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DOWN-TO-EARTH ADVICE FOR GROWING FRUIT & VEG
GROW PEAR! What's in store? FILL YOUR LARDER FOR FREE IN 2018
How-to guides for spuds, chillies, celery & yacons
DIY TIPPLES TO GET THE PARTY STARTED
cold frame & gutter garden
MEET THE YOUNG PLOTTERS SAVINGS ON GREAT PRODUCTS
EDITOR’S LETTER
WELCOME Welcome to a wonderful new year of growing your own fruit and veg. What could be more exciting than the prospect of a new season ahead and all those seed packets to open and sow, with bumper crops to follow later in 2018. In this packed issue we have plenty of food for thought and top advice from our team of experts to get your gardening year off to the best possible start. Ben Vanheems helps you to plan what to sow from now onwards to fill your larder come next autumn, while expert allotment gardener Rob Smith offers top tips on how to grow chillies. Our resident fruit guru David Patch recommends some wonderful pear varieties for your plot, while potato-heads will want to read gardening writer Holly Farrell’s advice on growing great spuds and visiting a potato day to pick up some tubers. Fancy a challenge? Then I offer my advice on growing that salad staple – celery – showing, I hope, that it isn’t as difficult to grow succulent sticks as you may have thought.
Turn to page 52 for advice on planting a new fruit tree
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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
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JANUARY 2018 | 3
CONTENTS
EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
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32
✪ ON THE COVER
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YOUR PLOT
KitchenGardenUK
6 ON THE VEG PATCH ✪
KitchenGardenMag
Harvest kale, sow onions, prune redcurrants and apples, check stored fruit, plan your crop rotation
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10 IN THE GREENHOUSE
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Plant early potatoes, sow peppers and leafy salads, install gutters, prune grapes, sow carrots in containers
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
20 QUESTION TIME
NEVER MISS AN ISSUE...
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Our panel of leading experts from the industry solve your gardening problems
32 PASSIONATE PLOTTER 2018 Meet our winners Denise and Virgil Teague and take a tour of their Belfast plot
ON PAGE 24
90 DIARY DATES See what’s on in your neck of the woods and make a note to visit a potato day or book yourself on a course
98 LAST WORD KG’s team of writers reveal their new year resolutions for better results on the veg plot in 2018
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80 GROWING ONLINE Our pick of gardening social media and websites
HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE?
81 NEXT MONTH
Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month
Some of the highlights to be found in your February issue plus news of great free gifts
4 | JANUARY 2018
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JANUARY 2018
92 Scan this, and we’ll tell you!
RECIPES
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Chef Anna Pettigrew has some delicious dishes using freshpicked kale, potatoes and sprouts ✪
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GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS This month our intrepid trio plant broad beans, try radish seed pods and prepare soil
18 NEW VARIETY ON TRIAL
54 MAKE A GUTTER GARDEN ✪
KG's Tony Flanagan reveals his experiences with new mini watermelon ‘Little Darling’
KG regular Joyce Russell explains how to create a simple gutter garden that can help you make the most of vertical growing space
22 FLOWERS ON YOUR PATCH In our new series spotlighting great cut flowers and companion plants we turn our attention to cosmos
26 THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT AT BRYMORE ✪
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58 ROOTING FOR YACONS ✪ Yacons are productive and nutritious raw or cooked. Sally Cunningham gives you the lowdown on successful cropping
WHAT TO BUY
60 PICK THE PERFECT PEAR ✪
48 INSTANT SAVERS ✪
Gardening writer Steve Neal visits a boys’ school in Somerset where horticulture is very much on the curriculum
Fruit expert and professional nurseryman David Patch reveals his top five favourite pears of all time
This month make some great savings on courses, seeds, tools and other essentials
36 BURIED TREASURE ✪
64 TAKE THE CELERY CHALLENGE ✪
76 TRIED AND TESTED – ESSENTIAL SOWING KIT
Gardening writer Holly Farrell explains how to grow the best potatoes and visits one of many potato days held this month
KG editor, Steve Ott, explains how to get the best from this sometimes tricky, but popular, salad ingredient
This month we try out some products designed to make your sowing season a success
40 CHOICE CHILLIES ✪
67 WHAT’S IN STORE? ✪
82 GREAT READER OFFERS ✪
Veg expert, writer and blogger Rob Smith loves to grow chillies. Here he reveals his favourite varieties and how to grow them
Organic veg grower Ben Vanheems encourages us to plan ahead; sowing now to fill the store cupboard in 2018
Claim your free* onion sets and fertiliser worth £13.85 (*just pay p&p), plus save on onion sets, garlic and potatoes
44 PRODUCTION LINE PERFECTION
70 MAKE A COLD FRAME ✪
84 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £2043 ✪
Writer and broadcaster Martin Fish visits a high-tech nursery in North Yorkshire that produces perfect young plants for our plots
49 FRUIT TREE CHOICE Permaculture pioneer Patrick Whitefield offers his advice on choosing fruit trees www.kitchengarden.co.uk
Martin Fish brings us another practical project, this time home-made frost protection for your early sowings
73 WINTER WARMING DRINKS ✪ Our resident chef Anna Pettigrew brings us a selection of drinks using some home-grown ingredients to give you a warm glow
This month you could win a metal storage shed, seed collections, wellies, wormeries, rock dust and tools
86 GARDEN STORE More great new products and services to make your growing season the best ever JANUARY 2018 | 5
JOBS TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH IN JANUARY BY MARTIN FISH
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STOCK UP ON FERTILISERS Before spring, check what dried fertilisers you have in the shed, such as Growmore, pellets, blood, fish and bone and work out if you’ll have enough for the coming season. If not get stocked up, so that come the growing season you’ll be prepared.
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ORDER SEED POTATOES If you buy your seed potatoes by mail order, get your order in as soon as possible to make sure you can get the varieties that you want. Alternatively, if you buy from a local garden centre or nursery, give them a call to ask when they’ll be in.
PICK KALE LEAVES One of the hardiest of winter veg is the Tuscan or black kale. It's a very tasty leaf vegetable and is packed full of goodness. Picking it is very simple and it only takes a few minutes to pull off enough leaves for a meal.
CHECK GREASE BANDS If you fitted grease bands around your fruit trees in autumn to prevent the wingless females of the winter moth from climbing the trunk to lay eggs, check the bands now and change for fresh bands, or apply some fresh grease if they are drying out.
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JOBS FOR THE MONTH
SOWING ONIONS STEP 1: For good germination, use either a John Innes compost or mix half and half John Innes and a decent quality multi-purpose. Over-fill the tray with compost, strike it off level with the top of the tray and then use a presser board to gently firm the compost down about 10mm (½in) from the top of the tray. What we want is a level, even, lightly firmed surface.
REMOVE DEAD LEAVES FROM LEEKS Leeks are a great winter vegetable to grow in the garden and it’s possible to have them in season from October through until May. Generally speaking, they are fairly easy to grow and being hardy they can remain outside in the garden all winter. At this time of the year when the leeks are ready to harvest it’s natural for the lower leaves to shrivel, either as a result of lack of light or fungal infection similar to grey mould. Although not harmful to the main plant, it’s a good idea to clear the old leaves from around the plants and dispose of them. This helps keep the leeks healthy and prevents diseases spreading.
STEP 2: Even sowing, not too thickly, is very important to get an even batch of quality seedlings that will all grow at the same rate. I prefer to sow the seeds straight from the packet, sowing evenly across the whole surface. Onion seeds are black and angular and difficult to see on the compost, but if you get down low and look across the compost you can see them.
STEP 3: Covering is just as important and whatever you use it needs to be an even thickness. If using compost use a fine sieve and cover with around 5mm (¼in) of compost. Alternatively, use vermiculite which is very easy to spread over the seeds. It’s very good at maintaining moisture around the seeds while they are germinating and the seedlings can push through without any problems.
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PLANT NOW Soft fruit bushes, cane fruit and fruit trees, garlic in pots, rhubarb.
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PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI One vegetable we always look forward to in March and April is purple sprouting broccoli. The tasty heads are full of flavour and come at a time when other winter veg is coming to an end, making them very welcome. From sowing to harvesting is almost a year, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth the wait. The plants can grow to be tall and very often they get top heavy and topple over and lay along the ground. To give them some support and keep them upright, use short, stout canes pushed into the soil at the side of the plants and tie them securely with soft string.
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SOW NOW Onions, lettuce and salad leaves, broad beans – all under cover in heat.
Brussels sprouts, kale, savoy, winter cabbage, leeks, winter cauliflower, celeriac, chard, swede, Jerusalem artichokes, spinach, parsnips.
IN STORE Apples, pears, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, squash, pumpkin, onions, shallots.
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GET GROWING
Prune redcurrants
NOTCHING STEP-OVERS ■ Carry on digging the veg plot when conditions are suitable. The golden rule is never dig in very wet conditions as it puddles the ground, or when it is frozen solid.
■ As the new seed catalogues arrive, spend a little time looking though them and decide what varieties you want to grow this year and get them ordered as soon as possible.
At the end of each bed in my veg plot I’m growing a step-over apple tree. They are all growing well, but on one of the trees there is a section of bare stem without any side branches and spurs. To encourage new growth in spring, I’m using and old method called ‘notching’ which involves taking out a sliver of wood immediately above a dormant bud. This is done with a small sharp knife and you need to completely remove a thin sliver of bark down to the hard wood below. This alters the flow of sap along the branch, by diverting it to the bud, which will hopefully grow and form a new side shoot. It’s an old technique that was often used by fruit growers when training fruit. The other form is known as ‘nicking’ and is where the sliver is removed below a bud to encourage fruit buds to develop.
■ Cold frames that are used to over winter plants or that will be needed in spring can be given a good wash down to clean the glass and wash off algae.
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APPLE TREE REE PRUNING Continue to prune apple trees, but don’t get carried away and prune out too much wood as this will simply encourage even more strong new growth in spring. Winter pruning should be structural to develop a good framework. Any crossing branches can be removed and if the centre of the tree is congested, thin it out a little. Tall vertical growth can be reduced to a lower, side-ways growing branch.
■ Check vegetables and fruit in store as by this time of the some of them will be starting to show signs of rot. Any that are spoiling need removing as using straight away.
■ On wet days when you can’t garden, give the shed a good sweep out and clean your tools to get them ready for spring.
Red and white currants can be summer and winter pruned. The aim when pruning is to develop an open framework ork of old wood from which grow lots l of sideshoots. The growth made last summer can bee shortened to form short fruiting spurs along the older stems. Any congested growth can also be thinned out slightly and tall vertical shoots reduced to keep the shrub in hand.
ROTATION SYSTEM I’m a great believer in crop rotation and practice it rigidly on my own plot. There are many benefits and it can certainly help to prevent a build-up of pests and diseases in the soil. With my rotation, each plot is composted or manured every other year which keeps the soil in good condition. I use a four-year rotation that consists of four beds, but if growing on a large plot or allotment, you can divide the area into four sections. My beds are used to grow legumes, rootcrops, onions and brassicas and the crops rotate clockwise a bed each year, meaning it’s four years before the same crops are grown in that bed again. For crops that don’t fit into my rotation such as salads, courgettes & sweetcorn, I simply plant them in one of the other beds where
there is space. The brassica bed follows on from legumes and they can take advantage of the nitrogen fixing nodules left in the soil from peas and beans. The bed is dug over in late winter, with no added compost or manure. After digging, garden lime is applied to maintain alkaline conditions and allowed to wash in naturally. General fertiliser such as Growmore or blood, fish and bone is applied before planting. Onions, including garlic, shallots and leeks follow on from the brassicas and take advantage of the lime residue. This bed is composted or manured when it’s dug and in spring it receives a dressing of general fertiliser to give the onions a good start. Root vegetables such as early potatoes, carrots, parsnips follow on from the onion bed. The soil is
dug over in winter and left until spring when it’s raked down and general fertiliser is applied a week or so before sowing or planting. No compost or manure is used in this bed.
The legume bed where I grow peas and beans follows roots and is dug in late winter, composted or manured and fertiliser is applied in spring to supply additional nutrients.
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A NEW GREENHOUSE This is a good time to start planning if you want a new greenhouse. There are lots available so make sure you get one that is right for you. A small greenhouse may be all that fits in the garden, or you may have space for a large polythene structure. Take your time – compare prices, strength of frames, and how long the cover material is likely to last. Are the walls upright or curved and will it be easy to fit raised beds, benches, or shelves? If you are handy with tools you may choose to make or assemble the structure yourself. There are second-hand ones available too; if you are organised and able to replace any missing parts you can end up with a cheap and impressive option. Start planning now and you should have a greenhouse in place before the key planting months arrive.
INTHE GREENHOUSE ■ Check old seed packets and throw out any that are past their best ■ Buy in new seed as needed and try to plan all crops for the year ahead
WITH JOYCE RUSSELL Pictures by Ben Russell
■ Harvest salads and greens before plants bolt ■ Feed overwintered brassicas before they start into a growth spurt
■ Clean, clear, repair, and tidy as much as you can – get all ready before the busy months arrive ■ Sow aubergines in a heated propagator ■ Try planting a few early potatoes, sow early carrots and salad leaves
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THINK PEPPERS No sooner are the last peppers picked than you turn around and start thinking about which seeds to buy for the new year of growing. Each year can be different and these plants do like
sun in order to reach full and sweet (or fiery) ripeness. If plants performed well last year then these bear repeating. Choose new varieties to try by sampling ones that are named on market stalls, or that have succeeded for other local growers. www.kitchengarden.co.uk
JOBS THIS MONTH
JANUARY TIPS
KNOW YOUR SALAD It’s easy to grow salad leaves all year round in a greenhouse. There are some that do best in spring or summer, but others aren’t deterred by a cold winter. Look much further than lettuce and aim for a range of cut-and-comeagain leaves. Packets of mixed seed can give variety, or you can grow rows of favourites and assemble your own mixes of cut leaves. There are fewer problems with slugs and snails under cover and growth is a little faster with the extra heat. Experiment with short rows of mustards, rockets, sorrel, cresses and more to see what you like. And enjoy the freshness and value that beats bought bags of salad hands down.
■ Use extra covers over vulnerable crops, in an unheated structure, if outdoor temperatures drop below -2C (28F). Fennel, peas, beans, coriander, early potatoes and carrots will all benefit from an extra layer of horticultural fleece. ■ Light levels are low at this time of year and a heavy fall of snow can reduce them further. The extra weight can also damage old polythene covers. Brush snow off if it presents any problem.
GATHER ESSENTIALS It’s great to be able to reach for a clean pot, a cane, or a stake, when you need it. Start gathering what you think you will need – supplies start coming into shops now and there are others to be dusted down from the shed or cut from the hedgerow. Think of string, growbags, compost, organic pest control, canes, row markers, labels and pens – to name just a few. Every gardener has his or her own list of essentials.
■ Look under bags, pots etc. and find any corners where slugs may hide. Dispatch the pests, plus any whitish spherical eggs, and you will reduce the slug problem in the months ahead.
GREENHOUSE GADGETS: GUTTERS It’s worth thinking about these if you want to collect and use rainwater, or if you want to avoid soggy ground around the greenhouse. Gutters can be retrofitted to most greenhouse frames, and lightweight kits are available for polytunnels too. Screws are used to fix the gutter on to horizontal sections of the frame, or an aluminium or wooden backing section may be fitted on the inside of the polythene to ensure a flush fit. Gutters are fitted at the top of a vertical wall section, or they can run closer to ground level if walls are curved. Fit a downpipe to run water into barrels or into land drains.
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Fill a large pot or bucket with the best compost you have and make sure it drains well when wet. Sow carrot seed at three or four pinches per 30cm (12in) pot so a fairly thick scatter covers the surface. Sprinkle a thin layer of compost over the top. Water lightly and tie a layer of bubble wrap over the top of the pot. Seedlings can take three weeks to appear at this time of year and they may be slower if temperatures are below 6C (43F). They seem to get there as soon as a bit of sun warms things up. Protect against slugs as seedlings emerge and check under pots every couple of days. You should get a pot packed with roots in May.
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■ Keep doors and windows shut and use extra weights against them if necessary. Gales are common enough in January – be sure to fix any small tears in polythene covers. ■ Look at notebooks from previous years and refresh the memory of what grew where and what grew well. Use this information to draw up a planting and growing plan for the year to come. It’s important to move crops around to grow in new parts of the greenhouse – even swapping tomatoes from one side to another each year can help reduce disease and improve soil health.
GRAPEVINES Give vines a good look over and prune them if you didn’t do so last year. Old vines may have large strips of peeling bark in which pests can hide – don’t strip them completely but you can remove any particularly loose sections. Check ties are still strong and replace or add to any weak sections. A fully laden vine is heavy. It can break ties and ruin fruit if it falls in late summer.
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WHAT’S NEW? ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING
PLANTING HOPE IN SIERRA LEONE A kitchen garden project at the We are the Future School in Freetown, Sierra Leone is feeding hungry bellies and saving lives. The project was born out of the devastation left behind by the deadly Ebola virus that ravaged the country in 2014 – and the will of its teachers. With funds raised by Bread and Water for Africa UK and its donors in the UK, the school and members of the local community planted a garden with vegetable and fruit stocks and built a kitchen to prepare and serve the food they had grown. In September 2016, 150 hungry pupils received their first school lunch.
“The project is going from strength to strength,” says Sylvia Costantini, the charity’s new CEO. “Before the garden project, children were coming to school so hungry, they were too weak to learn – sometimes they didn’t turn up at all. Three of the students even died. The situation was desperate. “Now the children love coming to school, grades are high and parents are more involved in school life. Teachers feel proud to work here. It is a wonderful model of what can be done and exactly the type of project we want to help grow.” To find out more or to donate to Bread and Water for Africa UK’s Square Meal appeal go to www. forafrica africa.org.uk/squaremeal org uk/squaremeal
PUMPKIN KINGS WIN AGAIN! Twins Stuart and Ian Paton have done it again, this time beating their own UK record for growing the heaviest pumpkin which they set in 2016. At the Autumn Pumpkin Festival in Netley, Southampton, sponsored by Thompson & Morgan, their pumpkin weighed in at 2269lb or 162 stone, beating the 2016 entry by 15lb. To produce such a giant specimen, Ian and Stuart spent an average of three hours a day tending to their pumpkin patch, often using 100 gallons of water to keep the pumpkins irrigated.
The allotment site considered to be the oldest in the UK is to be found in the village e of Great Somerford in Wiltshire. Great Somerford Free Gardens go back as far as 1809 when a six-acre site was given over to the poor of the parish by King George III at the behest of the village rector. Great Somerford Free Gardens are part of the National Open Garden Scheme. For more information visit: www.ngs.org.uk.
SURVEY REVEALS UK’S SHED CAPITAL According to research conducted by GardenBuildingsDirect. co.uk Peterborough is the shed capital of the UK, with almost half a shed per head of population. The data gathered also reveals the top 20 cities in the UK for shed ownership.
While larger cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester languished near the foot of the table, smaller cities such as Norwich, Colchester and Cambridge are leading the way. A spokesperson for the company said: “Perhaps unsurprisingly, rural parts
of the country provided the highest figures for shed ownership, as having that extra outdoors space affords you the room for more gardening equipment.” To see the complete table of the top 20 cities of shed ownership, visit GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk
DO YOU HAVE SOME HOT STORIES FOR OUR NEWS PAGES? SEND THEM TO TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK 12 | JANUARY 2018
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