Kitchen Garden September 2015 preview

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DOWN-TO-EARTH ADVICE FOR GROWING FRUIT & VEG | KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2015

SEEDS FREE INSIDE! 21 CROPS TO SOW THIS WEEKEND

USING WORM

POWER

OWN SHED FOR NEXT TO NOTHING!

CAROL KLEIN’S

TOP TIPS FOR TASTY VEG

HOW TO GROW LEEKS + COOK WITH LAVENDER + PLANTS TO DETER PESTS

No. 216 September 2015

£4.99

TO MAKE BETTER COMPOST

BUILD YOUR

CONTENTS

EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW GREAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

38

30 YOU

&

YOUR PLOT

JOBS THIS MONTH: 6 ON THE VEG PATCH

✪ oN tHE CoVER

tend compost heaps, clear crops, save seed, make a wildlife home, plant onion sets

Follow us At facebook. com/KitchenGardenMag for our contact details turn to page 18

SUBSCRIBERS’ CORNER See page 32 for details

10 IN THE GREENHOUSE

Check the structure of polytunnels and greenhouses, tend to tomatoes, sow salads

12 HOT TOPICS

the latest news and comment from the world of kitchen gardening

16 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS

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

20 QUESTION TIME

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

96 DIARY DATES

Plus details of seed and young plant suppliers and giveaways coupon

having trouble finding a copy of this magazine?

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

4 | SEPTEMBER 2015

68 GET GROWING 22 KG PASSIONATE PLOTTER COMPETITION 2015

why not enter our annual competition to unearth the keenest fruit and veg gardeners in Britain? You could be in with a chance of winning part of a £3266 prize package

26 BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO LEEKS ✪

Get back to basics with Andrew tokely as he explains how to get the best from this popular winter veg

30 VEG AT A GLANCE: GROWING DRYING BEANS FOR WINTER A KG mini growing guide

34 JOE’S BEST OF THE BUNCH

Joe Maiden shares his favourite varieties for taste and performance

38 GARDEN TIME WITH CAROL KLEIN ✪

Gardening expert and tV presenter Carol Klein reveals her love of veggie growing

42 FROM THE GROUND UP

102 NEXT MONTH

some highlights to be found in your october issue plus details of great free gifts

Benedict Vanheems visits tolhurst organic in oxfordshire where a healthy soil is key to success

106 LAST WORD

48 FRAGRANT FAYRE ✪

this month KG reader Claire Keen from Middlesbrough talks about her plot

lavender is one of the most popular plants in the herb garden. Julie Moore explains why www.kitchengarden.co.uk

SEPTEMBER 2015

recipes

This month – tasty recipes for brambles, squash and sage ✪

Pg 98

98

64

52

WHAT TO BUY

52 FRUIT AT A GLANCE: BLACKBERRIES

26

A KG mini guide to growing this tasty fruit

56 HAVE YOU TRIED...

BUILDING A SHED? ✪

Lucy Halliday gives her top tips on tackling a bespoke self-build shed and offers advice on sourcing free materials

89 WIN £1130 WORTH OF MOUNTFIELD POWER TOOLS 90 GROWING GUIDES

Our selection of the best new websites, apps, blogs and books for those who love to grow their own

64 IN PRAISE OF GOOD COMPANIONS

Mix herbs and flowers in with your veg.

Here Michael Littlewood explains it has a host of benefits

92 GIVEAWAYS WORTH £1740

68 TOP 10 APPLES ✪

Gardening writer and broadcaster Anne Swithinbank lists her favourite dessert apples

22

70 IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH WITH HERBS

A quick guide to what you can sow at this time of year www.kitchengarden.co.uk

Claim your free blackberry plant, plus save on spring greens, winter lettuce, long season blackberries, honeyberries and kiwi fruit

The KG team puts a selection of garden forks through their paces

60 WORMERY MAGIC ✪

74 WHAT CAN I SOW NOW?

84 READER SAVERS

86 TRIED AND TESTED

Compost created by special worms is a nutritious material that is useful in the kitchen garden. Emma Rawlings takes a look at how to create a wormery

Susie Kearley looks at the health credentials of some of our most common herbs

£

76 CIDER BE BLESSED

Marie-Claire Kidd visits Britain’s most northerly orchard to meet the Benedictine monks who produce a rather tasty tipple from it

This month you could win two places on the Edible Gardening Made Easy Course, tickets to the London Homebuilding & Renovating Show, Phytaoil rosehip skin treatment, Alcro Fasad wood stain and Workforce Safety Boot Socks

94 GARDEN STORE

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

98 SEASONAL RECIPES

This month – tasty recipes for brambles, squash and sage SEPTEMBER 2015 | 5

GET GROWING

WIN GREAT PRIZES! Are you a passionate plotter? We know KG readers love their veg plots and here we meet a couple of really keen plot holders and invite you to enter our Passionate Plotter Competition 2015

NINA CAUDREY FROM INVERNESS Do you tend to your plot on your own?

I do the majority of the work myself, but will ask my assistant gardener (aka my husband) to help with construction and general maintenance tasks.

Do you have an allotment or veg plot in your garden? ave various veg ts in our garden. eing a north asterly facing garden, 500ft up a windy hill in the ighlands, means ere is a limited area

suitable for successful growing during the short growing season. But we’ve packed a lot into the space in the garden that gets the most sun.

How long have you been growing veg?

Since I can remember I have been involved in growing veg with my parents, so for at least 35 years, probably longer.

What variety of vegetable can you recommend?

For gardeners in the Highlands, I have found that any hardy first early type of vegetable works better than later-cropping types. Also, green or dark varieties also crop better than yellow ones (eg French beans, courgettes). Dwarf broad beans and peas grow well in the windy conditions our garden experiences – this year we’ve had good crops of ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ peas and ‘The Sutton’ dwarf broad bean.

Do you grow any veg in containers?

We always grow our potatoes in sacks measuring about 45cm x 35cm, raised away from slugs on the heavy duty potato stand that my husband made – it’s sturdy enough that it could be used as a bunk bed!

They are grown in whatever peat-free compost is on special offer at the garden centre that year. They get a handful of chicken manure pellets and volcanic ash during the growing season.

Why are you passionate about your plot?

Gardening is a great stress reliever; just being outside pottering about watering plants, pulling weeds, picking food for dinner and observing nature does us the world of good.

There’s nothing better than making a dinner from things that we’ve grown ourselves too – so fresh and tasty, and we know exactly what’s in them.

YOUR PLOT COMPETITION

Enter our Passionate Plotter competition

ALINE MASIH FROM ROCHESTER, KENT I have an allotment, half a plot, a greenhouse and raised beds which run along the length of my garden, as well as 11 chickens and two ducks at the bottom of the garden.

I have been growing veg since I was a child and my mum had an allotment. I used to love the weekends when we went up to the allotment in our village.

We are looking for the UK’s most passionate fruit and veggie grower and now veg plots are starting to fill up with tasty crops it is the perfect time to take some photographs and enter er our competition.

If you love your plott then share it with us and other KG readerss.

Simply send us a few photos of your plot and you could win some great prizes and d your plot will also be featured in a future issue of Kitchen !7"* &1(+9$Garden

£25

Harrod fruit cages

How do you grow one particular named crop?

My favourite veg are my purple beans. I start sowing them in spring in organic compost, in individual cells. Once they have their first set of leaves I plant them in 9cm (3½in) pots. I then start to harden them off after the last frosts.

In the meantime I ensure the soil has had a sprinkling of rock dust on it. I ensure I do three separate sowings of beans over a two-month period to ensure a long harvest.

Why are you passionate about your plot?

I could talk all day about why I am passionate about my plot. I love watching things grow from seed to harvest. My biggest passion is teaching my children that with a little bit of love and attention you can eat what you grow.

I love seeing their faces as they see the different stages of the plants’ growth. www.kitchengarden.co.uk

1ST PLACE PRIZES

TOTAL ■ Harrod Fruit Cages worth £750 VALUE ■ WOLF-Garten Tools vouchers £1638 worth £500 ■ Organic Gardening Catalogue voucher worth £250 ■ Three Over the Rainbow personalised crates from Suttons Seeds worth £96 ■ One Salad Days personalised crate worth £22 ■ One Speedy Leaves crate worth £20

2ND PLACE PRIZES

TOTAL ■ Harrod Fruit Cages worth £450 VALUE ■ WOLF-Garten vouchers £974 worth £300 ■ Organic Gardening Catalogue voucher worth £150 ■ One Suttons Over the Rainbow crate worth £32 ■ One Suttons Salad Days crate worth £22 ■ One Suttons Speedy Leaves crate worth £20

3RD PLACE PRIZES

TOTAL ■ Harrod Fruit Cage worth £300 VALUE ■ WOLF-Garten vouchers £654 worth £200 ■ Organic Gardening Catalogue voucher worth £100 ■ One Over the Rainbow crate worth £32 ■ One Salad Days crate worth £22

Do you tend your plot on your own?

My three-year-old son Hugo and my five-yearold daughter Amelie help me, and my husband helps me to dig over the ground in the spring.

What variety of veg can you recommend for other kitchen gardens?

Purple beans and purple mangetout, black tomatoes and yellow and purple raspberries.

It’s great to grow the purple mangetout and beans at the same time. Purple mangetout crop fairly quickly so you have a harvest while you wait for the beans to crop.

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YOU COULD WIN

PRIZES WORTH OVER

£3266

Win vouchers to buy WOLF-Garten tools

Win Suttons Seeds Stacks of Flavour vegetable crates

SEPTEMBER 2015 | 23

GARDEN TIME with

Carol Klein

KG EXCLUSIVE Rainbow chard is one of Carol's favourite vegetables and as colourful as the presenter herself

Ga ardening exp pert Carol Klein has had a passion for growing all her adult life e. Here she sha ares with Kitcchen Garden her en nthusiasm forr growing veg and off ffers som me valuable advice

C

arol Klein is the ultimate authority on what makes akes a garden. She’s tended the plant nursery at her home Glebe Cottage tage for some 35 years, bbringing ringing Life in a Cottage tage Garden to our screens and inspiring amateur growers across Great Britain. Klein is also a Gardeners’ World Live veteran, having exhibited ted at the show since its inception. “I can neverr remember if it was 16 shows a year for 17 years ars or vice versa but it adds up to the same!” says the hard-working gardener.

REAP THE REWARDS

Klein is known for herr colourful gardening aesthetic, thetic, preferring to be guided by the plant’s natural ural direction to create horticultural exuberance berance rather than follow a strict formula.

When hen it comes to growing produce to put on the table, she recommends putting personal taste buds ds above the visuals. “Grow what you like eating,” ng,” she encourages. “You’d be amazed at the number mber of people who think that because it’s in a packet acket they’ll grow it so I think that’s really www.kitchengarden.co.uk w.kitchengarden.co.uk

important.” It might seem simple, but Klein also reminds gardeners to regularly reap the rewards of their vegetable beds. “Try and concentrate on having something to harvest and to eat from your plot right the way through; have vegetables you can pull at different times – salads coming along constantly that you refill every few weeks, whether that’s rocket or leafy greens.”

Pulling year round also ensures produce is varied, and eager gardeners can hopefully avoid staring at bare beds. One of Klein’s own soil-totable staples belongs to the leafy green family. “I love leaf beet, chard. You can get all sorts of wonderful ones with incredible colours called rainbow chard. Some have yellow leaves, some bright red, some green but it tastes delicious too and it’s a vegetable that you can actually continue to grow right through the winter and chop it.

SUCCESSIONAL SOWING

time consuming... if you sow things in the ground that takes longer. With modules I know it’s dead easy to grow and get a good crop.”

Klein is careful to remind green-fingered readers that not every seed sown will be a success; there are some crops she’s tried her own hand at without success. “Sometimes you are encouraged to grow crops that are expensive in the shops, like asparagus,” she explains. “I don’t think that’s a bad idea, but if you don’t actually eat much asparagus then it’s best in the shop and cheaper.

HARVESTING CARROTS

“I think carrots are a failsafe. What I do now is grow them all in pots to avoid carrot root fly, a horrible thing that affects carrots - larvae grow down into the carrots so when you pull them out they’ve got holes and spoils in them. Carrot flies can’t fly far at all so if you grow them apart and cover them the flies can’t get access.”

It’s safe to bet that Klein will be harvesting carrots this year; she’s feted for her wild flowers but it’s not the only crop you’ll find at Glebe Cottage Plants. “My garden is well known,” she acknowledges; it’s the site of her widely successful Life in a Cottage Garden series. “I’ve had it for 30 years. I was teaching then and we wanted a garden so we came down here to Devon. I didn’t care about the house – more about the garden.” ➤

“allotments are a terrific idea for those without green space”

“I think successional sowing is the hardest thing to do, just to make sure you don’t have huge gaps in crops; and for that reason it’s a brilliant idea – especially for people with limited space – to grow as much as they can in modules. You don’t have to buy lots of equipment, you can get a big tray and divide it up in cardboard. It just means when you’re ready to plant you’re not disturbing the roots. It’s not actually all that

SEPTEMBER 2015 | 39

Wormery

magic If you have heard that garden compost is gardeners’ gold then worm compost has to be gardeners’ platinum.

Emma Rawlings takes a look at this wonderful resource and how to create it

C

ompost created by worms is a highly prized product and very useful for veggie growers. It is a fine and useable product packed with nutrients and perfect for adding to containers and enriching your vegetable beds. Worms also produce a liquid which makes a superb liquid feed.

Compost bin versus Worm bin

The two are not really comparable on a small scale and in fact it is beneficial to have both.

The compost bin takes the bulk of your garden waste but a worm bin will take your vegetable kitchen scraps and some of the soft green waste from the garden. The worm bin will also

benefit from shredded paper occasionally. The compost you get out of a compost bin is often quite coarse but great for digging into your beds. The material you get out of a worm bin is a much finer material that looks more like a soil-based potting compost. It is too rich to use on its own as a seed sowing compost but you could mix it with your soil or multipurpose compost and use in containers for potting up young veg or fruit trees and shrubs. It can also be a great addition to raised beds or just normal veg beds to improve the soil. Use the compost to top dress fruit trees and shrubs.

The liquid that is produced varies in nutrient content but can be diluted (roughly one part worm tea to 10 parts water) to give it a weak tealike appearance which can be used on your crops.

Whatyou need

A special worm bin is needed and there are several designs on the market such as the larger Tiger Wormery (above) from Original Organics or a small Junior Wormery (picture below), ideal for a one person household (Original Organics).

You also need worms and these are not the same as the earthworms you dig up in the garden. Composting worms are different species to earthworms and are naturally occurring but favour the compost environment whereas earthworms prefer a soil situation.

WORM COMPOSTING

Special wormS

Brandling or tiger worms (Eisenia fetida) and compost worms (Dendrobaena veneta) are those of choice. If you know a farmer that has a stack of manure and you can go rootling in there you will come across red worms which can be added to the bin. Otherwise, to be certain you are getting the right worms and in the right amount, order from specialist companies. For most average sized wormeries you can start with about 0.25kg of worms (700-1000). With very small bins you can get away with a smaller number, say 150. They will soon multiply.

HouSing tHe wormS

There are lots of special wormeries out there and they differ from a normal compost bin in that many have sections and a special area at the base to collect the liquid.

Sectioned wormeries are best because, as you add material to the top section, the majority of the worms will migrate from lower sections to the new material, leaving the lower sections with fewer worms in but compost ready to use. You simply part the sections and use the fine worm worked material and then place the empty section on top and start to add waste to this. ➤

Worm bins produce a nutrient rich liquid

To start off your wormery you need to add some 'bedding' material of compost or coir

Makeyour ownworMery You could make your own worm bin using two dustbins; one should fit easily inside the other.

The internal bin should have holes drilled in the base. They need to be a decent size (1cm/½in or bigger) or they may clog up. If the holes are very large, cover with some mesh.

Place some small bricks or pieces of wood in the base of the external bin to lift up the internal bin from the floor of the outer bin.

Make sure you can still put a lid over both bins (to keep out flies etc) so you may need to consider this when choosing the internal container/bin. A water butt tap can be bought and fitted to the base of the outer bin.

Place the bin on some bricks so you can get a container under the tap. You are then ready to add some worms. You can buy special bedding to start the worms off in or you could use some old compost from your compost bin. Add to the new bedding a very small amount of kitchen waste (about 7.5cm/3in depth) for a week before adding a little more gradually.

SEPTEMBER 2015 | 61

WHAT TO BUY | ONLINE

GROWING GUIDES WEBSITES AND BLOGS FOR ALLOTMENT GARDENERS BY TONY FLANAGAN

Know your weeds!

The Herb Society

www.herbsociety.org.uk

If herbs are your thing (and how could they not be?), then this is well worth a visit. The Herb Society is an educational charity whose aim is to get us all to appreciate the wonders of herbs and their various uses. So the website is quite eclectic in that it has pages showing how herbs can be used for cooking and gardening, but also for cosmetics and for medicinal purposes. Use lavender oil, for

Wormungus

www.vermi-worms.co.uk

We all know that worms are good for the soil but if you want to find out why, and acquire some more information, this website will be helpful. Adhering to strong organic principles, Beehive Farm in Suffolk has been breeding dendrobaena worms for the past six years on a 15 acre site. This website gives you instructions on how to make your own vermi-compost and the benefits of adding worms to your compost heap. You can also purchase worm castings on this website as well as the worms themselves. And if you want to know more about worms there is an interesting ‘Worm Facts’ section. So, did you know that if a worm is exposed to

example, as an antiseptic, or make lemon balm tea to soothe headaches.

As well as news and diary events, there’s a schools area for Key Stages 1 and 2, a forum and an articles section.

The Herb Society was established over 85 years ago and has its own herb garden at Sulgrave Manor, Banbury, Northamptonshire (to find out more visit www.sulgravemanor.org.uk). There is an annual fee if you want to become a member and take advantage of all The Herb Society has to offer.

We tend to get rid of a lot of weeds from our gardens and vegetable patches, but quite often we don’t actually know what we’re getting rid of. We’ll be familiar with nettles, dandelions and daisies but do we really know a knapweed from a nipplewort? Yes, you did read that correctly. A nipplewort. And if you don’t know what a nipplewort is then this app will enlighten you and provide you with a topic of conversation that will bring sparkle to all your dinner parties.

The Weed ID App has four main icon-driven features. It allows you to photograph a weed and then match it to one in the database.

There is a search icon if you know the name of the weed, or you can explore the database by common name, for example, ‘Dandelion’ or by a plant’s scientific name, Taraxacum spp. The list is based on the Encyclopedia of Arable Weeds and includes 140 species. Each entry has a description of the weed and then pictures of it as a young plant and a mature plant.

Though it might throw up a few glitches from time to time, this is nevertheless quite a handy little app for your iPhone, downloadable from the App Store and Google Play, and free!

strong sunlight for a few hours it will die?

Did you know that worms hatch from cocoons which are smaller than a grain of rice? Did you know they can live up to four years?

JOIN THE FORUM FUN @ WWW.KITCHENGARDEN.CO.UK 90 | SEPTEMBER 2015

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WHAT TO BUY&| TESTED BOOKS TRIED

KG BOOKSHELF OUR ROUNDUP OF SOME OF THE BEST BOOKS FOR GARDENERS

Reviews by Sarah Palmer

OUTWITTING SQUIRRELSAND OTHER GARDEN PESTSAND NUISANCES  Anne Wareham  Michael O’Mara Books  £7.99 This little book includes a rather dizzying array of creatures to wage war on. Snakes in your garden anyone?

Honest and witty, it covers a wide range of potential irritants. As well as creatures it also looks at infestations, legislation, noise, plastics, garden machinery and so on.

Outwitting Squirrels offers some genuinely insightful advice and is a diverting book when you’ve got a couple of hours to spare to sit in the garden on a sunny day and enjoy the Victor Meldrew-ish tone.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Anyone looking for ways to beat their favourite garden foe.



www.kitchengarden.co.uk

GROWALITTLE FRUITTREE  Ann Ralph  Storey Publishing  £11.99 Starting out with fruit tree pruning can seem like learning some dark art and many of the books on the subject don’t help much with their line drawings that look nothing like the tree in front of you.

Enter Ann Ralph, an American fruit tree specialist with 20 years’ experience of growing and tending to fruit trees. She offers a simple solution – keep ‘em small and your trees will be easier to pick, prune and look after generally. Ann provides advice on growing small versions of several trees familiar to UK gardeners including apples, pears, apricots, figs, peaches and plums. We might have to ignore the advice for persimmons until global warming really kicks in, but they are commonplace in her native San Francisco Bay. Of course, Ann’s advice stretches to all aspects of caring for your dwarf tree and this book should enable anyone to grow a fruit tree with confidence.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Anyone who would like to grow fruit trees but especially those short on space.



THE NEW FRUIT EXPERT  Dr D G Hessayon  Expert Books  £8.99 The original version of this book was published more than 25 years ago but has now been updated to include 70 new varieties such as dragon fruit, goji berry and honeyberry. There are also new sections on pests and diseases and how to control them. If you could buy only one book on fruit growing, this would have to be it.

There are two principal sections, tree fruit and soft fruit, covering just about everything you might want to grow. The detailed and comprehensive coverage of each type of fruit is impressive.

The apples section, for example, provides guidance on type, describes no less than 54 varieties and gives plentiful instructions on planting, feeding and mulching, watering, pruning, maintenance and dealing with specific problems.

Without doubt, The New Fruit Expert is an excellent resource and well worthy of its ‘Expert’ tag.

5

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COPIES TO GIVE AWAY

(*See Giveaways Coupon on page 93 for your chance to win a copy of The New Fruit Expert.)

WHO IS IT FOR?

Beginners and more experienced growers alike.

 SEPTEMBER 2015 | 91

TIPS ON ThE IcEbERGS: OUR GUIDE TO GREAT LETTUcE

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