first three entries pulled from the Grow it! hat after the closing date will win an Agriframes Elegance Kitchen Garden collection. The closing date for entries is April 18th 2013.

14/03/2013 20:11

'S DS L I R EE P A S

E E FR

SOW YOUR FREE SEEDS! It’s great news when vegetables combine taste, yield and ease of growing. Start off this month’s free seeds and you’ll enjoy just that

rowing more of your own vegetables is all about ensuring good quality and, of course, taste. Abundance is another important consideration, and this month’s selection of free seeds certainly has that. We’ve brought you five exceptionalperforming heavy croppers that will give you more from your plot: the delicious hungry-gap filler purple sprouting broccoli, prolific leafy crops kale and salad rocket, an early-to-ripen butternut squash and, for good measure, a classic parsnip with satisfying, wedge-shaped roots. For best results ensure your soil is well-drained and moist. Parsnips especially require ground that’s been deeply dug or has an open structure, while all will perform best given fertile, moist conditions. Butternut squash demands the warmest, sunniest position on your plot – don’t deny it this essential requirement! With every member of this collection promising good harvests over the winter months, you have plenty to look forward to.

Broccoli ‘Early Purple Sprouting’

Sprouting broccoli is easy to grow and very hardy. This variety provides a succession of tender shoots from late winter and on into early spring, at a time when fresh vegetables are thin on the ground. Enjoy these nutritious winter greens lightly cooked.

Sowing:

Sow thinly in May or June into a well-prepared seedbed. Set the seeds 1cm (0.5in) deep in drills spaced 45cm (18in) apart.

Growing:

Transplant the seedlings when they are large enough to handle to about 75cm (30in) between plants each way. Plant firmly and keep well watered until established. Earth up and stake the plants as they develop and fleece against caterpillars and aphids as necessary. Net against pigeons during the winter. Snap off the flowering shoots before the flowers open from late winter to spring. Don’t remove the larger leaves as these will protect the next batch of shoots.

Kale ‘Dwarf Green Curled’

Like sprouting broccoli, kale is a valuable winter-spring vegetable, yielding its 40 April 2013 Grow it!

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every 20cm (8in) and thin out to the strongest seedling after germination, or sow one seed every 3cm (1in) and thin in stages to 20cm (8in) apart. Germination can be slow, so be patient!

Growing:

Harvest roots from autumn onwards. The roots can remain in the soil until required or be lifted to store for winter use. The flavour of the roots improves with the first frosts to give a sweeter, nutty taste.

hardy greens at a time when there’s not much else to be had. Savour the tender, nutritious leaves of this curly kale from November to April. Plants will stand in good condition for several months.

Sowing:

Seeds should be sown anytime from April to early June. Sow thinly into a well-prepared seedbed, 1cm (0.5in) deep and in drills 23cm (9in) apart.

Growing:

The young plants that develop can be transplanted to their final positions once sturdy enough to handle, which will be about five weeks from sowing. Set the plants 50cm (20in) apart in each direction. Firm the plants in properly and maintain adequate soil moisture while they establish. Protect against pests in the same way as for sprouting broccoli.

Parsnip ‘Guernsey Half Long’ This classic parsnip variety makes for really rather special eating: expect a mild flavour combined with a creamyyellow flesh. When mature, the roots reach up to 25cm (10in) long and have a satisfying wedge shape to them.

Sowing:

Sow the seeds thinly in April or May. Later sowings are safer and less likely to attract canker. Seeds must be sown 1cm (0.5in) deep in drills 30cm (12in) apart. Sow clusters of three or four seeds

Rocket ‘Victoria’

Every garden needs a few rows of rocket. This popular spicy salad leaf can be added to salads to give a light but peppery tang. Or try wilting the leaves as a refreshing alternative to spinach. This compact plant makes a sound choice for container growing.

Sowing:

Sow thinly from March to September, 1cm (0.5in) deep in drills 45cm (18in) apart into pots of compost or soil that has been lightly raked and is weedfree. Once the seedlings have appeared, thin to leave 15cm (6in) between plants. Use the thinnings as ‘baby leaves’.

Growing:

Keep the growing area weed free and well watered to stop plants running to seed and becoming inedible. Harvest young leaves as required from April to October, or all year round if grown indoors. Pick only a few leaves from each plant at a time and pinch out flower buds to prolong cropping. Sowings made in late summer will carry on cropping into winter if given protection by cloches.

Butternut squash ‘Ponca’

The challenge with butternut squashes is getting them to mature before the end of summer. This earlier ripening variety will

make the job a lot easier. Its sweet, rich flesh is delicious baked and roasted, while its single portion-sized fruits (up to 1kg) will ensure nothing need go to waste.

Sowing:

Start your butternut squash seeds off in April or May by sowing one seed 2cm (1in) deep on its edge per 7cm (3in) pot of moist, multipurpose compost. Place pots into a propagator or seal them with polythene bags. Keep at 20-25°C until after germination, which takes about a week.

Growing:

Gradually acclimatise young plants to outdoor conditions for a few days before planting out after all risk of frost has gone. Set plants 90cm (36in) apart. Allow stems to trail along the ground but trim back if they become too rampant once fruits are setting. Water well, especially during dry periods and mulch around plants to retain soil moisture. Feed with a highpotash fertiliser once the flowers begin to set fruit. The fruits will turn a bright orange colour in late summer/autumn and should be harvested before the first frosts. They will store well for up to six months.

The challenge with butternut squashes is getting them to mature. This earlier ripening variety will make the job easier Grow it! April 2013 41

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››The lowdown on...

Globe artich okes are so easy to grow yet so u indulgent. P tterly some and p lant re to be dazzlepare d!

Globe artichokes

The highly ornamental, low-maintenance perennial that gives you the taste of an Italian summer? It can only be the globe artichoke, says Lucy Halliday

his tall, elegant, architectural plant is a wonderful addition to any garden with enough space to accommodate it. You would need a large field of plants to keep you in a year’s supply so no one would advise this as a crop to live off. Yet it is one of those quintessential midsummer treats that I would not be without. It is easy to grow and was one of the first crops to go in on my new allotment. Fresh artichokes are not only hard to come by but also very expensive. As a perennial crop they need so little input that they are really worth dedicating a corner to, or even incorporating into an ornamental border. The silvery-grey foliage, green and purple flower buds and (if left) giant purple thistle-like flowers are worthy of any display. Unusually it is the flower heads that provide the culinary interest and these are eaten before they open. The base of each triangular ‘scale’ that makes up the outer portions of the bud has a tender, creamy section to it and then there is a fleshy plate

magPIE-mOOn

The unopened flower heads of the globe artichoke are eaten

Globe artichokes: What to do When

Healthy young plants ready for planting

January

February

March

april

May

June

Order plants online or through mailorder catalogues ready for spring planting.

Remove or clear away last year’s frost protection before growth starts.

If you haven’t done so, clear away old leaves and stems to allow for new growth.

Propagate offsets from mature plants to bulk up or refresh your stock, or to give away.

Keep an eye out for aphids, the only real pest of globe artichokes. Hose off growing tips.

Ensure that new plants remain well watered as the weather warms up.

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Fast track to success... FEED THEM UP Give a generous annual mulch of well-rotted manure mixed with leaf mould if you have it. DRAINAGE MATTERS Avoid any soil that is heavy and easily waterlogged; globe artichokes rarely survive a winter in these conditions.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER Only select the largest offset for replanting to keep your stock really vigorous. Discard the rest of the plant. REAP THE RICH REWARDS Harvest heads when plump and still tender

with tightly packed scales. Cook by steaming whole. Removing sideshoots gives bigger heads. ENCOURAGE WILDLIFE If possible leave old plants in place to flower for an extra year – they are wonderful for attracting pollinating insects.

Left: If left to open, the flowers will attract pollinators to your plot Below: The handsome silvery foliage makes globe artichokes at home in either ornamental or veg beds

TRY THESE... ❖ ‘Green Globe’: A reliable heritage variety dating to about 1835. It produces a good show of varying sized buds of good flavour. Marshalls ❖ ‘Romanesco’: This traditional variety has the bonus of gorgeous purple-tinted globes that make it perfect for ornamental use. Heads are tight and firm with a good flavour. Victoriana Nursery

at the base of all the scales. Beneath this is the bristly thistle down which forms the ‘choke’, known as the heart. A rich and distinctive flavour is the reward for the effort of dismantling the buds. Harking from warmer climes you will need to find globe artichokes a sunny, freedraining site, ideally sheltered from strong winds as these plants can reach up to 2m (7ft) high. It is possible to raise artichokes from seed but this is rarely done as the results are variable. Instead, divide or separate the naturally occurring offsets in April to yield more plants. If you know someone with

a good plant, ask if they might spare you one or otherwise order plants in. You will need to replenish your own stock like this every three or four years in order to keep plants at peak productivity. Plant out new plants once the risk of frost has passed. Prepare the soil by cultivating generous planting holes at least 60x60cm (2x2ft), adding lots of well-rotted manure and grit if needed to create a rich, free-draining environment for these hungry plants. A good annual mulch, regular watering in warm weather during their first year, combined with a little frost protection is all the work these laidback plants require. If you can resist, remove any emerging flower buds in the first year to encourage the plant to put all its energies into establishment.

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Keep an eye out for swelling flower buds so you catch them before opening.

Harvest flower heads while still closed but large and firm with tight scales.

Harvest any smaller flower heads from side shoots while still closed and firm.

Hang unused flowers to dry as ornaments or for harvest wreaths. Spray gold for Christmas.

Cover plants with straw, bracken or fleece to protect from frosts over the winter.

Mulch new and mature plants with compost, manure or hay annually.

❖ ‘Tavor’: A modern selection of the heritage ‘Green Globe’ that’s been bred for tolerance to colder winters. It can crop well in its first year and gives heavy crops once mature. Victoriana Nursery ❖ ‘Purple Globe’: Globes with an intense purple hue. A stunner for the back of a border and a particularly heavy cropper. Suttons ❖ ‘Emerald’: Tough and hardy as artichokes go. This very tasty, erect-growing and thorn-less variety has attractive rounded scales to its flower buds. Suttons

Suppliers • Marshalls: 0844 5576700, www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk • Suttons: 0844 922 2899, www.suttons.co.uk • Victoriana Nursery: 01233 740529, www.victoriananursery.co.uk

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Know-how Straw and wood chip are widely used across my plot to retain valuable moisture

The dry allotment Many allotment holders manage wonders despite the absence of a mains water supply. How do they do it? Wade Muggletonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s here to share the golden rules behind tending a dry allotment

unning an allotment with no water supply certainly focuses the mind on how we use and rely upon this most precious of resources. Far too often this essential ingredient for life is simply taken for granted. After the wet summer of 2012 you might think that any need for a water supply is superfluous, but back over the previous summers of 2011 and 2010 it certainly presented its challenges. With the projections of climate change and its resultant

extreme weather events we are all going to have to think about droughts just as much as downpours. My allotment is just under two miles away from my house and, with no on-site water supply, any water has to be transported in. If thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one way to become a water conservationist itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lugging heavy canisters of the stuff from the back garden, round the side passage, into the car then out again the other end! So adopting the right approach to water conservation will save time and effort as well as the wet stuff.

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How to water

Water is a bulky and cumbersome material to move. Transporting it in quantity is hard, backbreaking work. It means that containers of a smaller rather than larger nature are the order of the day. The two-litre lemonade type bottles are good, but I also have a 12-litre camping container with an integral tap in the lid. In the absence of rain I tend to take this full with me on each trip to the allotment, once or twice a week. From this I target-water the most needy of my crops. There is also a tendency for a site water supply to make us wasteful and enter into a cycle of watering for watering’s sake. We are lucky in that our allotment site, with its heavy clay, has very good moisture-retaining abilities. So while in dry weather a baked crust may give the appearance of parched, drought conditions, a few inches below the surface it can still be holding good levels of moisture. As a result in 2011 I planted early and maincrop potatoes on 30 March and 14 April respectively and never watered them once. The maincrops were the largest and best quality we have ever had! Watering lightly with a hose or sprinkler soaks from the surface down, which is of course the opposite of what’s needed. As a result there is a tendency for roots to sit near the surface, made lazy by the regular watering rather than heading south in search of muchneeded moisture coming upwards from the water table below. There is a good argument, especially with perennials, for not watering regularly from above. If you do water then the occasional absolute soaking is far more valuable than regular light watering. Good, strong healthy plants almost need to work for their living. Forcing their roots to grow down, deep into the soil is good for their development.

soil Golden rule 1: Know your Soil types vary enormously, with different soils having their own qualities. Getting to know yours is a valuable part of understanding your plot. While clay soils can be difficult to dig and are often wet, claggy and heavy in winter, they at least have the advantage of being very water retentive and slow to dry out in drought conditions. Our plot is very heavy clay, which means it doesn’t present as many drought challenges as a light, sandy soil would. Observing your plot and how quickly it dries out or remains wet is valuable information to help manage the water on your plot.

ater w t e rg a T : 2 le ru n e d ol G

Having an onsite tap can skew one’s whole approach to the issue of water. Liberally using a sprinkler or hose might seem an easy option, yet dowsing your plot not only benefits your crops but all those weeds growing in and around them. The focussed individual watering I do with my scarcely hauled water keeps the spaces in between my crops parched in dry weather, thereby giving no assistance to the weeds. Watering is accurately targeted at the roots of crop plants, which makes a small amount of water go a surprisingly long way.

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Dry on the surface but moist beneath. Managing soil like this slows opportunistic annual weeds

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Know-how Mulch like mad!

Aside from that taken up by plants, the biggest loss of water is through evaporation. Bare soil exposed to a hot, sunny day will quickly lose valuable moisture, resulting in a parched surface layer that’s baked dry. Where possible I heavily mulch my perennials, as well as some annual vegetables, to keep in the moisture and maintain a good damp, friable top layer to the soil. Luckily we have a riding stable 100 yards from the site so regular quantities of rotted horse muck

Used a thick straw mulch to keep moisture in the ground and benefit swelling potato tubers

water Golden rule 3: Harvest

Our allotment has no sheds or structures, but if you have roof space in any form then see it as a valuable opportunity to collect rainwater. A few lengths of recycled guttering and a barrel or butt will give you free onsite rainwater. Smaller roof spaces, like that on a standard shed will take time to fill a barrel. But once full any further rain will go to waste. Stop this by setting up a syphon between multiple containers so that over a wet winter you can harvest a large volume of water. This will last you well into the growing season.

Golden rule 4: Mulch It’s no secret that regular top-ups of organic matter help to lock in soil moisture while protecting the ground from the baking effects of a hot midsummer sun. You can use any material that’s to hand, spread out 1-5cm (0.5-2in) deep or more, according to what you are growing. Thick mulches at the start of the season are a must for fruit trees and bushes. Organic mulches will rot down over time to improve the soil’s structure and further its ability to smooth out the peaks and troughs of abnormally dry or wet weather.

and straw are close by. This sort of mulching not only caps the soil to reduce evaporation but acts as slow-release fertiliser. My raspberries are heavily mulched with this, while the fruit trees and bushes get a good layer of wood chips. It has long been said that fresh wood chips and shreddings are a bad thing, taking nitrogen from the soil as they rot. There is, however, new research to suggest the opposite is true. In fact, applying quantities of fresh, green mulch material actively encourages the mycorrhizal fungi and positive bacteria that help our plants, especially the perennial ones. I have also successfully mulched an entire potato crop with straw or grass clippings. While this prevents a huge loss of water to evaporation it also saves me lugging lots of water two miles down the road! Water is a highly precious resource the world over and one that, as a species, we take for granted, waste and misuse on the grandest of scales. Having a dry allotment truly does invite reflection on our inseparable relationship with this life-sustaining liquid.

This sort of mulching not only caps the soil to reduce evaporation but acts as a slow-release fertiliser

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Veg grow guide

Dried and delicious

It’s tempting to get carried away by the relative abundance of summer, but spare a thought for the colder months. Charles Dowding shows how to grow a crop of beans to enjoy dried over winter Above: Drying pods in the greenhouse. Borlottis at the back with dry and not-so-dry ‘Czar’ pods to the front

t is possible, in the warmer half of Britain, to grow beans for drying. They are a great source of protein and winter food. Home-grown beans taste delicious, sweeter and more tender than most dry beans you can buy, while the runner beans are similar to creamy butterbeans. My advice on growing them is based on experience in the mild but damp climate of Somerset, so if you live in northwest Britain it may be possible to adapt these guidelines to growing marrowfat peas or broad beans for drying, as they tolerate much cooler conditions than French and runner beans and can be sown earlier in March or April. If you already grow peas and broad beans, you could sow some

extra seeds and then try leaving some unpicked to harvest dry.

What to try

All varieties of French and runner bean, when left to mature on the plants, have edible beans, but some are small and fiddly, while others are less productive or mature more slowly. The two I recommend here are of good size and have performed well in the last two summers, even giving a worthwhile harvest in the cool, damp summer of 2012. They are the French bean ‘Borlotti Lingua di Fuoco’, usually called ‘Borlotti’ and runner bean ‘Czar’, which has white flowers and beans. You grow them in the same way as you would for picking green pods, the one difference being

that none are picked in summer, or pick just a few to taste. Sow around mid-May under cover for planting by early June, or sow early June outdoors, although this can shorten the growing season a little. For a harvest of mature beans, these plants need all the time they can get to make their green pods in July and August, which then fill out in late summer and eventually dry on the plant, going yellow and even brown if early autumn is dry.

Growing tips

Soil preparation is not onerous and although these plants give best yields in rich soil, you don’t have to make trenches filled with compost. I find it effective to spread compost or well-rotted manure on the un-dug

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STEP-BY-STEP Growing beans for drying

Beans can be grown against wigwams or rows of poles. Space plants 30cm (12in) apart within the row, with parallel rows 60cm (24in) distant. These beans are shown in early June, eight days after planting out.

One month after planting and these Borlotti beans are finding their feet

The vines may be slow to start with but will eventually climb their poles. Here the Borlottis are in full pod production in August. Allow the beans to swell and continue to mature before drying.

surface, either in winter or spring, to give food as well as hold moisture. I have also found that un-dug clay, with compost on top, drains well in wet summers, as the compost keeps worms fed and their channels of activity, in coming up to eat it, are good for both air and moisture to enter and then leave, keeping soil sweet and fresh.Spacing is the same as for other climbing beans, always 30cm (12in) between plants, either in double rows 60cm (24in) apart, with room to walk along either side of the rows, or in wigwams with room to

When the pods are dry and crisp the beans are ready to shell. This picture shows the same Borlottis emerging from their pods having been walked on to split them open

walk around. Put in canes or sticks next to each plant and tie them to a horizontal cane and to each other at the top. As plants begin to climb they may need help to find their own pole and should then race away.

Podded ‘Czar’ runner beans make a deliciously creamy alternative to butterbeans

Pick to store

There is little to do during summer until harvests begin in late September, when the lower pods of Borlottis should be turning yellow and then brown and hard, with gorgeous shiny beans inside. Another option is to harvest and shell out fresh beans for eating before they dry out. This means they are quick to prepare, with no need for pre-soaking. In a wet summer, or if you were late with sowing and planting, the entire harvest may be of fresh, moist beans which, after shelling, can be frozen in polythene bags until needed. For easiest storage, the last stage of drying beans, whether on plants or indoors is worth pursuing. If September and October are fine enough you may find that all pods, especially the Borlottis, will dry in situ. Harvesting in about three stages is good, each time gathering the most yellow or brown pods, until a final harvest of runner beans in October may be of green but hopefully fat beans. You can leave trays of drying bean pods indoors or in the greenhouse until you have time to pod them. This is the best option after about mid-October when drying on the plants almost ceases and often there is enough frost to kill plants and damage any moist beans if temperatures dip below about -2°C.

Shelling pods

Sooner or later the beans need to be shelled out of their pods. Sooner is better because they are then open to air and dry more readily. You can shell them in different ways. In 2011 I had a glut and there was a dry October so I spread the pods on a sheet on the hard drive and just walked on them. The pods were crisp enough for lots of beans to spill out. After picking out most of the empty pods with fingers, I winnowed the beans from one bucket to another, pouring them slowly in a breeze, so that fibrous debris could blow away and leave a beautifully clean sample. In contrast, in 2012 the pods never became dry enough for this to work and it was best to shell each batch as it came off the plants, pod by pod. Beans can be left on a tray near a radiator until you are sure they are dry and hard, then just keep them in a glass jar until you are ready to eat them. Always pre-soak the beans overnight, before boiling for 15 minutes only for the runners and 30 minutes for Borlottis. You can then enjoy that captured taste of summer deep in the winter months. Grow it! April 2013 49

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Practical ideas

e v i t c u d o r P e Th

GARDEN

A compendium of inspiration

...with Cotswold gardener Ann Somerset Miles.

As the garden evolves, Ann Somerset Miles introduces more areas to her scrapbook of gardening information. With spring’s arrival thoughts turn to the orchard

Plums in blossom form the perfect background to bright daffs at this time of year

pril already (well almost), though I am thinking about it as I write and pondering what a bizarre 12 months it has been since I last truly spent time out of doors. Travelling and visiting gardens here in the UK and in France, Germany and Ireland, has filled me with gardening thoughts and inspiration but has done very little to reclaim the overgrown areas of my four plots. Of which you will by now be aware through the images and descriptions of the last four issues. My planned writing schedule topic this month was listed as ‘progress in the potager’ but I have little to report! The protecting shrubbery needs a haircut and encroaching groundcover (comfrey) will have to be kept in check. Adding

what I grub out will boost the compost heap considerably. My home-made mixture of stale digestive biscuits, cheap dried fruit (the sort used to make cakes) and shredded suit has benefitted the wild birds and made the garden feel alive, even while it is sleeping. Species crocus are out, so early bees are happy. The willow obelisk has given up the ghost and will need to be replaced without damaging the honeysuckle. I shall use iron spikes from the farm supply store (the sort intended to support electric fences) as they can be lashed together and need no maintenance. The fourth of the raised beds is waiting to be doubled in height. A greater depth of compost will allow me to grow better root crops this year and will save bending double to sow and tend; old arthritic joints are not conducive to quick and easy gardening! Four miniature bay trees and four pots are waiting to be sunk into the middle of each bed, adding interest to the whole plot. Meanwhile, whilst the frost and clay prevents access to much of the ground, I sort my seeds yet again, pulling back the first sowing dates as neither the weather nor the ground is fit. I update my journals, sort photographic images that will

be inserted into my ‘quilted textile scrapbooks’, read books and catalogue all the articles in Grow it! magazine. And so to introduce you to the fifth area of our acre of garden: our orchard. When we bought this ramshackle place at auction back in 1969, it had been empty for a year. The house was dilapidated and the garden so overgrown we did not even realise how much ground we had. Just below the barn there was a high, thick elder hedge and a five-barred gate that was padlocked. Whose ground it was we did not know but subsequently discovered not only that it was a part of the property but that it was planted with apple trees. What a find.

The orchard in its original state was quite the jungle!

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A view across the orchard and some of the original trees

Heavy crops are routine from the now wellestablished ‘Victoria’ plum

Creating an orchard A: The story of our orchard begins in 1969-1970. Once we realised what we had – about five 80-year-old Bramleys, a cider apple and others to be identified, plus a 40-year-old ‘Epicure’ and one ancient greengage plum – there was still so much space that I was determined to plant more fruit, and not just apples. I spent the first summer and winter researching old varieties and sourcing them, taking due regard to pollination times. Although some were claimed to be self-fertile, overlapping early-, mid- and late-flowering varieties has paid dividends. We now have far more fruit than we can consume. B: Summer 1970 saw one of the hottest summers I can ever remember. At weekends (we were still living in London) I scythed the grass and cleared metrewide circles to plant the bare-rooted

A B C D

The new introductions have thrived. Spring blossom is a highlight of the year Currants under the netting, with the ‘Veilchenblau’ climbing rose behind

The orchard continues to yield masses of fruit, despite our altitude

trees that arrived during a drought. I heeled these huge bundles into an old flower border and set about digging deep holes, soaking them with wellwater (we were not on the mains!) and puddling each tree into position. Night and morning, each tree was given two bucketfuls of water as I trailed up and down from well to embryonic orchard. All 16 trees survived. C: All the trees are on dwarfing or semi-dwarfing stock, which is ideal for closer planting and for maintenance and fruit-picking. Besides nine apples, to which we have added more, there are also three pears (‘Comice’, ‘Conference’ and ‘Catillac’), two plums (‘Victoria’ and ‘Warwickshire Drooper’) and a greengage and damson. The latter four trees are half-standards that allowed us to trundle trailer

loads of building materials down to a dog-leg section to build a wood store and henhouse. The plums are not pruned in any way and between them dwarf bulbs are naturalised, as are a bank of daffodils for cutting. D: And so to the present day. The fruit trees are rarely pruned, yet we still have more than sufficient fruit for jam, cider, wine and all our culinary needs. We have expanded, with elders in the hedgerow, quinces and a mulberry, along with a ‘Muscat’ grape in the greenhouse, plus a walnut, cobnut and hazel. The hazel is ‘cropped’ for stakes and pea-sticks, while the elder acts as a windbreak between the orchard and easterly winds all winter and spring. We are 500 feet above sea level, higher than would normally support such fruit. Sadly most of the older original trees are succumbing.

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Practical ideas Crop protection Protecting what we grow will undoubtedly be for two reasons: to keep pets and wildlife off the beds, and to produce early crops by warming the soil and creating a microclimate. From fleece to netting, to cloches and fruit cages, there is a vast choice of equipment and devices intended to make life easier. Solid cloches are ideal and can link together in long rows, or sit them over raised beds. For increased protection (and to prevent small creatures entering the ‘tunnels’), cover with fleece or netting, removing these extra coverings on warm days. The mini greenhouse cloches pictured below come from Dobies of Devon: 0844 7017625, www.dobies.co.uk

In the kitchen salad! Other vegetables in season in April will be late-season leeks, early purple sprouting broccoli and spring cabbage, though the latter two will need protection from pigeons. Maybe a scarecrow would help but posts and netting will suffice. Remember to plan for next spring by including suitable over-wintering vegetables in your seed order.

In more sheltered areas of the country, or with cloche protection elsewhere, you should be enjoying the first salad snippings. Rather than wait for lettuces and the like to heart up, use cut-and-comeagain varieties that you can pluck as needed. With radishes, chives, peppery rocket and some ‘wild’ greens – hey-presto, you have a

STEP-BY-STEP Make a bird scarer

There’s something universally appealing about old-fashioned scarecrows and children love to help making them, though their effectiveness is questionable, unless they are moved around. Start with a broomstick or mop, supported by canes.

Drape old clothes onto this framework and fashion the head from a small stuffed circular cushion. Add anything else you fancy, including old CDs, which will flash in the sunlight. Use ingenuity and above all have fun!

While making a scarecrow is undoubtedly fun, much more useful would be a potato stuck with chicken or pigeon feathers then dangled on a string from an angled bean stick. This will simulate a hovering hawk, putting off many birds.

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