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No. 277
October 2020
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EDITOR’S LETTER
The days are shortening and it’s time to gather in those harvests. It has been a great year for fruit for many of us and with that in mind our resident expert David Patch has some top tips for harvesting and storing your fruit crops. Organic gardener Ben Vanheems looks to the future as he explains how to go about planning and planting your own orchard – no matter how small your garden. Gardening author and no-dig expert Stephanie Hafferty celebrates autumn by harvesting sweetcorn and squashes and planting garlic, broad beans and peas. Home gardener Rob Smith is also busy, this time planting shallots for an early crop next year. We aren’t all blessed with the perfect spot to grow our crops so if you garden on a windy, exposed site we have some simple solutions to help you grow super fruit and veg, while starting on page 30 we extol the virtues of an often neglected, but important technique – mulching. We show you how it can help you to get the best from your soil and your crops as well as saving you lots of hard work. We have two super features from top online gardeners and KG contributors which prove perfectly just how growing your own can benefit more than just your appetite. Annabelle Padwick (from blog Life at No.27) visits some beautiful therapy gardens run by many dedicated folk with the sole purpose of improving the well-being of their clients, while Nigel Jewkes (aka YouTuber Muddybootz), visits allotment troubleshooter Dave Taylor, a man on a mission to bring neglected or even derelict allotment plots back into service and doing what they do best – building, as well as feeding, local communities.
Steve Ott, editor
Turn to pages 50-53 to meet allotment troubleshooter Dave Taylor www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine
Contact me at: sott@mortons.co.uk | 01507 529396 Find us at www.kitchengarden.co.uk Contact subscriptions: 01507 529529
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6 ✪ ON THE COVER GREAT FOR BEGINNERS
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6 ON THE VEG PATCH ✪
Joyce Russell is harvesting the last of summer crops, planting autumn onions and sowing leafy salads such as mizuna and rocket
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10 IN THE GREENHOUSE✪
Join greenhouse gardener Martin Fish as he harvests and ripens late crops and deals with vine weevil
12 WHAT’S NEW?
The latest news, comment and advice from the world of kitchen gardening
14 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS
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Learn what other KG readers have been up to and pick up some great first-hand advice
18 CONNECT WITH YOUR KG SUBSCRIBERS’ CLUB
This month KG subscribers can save up to 15% on gardening essentials plus win a pruning saw and secateurs worth £46.44!
20 KG PROBLEM SOLVER
Our top experts help solve your gardening problems with peas, blackcurrants, cauliflowers and apples
54 102 NEXT MONTH
Some of the highlights to be found in your November issue plus news of more great free gifts
106 LAST WORD
KG reader Peter Dean celebrates the autumn harvests www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine
OCTOBER 2020
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GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS
This month the KG team reveal the results of their competition to grow the longest runner bean. Can you beat it? Almost certainly!
24 ORCHARDS FOR ALL
Organic gardener Ben Vanheems explains how you can fit fruit into the smallest of gardens
KG chef Anna Cairns Pettigrew brings you some more delicious recipes featuring freshly picked home-grown produce ✪
Pg 98 Photo: Ada K, Pixabay
56
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60 THE CARDBOARD TUBE DEBATE ✪
Cardboard tubes are often recommended as a plastic-free way to raise new plants, but some find them more successful than others. Readers share their experiences
62 ALLOTMENT LOCKDOWN ✪
30 START AT THE TOP
More KG readers get in touch, sharing their top tips and lessons learned during this season’s unprecedented Covid-19 lockdown
35 GROWING ONLINE
66 LET’S CELEBRATE THE THERAPY GARDEN ✪
KG editor Steve Ott gets down to the basics with mulching
A roundup of the best from the gardening websites, blogs and vlogs
36 COPING WITH WINDY SITES
Gardening for well-being expert Annabelle Padwick travels to some wonderful gardens, each with an amazing purpose
40 SHALLOTS ON THE PLOT
73 BRING HOME THE BACON WITH EGGPLANTS! ✪
Our guide to growing in windy gardens
Veg expert Rob Smith offers his top tips for success with this useful bulb
44 TRY SALSIFY – THE VEGETABLE OYSTER
KG staff writer Tony Flanagan extols the virtues of this lesser-known root veg
50 SAVING OUR ALLOTMENTS Nigel Jewkes meets Birmingham-based allotment troubleshooter Dave Taylor
54 ONE TO TRY
We put pea ‘Valido’ through its paces on the plot
56 AUTUMN GLORY
Discover what no-dig gardener Stephanie Hafferty is up to on her plot this month www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine
Aubergines have become an important ingredient of a vegetarian and vegan diet. Read our top growing and cooking tips
76 PICKING YOUR MOMENT ✪
Fruit expert David Patch has advice for those looking to harvest and store bumper fruit crops this autumn
81 PRESERVING THE SEASON✪
In this excerpt from her new book, cookery expert Mary Tregellas brings us some super preserving recipes to fill your winter store cupboard
84 WANT TO BE OUR PLOTTER OF THE MONTH?✪
Send us pictures of your plot and you could win prizes worth £444!
40 WHAT TO BUY 88 PRODUCT REVIEW – FOOTWEAR ✪
Footwear for gardeners large and small is put to the test
92 GREAT READER OFFERS – SAVE OVER £11! ✪
Claim your 15 free* shallot bulbs worth £11.95 when you order any of our bargain collections (*just pay p&p)
94 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £800 ✪
Our top quality prizes in this issue include Harris painting equipment and Spear & Jackson hand tools
96 GARDEN STORE PLUS SUBSCRIBER SAVERS ✪
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103 GIVEAWAYS ENTRY FORM www.kitchengarden.co.uk | 5
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TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH IN OCTOBER BY JOYCE RUSSELL R BE G I FO
N Pictures: Ben Russell
N ERS
GREAT
PICK BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Harvest sprouts when they are firm and fresh. Do this whether varieties are meant to crop now or closer to Christmas. You can’t hold a crop back, but you can enjoy the bounty at its best.
SOW PEAS
Round-seeded varieties can be sown now and they are hardy enough to stand through an average winter. You may need to cover rows with a cloche in the coldest weather. Sow direct or start seed in pots if waiting for space to clear.
PICK UP AND TIDY
We often get strong winds in October, so be sure to gather up any loose bits and pieces that might blow away. Walk round the garden and collect empty pots, buckets etc. before they end up on a neighbour’s plot.
SCRUB LABELS
Plant labels can be reused even if they have been recycled from plastic milk bottles in the first place. Soak them in warm water and give a good scrub to remove any writing. Faint traces can be written over or turn the label and use the other side.
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JOBS FOR THE MONTH XXX
PLANT AUTUMN ONION SETS
STEP 1: Choose a bed that was enriched for a previous crop such as potatoes. Raise beds up into ridges to provide better drainage if the soil gets waterlogged in winter. Add a scatter of powdered seaweed if you have it. Top with hydrated lime to adjust pH on acid soils.
STEP 2: Choose firm autumn planting onion sets that haven’t started to sprout. Small sets may be less prone to bolt than larger ones. Plant sets into the ground at 15cm (6in) apart along rows that are 30cm (12in) apart. The top of each set should be just below the soil’s surface.
STEP 3: Cover with fine mesh cropcover raised up on a frame. Secure edges down well. This allows rain through while protecting the young onion shoots as they grow. Leave the cover in place until spring. Feed with fish, blood and bone meal, plus wood ash, in January.
SOW NOW
POTS FOR WARMER CROPS
KEEP HARVESTING A good autumn can mean there are lots of delicious things to harvest. Keep picking apples before they fall and clear tomatoes if they are slow to ripen on the plants – fruit will ripen indoors if spread out with a ripe tomato close by. It’s not worth cherishing failing pea rows if it means you don’t get around to sowing rows of winter salad. And you may need to clear the pumpkin bed if you want to get spring cabbage into the ground. This is a time to look forward. Think about sowing and planting early in the month, so cold weather plants can get some growing done before the winter arrives.
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If you don’t have a large garden, or a covered growing space, you can still try growing some salad leaves for the next few months. Try sowing mizuna, mustard greens and rocket in pots. Keep these close to a warm house wall where temperatures can be a couple of degrees warmer than out in the open. Protect small seedlings from slugs and cover with some fleece or bubble wrap when there is a cold spell. You can even bring pots indoors for a while, if things get severely cold, or keep them in a porch to provide some protection. With a bit of care and attention you can grow some really good leaves to cut.
Winter hardy peas and broad beans, winter lettuce and spinach beet in pots. Mustard greens, rocket and mizuna in cold frames or cloches
PLANT NOW
Spring cabbage, spinach, Swiss chard, winter lettuce. Autumn onion sets and garlic
HARVEST
Pumpkins, courgettes, runner beans, apples, raspberries, carrots, beetroot, parsnips, lettuce, salad leaves, spinach, Swiss chard, pak choi, turnips, swede, peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts
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TACKLE A PLANT PROBLEM M
■ HARVEST LAST SQUASH Some courgettes will have grown into marrows and the skin may be tougher than you would ideally like. Harvest any remaining fruits whatever their size – they should keep for a few weeks in a cool, dry place. ■ BUY YOUNG PLANTS It’s not too late to buy young lettuce, spring cabbage and spinach plants. Get them into the ground as soon as you can and they will crop much faster than ones you sow now.
Some plants are called ‘tender’ because they won’t survive exposure to low temperatures. Among these are pak choi, tomatoes and climbing beans. An early frost can spoil these plants so they finish early. If there is only one frost in the forecast, before temperatures rise again, then it is worth putting a few layers of protective covering over vulnerable plants. These can survive and grow on to crop afterwards. If a prolonged cold snap is forecast then harvest tender crops before they are spoiled.
If you like your leeks to have p plenty of white stem, then it i important to exclude light is f from the stem as plants grow. Y You give them a good start on this by planting each leek into a hole, but you can also earth up now to blanch a bit more. Bunch leaves together and pop a toilet roll insert over the stem then draw earth against this. It’s hardly worth doing this with autumn varieties but ones that will stand through into next year can benefit.
ENJOY YOUR OWN HAZELNUTS If you live where hazel trees grow wild, you might like to stroll along the road in the autumn and gather up any fallen nuts. Some years see a profusion of hazelnut clusters and others only a few, but either way you can make the most of the wild bounty. For most gardeners this isn’t an option, but there is little to stop you from growing your own hazel trees and producing your own supply of nuts. Hazelnuts are the easiest nuts to grow in our part of the world. Cobnuts are a favourite type – they are large and sweet. Filberts are also delicious and bear more oval-shaped nuts. Ask at your local garden centre for advice. They should be able to get some young trees even if they don’t keep them in stock. Plant trees in soil that isn’t too wet or too nutrient rich. Trees are self-fertile but you will get more nuts if you plant a few together to aid pollination.
■ LIFT AND STORE ROOT CROPS Carrots and beetroot should be lifted and stored in a cool, frost-free place before the weather turns cold. Lift them when they are still at their sweet best and the flavour won’t deteriorate too fast in store.
COLLECT FALLEN LEAVES
■ USE COLD FRAMES Sow and plant into a cold frame if you have one. Winter crops survive so much better with just a little protection and you can put an extra cover over a frame on any cold night. Remember to ventilate frames on warm days.
Deciduous trees drop their leaves each autumn. Some people love this and some despair. There is so much sweeping and raking to be done to clear paths and lawns; and then more leaves fall as soon as the first lot are tidied away. If you have several trees, and need to clear lots of leaves, it’s important to have the right sort of tools. A broad rake, grabbers and a barrow are a good start. A rechargeable battery-powered blower is a terrific aid if you have a large area to clear. This is a really fast way to gather leaves and don’t forget that the collected leaves are a terrific resource:
■ SUPPORT TALL PLANTS Gales are common enough in October and if trees can be knocked by a wind then so can your sprout and broccoli plants. Check around the garden and provide strong supports and ties to any vulnerable plants.
■ Use them to cover empty beds as a mulch – once they are wetted they are unlikely to blow away. ■ Mound them into a wire frame in a corner of the garden and let them rot down for a year or more – you can make some useful leafmould this way. ■ Stuff them into hessian sacks and stack these outdoors so the leaves rot as the hessian breaks down. It takes over a year, but this is another easy way to make some dark and crumbly leafmould. ■ Pile leaves over the crowns of tender perennial plants after the stems die down. This helps to protect plants from frost damage.
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BLANCH LEEKS
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Harvesting peppers
■ Sow dwarf varieties of broad beans under cover to give you a crop of fresh bean pods early next summer. ■ Keep harvesting crops such as dwarf French beans, spinach, baby carrots, chard, pak choi and salads through autumn. ■ Garlic grows well under cover and if planted directly into the soil now it will be ready to lift next May and June. ■ Tomatoes will carry on ripening until the weather turns cold and to help with air circulation remove the foliage up the stems. ■ Sow pea seeds in shallow trays or pots of compost for a crop of pea shoots, which taste delicious.
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WITH MARTIN FISH
PEPPERS STILL RIPENING UNDER COVER
For me, one of the main advantages of having a polytunnel is to extend the growing season in my North Yorkshire garden. At this time of the year, when the nights are drawing in and the temperatures dropping, the polytunnel provides just enough protection to help crops such as peppers carry on ripening. If we get a spell of sunny weather, it can get quite warm under cover, which is perfect to help those fully formed fruits turn colour. To help them along, I cut back on watering slightly to help keep the atmosphere on the dry side, otherwise fungal diseases can develop and when I do water I always add a high-potash feed to help the ripening process.
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JOBS FOR THE MONTH
WATER AND FEED POTATOES IN POTS If you planted some potatoes in large pots back in late July and August, they should now be growing well and have made plenty of top growth. From now on, foliage growth will gradually slow down as the days shorten, but the tubers will continue to form in the compost over the next couple of months. The secret is to keep the compost moist but not wet, so always use your finger to check the compost to see what state it’s in before watering and, where possible, try to keep the potato foliage as dry as you can. A weekly liquid feed (tomato fertiliser) will also help the tubers to swell and keep the foliage growing for as long as possible.
■ When ripening autumn crops in a polytunnel or greenhouse it’s a good idea to close vents and shut doors in the middle of the afternoon to help retain a little heat overnight. In the morning, don’t reopen until the temperature starts to rise.
HARVEST AND RIPEN SQUASHES Squashes grow well in a polytunnel where they really enjoy the extra warmth into autumn that helps to ripen the fruits. If you intend to store the fruits through winter, it’s important that the fruits are fully ripe and the skins are cured by the sun. When the fruits have developed their colour, give them a tap and if you get a sharp rap instead of a dull thud, they are ripe. The skin should also be hard when you try and push in your thumbnail. It’s then simply a case of cutting them off the plant to store in a dry, cool place where they should remain in good condition for several months, but do check them occasionally.
TEND YOUR AUTUMN CROPS
Plants certainly grow slower in autumn as the weather cools down, but we still need to tend to them to make sure they are growing and healthy. Under cover we need to carry on watering to maintain moist soil for the roots and this should be done as and when needed. Weeding is another job that needs keeping on top of. Annual weeds often have a spurt of growth in autumn to try and produce a crop of seeds and if allowed to grow, they will smother young plants, so hand weed or hoe off seedlings on a regular basis. And don’t forget to keep an eye open for any signs of pest or disease damage on your autumn crops.
CHECK FOR VINE WEEVIL LARVAE Vine weevils can be a serious pest in many gardens and if not controlled they can cause lots of damage to a wide range of plants. The adults eat notches from the edges of leaves but it’s the small cream-coloured larvae with brown heads that do serious damage by eating roots. Under cover where it’s warm and protected they thrive, so when cultivating soil or repotting plants look out for the larvae. Strawberries and blueberries growing in pots are particularly susceptible to attack and if you notice wilting plants and wet compost it’s a good indication the grubs are in the compost eating the roots. When I find them, I throw the grubs to my hens as a special treat!
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■ As summer crops come to an end, make sure you clear the old plants as soon as possible before the stems and foliage start to rot down. This helps to prevent fungal infections setting in and it also makes room for more plants. ■ During the cooler months, most plants don’t need as much water as in the summer, so cut back on watering as temperatures cool down. Keep the soil or compost moist but avoid watering the foliage too much. ■ Slugs and snails can be a problem in autumn searching for food and young crops growing under cover are perfect targets for them. Check your plants and look out for any damage to tender leaves and pick off and control the pests. ■ Although a polytunnel and greenhouse will offer some protection from frosts, it’s still a good idea to have some fleece on standby ready for any unexpected cold nights so that you can drape it over young plants and seedlings.
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ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING
COVID-19, CABBAGE AND CUCUMBER CONNECTION
REDUNDANCIES AT THE NATIONAL TRUST
The coronavirus crisis has had a significant impact on The National Trust with almost every aspect of its income affected. The trust expects to lose up to £200m this year as a result of the pandemic and has proposed a possible 1200 redundancies as it seeks to reduce its annual spend and the size of its workforce. When the country went into lockdown the charity closed all its houses, gardens, car parks, shops, cafes, holidays and stopped events, quickly losing tens of millions of pounds of support. As part of the review, the trust hopes to save £100m – almost a fifth of its annual spend – through changing the way it operates and reducing its payroll and budgets. The trust has drawn up a plan to restart its strategy from March next year. But to do this, the charity says it must be “leaner and more flexible, and reduce its operating and project costs”.
A preliminary study published by European researchers in the health science journal Medrxiv (www.medrxiv.org) claims that mortality rates for Covid-19 may be lower in countries where cabbage and cucumber are eaten in large quantities. The research team took data from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database to compare the consumption of brassicas with the consumption of spinach, cucumber, courgette, lettuce and tomato. According to the report, head cabbage (white, red and savoy) and cucumber were the only vegetables that showed any significant impact on the Covid-19 mortality rate. The report specified that “for each gram per day increase in the
HTA LAUNCHES KEEP BRITAIN GROWING CAMPAIGN The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has launched its Keep Britain Growing campaign. This follows on from the success of its Keep Britain Blooming campaign, which was instrumental in persuading the Government to reopen garden centres in the first wave of lockdown relaxation measures. HTA president Boyd Douglas-Davies said: “The aim of Keep Britain Growing is to encourage this new wave of gardening enthusiasts to keep enjoying the health and well-being benefits of gardening, keep improving our local environment and keep supporting British growers and British ornamental horticulture by planting in their gardens and outdoor spaces throughout the year.”
average national consumption of some of the vegetables (head cabbage and cucumber), the mortality risk for Covid-19 decreased by a factor of 11, down to 13.6%.” It is suggested that the specific antioxidant activity in these two vegetables plays an important role. However, it should be noted that this is only a preliminary study and has not been fully evaluated.
PIZZA LOVE An analysis of DIY Google searches during lockdown undertaken by www. thehairpinlegcompany.co.uk found that ‘how to build a pizza oven’ saw a huge 326% increase year on year – an indication perhaps of how much more time people have been spending in their gardens (and how much they love pizza!).
The HTA will be posting content and articles throughout the year on www. keepbritaingrowing.co.uk to help people learn about gardening. Environmental and wildlife gardening will be a key theme. The aim is not to create new content but to curate and provide a home for content from across the internet. Content will focus on five key areas, including a Grow Your Own section.
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