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No. 264
September 2019
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EDITOR’S LETTER XXX
September marks the start of autumn in the UK and with it the start of the main harvesting season for the crops that will fill store cupboards and freezers through the winter months. So in this issue you’ll find all you need to know about the art of harvesting and storing from two of our experts, Ben Vanheems and Joyce Russell. And if you are to repeat your successes again next season you’ll need to give your soil some TLC. We show you how with our feature on using green manures. Rob Smith turns his attention to fast-growing and health-promoting spinach, while KG’s deputy editor Emma Rawlings looks at raised beds as the answer for those with limited mobility and space. The KG team have been busy putting more new varieties through their paces – this month beetroot – and staff writer Tony Flanagan has been looking at some of the best hand tools to help you keep on top of those inevitable weeds.
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CHECK OUT OUR GREAT GIVEAWAYS AT WWW.KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK www.kitchengarden.co.uk
SEPTEMBER 2019 | 3
EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
54
6 YOU
✪ ON THE COVER @GrowWithKG
YOUR PLOT
6 ON THE VEG PATCH
KitchenGardenUK KitchenGardenMag
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This month gardening expert Joyce Russell is harvesting maincrop potatoes and salads, tending to figs and planting onions and garlic
10 IN THE GREENHOUSE
@GrowWithKG /kitchengardenmagazine FOR OUR CONTACT DETAILS TURN TO PAGE 15
Martin Fish sows autumn salads and harvests peppers in his polytunnel and greenhouse
12 WHAT’S NEW?
The latest news, comment and advice from the world of kitchen gardening
14 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS
Learn what other KG readers have been up to and pick up some great first-hand advice
18 CONNECT WITH YOUR KG SUBSCRIBERS’ CLUB
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ON PAGE 24 HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE? Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month
4 | SEPTEMBER 2019
See what exclusive offers we have for KG subscribers, including a chance to win a hedge trimmer from Cobra worth £257!
20 KG PROBLEM SOLVER ✪
Our panel of experts help solve your gardening problems; this month grape issues, split damsons and odd tomato flowers
26 PASSIONATE PLOTTER ✪
Take part in our easy-to-enter competition and you could win some great gardening kit worth more than £2100!
45 TREES FOR ALL
Holly Farrell examines the 'family tree' as two descendants of Frank P Matthews carry on his Worcestershire tree nursery, founded in 1901
92 NEXT MONTH
Some of the highlights to be found in your October 2019 issue plus news of more great free gifts
106 LAST WORD
This month KG editor Steve Ott on rewilding your garden – is it a good idea for gardeners? www.kitchengarden.co.uk
SEPTEMBER 2019
98 34
Scan this, and we’ll tell you!
Resident chef Anna Cairns Pettigrew brings you more great seasonal recipes this month based on blackberries, pak choi and watercress ✪
45 GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS
More gardening fun with the KG team as they get busy on the KG plot
22 GROWING ONLINE
Our pick of the best gardening websites, blogs and vlogs
30 THE SPLENDOURS OF SPINACH ✪
Veg expert Rob Smith brings you his growing guide to nutritious spinach. And he doesn't mention Popeye once!
34 SPUDS IN STORE ✪
Timely advice on storing your potatoes and other root crops from Ben Vanheems
40 HERB OF THE MONTH… TARRAGON ✪
Deputy editor Emma Rawlings explains how to grow this aromatic favourite
42 COOKING UP A STORM
This month our plotters Graham and Sally Strong survive storms to still get some great harvests
50 VEG IN CONFINEMENT ✪
We look at the range of raised bed kits on offer and reveal our top tips for filling them with tasty crops
54 GO GREEN WITH MANURES ✪
KG editor Steve Ott explains how to feed and protect your soil by sowing green manure crops this autumn www.kitchengarden.co.uk
Pg 98 58 BACK TO THE FUTURE ✪
Ian Wright of The National Trust explains how traditional techniques can help us adapt to climate change
62 MAKE MERRY WITH ELDERBERRIES ✪
KG regular Stephanie Hafferty brews up some recipes for your foraged berries
65 BOWL-ICIOUS!
Chef Anna Cairns Pettigrew cooks up some seasonal recipes, all served as healthy bowlfuls
70 REKHA'S GARDEN AND KITCHEN DIARY
Keen plotter Rekha Mistry takes us through her gardening month
72 BONSAI BERRIES
Fuchsias are one of our most popular patio plants, but did you know some produce delicious berries, too?
74 HINTS FOR HAPPY HARVESTING ✪
Joyce Russell has some great pointers to help you hone your harvesting skills
79 DAMSON DELIGHT ✪
Fruit expert and nurseryman David Patch extols the virtues of damsons
84 NEW VARIETY ON TRIAL
This month we look at two new beetroot varieties
74 WHAT TO BUY 86 PRODUCT ROUNDUP – WEEDING TOOLS ✪
Staff writer Tony Flanagan and the KG team put a range of weeding tools through their paces
90 GREAT READER OFFERS – SAVE OVER £26! ✪
Claim your free* autumn-cropping broad bean plants worth £15.90, plus great savings on onion sets, spring greens, greenhouse winter plants and lettuce collections (*just pay p&p)
94 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £2508 ✪
Our prizes in this issue are Fiskars tools, Scruffs pet beds, ARS tools and Homebuilding and Renovating Show tickets
96 GARDEN STORE PLUS SUBSCRIBER SAVERS
News of some great new products and services and a chance for KG subscribers to bag a bargain
103 GIVEAWAYS ENTRY FORM SEPTEMBER 2019 | 5
GET GROWING
TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH H IN SEPTEMBER BY JOYCE RUSSELL DIG OVER GROUND
Dig over the ground when you clear a row of vegetables. This removes any weeds and lleaves you with a clear space for p planting something new. Digging small areas at a time is much kinder on the back than digging a large plot.
HARVEST BASIL
Harvest basil as long as plants produce usable leaves. Unless there is a spectacular Indian summer, you will probably lift plants later this month and consign them to the compost heap.
PLANT SPRING CABBAGES
Plant a few spring cabbage plants. These will provide plenty of leaves in late winter and early spring, when fresh vegetables are welcome. Buy plants, if needed, and put them 45-60cm (15-24in) apart. You can still sow seed early in September for a later harvest.
CHECK BRASSICA COLLARS
Check any collars at the base of brassicas that are intended to protect against cabbage root y. These can be displaced by birds scratching or get buried in mulch. Make sure all are in the right place, with no gaps, and they will continue to protect roots against this pest.
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JOBS FOR THE MONTH XXX
STEP 1: Figs flop over a little when they ripen. The neck starts to soften, as does the rest of the fruit, and you have to gauge the right moment to pick. There should be a good colour all round and a little ‘give’ if the fruit is gently squeezed.
STEP 2: Harvest all fruit that is ripe. See how one tastes and learn how ripe they need to be to give best flavour. If fruits are hard then they won’t taste of much and if you leave them too long the skin may split and wasps will feast on the sweet flesh.
STEP 3: Check the branches when all full-sized fruit is harvested. Remove any small green figs that are bigger than a small fingernail. The largest of these are trying to form a second crop this year, which is rare in our climate. The small ones will grow next year.
SOW NOW
Spinach, spinach beet, winter turnip, radish, spring cabbage, land cress, lamb’s lettuce
PLANT NOW
Lettuce, spring cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, autumn planting varieties of onions and garlic
PLENTY OF SALAD Summer lettuce varieties will usually stand well into the autumn. Bolting slows down as temperatures drop a little and there is usually enough rain to keep soil damp. Keep picking a few leaves from each plant – the flavour of summer lettuce is often sweeter and milder than varieties that grow through the cold months. Sow winter lettuce now and plants should grow big enough to survive the winter. Sow lettuce in pots and plant out when around 8cm tall (3in). You may have to cover rows with a cloche to protect against cold. Mizuna, rocket and mustard greens are all pretty hardy and can do well in an average winter.
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PRESERVE THE HARVEST September is the month when harvests roll in with abandon. It’s lovely to see all the baskets of beans, squash, apples and so on, but there really is a limit to what any household can consume. The answer is to preserve the surplus in any way that suits you. Freezing can be easy and you can bring out bags of frozen fruit and veg to use to make preserves when you have the time. Make pickles, jams, chutneys and sauces to bring the flavours of early autumn into your winter kitchen. Some favourites are: apple and blackberry jam, tomato chilli chutney, cucumber pickle and pickled onions.
HARVEST
Herbs, potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, tomatoes, parsnips, beetroot, peas, beans, Swiss chard, spinach, swedes, peppers, salad leaves, turnips, lettuce, courgettes, apples, plums, pears, raspberries, grapes
GET GROWING
PEST ALERT ■ PICK RUNNER BEANS The glut is coming fast and you may be tempted to leave pods to grow into monsters on the plant. This will stop new pod formation, so keep picking while pods are tender if you want to keep plants productive for as long as possible.
A dry September provides ideal conditions for caterpillars to feast on brassica plants. Cabbage white butterflies lay eggs underneath leaves and caterpillars soon emerge to destroy leaves overnight. Be vigilant and act fast. You can keep plants covered, squash eggs, pick the pests off, or use a biological control, before your sprouts, broccoli and cabbages are reduced to tatters. The problem only lasts for a few weeks so put in the work and keep plants intact.
■ TIDY UP Pick up any bits and pieces that won’t be needed until next year. September is the start of the autumn tidy process, so put tools in the shed, store covers, stack pots and make sure there is no plastic or rubbish on the loose.
■ LATE POTATOES If you don’t have time to dig the potato crop, cut off the tops at ground level to stop disease spreading down into the tubers. This can protect the potatoes from late blight, but you need to sort carefully when you lift the crop.
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It’s not uncommon to get a first frost this month. This may be a one night affair but it can still do damage. Cover vulnerable plants and they may crop for a few more weeks until more frosts arrive. It can get windy from here on too. We may not get gales until October or November, but a bit of early preparation can avert damage.
PLANT ONIONS AND GARLIC
Autumn planting varieties of onion and garlic can go into the ground in September. These give lovely early bulbs, but seem to do better in some gardens than others. The main factors to improve success are not planting into a very wet bed and not planting too soon in a hot dry autumn. You shouldn’t delay planting for too long either! The aim is to hit the sweet spot around mid-September to early October. This allows plants to establish and grow some short and healthy green leaves, but doesn’t permit too much soft growth before winter chills arrive. Garlic is more tolerant of poor conditions than onions; garlic shoots take longer to appear. It is a good idea to plant onion sets and garlic cloves in raised beds, or ridges, if soil gets waterlogged in winter. Cover newly-planted rows with fine-mesh crop cover and keep this in place until February next year. The cover should be raised enough to allow room for leaf growth and it should allow air to circulate.
■ MOW AND MULCH Use any grass clippings to cover empty beds. This will keep the bed free of weeds and provide some protection from rain. The clippings will also put a bit of nitrogen into the soil as they rot. Just make sure there aren’t lots of weed seeds in the mulch. ■ WINDFALL FRUIT Apples, pears and plums will fall from the trees when they are ripe enough. It’s best to pick fruit from the tree if you intend to store it for a while, but if fruit falls, it’s a good idea to collect it and use it fast before large bruises turn into rot.
WEATHER WATCH
PERFECT PUMPKINS
There should be three or more fruits swelling on each plant. Keep soil damp at all times so growth isn’t restricted. Stems will put down new coiled roots into the soil and draw up water from where you least expect it. Some people lift pumpkins and squash on to pieces of slate, or wood, so they don’t rot at the point where they contact the ground. In practice this doesn’t happen often and a light mulch will help to lift the pumpkins a little. If soil is very wet and heavy then a support may be needed. When pumpkins stop swelling they still need a couple of weeks of sun to ripen. The skin will turn to a fully ripe colour and the stem and skin may start to harden. The flesh doesn’t reach a good flavour until the fruit is ripe and some people say a touch of light frost helps to improve the taste. It is best to leave pumpkins to ripen on the plant. They can stay in place until foliage dies back and it is easy to see the harvest. Semi-ripe pumpkins will continue to ripen in store if you need the bed and have to lift the crop a little early. Some will keep right through the winter, depending on the variety and cool dry, frost-free storage conditions. www.kitchengarden.co.uk
■ As summer salads and other crops start to come to an end, clear them away and prepare the ground for new sowings and plantings. ■ When the higher trusses on tomatoes start to ripen, continue to remove the foliage up the stem to aid ripening. ■ Plant late sown brassicas such as kale to provide fresh greens through the winter months. ■ If you are growing potatoes in pots for a winter harvest, keep the compost moist to encourage as much growth as possible while the weather is still warm. ■ Sow pak choi thinly in rows directly into the soil border and keep the soil moist.
10 | SEPTEMBER 2019
WITH MARTIN FISH
HARVEST PEPPERS AS THEY RIPEN Peppers grow best undercover where the extra warmth and protection helps the fruit to develop and ripen from late summer onwards. Many pepper plants will continue to grow and fruit well into autumn if the weather is mild and you maintain a dry atmosphere around them. If too cold and damp, the foliage and fruits can soon develop moulds and start to spoil. Although the fruits can be eaten green, I think the flavour improves if you allow them to ripen to yellow, orange or red, depending on the variety being grown. One of the sweet peppers I grow is ‘King of the North’ which does very well in North Yorkshire and always produces a good crop. www.kitchengarden.co.uk
JOBS FOR THE MONTH
PICK FRUITING CROPS AT THEIR BEST September is a very productive time in the greenhouse or polytunnel and when many summer crops are at their best. Although the days are gradually getting shorter, we often get warm, sunny days at this time of the year which provide good growing and ripening conditions. Crops such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines, courgettes, salad onions, lettuce and salad leaves are all coming thick and fast and need to be picked little and often, when they are at their best. With fruiting crops, picking the ripe fruits regularly helps other fruits to fully develop and ripen over the coming weeks. All can be eaten fresh and many can be stored, preserved or pickled for use over the winter months.
EYES PEELED FOR PESTS
■ Splitting tomatoes can sometimes be a problem, especially at the end of the growing season. It’s as a result of the skins hardening in hot weather or if the plants have been allowed to dry out a little. As the nights cool down or when the plants are watered, the skins split. Avoid this by keeping the roots moist and close the vents late afternoon to retain warmth around the plants.
As the growing season marches on, we often take our foot off the pedal when it comes to controlling pests, but we need to be alert as many have a final fling before winter. If not spotted and dealt with, they can cause a great deal of damage to our crops. Look out for late broods of caterpillars on brassicas, aphids and slugs on salad crops, whitefly on tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, and tomato moth caterpillar damage on tomato fruits and foliage. In most cases squashing the pests works well, but for whitefly you can use yellow sticky traps or an organic spray to help control them. A blast of water will also help to wash off insect pests.
SOW ENDS OF PACKETS FOR AUTUMN SALADS
GATHER AND RIPEN SQUASHES Winter and butternut squashes are starting to ripen now, and you can start to harvest them to store over the winter. To be able to store and remain in good condition for several months, the fruit needs to be fully ripe, or what is often referred to as ‘cured’. This basically means when the skin is hard and dry. Wait until the fruit is developing a good colour and the stalk behind it is starting to change colour and dry out. To help the ripening process, remove any foliage that’s shading the fruit. Once you’ve cut the fruit off the plant, allow it to carry on drying for a week or more in a warm, dry place to fully cure. www.kitchengarden.co.uk
At the end of the growing season we often end up with lots of seed packets that only contain a few seeds and certainly not enough to get us started next spring! Lettuce, salad leaves, radish, beetroot, brassicas and even peas can all be used to provide seedlings salads for eating through the autumn months. You can either mix all the different types of seed together or sow them separately in pots, trays or the soil border. Water them in and in the warmth of the September sunshine they will soon germinate and grow. In just a few weeks you’ll have a fresh crop of vegetable seedlings that can be cut to mix into salads or stir fries.
■ As you harvest outdoor onions, bring them under cover in trays to help the bulbs ripen in the warmth of the greenhouse or polytunnel. The drier and riper the skins, the better the onions will keep through winter. ■ Gradually cut back on the amount of water you give to fruiting plants and avoid splashing the foliage and ripening fruits, but at the same time give them enough to keep the root moist. ■ Check over plants and pick off any foliage that is diseased, yellowing or dead to help keep the plants healthy and to prevent moulds and fungal diseases from spreading. ■ To aid the ripening of tomatoes, peppers and other fruits, it is important to ventilate on mild days to keep a good flow of fresh air around the plants. SEPTEMBER 2019 | 11
YOU
YOUR PLOT
ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING
RHS SCHOOL GARDENERS OF THE YEAR This year’s RHS Young School Gardener of the Year competition has been won by 11-year-old William Rae from the Edinburgh Academy Junior School, Edinburgh. Growing everything from radishes to rhubarb, William enjoys sharing his love of gardening with his schoolmates: instigating a garlic growing competition and mentoring his fellow pupils. The judges commented: “It’s amazing to see someone so young showing true initiative by creating an alternativve to sports for his fellow pupils. He is clearly a very naturaal and knowledgeable gardener and is very considerate of the people and the planet around him.” The RHS School Gardening Team of the Year award went to Springhallow School, Ealing, London, a school for young people with autism. The team of nine aged between 12 and 16 has worked together to create a beautiful and productive garden from scratch, challenging themselves to try new foods and supplying edible flowers to a new school cafe.
William Rae
Springhallow’s successful students in the school cafe – blooming marvellous!
SEEDS FOR REFUGEES the harsh conditions, including marigolds, sunflowers, peppers and cucumbers. Tim Jeffries, Mr Fothergill’s commercial director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be able to help out the RHS and the Lemon Tree Trust by donating seeds from our ranges. We hope that they will provide some pleasure for those living in the difficult conditions of the Domiz Camp.”
Picture: Lemon Tree Trust
Hundreds of Syrian refugees from the Domiz and five neighbouring camps in northern Iraq are benefiting from receiving 2000 flower and vegetable seed packets from Mr Fothergill’s Seeds. This is the second year of a project that was inspired by a First World War seed lift from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to British prisoners of war living in an internment camp in Germany. Working with the RHS, Mr Fothergill’s has again donated packets of seeds to the Lemon Tree Trust projects. The list was made up of varieties that would bring colour to the camp and could be grown in
POSIpot© is a new solution to stem the tide of hundreds of millions of single use plastic pots (and labels) being sold with plants every year, the huge majority of which end up being incinerated, sent to landfill or exported across the world to be ‘recycled’. At the time of purchase, the plant is transferred from a plastic pot to a POSIpot©, which means that plant buyers don’t have to dispose of pots or store them for years and years in sheds or greenhouses. Made from easily compostable, UK produced, unbleached and recycled cardboard, the POSIpot is the brainchild of David Ware and Chris Williams of EdibleCulture, a company which has its base in Faversham and is committed to finding sustainable alternatives to the use of plastic. For more information visit: https://posipot.co.uk and https:// edibleculture.co.uk/
DO YOU HAVE SOME HOT STORIES FOR OUR NEWS PAGES? SEND THEM TO TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK 12 | SEPTEMBER 2019
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WHAT’S NEW?
A recent analysis drawn from the Global Dietary Database (www.globaldietarydatabase.orgg) shows that almost three million n people worldwide die from stroke and heart disease as a result of not eating enough fruit and vegetables. Researcherrs looked at data on diet and food availabbility from 2010, covering approximately 82% of the world population, and compared this to country-by-country data on deaths due to coronaryy heart disease and strokes.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of a show which is believed to be unique in Britain – maybe the world! The annual show of the West Yorkshire Organic Group takes place on Saturday, September 14. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that all the produce is judged on flavour – not on appearance – even the chillies! Understandable, since most grow for flavour rather than to produce cosmetically beautiful specimens. The show is held at Shipley College, Exhibition Road, Saltaire, Shipley BD18 3JW and all are welcome to enter. So if you think you have a particularly tasty tomato, beetroot or apple, then download a schedule today at www.wyog.org
RHS GARDEN HARLOW CARR September 1: Shop for rare and unusual plants from regional Plant Heritage nurseries; enjoy talks and demos and learn from the experts. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/ harlow-carr RHS GARDEN HYDE HALL September 21–22: Discover favourites from 30 specialist regional nurseries to help get the garden looking good for autumn and winter. www.rhs.org.uk/ gardens/hyde-hall RHS GARDEN ROSEMOOR September 22: Specialist regional nurseries selling unusual plants to brighten your garden in the autumn. www.rhs.org.uk/ gardens/rosemoor www.kitchengarden.co.uk
HARROGATE AUTUMN FLOWER SHOW It’s that time of year again with the ann nual Harrogate Autumn Flower Sho ow taking place September 1315. Highlights include the Giant Veg getable Competition and this year the e show is also hosting the Northern Cha ampionships for the National Veg getable Society, which will include the e following classes: onions, carrots, sha allots, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, cellery, cauliflowers, beetroot and leeks. As usual, there will be plenty of entertainment, good food, music, talks, displays and opportunities for gardenrelated retail therapy. And don’t forget to visit the Kitchen Garden stand too! For more information and tickets visit: www.flowershow.org.uk
The first prize onion in the 2018 Giant Veg competition
CORRECTION
In our August issue we commented on a new study from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts which has found that broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, cabbage and collard greens contain a substance that could ‘inactivate’ a vital gene that plays a role in cancers. This should have read ‘free up’ rather than ‘inactivate’. Apologies for any misunderstanding caused.
SEPTEMBER 2019 | 13
YOU
YOUR PLOT UPS AND DOWNS OF GARDENING
OF LEE LEEKS AND LOO ROLLS My daughter and I have devised a cunning plan for planting out leeks, especially when the soil is dry. It also keeps the water just where it’s wanted. Yet another way to recycle those loo roll middles! Gabi Butler, West Sussex
I would like to congratulate Emma for coming up with a great ‘Last Word’ in your July 2019 issue. How refreshing to read a realistic and balanced summary of gardening – and how it can have both downs and ups. The article I’m sure resonates with gardeners up and down the country: that indeed some days in gardening are not always good. So rather than preach that gardening is constantly uplifting, it’s great to read that it’s more about looking forward to the good days and snapshots of joy that make gardening worthwhile. Patrick Wiltshire, Marshalls Seeds
CONTACT US WITH YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS: TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK
SMALL GARDEN PLEASURE My partner has lifelong severe depression, which reached a crisis point last summer when he nearly died at home of a near-fatal gastric bleed. It falls to me to be his unofficial carer, with the result that my own mental and physical health has suffered. This year, because money has become tight, I decided to start growing edibles for us and our rescue pets, house rabbits and parrots. I had to pace myself as my time and energy is spread very thinly. Your magazine was of great help in terms of research, the helpful free seeds that run
Send us your tips and pictures and if your letter is published you will get a £10 Dobies voucher. If you are lucky enough to have yours chosen as our Star Letter you will get a £25 voucher. Your voucher will be sent out with a Dobies catalogue and you can choose to spend your winnings on a fabulous range of seeds,
14 | SEPTEMBER 2019
young plants and gardening sundries. You can get hold of a copy of the catalogue now by phoning 0844 701 7625 or go online to www.dobies.co.uk You can reach us by letter, email or via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ KitchenGardenMag/
concurrent with the growing seasons and the advice within Kitchen Garden. Since the start of the year, I have invested just 30 minutes to an hour a day in our tiny garden (excluding painting the gate and furniture) and am now enjoying the fruits of my labour. It is a great pleasure to harvest fresh produce every single morning (albeit on a small scale) and to know that the produce is fresh, organic and has no road miles or yards of packaging attached to it. Karen Anne Chudley, Hampshire TONY SAYS: It might be a small garden Karen, but it’s bringing big rewards in more ways than one. Well done!
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YOUR VIEWS XXX
DEARTH OF FRESH FRUIT AND VEG I was delighted to read in Dominika Bálint-Halas’s excellent article “Growing on the Web” (July issue) of the increasing popularity of fruit and vegetable growing in Hungary. Five years ago we walked for many miles along the “Danube Bend” in Hungary. The views were wonderful, the people we met friendly and the unspoilt wildflower meadows a delight. But the dearth of fresh fruit and vegetables in all the hotels and restaurants we used en route was so depressing that tinned cherries with chicken seemed quite a treat. A Turkish student I met in Budapest almost wept with nostalgia as she described her inability to find (in a capital city) the fruit and vegetables that she needed in order to cook herself some Turkish food. And yet we passed what appeared to be long-abandoned orchards and farmland whilst seeing a soil and a climate apparently ideally suited to fruit and vegetable growing. This suitability was confirmed in Dominika’s article. I hope she and her compatriots online will be the leaders of a benign revolution. Mrs Janet Lockett, Suffolk
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WEED FREE! Weeding is not my favourite occupation, but when I weed amongst the leeks inevitably I cut at least one off. As weed control fabric works well on the paths between my raised beds I wondered if it would work on the actual beds, but I did not want to use plastic/polythene so I was delighted to read about organic 100% biodegradable paper in your February 2019 issue. So far I am delighted – my onions and shallot bed is weed free. I just wish I could persuade my Maine Coon cat to sleep somewhere else! Frances Howorth, East Sussex TONY SAYS: Well, cats will sleep just about anywhere, won’t they Frances? Even on the shallots!
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RADISHES GALORE ILKNUR: I may have gone a bit overboard with sowing radishes! Now I’ve got more than I need – not sure what to do with them! SALLY WRIGHT: Pickle them! There are lots of ways to do this so look up some recipes on the internet. If you have a food slicer/processor it will be really easy to slice or grate them. WESTI: They are lovely roasted. I was sceptical but it really does turn them into a different vegetable altogether! PRIMROSE: I used to grow daikon/mooli which are the long white-skinned ones – as long as a cucumber – and are delicious cut into fine strips and used in stir fries.
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SEPTEMBER 2019 | 15
Cut off foliage of maincrop potatoes to ground level three weeks before lifting to firm up skins
Illustrations: Let’ss Face It
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The KG team offer chat, tips and gardening gossip
GETTING THE SACK!
Sometimes you bite off a little more than you can chew. Case in point, these potatoes grown in a rather large sack. It took all three Muddies to move this one and turn it upside down, a little more work than they are used to, I can tell you. Still, after much moaning, groaning, puffing and panting, the harvest was finally revealed. Not bad!
16 | SEPTEMBER 2019
The sack used was a Vintage Potatoes planter from Suttons Seeds, with five tubers planted in multipurpose compost, started off in the polytunnel and moved outside when all risk of frost had passed. If you don’t have space for growing potatoes directly in the soil, get yourself a sack and get growing! You can even do that in late August if you can keep your sacks undercover (polytunnel or greenhouse) and have crops ready just in time for Christmas!
CRUEL TO BE KIND WITH FRUIT How well have your apple trees set this year? I was worried that our relatively mild winter here in the East Midlands would lead to a poor set of fruit this season (apples need a cold spell to ripen fruit buds before the spring). However, I’ve been amazed at the number of fruitlets that have formed. Late June/early July brought the usual ‘June drop’ when trees naturally lose some of the developing fruit, saving reserves in order to ensure that the remainder reach maturity. However, with so many clinging on it is likely that my trees will become biennial bearing – they will get into a habit of only fruiting every other year – and the fruit they do produce will be small. So I’ve set about removing some – starting with any pest-marked or poor examples to leave just one or two per cluster.
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