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Although there is plenty to do in the garden this month it’s also important to take some time out to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labours. With this in mind we have a special feature on patio produce, including original suggestions on how to make some mouthwatering barbecue dishes from your home-grown delights. If the pruning of stone fruits, which includes some of our most delicious summer harvests such as cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and nectarines, is a bit of a mystery to you, turn to page 66. There our resident fruit expert David Patch explains how to go about it in easy steps. We also have great features on growing your free seeds this month which include Cape gooseberries and borage. We show you how to make your own organic liquid feeds and a ladder shelf for your home-grown herbs and salads. Last but not least, do check out the launch of our Passionate Plotter competition 2017 on page 48. You could win a share of our great prize packkage worth more than £1900! Steve Ott, editor Contact me at: sott@mortons.co.uk | 01507 529396 Find us at www.kitchengarden.co.uk Contact subscriptions: 01507 529529
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HELLO FROMTHEJULY KG TEAM
SUE STICKLAND
STEVE NEAL
TONY FLANAGAN
ANNA PETTIGREW
MARTIN FISH
SUSIE KEARLEY
Former head gardener Sue turns her attention to those exoticlooking fruits, Cape gooseberries and tomatillos this month and explains how to turn your free seeds into succulent golden berries
Steve is a keen plotter and last year helped to open his allotments under the National Garden Scheme. Read about his experiences starting on page 26 and perhaps you’ll be opening your site, too
Staff writer Tony has an allotment and two large polytunnels at his home in Lincolnshire. In this issue he explains how to get the best from a crop that can be a little challenging, but well worth the effort: melons
We just love editing Anna’s pages, but try never to do it mid-morning – one look at the mouthwatering pictures and we are just desperate for lunchtime! This time Anna has recipes for the barbecue
In this issue Martin suggests a simple project for building an attractive display shelf for your pots of herbs or salads as well as offering his advice on all the essential jobs for the month for your plot
If you are a tea drinker and let’s face it, most of us are – you may have wondered why your compost heap contains some strange ‘webbing’ that refuses to rot. Turn to page 98, where Susie explains all
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JULY 2017 | 3
CONTENTS
EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
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42
✪ ON THE COVER
YOU
@GrowWithKG
YOUR PLOT
KitchenGardenUK
6 ON THE VEG PATCH
KitchenGardenMag
Freeze herbs, harvest broad beans and kohl rabi, feed tomatoes, sow autumn crops, harvest soft fruit
@GrowWithKG
10 IN THE GREENHOUSE
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Watch out for blight, ventilate the greenhouse, tend to watering, harvest chillies, pollinate sweetcorn
12 WHAT’S NEW? The latest news, comment and advice from the world of kitchen gardening
14 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS
NEVER MISS AN ISSUE...
£20
ON PAGE 24
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Learn what other KG readers have been up to and pick up some great first-hand advice
95 NEXT MONTH
20 QUESTION TIME
Some of the highlights to be found in your August issue plus news of great free gifts
Our panel of leading experts from the gardening industry answer your gardening queries
48 BRITAIN’S MOST PASSIONATE PLOTTERS ✪ We launch the 2017 competition and reveal our great prize package for the winners
HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE?
92 DIARY DATES
Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month
Plus giveaway entry coupon and details of seed and young plant suppliers
98 LAST WORD – TROUBLE BREWING ON THE COMPOST HEAP? Garden writer Susie Kearley investigates the problem of teabags that just won’t rot
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JULY 2017
RECIPES ✪ More great recipes from
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our resident chef Anna Pettigrew to help you make the most of your seasonal veg. This month Anna has some delicious barbecue ideas
Scan this, and we’ll tell you!
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48 16 GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS
46 HERBS FOR HENS
More fun and top tips from the KG team as they tend to their Lincolnshire plot
We reveal a new range of herbs aimed at keeping your flock healthy
22 GROWING ONLINE
54 FRUIT AT A GLANCE: MELONS ✪
The latest news from the world of online gardening
Top tips for growing this most mouthwatering of summer fruits
26 THE POWER OF YELLOW
58 KEEP YOUR COOL ✪
Steve Neal reveals his experiences of opening an allotment site for charity
Veg expert Ben Vanheems explains how to prevent your undercover crops from overheating this summer
32 BEE THANKFUL FOR BORAGE ✪ KG editor Steve Ott shows you how to get the best from your free seeds
34 A VEG FOR ALL REASONS ✪
62 MAKE IT! LIQUID FEEDS ✪ Joyce Russell has some recipes to help you make your own organic liquid feeds
This month Sally Cunningham turns her attention to a traditional veg that is as beautiful as it is delicious – sea kale.
66 PRUNING STONE FRUIT ✪
37 GO HERITAGE FOR BEANS ✪
70 HERBAL HARVEST ✪
Heritage veg fan Rob Smith explores the history behind French beans and shares his favourite varieties
Gardening and cookery writer Gaby Bartai offers her expert advice on storing herbs through the winter months
40 EAT YOUR WAY TO A HEALTHY WEIGHT
74 LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE WITH LANTERN LOVELIES ✪
Nutritionist Susie Kearley explains why beans are an essential part of all our diets
Sue Stickland encourages us to try two lesser known fruits, Cape gooseberries and tomatillos
42 FROM PATIO TO BARBECUE ✪
81 MAKE A LADDER SHELF ✪
Top tips to help you get the most from your patio this summer
Martin Fish brings you a simple project to brighten your patio
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Fruit expert David Patch helps you get the best from your cherries, plums and peaches
WHAT TO BUY 24 SUBSCRIBE TO KG ...and make savings of up to 40%!
47 YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A LUXURY HOME FOR YOUR HENS WORTH £500 53 GARDEN STORE Catch up with some great new products for kitchen gardeners
56 INSTANT SAVERS This month save up to 15% on leading gardening goodies – from mulches and pest controls to planters and young plants
83 TRIED AND TESTED – WEEDKILLERS The KG team road test some popular weedkillers for value and effectiveness
84 READER OFFERS ✪ Claim 35 free brassica and broad bean plants worth £17.90, plus save on runner and dwarf French beans, courgettes, broccoli and herbs
86 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £1665 ✪ This month you could win garden tools, watering equipment, biological controls and mini greenhouses JULY 2017 | 5
JOBS TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH IN JULY BY MARTIN FISH
FEED TOMATOES Tomatoes growing outside should be making good growth now and starting to develop several trusses of fruit. It’s important that the plants get plenty of nutrients, especially potash, so feed once a week with a high-potash fertiliser to help the fruits develop and ripen.
CHECK APPLE TREES When the natural ‘June drop’ on apples has finished, which is often July in the north, check your trees to see how much fruit has remained. On cooking apples aim for one or two fruits per cluster and on eating varieties leave two or three.
LIFT GARLIC Lift bulbs of garlic from the garden as you need it or when the foliage starts to die down. When freshly lifted it has a sweet flavour and if allowed to dry naturally it will store for months.
INSPECT TIES ON FRUIT TREES Young fruit trees should be in full growth now and making new growth. If they are being supported by stakes and ties, check the ties to make sure they aren’t too tight as the trunk expands. If very tight slacken the tie off a little.
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JOBS FOR THE MONTH
CUT KOHL RABI
Kohl rabi is a vegetable with a difference and some describe it as a cross between a turnip and cabbage. It’s really easy to grow and will grow quickly if kept watered in dry weather. The swollen stem is what is eaten and if eating it raw in salads it needs to be picked before it gets too large and woody, ideally about the size of a tennis ball.
PICK ASPARAGUS PEAS
For something a little different on your dinner plate have a go with asparagus peas. A member of the legume family, the plants produce very pretty, red flowers that develop into triangular shaped pods that have a delicate flavour and resemble asparagus, hence its name. The whole pod is eaten and you need to pick them while they are still young and tender, otherwise they soon become tough and chewy!
FREEZE HERBS
We are very much in the herb season now and there’s plenty that can be harvested to eat fresh or dried. Many herbs also freeze very well and if you enjoy a summer glass of Pimms or a G&T, try dropping a few borage flowers into ice cubes. Fresh leaves from lemon verbena can also be frozen this way and when dropped into a drink they release their lemony flavour.
onthe v vegpatch HARVESTING BROAD BEANS
SOW NOW FOR AUTUMN VEG
Broad beans are in full swing now Thinking ahead to early autumn and some and the crop will be at its heaviest different veg, now is with long pods full of tasty beans. a good time to start At the start of the season we tend planning and sowing a to pick just enough pods at a time range of fast-maturing for boiling, but when we want to vegetables. Many pick a larger amount for freezing fast-growing types I simply cut the main stalks off such as 60-day 60 day at ground level. It’s t s then much broccoli, C Chinese cabbage, pak choi, Florence fennel easier to sit at a taable to and sp pinach can be sown through July and into pull off the pods than t August to mature in September and October it is to bend over to fill the gap between summer and winter the plant in the vveg. The majority can be sown directly into garden. It also prepared beds in shallow drills and when the means the roots seedlings are thinned they can be used in In hot weather when container are left in the salads. Alternatively, if the garden is full at grown plants such as tomatoes ground where the moment, start the plants off by sowing and peppers need plenty of the nitrogen in cell trays and when the seedlings are water, stand the pot in a saucer nodules will established in a few weeks, plant out and e and add some fresh water each help to feed the ke eep well watered. morning to keep the plants next crop to be moist all day. grown there. www.kitchengarden n.co.uk
SOW NOW Lettuce, salad leaves, dwarf beans, leaf beet, Chinese cabbage, radish, peas, carrots, onions, leeks, beetroot, chicory, sprouting broccoli, calabrese, cauliflower, kale, kohl rabi, spinach, parsley, courgettes, turnip, spring onions, pak choi and chard.
PLANT NOW Winter cabbage, Brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, savoy, calabrese, cauliflower, kohl rabi, runner beans, French beans, courgette, marrow, squash, cucumber, sweetcorn, tomatoes, herbs, celery, leeks and lettuce.
HARVEST Peas, dwarf beans, summer cabbage, carrots, broad beans, spinach, globe artichokes, rhubarb, radish, lettuce, courgettes, salad leaves, spring onions, over-wintering onions, garlic, kohl rabi, rhubarb, herbs, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants.
JULY 2017 | 7
■ Basil likes warm growing conditions and young plants that have been raised in pots can be planted out into a sunny part of the garden where they should be fine.
START HARVESTING SOFT FRUIT
CHECK FOR PESTS
Soft fruit bushes once established and maintained will produce a good crop of fruit, and d by planting a selection of different types you can extend the season over several weeks. Home-grown soft fruit that’s allowed to fully ripen on the bush has much more flavour and is sweeter than shop-bought fruits. Where the crop is heavy, prop up the branches to prevent them from breaking before you harvest.
Woolly aphid can be a serious pest on fruit trees, especially apples. In mid-summer the pest is at its most active and eassy to spot by the e white waxy co overing that protects the small brown aphidss beneath. The aphids feed by suck king sap th hrough h the bark and this can lead to problems including canker, which can girdle a branch and cause dieback. Control isn’t easy as very often the aphids are hidden in deep cracks in the bark, but they also attack young trees and set up colonies on smooth bark. If you spot them on a young tree, it’s important to control them before they become too established. Some contact sprays including organic insecticides containing fatty acids and plant extracts will help to control them. Alternatively, I find a strong jet of water is effective at blasting them off the tree.
SUMMER PRUNING
■ Continue to earth-up main crop potatoes as the stems grow. To make this a little easier, use a three-tined drag to loosen the soil between the rows and then use a draw hoe to pull the soil up to form the ridges.
■ To keep runner beans growing and fruiting, water along the rows to thoroughly moisten the soil and then apply a good thick mulch of grass clippings around the base of the plants to seal in moisture.
■ Courgettes can start to run out of steam by mid-summer, so feed them once a week with a high-potash liquid fertiliser to keep them growing and more importantly producing new fruits.
■ When you’ve finished picking strawberries, trim back all the old foliage. This tidies up the plant, removes any pests and diseases and encourages a new growth.
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Once you have picked your blackcurrants, gooseberries, red and white currants you can carry out some summer pruning, which helps to keep the bushes in good condition and to prevent them growing too large. With blackcurrants try to prune out as much of the older wood that has fruited as low down the bush as possible. Gooseberries and other currants can have their long new shoots pruned back by half or two-thirds.
CHERRIES There is nothing nicer than a fresh, ripe cherry picked straight from the garden. The trees are hardy and reasonably easy to grow and, as well as providing delicious fruits, they have very attractive spring blossom. The main problem that you are likely to encounter is birds, and unless you protect the ripening fruits, blackbirds and starlings will strip them as soon as they start to ripen. When it comes to choosing a cherry tree, there are two main types, sweet and acid. Sweet as its name suggests produces sweet fruits that can be eaten straight from the tree. These prefer a warm position to allow the fruits to ripen. The other type is acid cherries and these are mainly used for preserving and cooking because they are not as sweet. These can be grown in cooler conditions and traditionally are grown on a north-facing wall as a fan. There are lots of varieties of cherry to choose from and when you see pictures of ripe, plump cherries in
catalogues, they are very inviting. All need pollinating and many of the older varieties need a compatible tree nearby that is in flower at the same time. Fortunately, there are also some excellent self-fertile cherries that do not need another tree to pollinate them. For sweet cherries try ‘Sunburst’, ‘Stella’ and ‘Lapins’, and for acid cherries ‘Morello’ and ‘Nabella’ are good choices. An easy way to grow cherries is to fan them on a fence or wall. This allows you to control their vigour
and it makes it easier to protect them from birds. Blossom and fruit is produced on two- and three-year-old wood and when training as a fan the aim is to get a system of branches against the wall. Pruning is only done in summer and long new growths should be pruned back through the summer to maintain the shape and encourage spurs. Immediately after fruiting, some of the old wood can be thinned out and new shoots tied in to fruit next year.
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JULY 2017 | 9
■ Start sowing for winter crops this month. More can be sown until October, but July sowings ensure some plentiful autumn, winter and early spring harvests. ■ Sow Swiss chard, spring cabbage, Florence fennel and parsley, in pots, or deep trays, and plant out when other crops clear.
WATER TO SUIT EACH PLANT
■ Sow spinach, pak choi, beetroot, oriental leaves and winter turnips in drills in situ.
Damp down paths on hot days to help lower temperatures. Cucumbers, melons, courgettes and pumpkins all like a spray over the leaves as well. Don’t wet leaves on peppers, tomatoes, beans and aubergines unless plants show signs of red spider mite.
INTHE GREENHOUSE TIPS FROM A SMALL L GREENHOUSE ■ Nip out the tops of tomato plants when they reach the roof and four or five trusses are set. Remove lower leaves too and make sure fruits dangle away from the walls. ■ Sow some greens, such as spinach and chard, for winter use. Start these in pots in any space that you can and protect from slugs. Plants can go into spaces left in a few weeks’ time, when heads of lettuce etc are removed. ■ Keep picking basil if you have grown this herb in the greenhouse. Keep soil barely damp if you are growing basil in pots.
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■ Compost dries out fast in growbags. Remember to water every day, or get someone to do it for you if you are heading away on holiday in a hot dry month. ■ Remove any plant that looks as if it is ailing and won’t produce a worthwhile crop. Replace it with something new like French beans, fennel or a row of rocket: there isn’t room to nurse sick plants in a small greenhouse.
WITH JOYCE RUSSELL Pictures by Ben Russell
J
uly is a gloriously productive month in the greenhouse. All those tiny tomato plants have grown into strapping adults and are producing delicious and fragrant fruits; peppers are swelling, cucumbers are ridiculously abundant, there are enough beans to fill a freezer, and that’s before we mention sweetcorn, melons or courgettes. Keep up with the harvest and enjoy the taste of the freshest vegetables and fruits, but be vigilant too: this is a month when pests and diseases should be thwarted before they gain a hold.
JOBS THIS MONTH
STRAWBERRY RUNNERS Strawberry pots should be moved outdoors when they finish fruiting. Keep them watered and weeded and some plants will produce long shoots with a tiny new plant at the end of each one. New fruiting plants can be grown from these runners, but only use ones from plants that have cropped well. These new young plants can be grown on to replace older and less productive ones. Use a staple to peg each runner down, so the small plant sits on top of a pot of fresh compost. When the roots are established, the stem can be cut. Some runners produce two or more small plants, but the first one is the strongest. If there are plenty, then discard the second small plant on any runner.
FIERY PEPPERS Chillies are often the first peppers to ripen and plants look stunning when covered with small bright fruits. Peppers usually crop earlier and better in the slightly drier conditions of a glass greenhouse than they do in a polythene one. Remember that more exposure to sun can lead to hotter chillies and also that fruits on the same plant can have different levels of heat. Play it safe and test before using raw or in cooking.
■ Check plants daily and deal with problems early ■ Good watering and ventilation are vital in the summer months; get these right and you are well on the way to healthy harvests ■ Make sowings now for autumn and winter crops ■ Use a liquid feed every seven to 10 days on any plant that is swelling a crop; choose a high-potash one for tomatoes and peppers
BLIGHT
SWEETCORN POLLINATION Plants can be two metres tall at this point with male tassels at the top and female silks part way up the stem. Think of outdoor plants stirred by the wind and give greenhouse plants a gentle shake each day. This allows pollen to fall from the tassels down on to the silks. A fully fertilised cob swells packed rows of kernels. Incomplete pollination can lead to a disappointing scatter of kernels in the cob.
TOPJOBS FORJULY
TOMATO CARE Keep tying stems to supports as plants grow. It’s better to have too many ties than have the stem break under the weight of heavy trusses of fruit. Nip out sideshoots and check round the base of plants for rogue shoots too. Remove some lower leaves to let light and air reach ripening fruit. Remove any discoloured leaves or those that show signs of disease. Feed plants every 10 days if in the border soil and every week if in growbags or pots. Harvest ripe tomatoes and enjoy the different sized, shaped and coloured fruit.
Early blight can be a problem in a warm, humid July. Spores are blown over long distances and even new gardens can be affected. Outdoor potatoes usually show the first signs, but spores can spread through open doors to affect greenhouse tomatoes. If blight was present in previous years, or if contaminated seed was used to raise new plants, then there is a higher chance of the disease appearing. Keep foliage dry, don’t crowd plants, let air circulate to avoid muggy conditions, pick off any leaves that show signs of disease and destroy these as soon as you spot them. You can’t always beat blight but you can do your b t to best t limit li it the th problem.
FABULOUS FRUIT Fig trees fruit best when grown in a relatively poor soil, provided they get some water and plenty of sun. Roots should be restricted, either by growing in a large container, or by making a contained space in the ground. If roots can stretch out they will soon roam the greenhouse border, soaking up nutrients and sprouting leaves at the expense of fruitlets.
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Don’t starve the plant, however, and do feed a little every year or two if the tree bears lots of fruit. Greenhouse figs ripen earlier than outdoor fruit. They can also be sweeter and are less likely to split in a wet summer. A small tree can easily bear 80 fruits. Remove any small figlets that are larger than a pea if these are still attached in early winter.
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SHOW GIVES IT SOME WELLY As part of the HortCouture theme at the Spring Harrogate Flower show this year a gardening item of clothing – the welly – was featured throughout the showground. There was a competition for the best dressed wellies and many exhibitors took part, including Kitchen Garden magazine. We had a rather fetching pair of ‘leeky’ wellies, sporting a hole with compost spilling out and planted up with two handsome leeks. We didn’t win with our wellies – that
award went to a fine chainsaw carving of a tall tree of wellies called The Giant Wellington-ia Tree by Wood Actually (www.woodactually.co.uk). There was also a wonderful veggie-themed pair of wellies on the National Vegetable Society stand. They took third for their tomato, herb and cauli wellies. The NVS ladies had a rather painstaking job of sticking cocktail sticks topped with cherry tomatoes through the holes which just kept s sealing up!
CRUELTY TO CUCUMBERS Cucumbers used to be spelt and pronounced ‘cowcumbers’ and was not an edible that went down well with everyone. According to Dr Johnson, the 18th century essayist, biographer and general wit about town: “A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.” Now that’s harsh!
Thrive is a national charity which uses gardening to help people who have a disability or mental ill health, or those who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable. This year the charity will be opening its gardens near Reading over three weekday afternoons between 2pm and 4pm. The dates are Thursday, July 27, Tuesday, August 15 and Wednesday, September 20. Client gardeners will show visitors their
individual garden plots and other areas of interest such as the pond, cottage garden, secret garden and the five disability show gardens. These will include the 2010 gold medal winning garden which was created according to Thrive design principles for people with disabilities by Jo Thompson. Entrance is free, but donations are very welcome and there will be plenty of refreshments on offer,
including homemade cakes. Garden tours led by horticultural therapists and clients will be running every afternoon and there will be the chance to buy Thrive merchandise, produce and plants. For more information visit: www.thrive.org.uk and www.carryongardening.org.uk
DO YOU HAVE SOME HOT STORIES FOR OUR NEWS PAGES? SEND THEM TO TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK 12 | JULY 2017
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