Kitchen Garden - January 2015 - Sample by Mortons Media Group Ltd

EDITOR’S LETTER

WELCOME January is all about preparing for the new season and we have lots to help you get your gardening year off to a great start this month. Pippa Greenwood explains how to avoid soilborne pest and disease problems, while our own Emma Rawlings has advice for those coping with challenging soils such as heavy clay, light sand and thin chalk. We learn how to get the best from potatoes and pumpkins while Anne Swithinbank reveals her favourite greenhouse crops for sowing right now. And on page 86 you can claim your own free greenhouse seed collection – five packets of early sowing seeds worth over £10 for just £2.95 p&p. I’m also pleased to be able to announce that the ever popular KG shop is currently undergoing a refit and will be open for business shortly, so watch this space for further announcements. Finally I’d like you to meet the newest member of the KG team, Ted. At just nine weeks old he has already taken his turn at the winter digging and harvesting. A great help around the garden... as you can imagine! Steve Ott, editor Contact me at: sott@mortons.co.uk | 01507 529396 Find us at www.kitchengarden.co.uk Contact subscriptions: 01507 529529

Yourexpertsinthisissueinclude:

tOny FLanaGan

pippa GReenwOOD

susie keaRLey

JOe MaiDen

eMMa RawLinGs

anne swithinbank

Tony joined KG recently as our new staff writer. A keen veg gardener Tony tends to an allotment near Horncastle, Lincs and in the ﬁrst of two reports he reveals the best of the new seed varieties for 2015.

Care for your soil and the crops will follow; writer, broadcaster and pest expert Pippa explains how to avoid all those nasty pests and diseases that lurk in your soil to spoil your precious harvests.

Gardening writer, allotment gardener and nutritionist Susie takes a special interest in the beneﬁts of home-grown produce. In this issue she looks at foods that can help us to avoid those nuisance winter colds.

Life-long gardener Joe tends to a large allotment garden in North Yorkshire from where he runs KG’s regular veg trials. Starting on page 22 he puts popular pumpkin varieties to the test.

Trained horticulturist and gardening journalist Emma grows her veg on her allotment near Stamford in Rutland. This month she brings you her top tips for success when gardening on difﬁcult soils.

Anne will be familiar to listeners of Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time and as well as using her knowledge to help answer your gardening questions this month, she reveals her top 10 greenhouse crops.

SAVE ££s: FOR MONEY-SAVING OFFERS & GIVEAWAYS – SEE PAGES 82 & 86 www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JANUARY 2015 | 3

CONTENTS

EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

18 YOU

✪ oN tHE CoVER

YOUR PLOT

JoBs tHis MontH: 6 on tHe Veg patCH

SUBSCRIBERS’ CORNER See page 32 for details

Install water butts, make plant labels, divide rhubarb, chit potatoes, plan sowings, cover the soil

10 in tHe greenHouse

Plant autumn sown peas, add extra insulation, sow carrots, radishes and salad leaves

12 Hot topiCs

the latest news and comment from the world of kitchen gardening

Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month

4 | JANUARY 2015

GET GROWING 18 Beginner’s guide to potatoes ✪

Follow Andrew tokely’s easy guide to growing this popular staple.

22 tried and tasted puMpKins KG veg expert Joe Maiden recommends his top performing varieties of the season

26 gLasgoW greens

Gaby Bartai visits two thriving community food gardens

14 Your Letters and tips

34 We Meet our passionate pLotter CoMpetition Winner

16 Question tiMe ✪

38 readY steadY soW ✪

learn what other KG readers have been up to and pick up some great ﬁrst-hand advice

we take a tour of the ﬁrst place winner Ashley shaw’s plot ✪

Regular Gardeners’ Question time panellists Bob Flowerdew and Anne swithinbank answer your fruit and veg growing conundrums

tony Flanagan casts his eye over the new season’s seed catalogues and picks out a few highlights

94 neXt MontH

41 HotBeds For propagation

98 Last Word

46 anne’s top 10 ✪

the highlights in your February issue plus details of your next gift of free seeds hAvINg TROUbLE FINDINg A COPy OF ThIS mAgAzINE?

this month KG reader liz Proctor enjoys the chaos in her garden

Charles Dowding looks at creating manure hotbeds to help give veg a head start ✪ this month it’s Anne swithinbank’s top 10 greenhouse crops

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JANUARY 2015

recipes Anna Pettigrew offers some innovative recipes using kale, parsnip and celeriac

Pg 90

56 WHAT TO BUY

48 HOW TO MAKE A PROPAGATOR ✪

80 GROWING GUIDES

Helen Gazeley reviews the very best gardening blogs and websites

Looking after your soil is essential to producing healthy plants. Pippa Greenwood offers her tips

82 GIVEAWAYS WORTH £1563 ✪

This month you could win an English Heritage membership, LED growing lights, wellies, pruning tools, and books

56 THE MAGICAL WORLD OF SEED SAVING

62 HESTON GOES BACK TO BASICS

72 FOODS TO HELP YOU FIGHT WINTER COLDS

68 GROWING TO EXTREMES

76 COUNTING THE BIRDS THAT COUNT ON YOU ✪

Emma Rawlings looks at ways of handling some difﬁcult growing situations including clay soil, windy sites and acidic soil conditions www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Lucy Franklin looks at the latest books for gardeners

66 WIN PRIZES WORTH £900

52 PATHWAY TO HEALTHY SOIL ✪

Three star Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal, renowned for his experimental cooking, talks to Kitchen Garden

64 KG BOOK REVIEWS

Don’t miss your chance to win one of 15 VegTrug prize packages each worth £60

Martin Fish shows how to make a heated bench in easy steps

Joyce Russell meets Madeline McKeever, the inspiration behind Brown Envelope Seeds, a seed-saving company based in the southwest of Ireland

Nutritionist Susie Kearley looks at the immuneboosting qualities of home-grown produce

RSPB adviser Richard James explains why gardens are such important habitats for birds and other wildlife

84 GARDEN STORE

News of the best new products and services reach the KG ofﬁces this month

86 READER SAVERS ✪

Claim your greenhouse seed collection plus save ££s on pea and bean collections, exhibition veg seeds, leek, tomato and cauliﬂower seed collections, sweet pea seeds.

88 DIARY DATES

Plus full details of seed and young plant suppliers JANUARY 2015 | 5

JOBSTHIS MONTH TASKS TO CARRY OUT ON YOUR PATCH AND UNDER COVER IN JANUARY

UTE 10-MIN JANUARY JOBS FOR

MULCH BEDS

If your composter is still crammed with compost from the summer and autumn clear up, now is a good time to empty it and to spread any well-rotted material over the soil. It can be left as a layer on the surface for worms to incorporate or dug in during winter digging sessions.

CONTINUE DIGGING

Getting the winter dig done as soon as possible allows the frost plenty of time to work on it and to break it down into a fine seed bed before sowing in the spring. However, if it is too wet (sticks to boots and tools) or frozen, keep off until conditions improve or you may damage soil structure.

WARM THE SOIL

The first sowings at the end of February/beginning of March will soon be upon us. You can help give your early starters the best possible chance by covering areas with black polythene. This will help to warm the soil by absorbing the sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rays, and encourage it to dry out a little by preventing rain or snow from reaching it.

SOURCE MANURE

If you lack enough home-made compost to improve your soil, see if there is a local source of manure such as some stables that might be prepared to supply you. This will also be necessary if you wish to try Charles Dowdingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advice and make a hot bed to warm some early sowings. (See page 41).

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JOBS THIS MONTH SOW NOW

MAKE SOME LABELS

Salad leaves, bulb onions, sprouting seeds, microgreens, greenhouse tomatoes

Labelling your crops outside on the plot can be a bit of a headache. Small labels are easily blown away or picked out by birds and large plastic or metal ones can be very expensive. Yet it is very easy to make your own at little or no cost simply by using some branches that you may have removed when winter pruning, or some waste timber from a DIY project. With tree branches, choose some about an inch thick and cut into 30cm (12in) sections. Remove any side growths with a sharp knife or pruners. Then, taking your knife or a or spokeshave, remove the bark and some of the wood to leave a ﬂat surface on which to write. In the case of the waste timber simply paint it white using matt paint and once thoroughly dry it can be written on with a permanent marker. Next year you can simply paint over and reuse. Large, ﬂat stones are a third alternative. They too can be painted or sprayed white before painting with the name of your chosen crop. Stones have the advantage of staying put in windy weather.

PLANT NOW

Bare-rooted fruit trees and bushes, bare-rooted hedging, rhubarb, garlic

HARVEST NOW

Leeks, winter cabbages, Brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli, chicory, celery/celeriac, spinach, Jerusalem artichokes, endive, winter lettuce, salsify and scorzonera, swedes, turnips, parsnips

ON THE VEG PATCH INSTALL WATER BUTTS

This may seem a strange time to worry about installing water butts and guttering to sheds, greenhouses and so on, but come the summer you may be glad you did. Greenhouses and other buildings do not always come with guttering included but it is worth the additional cost since even a small shed can collect a great deal of water in just one year. If fixing a butt or tank to the downpipe to your home, consider also fitting a water diverter to divert the flow to the drain once the butt or tank is full to avoid flooding.

Although garlic cloves are usually planted from October onwards outside, it is not too late to do this now as long as the ground is not too wet or frozen. If it is, or if you garden on a very heavy soil, which tends to lay very wet all winter, consider planting into pots ﬁlled with any good multi-purpose compost and placing them in a cold greenhouse, polytunnel or cold frame and growing them on until the weather and soil conditions improve.

LEEKS

One of our hardiest veg and possibly the easiest of the onion family to grow, leeks are a must for any winter plot. They require little or no attention during the winter once fully grown. However, it is still important to remove weeds and any dead leaves from around the plants as they may harbour pests and diseases. In cold winters it is worth digging enough for your next meal and heeling them into a sheltered spot as they are difﬁcult to lift from frozen soil.

Carrots, fruit, potatoes, beetroot, onions, pumpkins/squashes.

KG top tip If you have fruit cages or netting suspended over hardy vegetables such as brassicas, shake off any snow to prevent the weight from breaking canes and other supports, or from lowering netting enough to allow hungry birds to reach the plants beneath.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Like leeks, mature sprouts in the winter garden can largely take care of themselves, but these tall plants can be damaged by high winds as they become top heavy nearing harvest time. Make sure they are supported with individual stakes and that the soil around the stem is ﬁrmed with the foot if the plants have been rocked by the wind. When harvesting, start at the bottom and work your way up the stem, leaving the smaller sprouts to grow a little more.

JANUARY TASKS

GARLIC

FROM STORE

JANUARY 2015 | 7

JOBS THIS MONTH

PLAN YOUR SOWINGS Most of us have limited space on our plots and, especially during peak sowing time in March and April, it can be hard to ﬁt everything in. A little thought now with pencil and paper deciding where crops are to go, taking into account crop rotation and any potential shading by hedges etc, can make all the difference. Be realistic also about how much you should attempt to ﬁt in – trying to cram in too much may lead to more, but poorer-quality produce.

PLANT RHUBARB

This is the ideal time to increase your stocks of rhubarb while the plants are completely dormant – whether you are buying new crowns or splitting established clumps. Plants should be split every three to four years to keep them healthy and productive. Dig deeply around the clump before gently lifting. Look for healthy young shoots around the edge of the old crown – they should have some roots and at least one bud. Slice them from the main crown with a spade and throw away the

old central part. Plant the new pieces in a different spot if possible on well-manured ground with good drainage and sunlight for at least part of the day. For some earlier sticks from established plants cover the crowns with an old bucket or rhubarb forcer this month and, as February approaches, check regularly for signs of growth. Early sticks should be ready to harvest, depending on the season, within six to eight weeks. Rest the crowns the following year.

more quick jobs for fruit growers CHIT SPUDS

If your seed potatoes have arrived, or if you plan to visit a potato day this month (see pages 88-89 for more details) you will need to store them in ideal conditions so that they produce nice, short shoots and do not become stretched. Place each one in a seed tray, eyes uppermost, label well and store your trays in a light, cool, but frost-free place until needed for planting in March.

toptip

■ Force strawberries into slightly earlier growth by covering with cloches or a cold frame from any time from now until March. If you have a cold greenhouse or polytunnel, consider moving potted plants inside.

at the ends of the furthest growth. First remove any branches which are too low or which cross in the centre of the tree. Very overcrowded trees should be pruned gradually over a period of three years.

■ Continue to prune fruit trees such as apples and pears. Old, neglected trees can be renovated now. Remove dead and diseased branches, then work around the whole tree evenly removing overcrowded branches to leave about 60cm (2ft) between each when looking

■ Check any stored fruit regularly and remove any rotting ones to prevent spread to the others. ■ Planting of bare-rooted fruit trees can continue this month as long as the ground is not too wet or frozen.

toptip Peaches, nectarines and almonds are susceptible to the disease peach leaf curl. Wall-trained trees can be protected to some extent by covering the tree with a sheet of polythene suspended over a wooden frame. This should be put in place as soon as possible, preferably in December/early January and left there until the middle of May, removing only to pollinate the ﬂowers in early spring. You could leave the sides open (see picture below) to allow insects to enter. The cover will also help to protect the blossom from late frosts. Peach leaf curl resistant varieties of peach are also available. Plants in containers can be moved into the greenhouse.

If you are handy at DIY you can make a heated bench in which to start your seeds (see page 48) or make a hot bed instead (p41), but if you lack the skills, or the space, consider buying a heated propagator. Those that ﬁt on the windowsill are perfect for growing small numbers of seedlings and are economical to run. 8 | JANUARY 2015

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JOBS THIS MONTH

Topjobs

forJANUARY ➤ Wrap and insulate taps, spray heads and connectors so they don’t freeze, burst and ﬂood the greenhouse beds. ➤ Don’t be tempted to sow tomatoes, cucumbers and melons too soon: those sown in late Feb, or early March, will crop just as well. ➤ Clear and tidy your undercover space: you want to be ready to get growing when the time is right.

Tidy up and cover up.

IN THE GREENHOUSE TOO EARLY TO SOW AND GROW?

KEEP LETTUCE ON THE DRY SIDE

■ If temperatures are sub-zero, don’t sow until the soil warms up. If temperatures are in the low single ﬁgures, then covering sowings with bubble wrap, or a double layer of horticultural ﬂeece, will help. ■ Some seeds need heat to germinate well. This can be done in a propagator or on a warm window ledge. You will need a warm environment for growing plants on until it warms up enough in the greenhouse. ■ Potatoes can be left to chit and be planted next month if temperatures are low. Chitting helps to grow healthy shoots and crops won’t be far behind early unchitted plantings.

This can be a year-round crop if you time it right. Small plants may seem vulnerable if they are planted out this early in the year but they can put on a serious growth spurt as daylight hours lengthen out. To reduce problems with mildews, keep soil a little on the dry side and try not to soak leaves when watering. Cover individual plants with cut-off plastic bottles if slugs and snails are a problem; this also creates a warmer microclimate to stimulate growth.

10 | JANUARY 2015

WITH JOYCE RUSSELL Pictures by Ben Russell

CUTTATTY LEAVES OFF BEETROOT

Plants sown last summer should have formed some useful ‘roots’. These may not be obvious if they are hiding under a layer of discoloured and tatty leaves. It may seem like a radical approach, but I use a pair of shears to cut off the diseased tops. You can see which beetroot are ready to pull and new healthy leaves soon grow back to replace the cut ones. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JOBS THIS MONTH

TRYSOMETHING DIFFERENT

sUPPORT YOUR PEAs There’s still plenty of time to sow seed for later crops but the earliest pickings come from autumn sowings. If you sowed mange-tout peas in late October, they should be several inches tall and growing well at this point. If plants are still in pots, get them into the ground as soon as possible. These plants keep growing and they need some support, so push twiggy sticks along each side of the row. Tendrils will soon twine round to lift the plants up, but if any are having difﬁculty, drape them around a twig and point them in the right direction. It’s worth getting the young stems up off the ground so they are less vulnerable to damage. If you don’t have twigs, use netting stretched along the middle of the double row.

Every year I try growing a few new things under cover. Some are successes and for others it may not have been the perfect year, or the perfect environment. But without experimentation there may be little to challenge and less to thoroughly excite the grower. Make a point of choosing a few new things when buying seed. If you’ve never heard of claytonia, for example, well it’s the same as winter purslane: it’s easy to grow and a delicious addition to winter salads. Try it and see is a good motto for 2015! Attach this to two posts pushed into the ground at each end of the row. The plants will twist and twine through the netting and, although it may be hard to pull the haulms free when the row is cleared, this method certainly works well while the crop is growing.

PROTECTFROM WINTERCHILLS

There are always some plants that beneﬁt from a bit of extra protection and there is a wide range of covers available. Plastic bell cloches sit neatly over the top of individual plants in pots, and pop-up cloches can be put up in a moment to cover a larger area. Extra layers will cut down the amount of light that reaches the plants and this may

Peas grown under cover will often grow much taller than it says on the packet so be prepared to provide taller supports. If plants start to ﬂop and fall, then tie them in or add extra sticks to hold stems in place.

already be reduced by dirty polythene, overgrown hedges and so on. It’s worth trimming hedges, cleaning polythene and using the cloches, but do remove them as soon as temperatures lift. Some plants, such as grape vines, fig trees and strawberries, seem to do best after a cold winter. Grapes and figs are dormant at this stage and strawberries will only suffer if early flowers are nipped by frost.

Sowing & planting guide FAVOURITE VARIETIEs hOW TO sTART LETTUCE

‘Salad Bowl’, ‘Black Seeded Simpson’, ‘Mazurosso’

Sow seed thinly in pots. Cover with bubble wrap to speed germination.

sALAD LEAVEs

Rocket, mizuna, mustard greens

Sow little and often. 1cm (½in) deep in drills.

AUBERGINEs

‘Black Beauty’, ‘Money Maker’, ‘Bonica’

Sow a few seeds in a 7.5cm (3in) pot. Cover with a plastic bag and keep at 20°C (68°F) until germinated.

PEAs

‘Meteor’, ‘Kelvedon Wonder’

Sow 2.5cm (1in) apart, 2.5cm (1in) deep in a double row 15cm (6in) apart, over trenches of compost. Put a layer of crop cover over rows.

POTATOEs

‘Sharpe’s Express’, ‘Charlotte’

Plant tubers 15cm (6in) deep in the border, or in buckets of compost in mild areas.

CARROTs

‘Early Nantes’, ‘Amsterdam Forcing’

Sow seed thinly in a large pot and just cover with a sprinkle of compost.

RADIshEs

‘Cherry Belle’, ‘French Breakfast’

Sow 1cm (½in) deep in drills.

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LEAVE FENNEL TO GROW

Bulbs swell slowly and plants may look less perfect than their summer cousins, but fennel is always worth growing as a winter crop (remember to sow in August). Plants are delicious when small, but if you leave them to grow on they will swell through the coming weeks and can make some really decent sized bulbs. The leaves are a tasty addition to winter salads too.

BUILD A NEW TUNNEL

This is the perfect time of year to consider expanding your undercover space, either by adding to existing tunnels or building new ones. If treating yourself to a tunnel for the ﬁrst time, buy the biggest you can accommodate. You won’t regret it.

JANUARY 2015 | 11

YOU

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HOT TOPICS

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF GROWING YOUR OWN FRUIT AND VEG

ALLOTMENTS BEST FOR BEES:NATIONALSURVEY

Allotments are providing the best habitat for bees while parks and roadsides need improving, warns a leading bee expert. This follows the results of the ﬁrst-ever Great British Bee Count published in October by Friends of the Earth, Buglife and B&Q. More than 23,000 people around the UK used a free smartphone app to log their sightings of 832,000 bees during the 12-week citizen science project last summer. The organisers developed the survey to help build a broader picture of the health of bees. Scientists warn that the overall picture for British bees is one of serious decline, with 71 of our 267 species under threat and more than 20 already extinct, and stress the importance of maintaining a wide diversity of

bees in order to cross-pollinate many fruits and vegetables. Allotments won the prize for type of habitat where the most numbers of bees were seen per count: an average of 12 compared to countryside (10), garden (8), school grounds (7), park (7) and roadside (4). Bumblebee expert Professor Dave Goulson, author of A Sting In the Tale, said: “This year’s Great British Bee Count highlights the importance of allotments in providing essential habitat for the bees that pollinate all those tasty home-grown fruit and veg – and shows that parks and road verges could be a lot better for bees, with less mowing and more wildﬂowers.” The full survey results and tips on how people can help bees at http://greatbritishbeecount.co.uk

ONLY 100 MORE HARVESTS LEFT FOR THE UK? Could the UK really only have 100 seasons left in its soil due to intensive over-farming? Might cities be the solution to the farming crisis? According to scientists at the University of Shefﬁeld, intensive over-farming in the UK has depleted the soil of the nutrients needed to grow crops. They claim that only 100 harvests are left unless dramatic action is taken. It is also claimed that a lack of biodiversity is causing a dramatic fall in wildlife populations in this country. They say that in order to ensure future generations are able to grow fruit and vegetables, towns and cities should be seen as potential farmyards which will also boost bio-diversity and help wildlife. Nigel Dunnett from the University of Shefﬁeld and Ron Finley in Love Square.

12 | JANUARY 2015

A recent study by Dr Jill Edmondson of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences found that soils under Britain’s allotments are significantly healthier than soils that have been intensively farmed. In the study, Dr Edmondson took soil samples from 27 plots on 15 allotment sites in urban areas. She also sampled soils from local parks, gardens and surrounding agricultural land. Compared with local arable fields, the allotment soil was found to be significantly healthier. Allotment soil had 32% more organic carbon, 36% higher carbon to nitrogen ratios, 25% higher nitrogen and was significantly less compacted. It is suggested that while urban areas are perceived as grey and concrete,

pockets of rich, fertile land could be converted into farms to grow a diverse range of produce. Inner-city wildflower meadows could increase wildlife and bring colour and vibrancy to drab areas. One such scheme has been proposed by Professor Nigel Dunnett of the University of Sheffield who plans to transform a piece of wasteland in the centre of Sheffield into an eco-park filled with UK native wildflowers. Love Square in Sheffield will be a ‘mobile wilderness’ bringing nature right back into the heart of the city. The Love Square scheme is intended to act as a template for other cities and represents a new approach to urban growing. The 2000 square metre site will feature a series of modules each containing different types of wildflowers and edible plants. The moveable modules mean that the site can be easily replicated, remixed, changed or moved to other parts of the city, creating a unique and versatile space. For more information about Love Square, visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/lovesquare

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HOT TOPICS

CHRISTINE WALKDEN TO SPEAK AT SEEDY SUNDAY 2015

Seedy Sunday, the UK’s largest and longest established community seed swap, will return to Brighton’s Corn Exchange for its 14th annual event on February 1, 2015. Christine Walkden, resident gardening expert on BBC1’s The One Show and a regular panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, will be speaking at the show to offer advice on getting the most from your vegetable patch or allotment. Christine told KG: “Seedy Sunday will bring together gardeners who are keen to share their knowledge and passion with others. It kicks off the gardening season fantastically, giving gardeners the opportunity of exchanging and obtaining seeds which are not always available elsewhere.” The event is centred around the Seed Swap table, where gardeners can swap seeds they saved in 2014. Visitors without seed to swap can make a donation of 50p per packet. At last year’s event over 10,000 packets of seeds, from rare vegetables to popular ﬂowers, crossed the table.

It will also feature more than 60 stalls; children’s activities; cookery demonstrations; Brighton’s Inﬁnity Cafe and a programme of expert speakers. The Brighton Dome Corn Exchange where Seedy Sunday takes place is in Church Street. The event runs from 10.30am-4.30pm and entry is £3, £2 for concessions or free for children under 16. To keep up to date with all the Seedy Sunday news visit www.seedysunday.org.uks

EXPERTS JOIN EDIBLE GARDEN SHOW 2015

NEWWW1VEGETABLESEEDRANGESUPPORTSVETERANS Franchi Seeds has launched a new range of traditional vegetables grown by both sides during the First World War – and will be supporting modern-day veterans with every seed packet sold. The new 23-strong product range includes Peas (Britain), Golden Onions (France), Cabbage (Germany), Berlotto Bean (Italy), Green Bell Pepper (Austria), Aubergine (Greece) and Tomato (Spain). A traditional recipe for each vegetable is printed on the back of every seed packet. Mushy peas, French onion soup, sauerkraut, moussaka, pasta e fagioli and gazpacho are just some of the recipes to feature. Priced at £2.49, the seeds are available online www.seedsoﬁtaly.com and at selected retailers. Gardening Leave, which uses horticultural therapy to help troubled Armed Forces veterans, will receive 15% of sales from each packet sold. The charity will also be using the seeds to grow vegetables at its four projects around the UK in

Rachel Green delighted with produce.

special raised beds, with veterans harvesting and cooking the tasty produce once grown. Paolo Arrigo from Franchi said: “In remembrance of all those lost on both sides during the First World War, we are proud to be able to launch this new range of traditional vegetables with typical traditional recipes on the back. All sides would have grown veg to support their campaigns.” Heather Budge-Reid, chief executive of Gardening Leave, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for gardeners today to link the past and the present. At Gardening Leave we use vegetable growing and eating to help veterans heal their invisible wounds and make their transition to civilian life.” Gardening Leave has sites in London, Glasgow, Ayr and Dundee. For more information about the great work of Gardening Leave visit: www.gardeningleave.org or for more on the new seed range visit: www.seedsoﬁtaly.com

Wild food forager Mark Lloyd and chef Rachel Green will be joining forces when The Edible Garden Show and Good Life Live come together at Alexandra Palace, March 20-22, 2015. From the show’s dedicated new Cook It! area, the two celebrity speakers will be back to inspire visitors with what can be achieved when digging for your dinner plate. Cook, hunter, fisherman, author and presenter Mark will be pushing visitors a little further to discover the wild larder freely available in nature. “It’s a new thing for a lot of people and can be a bit intimidating, but I think I can take it a little further this time. I can’t say what I’ll be cooking though. I won’t know myself until two days before, as it completely depends on what’s available to harvest at the time.” said Mark. Rachel, with a family farming pedigree stretching back 14 generations, has a special understanding of animal rearing and food production, and she is a passionate advocate of seasonal and local home-grown produce. In her polytunnel she plants, nurtures and harvests her own fruit and veg throughout the year. Her natural passion for cooking with local seasonal produce is something she shares though her demonstrations which are known for their informative content and culinary flair. “I will be exciting visitors with great seasonal dishes that include early root vegetables such as spring cabbages, leeks and purple sprouting broccoli. I’ll also be demonstrating great culinary delights such as rhubarb and sour cream cake and perhaps my ‘goat hay’ that sees a leg of goat baked in fresh soaked hay, which provides the most wonderful flavour.”

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JANUARY 2015 | 13

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YOUR PLOT

ExpErimEntwithcosmosExcEEdsExpEctations I just couldn’t resist sharing my beautiful cosmos with you. I grew them from my own seed, some in the garden and four plants in the polytunnel. The ones in the polytunnel are monsters and have reached 3.5 metres. The colours are deep and lovely and they also have huge stems. My husband suggested that I grow a few in the polytunnel as an experiment – he may regret this next year! We got the polytunnel second hand this year. It took six hours to take it down and dig out the

trench, and about half the time to put it back up. It is so worth the money. We had three tiny gherkin plants that were a bit slug damaged; they romped away and we ended up with about 400 in the end. We have had tons of tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, peppers and, of course, the beautiful cosmos. Needless to say, I have selected some ﬂowers for seeds for next year – at least they won’t get battered by the wind or rain. Sue and Colin Fuller, Hastings, East Sussex

star

LEttEr wins£25 VoUchEr

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SquASH FAmIly ClOSE ENCOuNTERS

I grew a mixture of squashes: ‘Dill’s Atlantic Giant’, ‘Hubbard’, ‘Festival’, ‘Turk’s Turban’ and ‘Marina di Chioggia’. They were planted after I had dug up my ‘Charlotte’ potatoes, and I had them running as a ground layer from each side of a sweet corn patch, so three crops from that piece of land this summer. I’m not sure if it’s possible but there seems to have been some cross-pollination with each type, and maybe some nearby courgettes – giving unexpected shapes. Please could you let me know if it could happen? John Pollard, Chester EDITOR SAyS: Yes, it is very common for different types of squash to cross-pollinate, especially when growing closely together on the patch. I managed to grow some fruit we decided to call ‘mumpkins’ some years back when our marrows and pumpkins got rather too friendly.

VEG BONANZA THANKS TO GARDEN CENTRE FREEBIES

On a garden centre visit I was congratulating myself that my large tub of expensive wood preservative and bottle of seaweed fertiliser were only going to cost me £1.58, courtesy of a gift voucher and a loyalty card voucher. Little did I know that things were about to get even better. When I paid for my goods, the girl on the till said “as your bill comes to over £20 you can have a china mug”. Then, as I was leaving, she amazed me by saying “you can also have a pack of potato tubers and a pack of onion sets”. Well, it was very late in the year but old gardeners always have a go. The onions harvested very small because of the short growing time but are healthy and strong ﬂavoured. As for the potatoes, they are better than the ones planted at the right time, and a very welcome addition to our plates. The only ﬂy in the ointment? This old gardener was so excited about his good luck that he lost the potato name label so can’t grow them again next year. Terry Parker, Bicester, Oxfordshire

sEnd UsYoUr LEttErs – EVErYonE’sawinnEr!

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14 | JANUARY 2015

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your ViEWS Kitchen

PostCoDe ComPostinG Having recently decided to have a big push on home recycling and composting, I checked out www.getcomposting.com for more info on what’s available out there. You just enter your postcode to see what composters are offered at discounted prices through your local council. I chose a garden composter called The Green Johanna, which made my wife smile as she’s called Jo. The Green Johanna is a type of ‘hot composter’ which will allow me to use all my kitchen food and garden waste in one bin located in the garden.

I chose the ‘hot composter’ type of bin after reading that about 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are food-related, and that up to 30% of the typical household’s waste is organic and can be turned into compost. Even more amazing is that even those households that compost regularly still send almost 70kg of compostable food waste to landﬁll every year. The point is that if all UK households composted their food waste, we could avoid two million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions every year. John Sharratt, Great Hale, Lincolnshire

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KG Christmas quiz answers (DeCember issue) ■ Answer was the bean variety ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ ■ 1 Aubergine 2 Quince 3 Ugli fruit 4 Apple 5 Drupe 6 Undercover 7 Limnanthes 8 Carrot 9 Elephant 10 Copper 11 Lithium 12 Artichoke 13 Umbel 14 Dill 15 Iceberg 16 Alicante

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JANUARY 2015 | 15

YOU

YOUR PLOT

QUESTION TIME sTaR

Got a fruit or veG problem? ask kG for help

lETTER

CUTE CaRROTs NOT playING sTRaIGHT

with BOBFlOWERdEW& aNNEsWITHINBaNK

WRITERS & CONTRIBUTORS TO RADIO 4’S GARDENERS’ QUESTION TIME

Having recently graduated from growing bags to a proper vegetable patch, I have been delighted with my ﬁrst year’s produce. However, while my parsnips have behaved themselves and developed into elegant, straight vegetables, my carrots have grown into what my children describe as little people with arms and legs. They have been sown in the next bed to the parsnips, watered consistently, but not waterlogged. Being in a slightly raised bed, I think they have a deep enough soil to grow in. They do look quite cute but are difﬁcult to peel. Why have they done this, and how can I obtain the more traditional straight carrot? Hilary Patterson, Dorset

BEATEN BY BEETROOT

Three years ago I harvested enough beetroot from my new raised bed to last us until the next summer. The next year I planted again in another new bed – in the same part of the garden – and harvested about half the previous year’s amount of beetroot. I thought maybe I hadn’t watered enough so this year – in a third new bed – I watered diligently. The beetroot grew to about 15cm (6in) high then no more and, on harvesting, I found not one big enough to cook. I planted on ﬁve occasions with different varieties of seed but all had no results. Have you any suggestions for next year please? Mary Buckett, Whippingham, Isle of Wight

WINs £25 vOUCHER

ANNE sAYs: The puzzle for me is not so much that your carrots are forking but that your parsnips aren’t. These related root veg need similar growing conditions and both tend to fork if grown in stony or compacted soil (lumps of clay don’t help either). If your soil appears to be deep, stone free and reasonably well-drained, the problem could be down to the recent addition of manure or a manure type fertiliser. Parsnips tend to react better to this and grow straight, while carrots are fussier, possibly because they grow slightly faster. They need a fertile soil but add your compost and manure a good few months rather than weeks before raking out and sowing. If the problem continues, build them a raised bed. Looking on the bright side, you can always enter your carrot people at local shows where there are often categories for such oddly shaped veg.

ANNE sAYs: You can’t beat natural rainfall, so even though you watered diligently, a hot dry summer could have affected growth. Yet this doesn’t explain famine after such a splendid first year feast. Beetroot is a hungry feeder and appreciates a fertile soil, so I reckon the original soil/compost used to fill the raised beds was full of goodness initially (hence the brilliant first crop) but was quickly depleted. Top with well-rotted compost or manure now and add a general-purpose fertiliser. Growmore is a good example but if you want to take a more organic approach, you can find alternatives in garden centres. Later in the season, if growth is poor, add pelleted chicken manure, which is high in nitrogen, and even step in with a liquid feed.

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16 | JANUARY 2015

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CRaCK ON VICTORIa PLUM TREE

We have a Victoria plum tree, approximately 25ft high and 40 plus years old, originally consisting of three main branches. The left-hand branch drooped badly towards the ﬂoor and was removed in early summer. A large 1ft crack was noticed in the main trunk. We were considering strengthening the trunk but the wind intervened and now we only have one vertical branch, as in the photo. There is a light grey area over where the crack occurred. Is this the dreaded silver leaf? What do you advise? Jim Salt, via email

BOB says: Sadly, there is little that can be done other than prolong the few years left. One seldom sees an old plum tree – if silver leaf does not get it something else usually does. Silver leaf could well be the cause of the weakness but plums have brittle branches anyway and this year I had one lose three branches in turn. The grey area is not silver leaf, which is a glossiness to the leaves caused by air pockets. This is just a secondary infection. I suggest you clean up the wound, scrape it and paint with a wound sealant, give the tree a good dressing of well-rotted manure, and later some wood ash. Then plant a replacement some distance away.

TOMaTO & sWEETCORN TIPs

Is it best to leave one or two side shoots on a tomato plant for a better harvest or crop? Do you have any advice on growing tomatoes in the greenhouse and on the patio? Also, any tips on sweetcorn growing on the patio would be appreciated. Colin Taylor, South Shields BOB says: For tomatoes I leave one strong side-shoot at the base to give me double cordon plants as this keeps them squatter and easier to ﬁt in. I do not believe it alters the crop’s total weight per square yard but just positions it better. Those under cover are often sweeter but not as tasty as those grown outdoors on a patio,

which come later and are more prone to blight. In either case, large tubs of good compost, light feeding and regular watering are simple enough to arrange. Undercover stems can usually be tied up to some part of the greenhouse whereas on the patio you need to supply a strong cane or frame, and falling over is a problem. Also birds may peck fruits outdoors. As to growing sweetcorn, I get very early crops (mid-June) by sowing very early in March, one per bucket of compost (with drainage holes) in the greenhouse. You could do the same on a patio but do not start so early. These need heavy

CUCaMELONs PaR EXCELLENCE

After hearing James Wong waxing lyrical about cucamelons I decided to give them a go. To my amazement I have had an excellent crop, one outdoors and one planted in greenhouse border. I remember hearing James say that the roots can be kept for next year. Could you please give me advice about this. Do I leave the one planted in the greenhouse in-situ and if so should it be kept dry? My greenhouse is kept frost free but not heated. Jacquie Parker, Bicester, Oxon aNNE says: You chose a brilliant year to try cucamelons, or sandita as they are known in their native Mexico. I hope you got around to pickling

feeding and watering and seldom give more than one cob per plant. The only hitch is the male tassels come out a fortnight before the female silks are ready so I save the pollen in paper envelopes and apply it by hand when the silks are sticky.

some of the fruits. I’m going to be honest and say I haven’t overwintered the roots myself but they are quite robust-looking and should come through the winter if you can keep them frost free. I would leave the one in the greenhouse border where it is and keep some straw or ﬂeece handy to pile over the top during severely cold spells. If there is a mild, warm wintry spell I might risk watering so roots don’t dry right out. I’d lift the outdoor ones and trim the roots to ﬁt them into a pot of just-moist compost. Keep them frost free, water in spring and hopefully they’ll grow again. JANUARY 2015 | 17

GET GROWING GET GROWING

KG Beginner’s Guide

Potatoes

Where would we be without the potato, that most versatile of vegetables? In this introductory guide Andrew Tokely explains the essentials of growing a good crop.

he flavour of home-grown spuds is like no other and can never be matched by supermarket potatoes. Add to this the fact that they are one of the easiest vegetables to grow and you can see they are worth a place on any plot. Some gardeners become confused over which varieties to grow at what time, but really it’s quite simple. Early varieties are planted and eaten first, followed by second earlies, and lastly maincrops, as these make the best tubers for winter storage. The choice of varieties available is massive, and growing your own allows you to choose as many varieties as you like or have space for. In time you will have your own list of favourites. I certainly do, whether they are chosen for specific purpose – e.g. chips, mash or boiling, for flavour, yield or storage properties.

WHEN TO PLANT

Maincrop potatoes take 15-20 weeks to mature.

18 | JANUARY 2015

First earlies are planted from the end of February to late-April, 30cm (12in) apart in the row and 60cm (2ft) between each row. These will be ready to harvest about 10-12 weeks from planting. They can also be planted undercover in containers early in the year for an extra-early crop. Second earlies are best planted from March to late-May, 37cm (15in) apart in the rows and 60-

75cm (2-2½ft) between each row. Harvesting can begin about 13 weeks after planting. Maincrops can be planted from mid-March to late-May, (18in) apart in the rows and 75cm (2½ft) between each row. Harvesting can begin about 15-20 weeks from planting, but tubers are normally left until the foliage dies down before lifting and storing for winter use.

CHITTING

Chitting or sprouting involves placing the seed potatoes in seed trays or egg boxes in a cool, but frost-free place, in good light. A frost-free greenhouse is ideal. The small eyes on the tuber will start to grow or ‘chit’ and after a few weeks they will start to produce short, strong green shoots. Certain maincrop varieties such as some of the ‘Sarpo’ range do not chit, but once the tubers are planted they always sprout up ﬁne. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

POTATOES

POTATOes AT A glAnce Planting

Harvest

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June Jul Aug sept Oct nov Dec Planting distance varies depending on whether you’re growing earlies or maincrop.

SOIL PREPARATION AND PLANTING

In the winter dig plenty of well-rotted organic matter into the soil where your seed potatoes are to be planted. Potatoes like to grow in a fertile soil, but make sure the manure is well rotted (at least three years old). In spring rake your soil to break up lumps and to level it. Make a shallow trench about 15cm (6in) deep, and put a layer of compost in the bottom. Use either well-rotted home-made compost or old potting compost used to grow summer bedding the previous year. This compost layer gives the potatoes a softer environment to grow in, resulting in cleaner, better-quality tubers to harvest. Before placing the tubers in the trench, sprinkle some Growmore fertiliser or chicken manure pellets at a rate of 60gm per sq m (2oz per sq yd) into the bottom of the trench and over the backfill from the trench. The tubers are then spaced out along it at the required planting distance. Carefully back-fill the trench with the remaining soil and lightly tread along it to firm the ground. Rake level. Alternatively, you could prepare the ground as described and add the fertiliser to the surface. Then, rather than taking out trenches, plant tubers using a long dibber. Using this make a hole 10-15cm (4-6in) deep into the ground and drop the seed potato in before covering over with a shuffle of your feet.

AFTERCARE

During the early spring, small green shoots will start poking through the soil surface. As these appear, they will need earthing up with a hoe. As the shoots emerge pull up the soil around the sides of each set of shoots. This is a job that www.kitchengarden.co.uk

2nd cropping

needs to be done several times through the early part of the season, each time making the potato mounds or ridges a little higher. This is done to protect the young, frost-tender shoots from being blackened. Also, the soil will help stop any light from reaching the crop as it matures, preventing the tubers from turning green. Before the plants are too large to walk through, and just before the last earthing up, apply a top dressing between the rows with more Growmore fertiliser at the rate used at planting time, making sure it is kept off the foliage. During the summer make sure the potatoes are kept free from weeds and are well watered if the weather is very hot and dry. This is important because water will help the tubers swell.

PESTS AND DISEASES

Soil-borne slugs are the main pests, eating into the tubers before lifting. They are best controlled by nematodes, a biological control for slugs that can be watered into the soil. Alternatively, there are varieties that show good slug resistance. Ironically, as well as being used as a biological control, some species of nematodes (or eelworms as they are also known) can be a serious pest of potatoes. Most gardeners can avoid the pest species by operating a strict crop rotation or growing eelworm-resistant varieties. The most troublesome disease of potatoes has to be blight. Symptoms show on the foliage first in the form of brown or pale spots. If blight is not kept under control, it will quickly spread down into the tubers, causing them to rot. Prevention is always better than cure and if blight is recorded in your area, but not yet on your crop, it is possible to use a preventative fungicide spray to keep it at bay. ➤

You need to mould up or earth up your potatoes as the shoots emerge. Use a swan neck hoe for this.

GROWING IN CONTAINERS

The best containers are 14-litre black plastic bags available from some seed and garden sundries suppliers. These are better than pots as they allow the sides to stretch out as the tubers form. Or you could use old compost sacks, folded or cut down to size. Half ﬁll each bag with a soil-less potting compost that has had some general fertiliser added to it. Then place a single-chitted tuber per bag about half way down and cover over with more compost. As green shoots start to push through, gradually keep topping up the bags with more compost until they are nearly full. Water the bags during hot, dry weather, keeping the compost evenly moist, but not waterlogged. Try planting an early variety in bags and growing under glass frost free in February then by June you could be harvesting up to 3kg (6½lb) per bag.

JANUARY 2015 | 19

GET GROWING

Andrew’s Pick of THEVARIETIES earlies

■ ‘PEntlAnd JAVElin’ – A lovely, white, waxy-ﬂeshed new potato ideal for boiling or used in salads. Eelworm resistant.

second earlies

■ ‘ChArlOttE’ – Pear-shaped salad potato. Waxy, creamyyellow ﬂesh. Excellent eaten hot or cold in salads.

■ ‘MAris BArd’ – A very early cropper with traditional new potato taste, plus good resistance to drought and scab.

■ ‘rOOstEr’ – An early maincrop with a red skin that is superb for roasting and a favourite in my household.

Second cropping potatoes are kept in cold store until July by mail order companies. These are sent out to gardeners for planting as soon as possible in July or early August. There is no need to chit these tubers as they are ready to burst into growth. I like to plant these in containers that can be moved easily undercover later in year if the weather turns cold. Simply plant the tubers and care for them as above and they will grow away quickly. Within 10-11 weeks there should be some small hen’s egg-sized tubers ready to harvest. As the foliage starts to yellow and wither, cut this down to ground level and leave the tubers in the bags until you want to harvest them for an autumn meal or for your Christmas lunch.

second earlies

■ ‘KEstrEl’ – An attractive white-skinned, oval multi-use potato. Has good slug and eelworm resistance.

MAINCROPS

FESTIVE SPUDS

20 | JANUARY 2015

second earlies

earlies

HARVESTING

Some gardeners prefer not to harvest potatoes before they flower. This is fine as a guide, but not all varieties produce blooms. Instead, have a little scrape around the base of the plants early in the year to see if tubers have developed. If big enough, lift a root and enjoy. Tubers are ready to harvest once

ABOVE: Flowers are usually ready when they begin to ﬂower, but not all potatoes ﬂower, so scrape a little soil away from the base of the plant and check.

■ ‘nAdinE’ – White variety with a good yield and ﬂavour. A good all-rounder in the kitchen and popular on the show bench.

second CROPPING

■ ‘sArPO MirA’ – This red, late maincrop has outstanding blight resistance. Produces a heavy yield of tasty, ﬂoury tubers.

Alternatively, if the tubers have swelled sufficiently and blight appears on the foliage, this can be removed to stop the disease from spreading down into the tubers. Tubers that are in the ground should be left undisturbed for at least three weeks before lifting and storing. This will prevent any blight spores that may have washed into the surface of the soil affecting the tubers as they are lifted through it. We now have the choice of some very good varieties that have been bred to show excellent resistance to blight.

full details of seed suppliers page 89

■ ‘CArlingfOrd’ – This is still the best variety for second cropping. Produces oval, whiteskinned and waxy-ﬂeshed tubers.

Potatoes in June.

they are the size of a hen’s egg (as new potatoes). Or you can wait until they are fully mature when they can be lifted and stored for winter use. I like to lift my potatoes using a flat-tined potato fork, trying not to stab too many. When storing for winter use, lay them out in the sunshine for a couple of hours after lifting so the skins are dry and any soil can be easily rubbed off before storing in paper or hessian sacks in a cool, but frost-free garage. Regularly check stored tubers throughout the winter to remove any which are rotten or diseased. During very frosty weather the sacks should be covered with carpet to keep any hard frosts at bay. ■ nExt MOnth: Garlic