Kitchen Garden May 2018

WWW.KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK | MAY 2018

BRITAIN'S BEST READ FOR FRUIT & VEG GROWERS

RUNNER BEANS HANGING BASKETS GUTTER GARDENS

with advice from our fruit expert Veg that loves the dark side SAVE 10% ON PRODUCTS 6 GREAT RECIPES FERMENTING MASTERCLASS SPINACH MADE SIMPLE

EDITOR’S LETTER

WELCOME Hands up if you always grow perfect veg. Me neither! No, even the best grower on the planet can always find a wonky carrot in the row or an embarrassing-looking tomato on the truss. Well now, rather than hiding your ugly roots and knobbly tubers at the bottom of the trug out of sight of friends and family, we want you to celebrate them with us this summer.

We have launched two fun competitions – one for adults and one for kids – to encourage us to appreciate the less shapely, or even downright ugly, among our crops. After all, beauty is only skin deep, they are all just as tasty in the pot – and now, they could even win you a prize. Turn to page 66 to find out more.

We are always looking for ways to improve your favourite gardening read and would love your feedback – which bits you find most useful and suggestions for ways we can improve. So to have your say – and be entered into a draw for a great prize – visit www.kitchengarden.co.uk and click on the link to complete our short survey.

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O ON DE O VI

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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

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

MAY 2018 | 3

CONTENTS

EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

6 ✪ ON THE COVER

26 YOU

YOUR PLOT

40

6 ON THE VEG PATCH What to sow now: plant sweetcorn, globe artichokes and a herb pot. Take care of apples, rhubarb and raspberries

@GrowWithKG KitchenGardenUK

10 IN THE GREENHOUSE

KitchenGardenMag @GrowWithKG

Plant tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers, net strawberries, harvest bucket spuds

12 WHAT’S NEW?

/kitchengardenmagazine FOR OUR CONTACT DETAILS TURN TO PAGE 15

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 KG PROBLEM SOLVER

NEVER MISS AN ISSUE...

£20

This month our experts solve your problems on stored seeds, manuring plots and runner beans

111 LAST WORD

36 PASSIONATE PLOTTER 2017

Sally Cunningham comments on the not so good goji berry

We visit Norman and Valerie Spooner, who won the container category in last year’s contest

114 NEXT MONTH

66 WACKY PRODUCE COMPETITION ✪

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

Launch of a fun competition for wacky veg and children’s veggie art

ON PAGE 24 HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE? Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month

4 | MAY 2018

110 DIARY DATES 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

45 www.kitchengarden.co.uk

MAY 2018

106 Scan this, and we’ll tell you!

62 This month chef Anna Pettigrew makes some delicious recipes with green beans, spring onions and watercress ✪

Pg 106

48 GET GROWING 16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS This month the intrepid trio get down and dirty with their compost

18 WATCH US ON YOUTUBE What seasonal KG videos are available to help you grow better veg?

22 GROWING ONLINE Our pick of gardening social media

26 ALLOTMENT ON THE HILL

57 BEST BLUEBERRIES ✪ Hyped up? Yes, but don’t let that put you off.

Fruit expert David Patch shows you how to get the most out of this acid-loving plant.

62 TOMATO VARIETIES – DO WE NEED SO MANY? Simon Crawford argues the case for new types of toms

Jane Chitty describes the transformation of her overgrown allotment in Somerset

70 PLOTTING WITH SHADY CHARACTERS ✪

32 VEG AT A GLANCE ✪

Ben Vanheems looks at crops that are happy on the dark side. May the fork be with you...

This month we look at salsify and scorzonera

40 MAKE YOUR RUNNERS STUNNERS ✪

76 VEG AT A GLANCE – SPINACH ✪ Tony Flanagan explains how to grow this leafy crop all year round

92 WHAT TO BUY 34 INSTANT SAVERS ✪ This month make some great savings on Pippa Greenwood’s range, bird food from Wiggly Wigglers, Aztec Gold fertiliser and Agriframes products

84 GARDEN STORE Another pot-pourri of great garden-related products and services

Veg expert Rob Smith gives tips on growing and recommends some top varieties

80 GROWING SMALL, EATING BIG ✪

45 AMAZING ARONIAS

Steve Ott tests some ways to grow microgreens

96 TRIED AND TESTED – NETTING

86 FLOWERS FROM YOUR PATCH ✪

100 GREAT READER OFFERS ✪

This month we look at marigolds and how useful they are for growing among veggies

Claim your free* blueberry ’Bluecrop’ plus save on patio fruit and rhubarb (*just pay p&p)

Sally Cunningham looks at this not so well known hardy shrub which produces edible fruit

48 PLUGGING THE GAP ✪ Buying in young plants is a great alternative to sowing your own, as Steve Ott explains

88 SMALL SPACE SOLUTIONS ✪

52 FERMENTATION ✪

92 MAKING A HANGING BASKET

Wendy Pillar explains preserving vegetables by lactofermentation

Joyce Russell makes a simple rustic basket to plant up with veg

www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Ways to increase harvests from a small area

This month we test crop protection materials

102 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £2672 ✪ This month you could win veg topsoil, show tickets, propagation kit, days out and more MAY 2018 | 5

GET GROWING

TASKS FOR YOUR VEGETABLE PATCH IN MAY BY MARTIN FISH

EARTH UP POTATOES Early varieties of potatoes planted last month should be growing well now and making new shoots. To encourage side shoots and more tubers, earth them up by pulling soil up around the plants to form ridges. Ideally, do this little and often as the stems develop.

CHECK RHUBARB STEMS Rhubarb will be in full growth now and making plenty of sticks for pulling. However, a spell of dry or hot weather can cause the plants to form thick flowering stems from the centre of the clump. These should be pulled out as soon as they develop.

COVER CARROTS The major pest of carrots is carrot root fly which is attracted by the scent of the carrot foliage.

To protect the carrots from damage caused by the burrowing grubs, keep the plants covered over at all times with fleece or fine insect-proof mesh pegged down at the edges.

KEEP SOIL MOIST In dry weather newly sown seeds may struggle to germinate in the soil. After sowing vegetable seeds directly into the garden, keep an eye on the plot and if the soil starts to dry out below the surface, water the area gently to moisten the soil.

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JOBS FOR THE MONTH XXX

PLANT A HERB POT STEP 1: A herb pot is a great way to grow a selection of popular herbs for use in recipes and summer dishes. Most herbs like a sunny position and will grow happily in a container. Drainage is important as they hate to have their roots in wet compost, so before planting, place some crocks over the drainage holes and a layer of gravel to make sure the compost drains freely.

STEP 2: Use well-drained compost such as half and half John Innes no. 2 and multipurpose. You can also add a little extra grit if you feel it needs it. Fill the container with compost and plant a selection of plants.

Choose herbs that you are going to use and bear in mind their shape and how large they will grow as you want the finished container to be balanced.

STEP 3: Finish off with a dressing of fine gravel. This helps with surface drainage and also gives a decorative finish to the pot. Water the plants in and stand the pot in a sunny position. Although many herbs come from the Mediterranean region, when grown in containers they need to be watered on a regular basis to encourage fresh growth.

SOW NOW

PLANT OUT SWEETCORN Sweetcorn plants grown from seed a month ago can be planted out into the garden when the weather is suitable. This is usually from around the middle of the month, but it really depends on the temperatures and what part of the country you live in. Where I live in North Yorkshire, it tends to be towards the end of the month, but in the south it can be a few weeks earlier.

The advantage of growing this way, rather than sowing directly into the soil, is it gives the plants a longer growing season. When planting, choose a sunny position and grow in blocks to aid wind pollination. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

PLANT GLOBE ARTICHOKES If you have room on the veg plot and fancy growing something a little different, have a go with globe artichokes. It’s a large plant with attractive, silvery foliage and when mature it produces thistle-like flower heads on tall stalks. In good growing conditions the plants can grow to around 1m (3ft) tall and wide. The edible part of the plant is the flower, or rather the scaly sepals, which are eaten when cooked. They are an acquired taste, but even if you don’t eat them, the plants look great in the garden and when the flowers open they attract bees and insects. Planted now, it will be established ready to overwinter.

Mint is normally propagated by division in early spring, but if you find an interesting variety at this time of the year you can take some softwood cuttings that root very easily in pots of compost.

Dwarf beans, runner beans, onions, lettuce, salad leaves, peas, autumn broccoli, kale, cauliflower, kohl rabi, carrots, parsnips, radish, spring onions, spinach, turnips, beetroot, chard, parsley, annual herbs, marrow, pumpkin, squash, courgettes, Florence fennel, corn salad, salsify, radish, salad onions and sweetcorn.

PLANT NOW

Potatoes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage, kale, sprouting broccoli, leeks, runner beans, lettuce, dwarf beans, courgettes and perennial herbs.

HARVEST

Sprouting broccoli, kale, spring greens, rhubarb, lettuce, radish, spring onions, leeks, chard, baby carrots.

MAY 2018 | 7

GET GROWING

PLANT NEW FRUIT BUSHES ■ When parsnip seedlings are an inch or two tall, thin them out to a single plant per station if you sowed several seeds together, or thin the row so that the seedlings are around 10-15cm (4-6in) apart.

If you want to plant some new fruit bushes in your garden or on the allotment, but didn’t get around to planting bare-root plants in the dormant season, May is a good time to plant container-grown plants. Planting now while the soil is warming up gives the plants the rest of the summer to make a good root system and plenty of top growth.

Ground preparation before planting is very important, especially when you consider

that the bushes are going to be in the ground for up to 15 years. All perennial weeds need removing thoroughly and plenty of organic matter in the form of garden compost or well-rotted manure should be worked into the area to improve the soil structure. After planting, water the ground around the roots and through the summer check the plants and if the soil dries out, give it an occasional soaking.

REJUVENATE HUNGRY RHUBARB

New raspberry canes that were planted in the dormant season and pruned down to ground level should now be making new growth. Autumn fruiting varieties will produce some fruit this summer, whereas summer varieties won’t fruit until next year on the canes made this summer.

With both types, the important thing is to help the plants establish by keeping them watered in dry weather and fed to encourage strong canes to develop.

Rhubarb is a hungry plant and needs a moisture retentive, fertile soil to grow well and produce a good crop of sticks for pulling though the summer. If the soil is poor and the plants are not fed, growth can be weak and pale.

To perk up hungry rhubarb that isn’t as vigorous and healthy as it should be, feed around the clump with a general fertiliser and give the roots a good watering.

■ In mild areas plant out runner bean and dwarf bean plants, but have some fleece handy just in case they need some protection. Where frost is still likely wait until the end of the month to plant.

■ Check around the garden for early signs of pests such as aphids on seedlings and slug and snail damage on plants.

To prevent the damage getting worse, control any pests as soon as you spot them.

■ Check rows of onions to make sure all the sets are growing and if any have been pulled out by birds, firm them back in.

■ Plant out Brussels sprout plants as soon as they are large enough to give them a long growing season.

8 | MAY 2018

FEED AND WATER NEW RASPBERRIES

CARE OF APPLES We’re in apple blossom time now although the exact time of blossoming will depend partly on where you live in the country and the variety of apple being grown.

Some varieties blossom early and others a little later, so if you are growing several apples in your garden it’s important that you have trees in flower at the same time to ensure pollination. Some of the ornamental crab apples such as Malus ‘John Downie’ make excellent pollinators as they flower over a long period.

Apple varieties that flower early, usually in April, can be prone to frost damage, so if possible protect the blossom when it is open on nights when a frost is forecast by draping a sheet of fleece over the tree or branches. The fleece needs to be removed in the day though to allow bees and other pollinating insects access to the flowers. If blossom is caught on a frosty night, to try and reduce the damage, wash the frost off early the following morning with water, before the sun gets to it.

Around mid to late May is also the time to hang pheromone traps in apple trees to help control codling moths as they start to become active and lay eggs on developing fruitlets. The traps work by catching the male moths and although you won’t get total control, the damage to the fruits by the caterpillars will be greatly reduced.

Apple powdery mildew can also start to show on the tips of new growth in late May, especially if we get a warm, dry spell of weather.

Pruning in winter to thin overcrowded stems will improve air circulation and mulching around the base of the tree to retain

moisture in the soil will help. If it does appear, cut off badly affected shoots and feed and water the tree to reduce stress. Alternatively, spray with a surfactant such as SB Plant Invigorator or Resolver Natural Power Bug & Mildew Control, which will also help against pests such as aphids. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

WITH JOYCE RUSSELL Pictures by Ben Russell

A NEW GREENHOUSE: WINDOWS & DOORS ■ Plant cucumbers, sweetcorn and basil when nights are above 10C (50F)

■ Plant tomatoes early in the month: keep tying stems to supports and nip out side shoots while these are small

■ Plant aubergines and peppers at the end of the month if 15C (59F) temperatures can be guaranteed

■ Keep on top of ventilation and damp paths down to keep daytime temps below 30C (86F) if possible

■ Water grape vines regularly for productive plants

■ Water carefully so no plant stands in dry or soggy compost

10 | MAY 2018

All greenhouses have at least one door and this is adequate for a 2 x 2.5m (6½ x 8ft) structure. For anything bigger than this you really need something with a second door and/or windows.

It is impossible to adequately ventilate and bring temperatures down if the air inside doesn’t have any good way to escape. Big greenhouses need plenty of openings!

Look for roof windows on glasshouses – some of these may be automated and will open when temperatures reach a set point. Polythene greenhouses may have simple flaps for windows, or sides may roll up in some sections. You can get automatic doors and windows in some polytunnels too, but these tend to be used for commercial-sized structures.

A door at each end of the structure will allow air to pass through. This also makes access easier and you can open and close according to wind direction. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

JOBS THIS MONTH

SECOND-GUESSING THE WEATHER

May is a tricky month weather-wise: we can get hot days, and also night frosts. A greenhouse protects against the lower extremes, but tender plants don’t like such temperature swings. Plants may survive, but will suffer nonetheless. Peppers, aubergines and melons can take weeks to get growing properly again. Some will never reach their full cropping potential and some may grow, but never fruit at all.

Watch weather forecasts and leave these plants in a heated propagator for as long as possible. If plants have to go out into the border

■ Plant cucumbers in a hotbed to provide a warm root run.

Plants will grow quickly once they are established and the manure in the bed gives them an extra boost.

before temperatures are reliable, then cover them with a cloche and add extra layers at night. Try laying soil-warming cable around them if you want to add some extra warmth.

■ Spray first tomato flowers with a light mist of water to aid fruit set. The pollen needs to be just barely damp.

Once the first trusses are set, higher ones don’t need this assistance assistance.

GREENHOUSE GADGETS: OVERHEAD WATERING SYSTEMS Water is routed through pipe to a spraying point (or points) attached to crossbeams in the roof of the structure. Water is sprayed out evenly underneath when the system is activated. Systems can be set to automatic timing or turned on manually. As with all gadgets, there are different levels of complexity at widely different prices.

An overhead system wets indiscriminately: all parts of plants underneath will be wetted as will the soil in borders. Overhead systems efficiently deliver water over a wide area and are suitable for large structures. Glasshouses tend to be drier environments than polytunnels, so this system is best suited to the former.

PLANTING DISTANCES Many plants look small when you put them into the ground, but don’t be tempted to skimp on planting distances.

Follow the recommended distances in books or on seed packets and have faith. Tomatoes, aubergines, peppers etc. all fill out as they grow and can soon become overcrowded. Each plant needs plenty of room for air to circulate around it: this reduces disease, allows you to pick, and light can reach fruits to aid ripening.

There’s nothing to stop you using the space between plants while they are small: put trays of seedlings and potted plants between the tomato poles if you need to use the space at this point. You can also sow a fast crop like radish or mini salad leaves that will be cleared and finished before the tomatoes fill out.

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STRAWBERRIES

KEEP SOWING

Use sticks to raise netting over strawberry plants before the fruit starts to colour. Alternatively, you can net across all openings so birds don’t gain access to the greenhouse: they will eat the lot if they can reach ripe fruits.

Keep plants watered and fed and you should hould get some juicy red berries b by the end d of the month h.

Deal with slugs and remove any mouldy fruits.

Pick, eat and enjoy the delicioous ripe berriees!

■ You can still sow cucumbers, basil and sweetcorn in early May. These will crop a little later than earlier sowings, but plants can be vigorous and some crop for longer.

■ Keep sowing rows of salad leaves if you want salad in a couple of months. Sow lettuce in trays and plant out when 5cm (2in) tall.

■ Try kohl rabi and beetroot too for tasty autumn roots. Spinach, spinach beet and chard can be sown now: plants should crop through summer and autumn.

■ Melons are susceptible to root rot, or stem rot at the point where this touches the ground. Plant on a mound to improve drainage. Water through the side of the mound so soil is never too wet at the base of the stem.

■ Dispose of any fat, grey, curled, chafer grubs that you dig up: these eat roots, including potatoes.

■ Harvest potatoes from buckets by reaching into the compost and pulling larger roots off. Leave the rest of the plant to grow on and smaller roots will swell to give a later crop.

■ Basil likes company and seems to do best if planted in groups of three plants.

Allow 30cm (12in) between each group of three and keep ground damp, but never wet, if you want to get plenty of fragrant leaves.

FRENCH BEANS Climbing French beans perform really well in a greenhouse. Plants crop for months and the slender fleshy pods are really delicious. Make a trench and fill this with compost. Sow a single row of beans with 20cm (8in) between each sowing point. Sow two seeds at each point and thin to the strongest seedling as they grow, or sow a few extra at the end of the row to fill any gaps where seed fails. Each plant needs a support as it grows.

MAY 2018 | 11

YOU

YOUR PLOT

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

SHARE YOUR PASSION N FOR GARDEN PLANTS Launched seven years ago by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), National Gardening Week (April 30 - May 6) aims to be the country’s biggest celebration of gardening. Over the years, thousands of people, gardens, charities, retailers, culture and heritage organisations and groups have got involved.

The focus for 2018 is gardeners sharing their passion for plants. The

RHS, therefore, is encouraging people to get involved by running their own events, doing something fun that’s gardening-related and by sharing pictures and stories on social media.

The RHS will also be running activities and events at its four gardens, Harlow Carr, Wisley, Hyde Hall and Rosemoor.

For more information go to: http://nationalgardeningweek.org.uk

JOIN THE GREAT BRITISH BEE COUNT 2018 This year’s Great British Bee Count will be between May 17 and June 30.

Suitable for all ages, the Great British Bee Count helps people find out about the bees that can be found throughout the UK and discover more about their incredible diversity, the threats they face, and what can be done to help them. Last year 16,000 people took part.

Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth chief executive, said: “Bees play a crucial role pollinating our food and plants – but we must do more to look after them. I hope as many people as possible will take part in the Great British Bee Count, find out more about these fascinating insects and create bee-friendly spaces to help them thrive.”

By downloading the free, easy-to-use app, people can identify and learn about bees, record each they spot and even send in photos.

To register go to www.greatbritishbeecount.co.uk

RHAPSODY IN GREEN

The only limit to your garden lies at the boundaries of your imagination, according to the American landscape designer Thomas D Church, and if you’re an author and a novelist like Charlotte Mendelson then you probably have a pretty expansive imagination.

Rhapsody in Green is about how dreaming, planting, planning and sowing are all part of gardening.

For Charlotte Mendelson, this cerebral element to gardening is an important factor that can illuminate and bring a small space to life, even if it is, in her words,

World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD) this year falls on Saturday, May 5. Founded in 2005, WNGD sees naked gardening as a means of making the world’s gardens “healthier and more attractive”, urging people “to find an opportunity to get naked and do some gardening” alone, with friends or your gardening club even. But if you do go ahead with it please do remember to wrap up warm… Oh no, you can’t!

For more information visit: http://wngd.org.

“a laughably small excuse for a vegetable garden”.

Being something of a smallspace cultivator myself I could completely relate to her words about a lot of gardening books: “The moment they refer to the lower orchard, to stone benches, or barns, or fields, or tills, or curses or manure heaps, my empathy dies. It isn’t a world I recognise.”

However, for those of you lucky enough to have plenty of growing space, don’t think that this book offers nothing for you; this informative and funny book

deals with universals that apply to gardens big or small.

If you are wanting a how-to manual then this isn’t the book for you, but if you want to engage with one woman’s personal relationship with her green space and laugh at crossovers with your own, as well as meditate on the way a garden is a very personal expression of our relationship to the soil, then you’ll find that you don’t want the book to end.

Rhapsody in Green by Charlotte Mendelson is published by Kyle Books at £16.99.

Review by Sarah Palmer

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

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