Grow
Grow Your Own special / Garden News 1
Your Own special
8 pages to help you grow great fruit and veg www.liveforgardening.com
Inside
rGetting started
2
Where to put your plot, improving your soil and clearing weeds, plus raised beds,their benefits and how to make them.
rGrow healthy crops
4
of you free grow your own guide
rTechniques
6
Essential growing techniques for a great veg patch: saving, watering, feeding and weeding as well as easy ways to keep pests at bay.
rMoney-saving offers
8
Great offers from Thompson & Morgan on essential grow your own kit.
GardenNews
Part 1r
Keep your veg pest and problem free with our easy guide to crop rotation and the latest disease-resistant varieties.
2 Garden News / Grow Your Own special
Grow Your Own special / Part 1
8 pages to help you grow great fruit and veg
Getting
started ?
rWhere to put your plot rImproving your soil rClearing weeds rChoosing raised beds
I
s 2010 going to be the year you grow your own fruit and veg for the first time? Whether you’re already a keen gardener or a newcomer to the hobby,
if you want to grow your own this year, make sure you collect all four parts of our Grow Your Own Special this February. Over the next four weeks
Where to put your plot r First decide where your veg plot is going and how big you want it. Most often, this is dictated by the shape and size of your garden, or the space you’ve got left, but ideally it should be somewhere that’s open and sunny. Size is completely up to you, but in the first year, it may be best to start small and then you’ve always got the option of expanding your veg patch if you really get into the swing of it. Most fruit trees and bushes prefer neutral (not acid or alkaline), fertile soil and a sunny site so you may need to dig in well-rotted manure or compost or add grit when planting into heavy soil. Avoid planting into areas prone to frost or in very open, windy sites as blossom can get frosted or blown off before pollination takes place.
Keep it sunny
Ideally fruit and veg should be grown in a sunny, open position in your garden
Reap the rewards Start now and you can look forward to tasty home-grown veg all through summer
Did you know?
On average each person in Britain eats 500 potatoes a year
you’ll find everything you need to know to help you grow healthy, tasty fruit and veg. All you need to do is follow our straightforward, practical advice.
How to get your new plot ready r In an ideal world, if you’ve been planning on a traditional veg plot (plants growing in beds in the ground) for a long time, you should have marked it out and dug the soil over during autumn and winter. This particularly applies if your soil is sticky clay, because autumn digging exposes the soil to cold winter weather and frost, which helps to make its clods more workable. But don’t worry if you haven’t done that. Even if you’re gardening on clay or you only decided you wanted a veg plot this weekend, there’s still time to get one knocked into shape for this spring. r If your new plot is covered in weeds, particularly persistent perennial types such as dock or dandelions,
make sure your plot is completely rid of them before you start growing. Not only do weeds make the plot look a mess, they take up nutrients from the soil that would be far better off going to your veg plants and they can harbour pests and diseases. It’s far better to do a thorough job now, not to mention easier, as the plot will be empty. If you don’t get rid of them, they will come back to haunt you and they’ll be much more difficult to deal with when there are crops in the ground . r A badly overgrown weedy plot can be tackled in two ways. You can apply a systemic weedkiller such as glyphosate. This isn’t harmful to wildlife and leaves no residue in the soil and you can always adopt an organic,
Winter digging Winter digging exposes the plot to frosts which break down the clods
chemical-free approach from then on. Hardline organic gardeners will have to dig weeds out by hand including every scrap of root that could re-grow. Smothering the weeds with carpet or black polythene is another option but it will need to be in place for several months to kill all the weeds.
“If you didn’t get time to start last autumn, you still have time to knock one into shape for spring ”
Turning your lawn into a veg patch r There’s also still time to turn parts of an existing lawn into a veg plot. All you need to do is make sure the grass doesn’t regrow. Your options are to turn the soil over to at least two spades’ depth so the grass is completely buried. Alternatively, spray the grass with a weedkiller to kill it before you dig the plot or use a spade or turfing iron to skim the turf off the top revealing the soil below.
Lifting turf
Use a spade to skim the turf and reveal the soil
Grow Your Own special / Garden News 3
Part 1r
of you free grow your own guide
r On previously unworked plots, dig the ground over as soon as you can so that the soil is loose down to about two spades’ depth. Most fruit and vegetables are hungry plants and need rich, fertile soil to produce their best crops, so you can’t improve the soil too much. Don’t hold back – add huge quantities of home-made garden compost if you’ve got it, well-rotted manure if you can get it, leafmould, bagged soil conditioners or any soil improver that you can get your hands on, such as spent hops or mushroom compost. Looking after your soil is essential, whether you want your plot to be organic (chemical free) or otherwise. Adding compost and manure improves the structure and helps drainage, makes it more fertile and encourages worms and good bacteria . The more fertile your soil, the happier your plants will be.
Try raised beds
Easy to reach
You can reach your veg easily with raised beds
r If digging doesn’t tempt you, raised beds are a great option. They’re quick and easy to set up and can be the best way to grow veg if you’re new to it as they’re incredibly easy to look after, weeding is easy and you can grow your veg in manageable quantities. DIY beds are easy to make. The whole point of raised beds is that you shouldn’t have to walk on them, so make sure they’re not too wide. You should be able to comfortably reach the middle from the sides – 1.2m (4ft) is the recommended width. Make any gaps between them wide enough to get a wheelbarrow down. You can also buy raised bed kits to make life even easier – see page 8 of this pull-out for a great moneysaving offer.
“If you don’t want to do any digging then make raised beds”
How to make raised beds
Neat and tidy
r Hammer posts into the ground first, one for each corner and as many as you think you need at intervals along the sides. Screw the sides of the bed firmly onto the posts. Fill the raised beds, with a mixture of top soil (from elsewhere in your garden or bought in) and compost (either from your own compost heap, or bagged
Raised beds will give your veg plot a neat and ordered appearance
“People on my allotment site see the results you can get from using manure“
multi-purpose from the garden centre). You always need much more than you think to fill a raised bed, so work out the volume. It may be more cost effective to try a larger top soil supplier and get a big load delivered. Don’t use only multipurpose compost because it breaks down and will only be good for one season.
?
Did you know?
rStep by step
Raised beds need less digging than standard veg plots
RHS Images
Terry Walton
1
Hammer treated timber posts into the ground at the corners and sides of your bed
2
Screw the sides onto the posts, making sure the beds are level as you go
No room? You can still grow veg r Don’t worry if you haven’t got room to dedicate a special area to fruit or veg – you can still grow your own. Many crops are decorative enough to be worked into your borders (try bright rainbow chard, architectural silver-leaved artichokes or climbing runner beans with their beautiful flowers). And
Adding soil to the mix makes it hold onto nutrients for longer and produce much better crops. Be prepared to top up the beds now and then.
don’t forget that any container that holds soil can be pressed into service, as well as any of the great planters that are available for growing veg in. If you don’t want to spend lots of money, try an old plastic water tank with some drainage holes drilled into it. Fill it with good soil and treat as a permanent
bed. On a smaller scale use old dustbins or empty compost bags to make deep containers for root crops such as potatoes. Even a 10 litre (25cm/10in diameter) pot will produce a worthwhile yield. Window-boxes and troughs and shallow containers can also be used, but remember they can dry
out quickly. Use them to grow plants that will cope with occasional drought such as herbs. You could even grow lettuces as a foliage plant in baskets or patio containers and use your hanging baskets for crops such as strawberries and tomatoes. Just make sure you feed and water them well.
Mix in some veg Grow some veg in your flower borders
3
Fill your beds with a mix of good top soil and compost, then leave to settle
GardenNews
Looking after soil
4 Garden News / Grow Your Own special
Grow Your Own Special / Part 1
8 pages to help you grow great fruit and
Crop
veg
g e v t o o R
Rotation
rKeep your veg problem and pest free rEasy guide to crop rotation rThe latest disease-resistant varieties
R
OTATION sounds complicated but it’s little more than a commonsense solution to avoiding pests and disease. If the same crop is grown in the same soil for too long, soil pests and diseases build up. By moving crops around, the soil has a chance to recover and different
nutrients are replaced. A simple method divides plots into three: In the first year grow legumes such as peas and beans on plot 1, root crops on plot 2, and brassicas on plot 3. In the second year move the brassicas to plot 1 (peas and beans fix nitrogen in the soil so following them with nitrogen-hungry brassicas
makes perfect sense), the peas and beans to plot 2, and root crops to plot 3. Do the same in year three, moving everything along one plot. In year four start again. Every year add organic matter (not manure) to the root crops, manure to the peas and beans and lime (on acid soils) for the brassicas. Salad crops can be fitted in anywhere.
Walking over the site to firm the soil also helps. If your soil is acidic, apply a scattering of lime to raise the pH (acid/alkalinity level). How rotation helps: Clubroot is a real pain, especially since this soil-borne disease persists indefinitely. On a new plot, try to grow your own plants to minimise the risk of contamination from bought-in seedlings. Moving crops onto uninfected soil helps, but leaves you with a reduced growing area. Raising the soil’s pH to 7 or above lessens the disease’s severity, as will growing resistant varieties and raising plants in pots so they can establish a good root system before they’re planted out into the soil.
r Broccoli; kale; Brussels sprouts; cabbage; calabrese; pak choi; Chinese cabbage; kohl rabi; cauliflower; land cress; mustard greens; swede; turnip; radish. Give them: If possible, dig in plenty of organic matter the previous autumn. Brassicas love a nitrogen- rich soil, so do well following the legumes. Leaving a gap before planting allows time for soil to settle – brassicas like a firm root run.
s a c i s s a Br
Brassicas
r If you carry out crop rotation AND arm yourself with the latest diseaseresistant varieties, you have a better chance of healthy crops. r T&M’s disease-resistant varieties include: Potatoes - T&M’s ‘Sarpo’ range show amazing resistance to blight. Tomatoes - ‘Ferline’ and ‘Legend’ both show good resistance to blight. Grow outdoors or under glass.
Cabbage - ‘Kilaton’ shows resistance to clubroot. Cauliflower - ‘Clapton’ also shows resistance to clubroot. Onion sets - ‘Santero’ has resistance to downy mildew. Carrots - ‘Resistafly’ and ‘Flyaway’ both show partial resistance to carrot fly. Lettuce - ‘Ultimate Mixed’ has good resistance to aphids and mildew.
or spinach can be squeezed in wherever you see fit. One way to use crops such as lettuce or salad leaves is as a catch crop or an intercrop (see right).
r We’ve put fruiting vegetables (such as tomatoes, sweetcorn and cucumbers) in with the legumes, but actually if you prefer these can go in any of the groups – wherever you have space to fit them in. Permanent crops such as asparagus and artichoke will stay put, and ‘homeless’ plants such as lettuce , chard
Disease-resistant varieties
Crops you don’t need to rotate
Grow Your Own special / Garden News 5
Part 1r
of you free grow your own guide
Did you know?
Spreading lime helps combat clubroot in brassicas
Root veg r Beetroot; carrot; fennel; garlic; leek; onion; parsnip; potato; salsify; scorzonera; shallots.
Give them: This group is a mixed bag, containing different plant families with varied growing needs. Traditional wisdom suggests that carrots and parsnips should not be grown on freshly-manured ground because their roots will fork, but a well-placed stone can also cause a split so dig the site thoroughly before sowing. Onions and leeks are tough plants that like a well-drained soil that hasn’t been freshly manured as it can
encourage rot. Other root veg appreciate plenty of organic matter so top up their soil with compost. How rotation helps: A combination of rotation and netting will keep carrot fly at bay, while parsnip canker can be controlled through rotation and resistant varieties. Rotating leeks onto fresh soil helps control fungal leek rust as well as disposing of infected leaves. Rotting onion bulbs and white fluffy growths can be a sign of white rot. It’s a persistent disease so avoid growing onions on the site for as long as possible. The risk of potato blight can be slightly lessened
through crop rotation, but as its fungal spores are carried in the air you’ll need other preventative treatments too, or choose blight-resistant varieties.
“Runner beans need a moist root-run to help them through hot weather”
Legumes and fruiting veg
L e g u m
r Aubergine; beans: broad, French and runner; celery; courgette; cucumber; marrow; okra; peas; pepper: sweet and chilli; pumpkin; squash; sweetcorn; tomato; tomatillo Give them: Plenty of well-rotted organic matter such as compost. This ensures a moisture-retentive soil that the legume family love. Runner beans in particular need a moist root-run to help them through hot weather, so it pays to lavish extra care on them, digging a trench where they’re going to be grown and filling it with compost or veg and fruit peelings straight from the kitchen
before topping it with soil. Cut peas and beans to ground level after cropping, leaving their roots with their precious nitrogen-fixing nodules in the soil. How rotation helps: Bean chocolate spot is controlled by rotating crops and clearing away fungus-infected material (although the disease will always be worse in warm, damp summers). Root and foot rots on beans are caused by soil-inhabiting moulds and tend to be worse on heavy soils. Rotation should help where this is a consistent problem.
Catch cropping and inter-cropping r These two terms do mean slightly different things. Catch cropping means planting fastgrowing crops such as lettuce and radish in a temporarily empty part of the veg plot. Typically this is done early in the growing season before
other crops are ready to be planted and late in the season, when main crops have been harvested, creating a gap. Inter-cropping means planting fast-growing crops between rows of slower growing ones, such as lambs lettuce or
spring onions between rows of parsnips or swede. Not only does this help to mark where the slower growing crops have been planted but it also means that you can get two different crops out of the same space. By the time the slower
growing crops have matured to fill the space, their fast growing neighbours will have been harvested. With a bit of planning you can intercrop and catch crop without causing overcrowding or unduly affecting your crop rotation.
GardenNews
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es
6 Garden News / Grow Your Own special
Grow your own special / Part 1
8 pages to help you grow great fruit and veg
Essential techniques & rGrowing techniques for a great veg patch rSowing, watering, feeding and weeding rEasy ways to keep pests at bay r Essential tools and kit
Sowing There are two ways to sow veg seed: directly into the soil, or for those crops that need more controlled conditions to germinate and get going, in pots under the protection of a propagator, in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill.
Sowing direct
Sowing indoors
?
Did you know?
Watering
r Tackle weed seedlings as they emerge as they quickly flower, set seed and multiply. Many weed seeds can remain in the soil for years, ready to germinate as soon as they are disturbed. Annual weeds germinate, grow, flower, set seed and die all within a single year. Perennial weeds die down in winter and re-grow in spring. Hoeing is the easiest way to clear weed seedlings, especially annual ones. Do it on a dry day so the seedlings shrivel and die on the soil surface. Dig out or hand-weed perennial weeds, making sure every bit of root is removed. Never rotavate soil containing perennial weeds as it simply chops up and spreads the roots around, which then re-root and grow. Annual weeds can be put on the compost heap but it’s best to bin or burn perennial weeds.
All vegetables need consistent, regular watering to produce a good crop. Water the ground before you plant, then get into the habit of watering regularly. Use a hose spray attachment or watering can rose to water the base of plants, but don’t swamp them. Try to water in the cool of the morning as there is less chance of water being lost through evaporation.
Veg in pots
Container-grown crops rely entirely on you for their water needs
flickr/peasap
r How do you know when r Some vegetables are it is time to sow? There’s an tender and need warmer old saying that you know the conditions to germinate and ground is ready when it feels grow well, such as tomatoes warm to the touch if you take or aubergines. Sow these in your trousers down and sit on a propagator or on a warm, it! You can probably check that sunny windowsill and grow just as easily with your hand! on in the warmth. They can It makes sense to wait until be moved or planted outside the soil has warmed up. Most when the risk of frost has seeds, left to sit in cold soil, passed or grown won’t do anything. under glass. Weed seedlings are Other veg can a good, if annoying, be sown indoors indicator of soil in order to make temperature. an early start, If weed seeds but later on are starting in the season to germinate, when the soil Only hold seedlings by your veg seed has warmed up, their leaves, not their probably will too. they’ll germinate delicate stems You can speed outdoors too. Peas things up by covering and beans are good the soil with a cloche, or examples of this. even a sheet of clear polythene. Use pots or module trays of This will raise soil temperature compost to start your seed enough to enable an earlier in. Big seed, such as beans, sowing. Make a little furrow can be sown individually, (drill) with a hoe, water so the but seedlings of smaller seed soil is moist and sow the seed will need to be pricked out in a straight line, spacing it as and gently dibbed into fresh evenly as possible. compost in a small pot or cell.
Weeding
Tackle weeds
Annual weeds are best dealt with by regular hoeing
Feeding r Healthy plants have the best chance of repelling pest and disease attack. Feed the soil with organic matter from homemade compost and wellrotted manure to hold nutrients and water. Use a general fertiliser such as
Growmore to improve soil fertility before sowing crops and mulch soil well afterwards to avoid competition from weeds. Nitrogen feeds are good for leafy crops such as cabbages; high potassium feeds encourage flowers and
fruit and applying it around fruit trees in late summer helps produce a good crop for next season. Blood, fish and bone gives roots the boost they need. If you are growing your fruit and veg in containers use a liquid feed weekly.
Hungry vegetables
Brassicas are hungry crops that benefit from a nitrogen feed
Grow Your Own special / Garden News 7
Part 1r
kit I
f you start growing your own fruit and veg, there are just some key jobs you need to do regularly and basic techniques to
Must-have gear
of you free grow your own guide
If you’re new to fruit and veg growing and you don’t have any kit or tools at all, you don’t need to spend too much money. Here are the essentials you’ll want in your shed
master, such which seed to sow outdoors and which indoors. Weeding, watering and feeding need to be kept on top of and pest control is vital.
Easy ways to keep pests at bay Rule number one is ‘know your enemy’! In the countryside, deer and rabbits can be real pests. Mice and pigeons love peas while birds and many mammals find fruit irresistible. But you can protect most crops without harsh measures!
Protect
r Physical barriers work well. Chicken wire may look unattractive but tall fences, buried a few inches deep into the soil around crops deter rabbits and deer while tunnels of it keep pigeons off peas. Fruit cages are
rCompost
rTrays and pots
rWatering can
For sowing seeds and growing on seedlings and young plants to get them off to the best possible start.
To sow seed in and start off sets and young plants. Wash old ones and recycle them to save money.
Any cheap and cheerful plastic watering can will do the job, but choose one with a fine rose for watering seedlings.
rSet of tools
rBamboo canes
rString or twine
The five tools you must have are: trowel, hoe, rake, fork and spade. If you can, buy high quality tools that will last.
For supporting beans and tomatoes, making a straight line for sowing, holding up netting, dibbing, canes are vital.
Always have some string to hand for tying in plants to their supports and fastening canes together.
rFleece or mesh
rSecateurs
rHeated propagator
An initial outlay that pays dividends, these form a physical barrier to keep pests off crops and last for years.
Millions of uses, from pruning fruit trees and bushes and cutting back woodystemmed veg to harvesting squashes.
Makes starting off seeds that like a bit of warmth easy, helping you get reliable results and therefore better harvests.
expensive but well worth it if you have a lot of fruit bushes. A covering of netting will protect a single bush or tree. Cloches are a good choice for leafy crops. Mesh or netting will keep pests off your brassicas.
r Don’t ignore small infestations as pest populations can quickly explode. Caterpillars have voracious appetites so pick them off leaves as soon as you see them. On wet soils or areas with stone walls, slugs and snails are a particular problem. Snails live in garden walls, emerging at night to wreak havoc. Get out with a torch and pick them off before they feast or use pellets or beer traps. The new slug pellets on the market are no longer a threat to other wildlife.
Predict
r Diseases such as blight and mildew can sometimes be predicted by the weather. If it is rainy, fungal disease spores are splashed onto crops by rain and spread fast. Hot summers bring aphids and powdery mildew
caused by dry soil; humid conditions and poor air circulation bring rusts and diseases. Pest attacks can occur at specific times so growing early and late crops and protecting with barriers help deter seasonal pests.
What chemicals you can and can’t use r Many old chemical remedies are illegal and others are now known to be harmful to wildlife so use systemic pest and disease sprays with care: read labels to make informed choices. Make sure chemicals don’t find their way into watercourses.
Visit our website www.liveforgardening.com for complete guides to pesticides and fungicides
GardenNews
Persevere
8 Garden News / Grow Your Own special
Grow Your Own special
Part 1r
Great garden offers
of you free grow your own guide
rGet growing with these fantastic offers from Thompson & Morgan! Why not use a raised bed kit, which makes your plot much easier to manage, saves you digging, and gives better results with soil at a more stable temperature. We’ve also included handy products for indoor and outdoor sowing!
r An easy way of growing a variety of vegetables. The heatabsorbing panels of this raised bed can be self assembled making a 1m x 1m growing area. Many gardeners divide this area up into six equal sections and sow small amounts in succession of six different vegetables. Our raised bed kit includes a variety of vegetable seeds to get your plot started. Pepper ‘Jumbo Sweet’ F1, Tomato ‘Gardener’s Delight’ Chili ‘Tabasco’, Beetroot ‘Boltardy’, Cabbage ‘Primo’, Red lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’ Just pay £22.99 (RRP £35.99) - SAVE £13
rMini Patio Greenhouse
A complete 40-cell growing system for rapid and reliable germination, ideal for raising seeds or cuttings. Comes with a lid and easy to follow instructions.
HALF-PRICE!
Just pay £11.99
Price £11.99
Code
Price £22.99
r Self-watering Propagator
The frame of this Mini 4-Tier Greenhouse is made from plastic-coated tubular steel, covered in durable plastic with zips either side for easy access, and four shelves. Perfect for growing on mini-plugs and plugs and protecting plants during frosty weather. Easy to assemble.
HOW TO ORDER Complete the order form, fill in your details and send it with payment to: Garden News Offer, Dept GN94, PO Box 94, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2SN. If paying by cheque, please make payable to TMYP and write your name and address on the back. Or you may complete your credit/debit card details.
rPaper Potter - a T&M customer favourite!
rBell Boys - ideal for windowsill growing
Recycle old newspapers and make your own pots. When seedlings are ready to plant out, transplant straight into the garden in their biodegradable paper pots.
An easy way to germinate seeds or root cuttings on the windowsill. Bell Boys create a mini greenhouse effect on their 13cm (5in) pots. Clear plastic with air vents.
Just pay £14.99
Just pay £9.99
Price £14.99
Raised Bed Kit with seeds
£22.99
87202
Self-watering Propagator
£11.99
9746
Mini Patio Greenhouse
£19.49
87201
Paper Potter
£14.99
90242
5 Bell Boys with pots
£9.99
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TOTAL
PLEASE SEND ORDER & PAYMENT TO:
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Next week Don’t miss the second part of our Grow Your Own special!
THE EASIEST FRUIT AND VEG TO GET YOU STARTED r How to grow your own salad crops all year round r Everything you need to know to grow root vegetables r Foolproof ways to tasty peas and beans r Easy steps to delicious strawberries r Plus more money-saving offers for GN readers from Thompson & Morgan
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rRaised Bed Kit with seeds included! Save £13
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