Kitchen Garden June 2018

WWW.KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK | JUNE 2018

BRITAIN'S BEST READ FOR FRUIT & VEG GROWERS

SAVE OVER £19 WITH OUR READER OFFERS

6 EASY WAYS TO BIGGER PICKINGS

Have you got killer worms in your garden?

THE FUTURE OF SEEDS POST-BREXIT

GARDEN CLEANING PRODUCTS ON TEST GROW A GREAT LAWN CAULIFLOWERS MADE EASY

EDITOR’S LETTER

WELCOME The season should be hotting up by now, even if June does not exactly live up to its old description of ‘flaming’. To reflect the increase in frenetic activity on veg patches and allotments all around the country we have a packed issue for you covering a wide range of topics.

Veg expert Rob Smith offers his top tips on growing courgettes and reveals his favourite varieties while KG regular Ben Vanheems has advice on growing that most colourful of veggies, beetroot. Julie Moore looks at crops you don’t even have to sow yourself (well, not after the first packet anyway), while former head gardener Sue Stickland explains how Brexit might offer opportunities for those looking to grow a more diverse range of edibles.

Professional grower David Patch explores the possibilities of picking one of the most mouthwatering fruits, cherries, from gardens of all sizes and Joyce Russell explains how to greatly improve yields by using some simple techniques to boost pollination around your plot.

E

O ON DE O VI

CHANNEL

SEE THE

YOUTU B UR

@GrowWithKG

KitchenGardenUK

KitchenGardenMag

Steve Ott, editor Contact me at: sott@mortons.co.uk | 01507 529396 Find us at www.kitchengarden.co.uk Contact subscriptions: 01507 529529

@GrowWithKG

/kitchengardenmagazine

CHECK OUT OUR GREAT GIVEAWAYS AT WWW.KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JUNE 2018 | 3

CONTENTS

EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

36

6

YOU ✪ ON THE COVER

YOUR PLOT

6 ON THE VEG PATCH Plant leeks and self-blanching celery, fill gaps with salads, grow fruit in pots, thin plums and trim fan-trained trees

@GrowWithKG KitchenGardenUK

10 IN THE GREENHOUSE

KitchenGardenMag @GrowWithKG /kitchengardenmagazine FOR OUR CONTACT DETAILS TURN TO PAGE 15

Build paths, tend to tomatoes, plant winter brassicas, water sweetcorn and climbing beans, remove male flowers from cucumbers

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

NEVER MISS AN ISSUE...

£20

18

20 KG PROBLEM SOLVER

114 NEXT MONTH

This month our experts solve your problems on radishes, sweetcorn and gooseberries

Some of the highlights to be found in your July issue plus news of great free gifts

36 PASSIONATE PLOTTERS Meet two readers who have found veg growing to be life changing.

32

110 DIARY DATES

ON PAGE 24

4 | JUNE 2018

See what’s on in your neck of the woods and make a note to book yourself on to a course or visit a great event

HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE?

111 LAST WORD ✪

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

Emma Rawlings recommends ancient wisdom to help us end seasonal sowing panics www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JUNE 2018

57 68

Scan this, and we’ll tell you!

Our resident chef Anna Pettigrew has some delicious recipes for home-grown basil, courgettes and strawberries

44 GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS This month the intrepid trio take rosemary cuttings, thin seedlings and more

Pg 106 52 SOW ONCE AND STAND BACK Biodynamic gardener Julie Moore describes a group of veggies, herbs and flowers that virtually sow and grow themselves ✪

57 THE BEAUTY OF BANTAMS ✪

18 FLOWERS FOR YOUR PATCH

Poultry enthusiast Katy Runacres extols the virtues of these petite versions of our more familiar chickens

This month the poached egg plant – Limnanthes douglasii

62 CHERRIES ON THE PLOT ✪

22 GROWING ONLINE

Fruit expert David Patch reveals the best cherries for gardens large and small

Our pick of gardening social media and websites

68 BEET THAT! ✪

26 ALLOTMENTS WITH STYLE

Ben Vanheems explains how to grow great sweet, earthy beetroot time after time

Garden writer Steve Neal visits an allotment site in Somerset with a strong community vibe

74 THE FUTURE OF SEEDS ✪

32 VEG AT A GLANCE – CAULIFLOWERS

Gardening journalist Sue Stickland explores how Brexit might affect our seed supplies in the future

Steve Ott offers his top tips for growing this challenging crop

40 COURGETTE CORNUCOPIA ✪ Heritage veg expert Rob Smith describes his favourite varieties for abundant harvests

44 MEET THE BLOGGERS In the first of our new series we look to the internet to meet the cream of the crop of modern-day gardening diarists

48 THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ✪ If you tend to grass paths, lawns or communal areas, KG's Emma Rawlings shows you how to keep them looking their best www.kitchengarden.co.uk

79 SUPERBOOST YOUR COMPOST HEAP ✪ In part one of his two-part series, gardening expert Andrew Davenport takes an in-depth look at Quick Return composting

86 VEG AT-A-GLANCE – RIDGE CUCUMBERS All you need to know to grow this prolific crop

88 WORMS YOU DON’T WANT ✪

92 WHAT TO BUY 82 INSTANT SAVERS This month make some great savings on seeds, bamboo cloche sets, gardening shoes and netting

84 GARDEN STORE More great new products and services to help boost your harvests

96 TRIED AND TESTED – CLEANING PRODUCTS ✪ This month the KG team puts garden cleaning products to the test

100 GREAT READER OFFERS ✪ Plus claim two free* rhubarb plants (*p&p applies)

The latest research on flatworms, a growing menace in UK gardens

102 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £2814 ✪

92 PERFECT POLLINATION ✪

This month you could win tripod ladders, flower show tickets, pest controls, organic fertilisers and hose trolleys

Ensuring good pollination and great crops

JUNE 2018 | 5

GET GROWING

TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH IN JUNE BY MARTIN FISH TRIM YOUNG FRUIT TREES Check young fruit trees that are being grown as standards or half-standards and trim off any new shoots growing from the main trunk, flush back to the trunk. If left to grow all summer, they spoil the shape of the tree and use valuable energy.

WATER NEWLY PLANTED VEG Keep an eye on newly planted vegetables to make sure that they are settling in and establishing. If the weather is warm and dry, water the soil around the roots to prevent the plants from drying out. This is best done early morning or in the evening.

PINCH OUT BROAD BEANS When broad beans are in full flower pinch out the top few inches of the growing tip. This diverts the plant’s energy into pods of beans and it also helps to deter black bean aphids. The leafy tips are very tasty eaten raw or lightly steamed.

WATCH OUT FOR PESTS Keep an eye open when you are working in the garden for plant pests and if spotted deal with them straight away before the problem gets too serious. Look out for bird damage on early fruit, slugs and snails on salad crops and gooseberry sawfly grubs.

www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JOBS FOR THE MONTH XXX

PLANT LEEKS STEP 1: Leeks are a great winter vegetable and they can be harvested from the garden from October through until April or even May. The seed was sown back in mid-March in plug trays with gentle heat to aid germination. Once the seedlings were an inch or two high and had been thinned to a single leek plant per cell, they were grown cold in the polytunnel to grow into strong seedlings.

STEP 2: Although I raise the seedlings in plug trays, I use the traditional method of planting in holes to blanch the base of the leek and form a white shaft. The soil is well forked over in advance and fed with a general fertiliser. Using a dibber, holes are made about 15cm (6in) deep, 22.5cm (9in) apart and a plant is placed into each hole so that roughly two-thirds is below the soil.

STEP 3: Once planted, each hole is filled with water using a watering can. The water slowly seeps down and washes loose soil around the plug of roots. This thorough soaking will settle in the seedlings, but if the weather is dry it may need repeating a few days later to help the roots establish and grow out into the surrounding soil. Don’t however over-water, especially in clay soils.

SOW NOW

PLANT SELFBLANCHING CELERY Celery is one of those plants that can either grow very well and produce a good crop of stalks, or it can struggle.

Much depends on the soil you are growing it in and in order for it to establish and grow well you need a fertile, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. It also needs growing fast without any checks in growth. Selfblanching varieties are ideal to grow as they don’t need blanching and young plants need planting out as soon as the danger of frost has passed.

Plant in blocks so the plants help to blanch each other.

Keep the soil moist at all times through the summer. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Dwarf beans, runner beans, peas, beetroot, lettuce, salad leaves, land cress, sprouting broccoli, kale, kohl rabi, carrots, basil, coriander, radish, spring onions, spinach, turnips, chard, parsley, annual herbs, courgettes, Florence fennel, corn salad.

FILL GAPS WITH SALAD CROPS At the start of the season when the plot is empty it always looks as though there is plenty of growing room, but the ground very quickly fills up once you start sowing and planting out. Before you know it you’re struggling for space, so take advantage of every little bit of soil and fill small gaps and corners between other vegetables with fastgrowing salad crops and lettuce. Empty ground needs weeding, so in my book you might as well plant all available space with plants and by planting small blocks of lettuce and salads around the plot, you will have a continuous supply of fresh salads for several months.

Fresh herbs for use in the kitchen can be picked in advance and kept in a jar of water to keep them fresh. Ideally, pick early morning and keep them in water in a cool place until needed.

PLANT NOW

Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage, kale, sprouting broccoli, calabrese, leeks, runner beans, lettuce, dwarf beans, courgettes, marrow, squashes, tomatoes, celery, potatoes, sweetcorn, herbs.

HARVEST

Late broccoli, spring cabbage, rhubarb, lettuce, radish, spring onions, chard, early carrots, turnips.

JUNE 2018 | 7

GET GROWING

TRAIN A PLUM FAN ■ Check fast-growing mangetout on a regular basis and pick the flat pods while they are still young and tender.

Regular picking also encourages more flowers and pods.

Although plum trees are normally grown as standards, where space is limited they can be grown as fan-trained trees. Not only do they take up less growing space, the fan shape can look very decorative, especially if planted on a wall near the house. Training and pruning to form the shape should be done in the summer months to avoid silver-leaf disease entering the cuts. For the first couple of seasons the

aim is to create the fan shape by tying new shoots to canes and wires. Ideally, you want between six and 10 branches to form the permanent framework of the fan.

As side shoots develop from the main fan through the summer, trim or pinch them back to 5cm (2in) to create short fruiting spurs for following years. Likewise, stems growing outward should be trimmed back to keep the fan flat to the wall.

HARVEST STRAWBERRIES

■ To protect all brassicas from caterpillar damage, it’s important to cover them over with insectproof netting before the cabbage white butterflies become active, making sure the net is pegged down.

■ There’s still time to sow tender vegetables such as courgettes, French beans and runner beans to produce fresh, tender produce from late summer.

■ June is a good growing month for vegetables and also for weeds. Keep on top of annual weeds by running a Dutch hoe between plants and rows of veg on a weekly basis to keep the soil weed free.

■ Onions make strong growth at this time of the year, which is important for bulb formation later in the summer. To promote strong growth, feed with a balanced fertiliser and water in dry weather.

8 | JUNE 2018

June is the start of the strawberry season and the first ripe berries of the summer are always very welcome. Pick the berries every few days as they ripen and if birds are a problem, make sure you net the plants over. For plants being grown in containers, keep them watered on a regular basis to maintain moist compost, and liquid feed once a week with a high-potash fertiliser.

THIN PLUMS Plum trees can be erratic when it comes to fruiting. When a tree carries a heavy crop one year, it can often result in a small crop the following year. To prevent this happening, fruits should be thinned by simply removing some of the small fruits to a single fruit per cluster. This means the existing fruits will grow larger and reduce the risk of branches being broken by the weight of the fruit.

GROWING FRUIT IN CONTAINERS Where garden space is limited it is possible to grow a good range of fruit in containers to produce delicious fresh produce and decorative plants. Lots of different fruits are fine in containers, in fact some plants will often grow better this way, especially if they need specific soil conditions, such as blueberries that need acid soil.

Choosing the right container is important to make sure the plants grow well. Plastic, wood, terracotta or resin pots are all perfectly fine as long as they have adequate drainage in the bottom to prevent the compost from getting waterlogged. Whatever type or style of pot you go for, it needs to be large enough to support the plant and keep it healthy and growing for several years. Having said that, ideally it is best to start the plant in a smaller pot and pot it up into larger pots over the next few years until it reaches the final pot size.

Potting a small plant into a huge pot of compost doesn’t work very well, so it really does pay to pot

up over a few years.

The choice of compost is also important. Multi-purpose compost is not suitable for longterm growing as it runs out of nutrients and the structure breaks down after a year. A loam-based compost is ideal and what I tend to do is mix three parts John Innes no.3 with one part multi-purpose compost to give a mix that isn’t too heavy but will keep its structure and retain moisture and nutrients. If plants need acidic conditions, use an ericaceous mix. Even with a good compost mix, you will need to feed regularly. In spring a slowrelease fertiliser mixed into the surface perks up the compost and through the summer you can give liquid feeds when you water.

As for what to grow, it’s sky’s the limit! Blueberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries are great in pots. You can even grow top fruit such as apples, pears, peaches, cherries, apricots and figs. Enjoy! www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Some people choose to cover all the ground in a new greenhouse with a porous membrane. This instantly solves most weed problems, while allowing for drainage. Deep raised beds can be positioned on top.

Paving, gravel etc., can be laid over the surface to create paths.

WITH JOYCE RUSSELL Pictures by Ben Russell

■ Plant aubergines, peppers and melons if you haven’t done so already ■ Mulch bare soil so it doesn’t dry out too fast ■ Thin the number of bunches on grapevines ■ Nip out tomato sideshoots on all except bush varieties

10 | JUNE 2018

■ Leave doors/windows open as soon as nights are warm enough ■ Water every day, mist first tomato flowers, and spray paths on hot days ■ Feed plants in pots and growing bags ■ Look around the greenhouse every day: deal with small problems before they become big ones, e.g. pests

A NEW GREENHOUSE: PATHS S A path may be no more than a well-trodden strip of earth or it may be a more elaborate paved structure.

There are many options in between such as: sawdust, gravel, cocoa shell, hard-wearing groundcover membrane, wooden boards, concrete or tiles.

Earth can become muddy when wet, therefore weeds can be a problem.

Having said that, an earth path is easy to reposition, whereas a concrete one is difficult. Experiment if unsure and find the best way to move around the greenhouse. Once you know the route, commit to a path covering that makes for easy, clean and non-slip use. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JOBS THIS MONTH

TOMATOES There should be plenty of green tomatoes on plants in June and there may even be some early ripe fruits. Don’t worry if there aren’t! There is still time to plant tomatoes in early June and you will get some fruit in a few weeks’ time.

Choose cherry varieties for the fastest crops.

Established plants will be quite tall: keep tying them in to supports so stems don’t break under the weight of a heavy crop. Use a liquid feed every seven to 10 days while fruit is swelling. This may seem often, but you will get healthier and more productive plants if you keep to this routine.

Keep soil damp and weed-free between plants, taking care not to damage roots.

■ When growing tomatoes in large pots – stand these in trays and water from the base.

This keeps roots damp and avoids just wetting the top layer of compost.

■ To harvest basil – nip out and use the top clusters of leaves. This lets lower clusters develop in stem joints and the plant will bush out.

GREENHOUSE GADGETS: THERMOMETERS It’s hard to run a greenhouse well without a thermometer. Some indication of maximum and

WINTER BRASSICAS Buy a few small plants of Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale if you want to ensure a good crop of these winter greens in the greenhouse. There may not be room for plants to go into their final position now, so grow them on in 25cm (10in) pots. They will be healthy and a good size e to plant out in August afterr early sweetcorn is finished..

Plants grown undercover can produce pest-free, prolific and early crops.

minimum temperatures is essential so you aren’t just guessing the extent of temperature p swings. A simple maximum and minimum thermometer costs very little, but you do have tto go out to the ggreenhouse to look aat readings. Units

with wireless remote sensors allow you to monitor temperature from the house and you can set alarms to alert when temperatures that require action are reached.

Opening doors at 30C (86F) can avoid small plants frying at 40C (104F). These units vary in complexity and number of remote sensors. You should find something to suit from £15 to £50.

BEAN FLOWERS

CUCUMBERS

Climbing bean stems twist anticlockwise to raise themselves up strings or canes. Don’t try to force them to twist the other way!

There should be plenty of delicate flowers on the stems and each one of these will produce a pod. Keep foliage dry and soil damp: beans are thirsty, but wet leaves allow moulds to take ta hold.

Pickk pods whiile they arre tasty aand small.

Plants P sshould ccrop over many m weeks.

SWEETCORN Plants grow at an astonishing rate so they need plenty of feed and water to sustain this growth. Lay a mulch of manure around established plants if soil is poor.

Water over this liberally and nutrients will wash down into the soil. Or you can soak manure in water for three or four days and pour the brew around plants as a fast feed.

www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Enjoy the glut of delicious fresh cucumbers in June; by August you may wonder why you grew so many plants and what to do with the fruit! If your plants are an ‘All Female’ variety, then life is easy and only female flowers are produced at the end of small fruitlets. If plants produce both male and female flowers, check the seed packet to see if male flowers must be removed before pollination occurs (this can lead to bitter fruits)..

■ Lettuce plants do best if shaded a little from bright summer sun. Grow rows behind tall crops, where plants suffer less scorching.

■ Sow parsley this month if you want large and productive plants in the wintertime.

■ Hang a ripe tomato, or banana skin, next to green tomatoes that are slow to ripen. Don’t strip the first ripe fruits from a truss until lower ones have started to change colour.

■ Spray cucumbers with a mix of seaweed and garlic extract. This helps keep plants healthy and reduces stem rot.

■ Thin some plants out if you have planted too close.

It’s better to remove one or two now and give the rest enough space to crop well.

■ Put sticks in pots to mark the most productive strawberry plants and only grow runners on from these ones. Pots can go outside the greenhouse when fruiting finishes.

Stems are robust and don’t need support, but they are brittle and can snap if you bend them while weeding between rows.

Use a long hoe to reach where you can’t.

Sweetcorn will cross-pollinate if two varieties are grown close together. Avoid this by sowing the second one a month after the first, so there is no overlap of pollen production. Early varieties sown in June should crop in September.

JUNE 2018 | 11

YOU

YOUR PLOT

WHAT’S NEW? ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING

SWEET PEA WEEK! Sweet Pea Week at Easton Walled Gardens, near Grantham, Lincolnshire takes place July 1-8.

There will be 50 varieties of sweet pea on display, and a new trial area. Visitors will find heritage, modern, scented, striped, flaked and bicolour sweet peas.

Visitors can also explore the rest of the 12-acre garden, including

the herbaceous displays that fill the Long Borders and Velvet Borders.

A traditional rural estate, Easton dates back 400 years and visitors can find out more by visiting the dedicated history room. Prices: £7.50 for adults, £3.50 for children 4-16 years old.

For more information go to: www.visiteaston.co.uk

PEST AND DISEASE HALL OF SHAME An analysis of Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardener enquiries has revealed that, for the 22nd year running, honey fungus was the top plant health issue in 2017. Honey fungus affects a range of woody and perennial plants by attacking the roots. Top pest spot, however, went to the box tree caterpillar, relegating last year’s top pests, slugs and snails, to fourth position.

Gerard Clover, head of plant health at the Royal Horticultural Society, said: “This year’s pest and disease ranking points to the continuing problems inflicted on gardens by old foes like honey fungus but also new and emerging threats like box tree caterpillar. With new pests and diseases emerging in continental Europe, it has never been more important that people get to grips with what is going on in their gardens.”

New research carried out by www.VoucherCodesPro. co.uk has discovered that the average office worker will consume as many as 3295 calories per day – between 795 and 1295 more than the recommended daily amount – leading to an annual weight gain of 9lb per year. Just 19% of office workers won’t gain weight over the course of the year, due to leading a healthy lifestyle outside of work or being blessed with a high metabolism.

So don’t get stuck in the chair, get stuck into gardening!

REDUCE BREAST CANCER RISK THROUGH GARDENING Carrying out 150 minutes of moderate physical activity (such as gardening) every week can help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. With this in mind, Town & Country, supplier of a range of gardening accessories, has joined forces with Breast Cancer Now, the UK’s largest breast cancer charity, to bring gardeners a range of limited edition, stylish, pink gardening products.

Town and Country will be donating 10% of sales from the three new products: gloves, secateurs and a gardening pouch.

For further information about Breast Cancer Now visit www.breastcancernow.org and to find out about the new products visit www.townandco.com.

DO YOU HAVE SOME HOT STORIES FOR OUR NEWS PAGES? SEND THEM TO TFLANAGAN@MORTONS.CO.UK 12 | JUNE 2018

www.kitchengarden.co.uk