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DOWN-TO-EARTH ADVICE FOR GROWING FRUIT & VEG
LOVE O VEG
BIG CROPS FOR TINY PLOTS VEGGIES FROM A JAM JAR
PREPARE FOR SPRING 3 pages of essential top tips
“Why home grown is best”
EDITOR’S LETTER
WELCOME It may still be too chilly to sow outside in February, but there is certainly no need to be twiddling your thumbs. Outside, providing the ground isn’t actually frozen or snow-capped, you can continue the big spring prep of the soil, manuring, liming, digging and warming with cloches. If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse or a polytunnel then, as you’ll see on Joyce Russell’s greenhouse growing pages starting on page 10, you can be busy even if the weather outdoors is rather forbidding. If you still can’t quite bring yourself to venture outside, why not get growing indoors instead by making a mini plot on the windowsill? Turn to page 60 to find out how you can grow 18 of the quickest, yet most nutritious crops possible for very little cost. We have features on increasing your yields, no matter how small your space, as well as growing guides for tomatoes, parsnips and gages. But if all that sounds like hard work, simply turn to page 80, take a deep breath and relax!
Fancy a curry? Turn to p50 and grow your own!
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Steve Ott, editor Contact me at: sott@mortons.co.uk | 01507 529396 Find us at www.kitchengarden.co.uk Contact subscriptions: 01507 529529
@GrowWithKG
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CHECK OUT OUR GREAT GIVEAWAYS AT WWW.KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK www.kitchengarden.co.uk
FEBRUARY 2018 | 3
CONTENTS
EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
40
32
✪ ON THE COVER
YOU
@GrowWithKG
YOUR PLOT
KitchenGardenUK
6 ON THE VEG PATCH
KitchenGardenMag
Plant strawberries in hanging pots, lime the soil, thin apple spurs
10 IN THE GREENHOUSE
@GrowWithKG
Pot on aubergines, boost overwintering veg and install a potting bench
/kitchengardenmagazine FOR OUR CONTACT DETAILS TURN TO PAGE 15
12 WHAT’S NEW? The latest news, comment and advice from the world of kitchen gardening
14 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS
102 LAST WORD ✪
Learn what other KG readers have been up to and pick up some great first-hand advice
We welcome chef and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to the pages of KG.
20 KG PROBLEM SOLVER
Some of the highlights to be found in your March issue plus news of great free gifts
Your questions answered plus solutions to your fruit and veg problems. This month: tomatoes
NEVER MISS AN ISSUE...
£20
ON PAGE 24
32 PASSIONATE PLOTTER 2017 Meet runner-up Frances Stearman from Twickenham, South West London
68 GROWING ONLINE A roundup of more of the best websites, blogs and social media posts
HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE?
96 DIARY DATES
Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month
Make a note to visit a potato day or book yourself on to a course
4 | FEBRUARY 2018
80 106 NEXT MONTH
60
FEBRUARY 2018
98 Scan this, and we’ll tell you!
RECIPES This month cookery expert Anna Pettigrew turns the spotlight on carrots, leeks and cauliflower✪
Pg 98
84 GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS
45
18
The Muds open their latest delivery to find just what they need to make a delicious Thai green curry
56 GROWING GUIDE TO PARSNIPS ✪
18 FLOWERS FOR YOUR PATCH
We explain how to extend and improve your harvest of these delicious roots
KG’s deputy editor Emma Rawlings turns on the sunshine with sunflowers
60 GET SET, SPROUT! ✪
22 INSTANT SAVERS
Gardening writer Gaby Bartai brings you the steps to produce your own four-day crops
This month make some great savings on plant protection products, weeders and food dryers
65 TOP 10 WAYS TO BOOST YOUR HARVESTS ✪
78 GARDEN STORE
26 SMALL PLOT? MAKE THE MOST OF IT! ✪ KG regular Sue Stickland explains what to grow to maximise yields in small spaces
36 TONIC FOR THE GARDENING TROOPS Food expert Tanita de Ruijt reveals her favourite home-made health tonics
40 TOP TOMATOES ✪ Like to improve your tomato crop this summer? Expert Rob Smith shows you how
45 GARDENING FOR BIODIVERSITY
KG’s deputy editor Emma Rawlings offers some easy ways to increase your yields in 2018
More great new products and services to make your growing season the best ever
70 SPRING INTO ACTION ✪
88 TRIED AND TESTED – MINI GREENHOUSES
Advice to help get your plot into tip-top condition in preparation for the season ahead
We try out some products for those with limited space
74 ENGAGE WITH GAGES
92 GREAT READER OFFERS ✪
Expert David Patch turns his attention to a fruit that should be more widely grown
Claim your free* raspberry canes worth £12.95 plus save on delicious soft fruit such as strawberries, blueberries and blackberries (* just pay p&p)
80 GARDENING FOR RELAXATION
Permaculture expert Julie Moore explains why biodiversity is so important
Learn how gardening can improve your well-being and your sleep
50 GROW YOUR OWN CURRY ✪
84 MAKE AN ELEGANT OBELISK
Ben Vanheems shows you how to grow your own curry ingredients
Practical gardener and writer Joyce Russell has a simple plan for high-rise crops
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WHAT TO BUY
94 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £1325 This month you could win gardening togs, welly socks, instant gardens and kids' growing kits FEBRUARY 2018 | 5
TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH IN FEBRUARY BY MARTIN FISH SPREAD COMPOST When you get a little spare time on the plot, start to dig out well-rotted compost from the compost heap or bin and tip it around the garden in piles where needed. If the ground is frozen hard, all the better to prevent making a mess.
WASH POTS AND TRAYS It’s always good to start the growing season with clean pots and trays, so when it’s too cold or wet to garden, spend a little time in the shed with a bucket of warm, soapy water and give your plant pots and seed trays a good wash.
CHIT POTATOES When you buy or take delivery of early varieties of seed potatoes, start to ‘chit’ them straight away to prepare them for planting in several weeks’ time. Light and cool conditions are ideal to encourage short, stocky growth.
HEEL IN FRUIT BUSHES It’s fairly quiet in the garden at the moment. Take advantage g of this and do a little advvanced anced preparation by writing ou utt plant labels of the vegetable es you are intending to gro ow w this year.
Fruit trees and bushes that were planted in the autumn or over winter can be checked to make sure the roots haven’t been loosened in frosty weather. If the soil is soft or the roots have been heaved out, firm them with the heel of your boot.
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JOBS FOR THE MONTH
STRAWBERRIES IN HANGING POTS
STEP 1: I’ve been growing strawberries in hanging pots for several years with great success and now is a good time to pot up young plants to produce a crop this summer. For healthy growth always use a good compost. I mix two-thirds multi-purpose and one-third John Innes together and to supply plenty of nutrients to the plants all summer long, I also add in a little slow-release fertiliser.
STEP 2: In a 25cm (10in) container I plant three strawberries. These are runners rooted late last summer that have been grown in cell trays, but nurseries may still have bare-root plants for sale or pot-grown runners. Plant around the edge of the basket making sure the crown (large central growth bud) is at compost level. Too deep and it can rot and too shallow, the plants will rock around.
STEP 3: Once planted and the compost lightly firmed, give the plants a water to settle their roots and the compost. Although hardy, keep the plants in a sheltered part of the garden, or better still stand them in a cold frame, cold greenhouse or polytunnel while the roots establish. Keep the compost moist and in April, hang them out, or keep them undercover for an early crop of delicious strawberries.
SOW NOW
Onions, lettuce, salad leaves, broad beans, early peas and carrots under cloches.
LIME THE BRASSICA PLOT If you practice crop rotation, the plot where you are intending to grow brassicas can be treated with garden lime to raise the pH slightly. All brassicas prefer an alkaline soil (pH7) and even on my neutral soil I always add a little extra lime to the plot. Not only does the lime create the correct soil conditions, it also can help against soil-borne diseases such as clubroot which can be a serious problem on brassicas, especially in acid soil conditions. I sprinkle two or three handfuls per square metre, and allow the rain to slowly wash it down into the soil. If in doubt, carry out a soil pH test before applying. www.kitchengarden.co.uk
C CLOCHES TO WARM SOIL There is a lot of folklore in gardening and one old saying warns that “As the day lengthens, so the cold strengthens”. That’s often true in February, which can sometimes be a cold month, so don’t rush into planting and sowing too early! What you can
do now to help warm up the soil for when you do want to start growing is cover an area with cloches. They will keep the rain off, allowing already wet soil to dry out a little and warm up a degree or two. It also means that when you do start sowing, the soil will be friable and easy to rake down to a seed bed.
PLANT NOW
Soft fruit bushes, cane fruit and fruit trees, garlic, rhubarb, Jerusalem artichokes, shallots.
HARVEST
Brussels sprouts, winter cauliflower, kale, savoy, winter cabbage, leeks, celeriac, Swiss chard, swede, Jerusalem artichokes, spinach, parsnips.
IN STORE
Apples, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, onions, shallots. FEBRUARY 2018 | 7
GET GROWING
■ Feed spring cabbages with a little nitro-chalk, sprinkling it around the plants and working it in with a hoe. This will give them a boost in growth when the weather warms up.
THIN FRUITING SPURS ON APPLES A great way to grow apples where there isn’t much space is to train them as cordons, espaliers or as a step-over. This way you can grow several varieties in a small area and I think these trained forms also look very decorative. Pruning trained trees
is simple and most of o the pruning is done in late summer by cutting the current season’s growth back to the establish hed framework of branch hes to create short fruiting spurs. This is done every year to keep the tree in its trained shape, but after several years, the clusters of spurs get a little longer each year and they can become crowded and congested. This is now happening
on the step-overs in my veg plot so it’s time to thin out and reduce the length of them by simply cutting out and shortening some of the established spurs to allow more space between them.
CHECK HERBS IN THE COLD FRAME I always pop my pot-grown perennial herbs into a cold frame over winter for a little protection. Most are hardy, but the frame keeps off excessive wet, which most herbs don’t like. The light is left open most of the time to allow plenty of air to them. As rain can’t get to them, I check them occasionally and if the compost is drying out, I’ll give them a drop!
RE-TIE CHERRY BRANCHES TO WIRES ■ Prune down autumn fruiting raspberries to ground level and tidy along the row, removing any weeds.
■ Carry on pruning apple trees while they are still dormant. Don’t worry if it’s cold, they will be fine and come to no harm.
■ In mild areas you could sow broad beans directly into the garden, but I always prefer to start the plants off in cell trays of compost. Once sown, they can be stood in a cold frame or greenhouse to germinate.
■ Feed around the base of established fruit trees such as apples, pears, plums and damsons with a few handfuls of sulphate of potash. This helps with fruit development through the summer.
8 | FEBRUARY 2018
Check over trained fruit trees and bushes to make sure they are securely tied to their support wires. I’ve tended to use garden twine in the past which after a couple of season rots and needs replacing. I’ve recently discovered a rubber, stretchy string that is very tough, will last for many years and it also expands as the branch grows, so I’m using it to replace the string.
PLANT RASPBERRY CANES We’ll soon be at the end of the bare-root planting season, but there is still time to plant raspberry canes over the next month. Nurseries, garden centres and mail-order companies should still have canes available, but you’ll need to get them as soon as you can. When it comes to planting, summer and autumn fruiting raspberries are treated exactly the same way. They also both need the same growing conditions which are a well-drained, moisture-retentive soil and a sunny position. As for varieties, there are some really good ones that
will produce good crops of sweet fruits. For summer berries try ‘Malling Juno’, ‘Glen Ample’ or ‘Glen Fyne’ and for autumn fruiting ‘Joan J’, ‘Polka’ or ‘Autumn Treasure’. All are very good, modern varieties that crop well. If you are replacing old plants, you will need to plant on a fresh area of ground where raspberries haven’t been grown for a few years. When planting, ground preparation is important. The area needs to have been dug over and all perennial roots removed. Mix in plenty of organic matter in the form of garden compost or well-
rotted manure to improve the soil and help to get them off to a good start. I dig a trench the width and depth of the spade in the prepared ground along a string line to keep the row straight. Plant the canes about 35-45cm (14-18in) apart in a single row. Make sure when back-filling with soil that you plant to the same level they were grown in n the nursery. You can usually see a soil mark immediately above the top of the fibrous root system. Firm the soil around the roots and when all planted, prunee the canes down to a bud d as close to ground level as
possible. This pruning is the same for both summer and autumn varieties. The plants soon establish a root system and when the weather warms up, new, healthy shoots will appear above soil level and that’s when I feed with a general fertiliser to promote growth.
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WITH JOYCE RUSSELL Pictures by Ben Russell
A NEW GREENHOUSE ■ Wash glass and polythene to allow maximum light inside the structure
■ Sow some leeks, beetroot and celeriac in cells for growing on outdoors
■ Check that propagators maintain a steady heat before relying on them to raise plants
■ Prick out and pot on, so seedlings never suffer from crowded roots
■ Sow tomatoes and peppers at the end of the month
■ Plant a few early potatoes at the beginning of the month
■ Sow spinach and salad leaves directly in drills
■ Provide support for peas and beans
10 | FEBRUARY 2018
■ Consider where the greenhouse will fit in your garden. Avoid shady spots or where tree roots can grow to sap the soil of nutrients. Ideally, there should be a water supply nearby and a power point may be useful too.
■ Allow enough room for a path right around the outside: access is vital when it comes to maintenance. Then it’s time to stand in the house and look out at the view. If the greenhouse is in direct line of sight, then it is worth paying a little more for something that looks attractive and may even enhance the view. ■ If strong winds are a problem where you live, then choose a sheltered site for a polytunnel, even if you compromise a little on light. Or consider a lean-to structure braced against a wall: this acts as a heat sink and can help extend the growing season. www.kitchengarden.co.uk
JOBS THIS MONTH
GREENHOUSE GADGETS: A POTTING BENCH Choose a bench at a suitable height for you to use without bending. It doesn’t have to be big, but make sure there are sides to stop compost from spilling. A plastic, or aluminium, tray is light and easy to clean: brush out old compost at the end of each potting session. Look for extras like a place to store pots, or a place to fit a bag of compost. Some benches have places for labels and pens and others have a sieve or mesh base for sifting fine compost. Take a look at what is available. There are online sites like twowests.co.uk that offer a few options.
■ Cover heated propagators with a warm blanket, or similar, on cold nights. This keeps electricity bills down and reduces temperature swings for seedlings. ■ Remove any mouldy or discoloured leaves as soon as you notice them. The colour won’t improve and spores may spread to other plants.
PROPAGATION TECHNIQUES
WARMER SOIL
■ Use good compost and clean pots for the best results. Garden compost works for large seeds and weed growth is kept down if you scatter a layer of sterilised compost on top.
Lay a layer of black polythene over empty beds. This helps the ground underneath to warm up more quickly than if left uncovered. You can put manure or compost underneath and plant directly through holes cut in the polythene, but slugs and snails like to hide underneath and, although the cover keeps moisture in the soil, it can be hard to get water through an impermeable layer to where it is needed.
■ Check seed packets for planting depths and err on the side of less-rather-than-more depth when starting seed in pots. Keep compost damp, but not soggy: seed will rot if too wet.
GIVE A NUTRIENT BOOST Crops that have stood through the winter are all ready to put on a growth spurt. They respond to the lengthening days and a bit of warmth on any sunny day. A boost of extra nutrients now can work miracles. The best way to deliver this down to the roots is to use a liquid feed. Dilute according to instructions if using a commercial product, or aim for the colour of tea if you have made your own brew. Spring cabbage, lettuce, peas and beans will all benefit from this treatment. They often put on a spurt and grow tender, sweeter leaves. Spring onions and garlic can reach full potential if given a high-potash feed now.
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■ Don’t use too many seeds in a pot. Roots can be hard to tease apart and seedlings can be leggy when they are crowded. Any halt to growth can affect the productivity of the full-grown plant. ■ Check germination temperatures too. A couple of degrees either side is usually fine: it is better to go a little too cool than too hot.
■ Remove any plants that have finished cropping or have gone to seed. You can put any usable leaves from salad in a bag in the fridge and use them over the next week or so. Cleared beds are all ready for the new season’s sowings to begin. ■ Salad leaves produce plenty of pickings in trays. This frees up the border for other crops and they take up less room in a small greenhouse. ■ You can sow melons and cucumbers in February, but you’ll have better success if you wait until March.
POT ON AUBERGINES Seed sown last month should have produced sturdy young seedlings by now. It’s time to move each one into an 8cm (3in) pot and while you are doing this, drop any long stems a little deeper into the compost. This helps avoid tall spindly plants. Water each transplant in and keep plants at 20C (68F) in order for them to keep growing well. Remember to label each plant – it’s easy to forget when different varieties look the same.
■ Compost can develop a green layer on the surface after a cold and damp winter. Break this up by scuffling with a hoe in borders, or use your fingers if it happens in large pots.
NOT JUST GREENS!
■ Keep containers of bulbs indoors until they are almost ready to flower. Plants aren’t battered by wind and rain and stems tend to stay upright.
Harvests can have a distinct green theme at this time of year. Not that this is a bad thing, but it is worth making a note to buy seed to sow in the summer that can ring the changes a little next year. Bright coloured chard, Florence fennel, and lovely red and golden mustard greens can all provide somee different colours and flavours for thee February harvest. Try to cut stems cleanly when harvesting and even fennel can produce new shoots. FEBRUARY 2018 | 11
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WHAT’S NEW? ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING
HAPPY DAYS!
PICTURE PERFECT
Pictures paint a thousand words, they say – and none more so than in this beautifully designed book all about growing. Written by RHS expert Guy Barter and lavishly illustrated by Sam Falconer, FLORA offers a graphic guide to growing. This is not, however, a case of style over substance. There’s plenty of very useful information in this book that will be of value to the seasoned gardener as much as the gardening newbie. So, find sections on planning, planting, vegetables and herbs, fruit and vines and many of the practicalities that growing involves – soil care and compost making, for example. And it’s not just about edibles – there’s guidance on lawns, hedges, wild flowers, climbers, shrubs, trees, water planting and more. So if you’re looking for a book that appeals to the eye as much as to the brain with its pleasing balance of text and illustration, this book won’t disappoint. FLORA: The Graphic Book of the Garden (Hardback) is published by Aurum Press at £25.
Tomato blight is pretty devastating, seeing your lovely produce turn rotten before your very eyes. Fortunately, there are blightresistant varieties available such as ‘Crimson Crush F1’, ‘Mountain Magic F1’ and ‘Losetto’. Now seed company Thompson & Morgan are offering a new variety called ‘Oh Happy Day F1’, a cross between a very blight-resistant North American line and a French marmande type. The round, 150g tomatoes grow in clusters of 3-7 fruits which T & M say ‘have a superb taste balance of acidity and sweetness’. Colin Randel, Thompson & Morgan’s vegetable expert, said: “The high, late blight resistance of ‘Oh Happy Day F1’ meanss that these outdoorgro own tomatoes will have lo onger to ripen to their full potential and to provide the superb flavour that only comes with sunkissed, outdoor-grown tomatoes.” £2.99 for 8 seeds. Available from www. A thompson-morgan.com Research carried out by garden furniture f specialists BillyOh.com has revealed l d that th t UK gardeners will spend the equivalent of more than three years of their working lives maintaining their gardens. The survey took into account regular tasks as well as the one-off jobs homeowners tend to complete just once or twice a year, such as painting sheds and fences, mowing the lawn, raking leaves and cleaning the patio.
FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND DIABETES
ASPARAGUS AVEC AMOUR If you’re looking to enhance that romantic feeling come February 14, why not serve up some asparagus? In The Perfumed Garden, a guide to the art of love-making written in the 12th century, the Arabic writer suggests a daily diet of asparagus will act as a stimulant to amorous desires. So there you go. And if it doesn’t work, well, just love the taste!
A study of over 64,000 middle-aged women carried out by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research has found that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables can reduce the risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 25%. Diabetes 2 is the one that is linked to lifestyle choices and is therefore often preventable. The study concluded that the antioxidants found in certain food and drink may have an important role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes in middle-aged women. Drinking tea was also found to be beneficial.
DO YOU HAVE SOME HOT STORIES FOR OUR NEWS PAGES? SEND THEM TO TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK 12 | FEBRUARY 2018
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