Kitchen Garden Magazine

Thursday, 3rd November 2009 | Steve Ott

Spring Cleaning... but in Autumn

After a long spell of dry weather in past months which saw my poor old squashes flattened by powdery mildew (not before I'd taken a reasonable crop from them thankfully) the weather has changed completely and the rain has come down in torrents. Not that I'm complaining as it has arrived at just the right time to make digging and weeding that much easier. In fact I think I'm further on with the digging this year than ever before.

My raised beds are great, but they do tend to encourage creeping perennial weeds such as couch and bindweed which love to feel their way around the edges between soil and edging (recycled UPVC) and digging is the only sure way of extracting them. It's a very satisfying job and while I could pop the roots into the compost bin once they have been left on the path for a week or so to dry out, I prefer to throw them straight into the incinerator. Firework night is only days away and I've been waiting for the excuse to get rid of some old branches and other prunings that are just too big or diseased to risk doing anything else with. A good fire is good for getting rid of any blighted spuds that I unearth when digging, too.

The bean supports have been packed away and things look reasonably neat and tidy. The next job is to plant some garlic cloves and I still have some shallots that I haven't quite got around to planting. I'm going to hedge my bets this year and plant some in the ground as normal and some in pots - just in case the rain is set to continue from now until next spring! The potted bulbs can go into my unheated polytunnel where they will get a chilling like the outdoor ones which will concentrate their efforts on producing roots and not top growth, but at the same time I can control watering and make sure that they don't rot away.

My final job is to tackle the greenhouse and benching and to give it a good scrub. I didn't get around to it last year and the algae and moss has built up. I've always been told that every one per cent drop in light means a similar drop in growth, so I'm keen to clean the glass before sowing gets underway. Seems like a long way off now, but time goes by so quickly that January will soon be upon us and with it the first sowings will be due.

The sun is shining now after all that complaining about rain. Time to get some more digging done before it gets dark!

Steve, Editor

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Thursday, 1st October 2009 | Steve Ott

My little experiment

My little experiment with second cropping climbing beans has paid of with a small harvest this month at the same time as the early sown crops have finished and started to die back.

Beans generally have cropped really well this year and we have been able to store plenty away in the freezer for the winter as well as giving lots away to family and friends.

I've stuck with climbing types this year as I find them much less liable to turning stringy as they age. They also seem to be less finicky than runners when it comes to pollination and I've always had fewer problems in this regard, even this year when the weather in our part of the East Midlands has been very dry at times.

The second batch were sown in late June and planted at the end of July. They started cropping towards the end of August and as you can see are still going strong, thanks in part to continued mild weather – as I write the sun is shining as it has done on most days this month (September).

I wish I could claim the same success with my squashes. The courgettes did well enough, but just a week away at the beginning of August when the weather was hot and dry was enough to send the plants into a tail spin. They became dry with no-one around to water them and mildew subsequently took over and brought the plants to a premature end. Since I have to take a break during the school holidays, and am lucky enough to have my plot in the back garden, I think I'll finally install that watering system that I've been promising myself for some time. The simple one in the polytunnel which takes care of the tomatoes has worked very well. Drip nozzles are supplied from a reservoir (an old dustbin) and gravity fed to the pots. The bin is enough to supply the needs of nine plants (3 growing-bags for at least a fortnight, even in hot weather, so no problem there.

The toms cropped well in the end, although they were late and there is still a lot of fruit to ripen. We've made several batches of delicious soup from the 'Roma' toms and will find it hard to go back to the tinned variety when the supply runs out.

The peppers have cropped well again this year and we have had lots of stuffed peppers over the past few months for supper and have been able to top up supplies of chillies for the winter.

The biggest success in the greenhouse has been the grafted plants from Dobies. These will be available in the catalogue and from the website for 2010 and have included peppers, an aubergine and the cucumber 'Passandra' that I have mentioned before.

All croppped really well – in fact the single plant of Passandra' supplied more cues than the three of us – avid salad eaters – could manage. The aubergine ('Ritma') was in fact the only one to produce fruit for me this year, my home grown 'Black beauty' failing to set even one fruit!

I'll definitely be trying these again next year.

Steve, Editor

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Wednesday, 22nd July 2009 | Steve Ott

Summer chaos

The fruit and veggies on the KG plot are growing like crazy thanks to regular rain. Second sowings of Florence fennel, kohl rabi and a late sowing of carrots (‘Paris Market’) have been made on the plot as well as more batches of salad leaves and radish. In the greenhouse the cucumbers are going crazy and have yet to fall foul of powdery mildew.

My one plant of ‘Passanda’ is producing a lovely short, but thick, cue every three or four days at the moment as are the three plants of ‘Small White’ growing nearby. One day I’d swear there were no fruit to pick, then the very next day find one or two fruit that need to be eaten – as a result everyone I know who doesn’t already grow their own is forced to take one before I’ll let them leave the house!

The variety ‘Green Fingers’ – which produces short, thin single sarny-sized fruit has so far been a bit disappointing, but I think it will catch up soon. Needless to say the courgettes are producing well – in stark contrast to last year when the plants just sat in the cold, wet soil until they faded away and died. I’ve made a mistake with the tomatoes growing in my little polytunnel however. I put up a trellis in frnt of the tunnel with the intention of growing cordon apples there this autumn, but in the meantime have planted climbing French beans (two varieties, green and yellow podded).

These have grown so lush and green this year that the foliage is taking all the light from inside the tunnel. As a result my toms, which are growing in large bottomless pots over growing bags, have produced masses of foliage, but few fruit. However, the installation of a simple watering system (supplied with water from a spare dustbin) has proved a great success since my plants have never run out of water. I may not have many toms, but they shouldn’t suffer from blossom end rot either!

The sweet and chilli peppers are making slow growth, but starting to produce fruit. Those growing in the peat-free compost seem to be performing as well as those in a peat-based multi-pupose, which to be frank after similar trials over the years, has surprised me. Second sowings of climbing beans, lettuce and beetroot made a month or so ago are also doing well, so I may well think about changing to this in future.

My experiments with beetroot – not thinning the seedlings when more than one arise from the woody cluster that passes for a seed - has also been a great success. The roots may have been smaller in some cases but they have grown very happily as little clumps of two or three plants – as with multi-sown onions.

However this success has led to some concern in the Ott household – not all members of which had realised what a strange side effect the juice can have on the digestive system for a few days after eating lots of the sweet roots!

Steve, Editor

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Thursday, 2nd July 2009 | Steve Ott

I love birds

Although they can be  a pain on the veg plot I love birds. I am always there putting out bread and filling the seed dispensers, changing the water in the bird bath (a big flower pot saucer) and never cutting the hedge when they are nesting. This year I decided that rather than getting stressed I would bow to the fact that the bottom of my garden is like a nature reserve, surrounded as it is by tall trees which bend under the weight of the squirrels and pigeons. Rather than loose my cool with them I would net everything I could, brassicas, seedlings and even the onion sets, which they delight in pulling up.

I also invested in a fruit cage and this has generally been a very good move. Regular readers may remember that it was flattened by the winter snows, but apart from that, all was fine.

However I'm having a battle with one particular blackbird that just won't take no for an answer when it comes to snaffling my strawberries, blackcurrants and raspberries.

Ripe strawberries were disappearing whole and it took me days to find out who was taking them and how they were getting in. Eventually I caught the bird in the act – leaving the cage, with a strawberry in its beak through  a small gap in the netting where I hadn't properly secured two bits together. So I sealed that up only to discover that the bird had found another little gap under the bottom of the netting in one corner. A brick closed off that entrance.

A few days later I opened the door and went in to pick some gooseberries and blackcurrants only to look behind me to see the blackbird following me in!

Now whenever I stop to open the door of the cage it isn't long before I hear a rustling in the undergrowth and there will be the bird, just waiting the for the door to be opened – well you have to admire his cheek.

I always have problems in trying to grow Florence fennel and this year took some advice from Paolo Arrigo at Seeds for Italy. He suggested delaying sowing until June and not allowing them to become too dry, so a few weeks ago I put in a row and they have germinated well. I'll keep you posted as to how they do.

I've also put in some more radish 'Rainbow Mixed' – a colourful and tasty mixture, and after reading about kohl rabi from Joyce Russell in KG (you'll see it in the August issue) a row of those. The sweet and chilli peppers in the greenhouse have been potted into their final pots and I'm running a little trial – peat-based multi-purpose against New Horizon peat-free to see which gives the best results. Having tried peat-free mixes some time ago and not being happy with the results, I decided it was time to give them another try. Again, I'll keep you updated.

The tomatoes 'Roma' and 'Sub Arctic Plenty', also the 'Mini White' and 'Passandra' cucumbers are starting to produce their first green toms and I'm looking forward to home-made tomato sauce this year!

Steve, Editor

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Friday, 29th May 2009 | Steve Ott

Busy busy..

After the great carrot disaster (the fleecy covering I put over three rows of carrots to protect them from carrot fly created the perfect humid conditions for hungry slugs which ate the lot - I have vowed not to give up. I had been using the organic pellets which are very good - but as KG Forum regular Chantal reminded me, they do need reapplying often and we had just gone through a day of rain. Lesson learned three new rows went in last weekend. The rows in the polytunnel are fine and seem to be growing well. Might try some round-rooted 'Parmex' in containers, too.

The beetroot that I sowed in trays and planted out without thinning (the standard varieties usually come up in clusters of two or three plants per 'seed') are growing away nicely as is a row of radish 'Rainbow Mixed', both of which are thoroughly protected from marauding molluscs.
The fruit is growing well this year helped on by occasional showers interspersed with good boughts of sunshine. The gooseberries are swelling fast - I have 'Rokula' (red) and 'Invicta'.

This is the first year for most of the fruit in the cage on the KG plot however and I'm not expecting too much. However, the blackberries and autumn raspberries are doing well and should bear a small crop - only the tayberry planted late last autumn has been slow to get away. The apples too have set well including a 'Herefordshire Russet' which last year (its first) had its fruit cracked by frost. Looking forward to those - I first tasted them at Ken Muir's Honeypot Farm during an apple day a few years ago - delicious!

The greenhouse is packed with courgettes and cucumbers that need planting out ASAP, but Sue my wife has kept me busy in other parts of the garden replacing some very old and very rotten decking. I didn't mind too much however since it meant buying an 'essential' new tool - a battery powered screwdriver with two batteries! Move over Tommy Walsh!

Still away from the plot and all the planting - and weeding - I should have been doing - I took the family to Earl's Court recently to the Real Food Festival. Never managed to make it before, but it was well-worth the trip with lots of wonderful samples to try from garlic dips to fruit sorbets. Could be a regular date in the diary. The pear and ginger jam didn't last the week.

I'm pleased with the tomato plants this year which have grown really well, but not so happy with the compost, my usual multi-purpose. The mix didn't seem very good and the plants never greened up as they usually do after repotting. Still, a few extra feeds with a tomato fertiliser should put them right, they'll need potting into their ring culture pots and planting over growing-bags shortly anyway. Not putting any outside this year as blight wiped them out last season; I'll keep them in the polytunnel with the peppers instead.

Steve, Editor

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Friday, 8th May 2009 | Steve Ott

Good and Bad News, but more good than bad...

There is good news and bad news from the KG plot this week. Having delayed the sowing of my tomatoes until the beginning of April and with plenty of good light since they germinated, I think I’ve managed to produce the best, stocky little plants I’ve ever grown. I might actually achieve something I rarely if ever have before – a good first truss!

The downside has been some poor germination from the beetroot, but I think I may have got over this by sowing in cell trays. The seedlings (‘Boltardy’) have germinated well, many of the ‘seeds’ having given rise to two or even three seedlings, while others have only produced one.

I was hovering with the scissors, ready to thin each to the strongest seedling when I had the brainwave to leave them all and to plant the doubles and triples as one plug to see if they produce some smaller, sweet roots. The singles will be left to grow to normal size. I’ll let you know how things turn out later.

This week I’ve also sown courgettes and cucumbers, including one called ‘Miniature White’ (originally from Real Seeds). I saved some seeds from a couple of fruit I grew last year and got hundreds of plump white seeds from each. If they germinate (and I don’t see why they shouldn’t – they tasted delicious when I nibbled a few) I should have lots of tasty little crunchy white gherkin-sized fruit by midsummer. I have always grown them inside up a tripod of canes in previous years but if the sun does arrive as predicted I might try a few plants outside and grow them along the ground like ridge cucumbers alongside the ‘Marketmore’ I have sown in small pots and popped into the propagator.

Steve, Editor

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Tuesday, 7th April 2009 | Steve Ott

Living dangerously

At last things are moving on the KG plot. I’m always a month behind my gardening neighbours when it comes to sowing and planting, but as I always say to them – our crops will catch up in the end!
One crop that I purposely delayed this year were the tomatoes – the ‘Sub Arctic Plenty’ (an old variety, but new to me) and ‘Roma’ were sown last week and are through now, though still in the propagator since the temperature has been very low at night, but I’m too mean to heat the whole greenhouse.

I’ve also sown some carrots in the polytunnel. These are good old ‘Amsterdam Forcing’ and were purchased as seed tapes to save the need for thinning later. The idea of doing them in the tunnel, apart from giving them a little extra early warmth, is to try and avoid the carrot fly, which was really rife on the plot last year. I suspect there will be lots of pupae in the soil this season despite winter digging and don’t want to give any early hatchers an easy meal.

One job that was long overdue has been finished in quick time this month – I hired some tree specialists to come in and take down two large ash ‘seedlings’ which must have self-seeded 25-30 years ago along the boundary of the garden. Such a shame to have to lose them, but over the past five years they had become so large that they were shading the plot to an unacceptable extent and were really affecting growth – especially on the narrow site which is only about 25ft wide.

The ‘Winston’ and ‘Kestrel’ early potatoes have just started to come through now, so I’ll be earthing them up tonight. I’ve planted them a little deeper this year since as we grow them in raised beds it is difficult to find enough soil or add enough mulch to give them a good cover from the surface - although grass clippings do a pretty good job – and I find that there are lots at or near the surface by the end of the season and of course these become green and useless.

I’ve sown a mixture of sweet and chilli peppers in the greenhouse. These went in at the weekend and are in the heated propagator with the tomatoes. I love growing (and eating) peppers. They are so easy to grow and have none of the pollination problems you can get with aubergines – and tomatoes on occasions, too. We get through lots on pizzas and in salads etc, so they are very worthwhile for us. I might move a few outside this year as an experiment since we have been promised a warm summer – who says I don’t know how to live dangerously!

Steve, Editor

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Monday , 9th February 2009 | Steve Ott

Weather trouble down on the plot

Like most of the country, the East Midlands has been hit by snow in the past week and my plot was no exception. Of course the beds were quickly engulfed by the white stuff and the leeks, which aren't the biggest in the world I'll admit, were nearly buried. On Sunday night when most of it came down I did think briefly about the greenhouse and 'snow loading' on the roof, but it has withstood it before so I didn't think any more of it.

What I forgot however was my new fruit cage, built last winter/spring from a kit and my pride any joy. I'd duly planted it up with blackberries and raspberries. There are some strawberries and gooseberries in there and a couple of potted blueberries which fruited really well last year and thanks to the cage I actually got to eat some, too!

Imagine my dismay then when I ventured down the garden the next day to check that all was OK...it wasn't! My lovely fruit cage had been squashed, poles bent and netting straining under the weight of the snow. It's often recommended that you take the netting off of the roof of the cage after fruiting to let the birds get at any creepy crawlies, such as greenfly, but after having got the covering over the frame so neatly I'd decided not to do that. Didn't think of the snow. That'll teach me - I'll just have to see what I can salvage when it thaws.

One thing did cheer me up on my way back up the garden - the sight of my young witch hazel flowering away to itself through the drift - at least that was untouched, in fact it seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.

Steve, Editor

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Thursday, 29th January 2009 | Emma Rawlings

Bombs away

Oh it's amazing what fun can be had in the garden in January. I ventured out last weekend to do a bit of clearing up. It was very therapeutic having a tidy and one of the most enjoyable jobs was finding some spaghetti squashes that had rotted inside but the skin was still intact. They were a school boys' dream - a smelly, exploding missile just ready to go off! There was great fun to be had in carefully raising the squashes from the ground and gently edging toward the compost heap with the calm and stealth of a bomb disposal expert.

One by one they went across to the bin and with a quick, light toss they flew through the air and then splat, seeds and smelly juice spraying everywhere-pure magic! Then the final one and this one felt a bit different.

As I carefully nursed the soft bodied squash in my hands, it gave a quiver and I nervously stopped to take a breath, but carefully so as not to disturb this shivering jelly. Only three or four more metres to go! I took another tentative step and I could see the squash wobble a bit more and then vibrate. Looking round to see if anyone was watching and feeling the need to scream 'Take cover', I decided to make a run for it. Bad mistake! There was an almightly squelch as my squash 'went off'!' leaving me dripping in slimey, rotting orange flesh and seeds.

Next year I want to grow pumpkins - the nuclear bomb of all squashes! The joys of gardening!

Emma, Deputy Ed

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Tuesday, 6th January 2009 | Steve Ott

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions - mainly because I'm too disorganised and poorly disciplined to carry them out! I'm one of those people who buys an ornaniser in preparation for January 1st and only ever fill in the first two pages. However, since last season wasn't without its problems (as well as its successes) I have resolved to try and be a little better at some things around the plot. Mind you the great British weather has been conspiring against me already this year.

Since I failed to get any digging done before the festivities began I decided I'd spend a little of the spare time I had over the holidays to make a start. Unfortunately after several days of heavy frosts here in the Midlands, the soil was too frozen to dig and this has now been followed by snow with a promise of more to come tonight. After that though the forecast for the week is looking good and who knows by next weekend I may be able to get busy with the spade.

Even before that though I really need to cut the hedge. This, of course, should, have been done back in the summer, but one thing and another meant I had to put it off. Now of course there will be so many clippings it will be the devil's own job to get rid of them - a mixture of hawthorn and privet that is difficult to shred or compost. Might have to resort to a blaze...at least that'll keep me warm while I'm working. If anyone has other ideas as to how I could get rid of them (and there will be lots) I'd be pleased to hear them.

I have been organised with the seed order though - one of the pleasures of the gardening year. And for once I have been very good here, I decided last year just to grow the things that we eat lots of or will store well. Sounds obvious I know, but I can't resist experimenting and usually plant far too many things that take up lots of space and time only to find that they don't get eaten. Not this year...well not until it comes to sowing anyway!

Steve Ott
Editor
Kitchen Garden

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Friday, 21 November 2008 | Steve Ott

With a quiet time on the plot I've had time to think ahead to the new year and some new challenges. I've finished building a cold frame and heated bench for the greenhouse and with the completion of a new wormery I'm now the proud owner of a batch of 200 very lively composting worms which thanks to being kept in the coal cupboard which benefits from radiated heat from the house, are already busily munching away at the kitchen waste.

The compost heaps will have to compete with Ronnie Worm (as my family christened the biggest one before it dived into the pile of veg peelings and shredded newspaper) and mates for food. But a new project is already brewing. I've been hearing a lot about bees lately and how they are struggling with various pests and diseases and having always been a lover of honey with my morning bowl of porridge or on hot toast, I'm toying with the idea of enrolling in some beekeeping classes.
Emma (Lady Lettuce to forum members) is quite keen on the idea too which would mean we could share the necessary kit, which seems quite considerable. Has anyone out there any tips for us? I'm wondering how long one has to spend on tending to the hive each week etc. My neighbours and I have long gardens so they shouldn't be a nuisance to anyone and since each garden has a few old fruit trees - remnants of a very old orchard - I would, have thought it should be ideal for nectar and pollen collecting.

Of course my runner beans will be nearby, too! Mind you I've never been stung by a bee - plenty of wasps, but no bees, It would be just my luck to get all the equipment and then find I'm allergic!

Steve Ott
Editor
Kitchen Garden

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Monday, 3 November 2008 | Steve Ott

Avoiding winter chills

This weekend was so grey and damp and the soil so wet, that I decided to get out my biggest hammer and six inch nails to make a cold frame. I've wanted one for a while, but decided it had to be light enough to move about to use as a cloche when needed and small enough to fit on the bed in the polytunnel during the coldest months to protect a late sowing of salad leaves. I've also wanted to experiment with hot beds and having been to Barnsdale, former home of that great TV gardener, Geoff Hamilton and seen how they use a cold frame to cover their hot bed there, I thought I'd get busy in preparation for the spring.

I haven't been so cold for a long time and had to constantly dodge some showers which meant having to take in the electric drill and saw every few minutes to avoid electrocution. In the end it took me most of the day, but I was quite pleased with the result; I think it has more than made up for the great plumbing fiasco recently which nearly brought down the dining room ceiling (I 'I'll drain the radiators next time). I had to spend three hours with my thumb over the end of the pipe until the emergency plumber arrived.
Confidence restored, it's a new heated bench for the greenhouse and a wormery from an old dustbin next. It's not the best time of year to be starting that project, but I think I may be able to persuade my wife to allow me to keep them in the coal cupboard, which gets a lot of radiated heat from the house, if I promise never to try plumbing again!

Steve Ott
Editor
Kitchen Garden

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Monday, 27th October | Steve Ott

Drastic measures

Well I've finally picked my last tomatoes and  peppers. In fact I think I've picked more in the last two weeks than during the whole of the rest of the year put together. Until now they've simply refused to ripen – partly because of the dull weather and partly because some trees in the garden – an ash and a small seedling oak, have reached the size where they are starting to overshadow my small polytunnel.
Their number is up however – drastic situations call for drastic measures - I've got the number of a tree surgeon and intend to have both trees removed over winter so that hopefully I'll get some fresh toms right through the summer rather than having hundreds all within the space of two weeks! Luckily we have some good chutney recipes.
There is another problem. Before the trees got too big and started casting shadows and in the days when the sun used to shine occasionally causing the plants inside the little structure to roast, I decided it would be a good idea to put some trellis in front of the tunnel and nearby greenhouse. The theory was  that I'd use it to support beans, making better use of the space and shading the plants inside into the bargain, but in a season such as this, it has just proved too much – especially as the beans have grown like triffids with all the rain.
Amazing however, that as bad as the tomato blight has been on the plot – wiping out potatoes and then outdoor toms almost overnight - it never did reach those undercover.
Shallots on the other hand have been excellent and we've pickled them variously with chilli, peppercorns, herbs and nude (just plain) and still have loads left over. Shame we have to wait eight weeks for that first ploughman's with home-grown pickled onions - magic!

Following on from Emma's last blog I obtained a packet of carrot 'Sweet Candle' from Medwyn Williams while at the Malvern Flower Show recently. I'm going to split the packet with Emma and we'll report back on who grows the best. With her track record I think I may be in with a shout!

Steve Ott
Editor
Kitchen Garden

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Wednesday, 8th October | Emma Rawlings

Stumped by parsnips

Just thought I had to share with you my incredible 'show' parsnips- and no I wasn't aiming for the 'funniest veg' class. I had high hopes for these babies when I filled up two large cylinders with sand way back in March. I even used two tree guards in the centres to act as a funnel for watering which I thought quite inventive. I used a metal rod to create four deep holes in each cylinder and backfilled with soil. I sowed three or four parsnip seeds to each hole, watered and waited. I think I had two or three germinate at each station so I removed all but the strongest.

The next few months I nurtured my little parsnips and even talked to them encouraging their roots to grow down and deep but sadly Mother Nature had other plans and four died. Still undeterred I had four left and knew I only needed three to enter the village produce show. As the summer got into full swing I made sure my parsnips were always watered and every so often I scraped back the soil to reveal the lovely large white shoulders beneath. "Wow I thought, these are going to be bigguns"!

I was going away on holiday in August so when I realised I wasn't going to make it back in time for the show I was quite disappointed so even looked into coming back early by train just so I could lift my parsnips and lift that red card! In the end I didn't (just as well). I even had the idea that my 80 year old mum could lift them for the show but I really didn't think she would have the strength needed to lift such massive roots!
I was so proud of my parsnips, the tops were huge and the shoulders looked snowy white and broad. At the weekend I decided the time had come for the grand uplifting. I gently removed the sand from one of the parsnip shoulders, while holding the foliage in the other hand to support the parsnip. Then shock horror as suddenly the parsnip lifted with no effort at all revealing this short stubby curled up poor-excuse-for-a-parsnip. It looked as if it had started to grow downwards and then suddenly thought "I'm a parsnip, get me out of here' and made a dash for the surface!

The next to be lifted was also squat with two thin finger roots and as it was lifted I could hear it cry: "Ha ha you thought I was a cracker didn't you!"
The third and fourth were also stumpy and one even had a severe case of canker just to add further humiliation.
My family of course thought this totally hilarious "Call yourself a horticulturalist" they cried!

I may not have huge parsnips but I have learnt a huge lesson. I now know why show people never brag before the day of the show and why it is best to keep your cultivations a closely guarded secret. Not because anyone is going to knobble your crops but because you will probably make a good enough mess of it yourself without anyone else's help!
But as the saying goes 'If at first you don't suceed...' I will certainly be trying again next year, more determined than ever.

If anyone has any idea as to what went wrong, answers on a postcard to the Kitchen Garden office please or email me on erawlings@mortons.co.uk
By the way that lovely 'long' carrot in the picture was grown in a cylinder too. Poor thing thinks it is a radish!

Emma Rawlings (Lady Lettuce)
Deputy editor
Kitchen Garden

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Friday, 5th September | Steve Ott

This time of year is always busy on KG and this year has been no exception as I’ve been clocking up the miles in the car travelling to various events and gardens rather than clocking up the hours on the KG allotment.

I’m not complaining though as I’ve met some really great people on my travels and seen some wonderful plots.
The weather in my neck of the woods hasn’t been very conducive to working outside lately anyway and as I write today a gale is blowing and the rain lashing on the window…again!

I have managed to grab a few hours here and there however and that included last night when I finally dug up the last of my potatoes. Having grown a few of lots of varieties last year with varying results I decided to stick to two varieties this year – ‘Swift’ as my early and after the terrible blight problems of 2007, ‘Sarpo Mira’ as a maincrop. I’ve been lucky so far with blight this year as the ‘Swift’ were harvested before it arrived and the Sarpo have lived up to their promise and despite a few spots on the leaves have been largely untouched. They produced some nice big, flattish red tubers and were remarkably free of slug damage – unlike the ‘Swift’ which were pretty well nibbled apart from those growing in a part of the plot where tree roots suck most of the moisture out of the soil as fast as it arrives.

A disaster had occurred in the greenhouse today when I ventured down before work. Now top heavy with sweet peppers, my pepper plants (variety ‘Unicorn’), encouraged no doubt by the breeze last night coming through a vent I left open to keep the humidity down a bit, had blown off of the staging and on to the ‘Thai Dragon’ chilli peppers below, breaking some of the stems.

Never mind, the peppers, (all still green since they haven’t seen the sun for some time) will have to ripen on the windowsill…along with the tomatoes!

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Monday, 11th August

I've just got back from my hols - a week in very sunny Spain with occasional sorties into Portugal.

Don't worry someone was taking care of my greenhouse and polytunnel while I was away - but my how the mini white cucumbers grow when you're not looking! Not as fast as the weeds in the plot though - due to the generous showers of rain that my part of the UK has apparently received while I was away. I made a start on weeding around the courgettes today to discover that we now have some pretty large marrows to eat. Unfortunately I didn't get around to harvesting and freezing the cauliflowers that were about ready before I went on my travels.

My watering buddy had a few but the rest will have to be dumped. Fortunately the French beans were picked and eaten and my friend made a start on the maincrop potatoes ('Sarpo Mira').
Back in the greenhouse the chilli and sweet peppers are doing well and although none have changed colour there is lots of green fruit ready to be picked. For the second year running my aubergines in the greenhouse are refusing to set - so I'm going to move them outside where the bees can get to them more easily once it stops raining this afternoon and keep them there until they start to set at which stage, depending on the weather, I might move them back inside to ripen. My head is still in Spain of course and while there (near Seville) it was great to see the oranges, still green, but swelling on the trees.
They will be picked in September/October by an army of workers from Eastern Europe - the Spanish workers can earn more money in tourism these days. The strawberry fields were empty of course - too hot there for strawberries now, they were picked in April/May, but tomatoes and peppers were much in evidence and the many fields of sunflowers along the motorways were blackening in the sun ready for harvesting for oil and as snacks - the Spanish prefer them to peanuts I'm told. Looking forward to getting my own plot back in order now. I'd held off of sowing anything recently so that watering would be easier while I was away, so there is plenty to do to catch up!

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Wednesday, 16th July

July is always hectic since I spend lots of time on the road writing features for KG, but the little time I’ve had for my own plot has mostly been spent weeding. The recent rains have certainly made the devils grow!

The chilli and sweet peppers in the greenhouse are nice and strong and the first flowers are just starting to form fruit. I have been keeping them as hot as possible opening the vents just enough to allow a change of air and access to pollinators, since until now the temperatures have been disappointing (although today it is lovely and hot).
The tomatoes in the polytunnel however have been very slow to form despite keeping the door open to let in the bees and flies to pollinate the flowers and tapping the canes whenever I pass by. There are some fruit however and I hope that things will improve as the summer proper arrives.
My aubergines are dotted with greenfly (nothing unusual there) and I have spent a few happy minutes each evening squashing them before they get out of hand.
Outdoors the courgettes are thriving, but the squashes look a bit sorry for themselves after all the rain. I’ve made a decision to have a large ash tree at the top of the plot felled this winter as it has grown so much in the past five years since we took over the garden that it now casts shade for too much of the day, something the squashes certainly don’t appreciate.

Have pulled up a bed of old pea plants (leaving the roots in situ) to make room for a second planting at the weekend – long overdue of course!

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Monday, 2nd June 2008

The recent rains have been very welcome – the veg is growing at last - but a windy night last weekend caused a bit of a problem as a large ash tree fell at the end of the veg plot.
No damage to the vegetables, but weather permitting the weekend will have to be spent sawing up the timber. Luckily a friend with a real fire at home will take all the logs in return for helping to cut up the tree and split the logs.
The rain has also made the weeds grow of course and I need to give the onion patch some attention before the crop gets lost in the undergrowth.
More sowing this weekend I hope. I need to get some more carrots in and also resow some salads as first sowings have either been used up or as cut-and-come-again leaves are starting to look a little tired.

The peas ('Twinkle') are flowering well as are the broad beans ('Purplette') and the first tomatoes have set in the greenhouse. These are a new variety from Suttons called 'Endurance' and have been strong plants from the start, remaining stocky and green where my own seed-raised plants were very spindly this year despite giving them as much light as I could.

The apples and pear seem to have set lots of fruit this year, too, although at this early stage it's difficult to be sure how much might yet drop. At this rate I'll need to keep a copy of Bob Flowerdew's latest article (KG July) handy - he is talking about fruit thinning!

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Tuesday, 20th May 2008

Lady Lettuce (aka deputy ed Emma Rawlings) and I visited The Chelsea Flower Show on Monday and were greatly encouraged by the number and quality of the gardens/displays featuring great fruit and veg.

Medwyn Williams is sorely missed although several, among them W Robinson & Son (veg seeds), Ken Muir (fruit) and the NFU are always there with wonderful displays.
You will find a little ‘website only’ preview of the show if you check out the home page with more to follow in the July issue of the magazine.
Having been put in charge of the camera this year I was a little hurt by Emma’s assertion that I was spending too long on celebrity hunting and not enough on taking pictures of exhibits, but I just want to say (in case my wife reads this) that if the camera strayed to the odd model wearing nothing but body paint – I was only there doing my job!
Back to more important matters and on the KG plot at the weekend I covered the strawberry bed with a barrier of chicken wire to keep out the squirrel which decimated the crop last year eating the fruit while still green. It was only afterwards while admiring my handiwork that I realised I had protected the plants so well, that I couldn’t get to them to harvest the fruit!
Finished planting the tomatoes in growing-bags in the greenhouse. Next it is the turn of the greenhouse cucumbers some of which are going into growing-bags, others in to a little hydroponic system which I first tried last year and was a great success.
Made a mental note to order some encarsia (tiny predatory wasps) for the greenhouse to combat the whitefly and polytunnel that are bound to appear very soon since no sprays seem to touch them any more.

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Friday 16th May 2008

After trying three stores I finally managed to buy some growing-bags to plant my tomato plants in last night. Seems like everyone is doing it!

Now that the first flower has opened on the first truss I have planted three ‘Ferline’, three ‘Roma’ and three ‘Honey Jade’ tomato plants per bag. All are a little stretched this year despite having delayed sowing until early March. A few gardening friends have commented that theirs are the same – perhaps the poor light at the time?
After rolling and bashing the growing-bags on the paving to loosen them up and break up any lumps (great for that pent-up frustration following a busy drive home) I removed the bottoms from some cheap 20cm pots (from Wilkinsons) with a hack saw and ‘planted’ them into the top of the bags after cutting around the base of the pot to take out a circle of polythene.
Filled the pots with multi-purpose compost prior to planting (the extra root room provided by the pot full of soil boosts the roots no end and alleviates drying out during the summer). Few more tomatoes to plant into bags at the weekend and some to go outside, but with rumours of a cold snap to come I’ll delay this and do my best to stop the plants from stretching even more in the next week or so.

An enjoyable half an hour spent this morning before work, crushing the many greenfly that dared to infest my young aubergine plants. Some jobs are so satisfying!
Noticed that a squirrel has found my new giant bird feeder sooner than predicted and has set about enlarging one of the holes. His card is marked!
Off to Chelsea Flower Show on Monday – it’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. Disappointed last year at the lack of fruit and veg on display; I’ll let you know if this year is any better when I return.

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Tuesday 13th May 2008

There has been a slight hiccup as the ‘Hispi’ cabbages Sue (my missus) sowed 10 days or so ago in cell trays in the greenhouse ‘cooked’ in the hot sun at the weekend. I had taken my eye off the ball and went out walking with the family at Dovedale, near Derbyshire on Sunday – a glorious day that we and the two dogs really enjoyed.

Back on the plot and the gooseberries and blackcurrants seemed to have become infested with greenfly overnight. Nothing for it I’m afraid but to blitz them with bifenthrin! Sorry, but when the chips are down I can’t stand by and watch as my crops are decimated. It did the trick, too. Next day the plants were clean of live bugs.
The little apple trees ‘Herefordshire Russet’ and  ‘Scrumptious’ planted last winter are full of blossom and although I shouldn’t really let them set fruit this year I know I won’t be able to resist it. The ‘Conference’ pear  fan, which has been in for a good three or four years now seems to have set lots of fruit, although there is still lots of time for many of the little fruitlets to drop.

Spent ages getting ground elder out of the flower borders at the weekend, having neglected them last year as there were so many other things to do. There is something really therapeutic about weeding – although my back didn’t enjoy the experience much.
Took some time to top up the mulch of well-rotted compost around the fruit and a lovely Rheum ‘Atrosanguineum’ that we have in the garden to conserve the moisture. OK it’s not veg, but it is related to the rhubarb!

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Friday 9th May 2008

Went to dig up the asparagus and lo and behold it is shooting! Despite the lack of space for other things I don’t have the heart to dig it up. Wonder if you can grow sweetcorn and cabbages on a windowsill?

Planted cell-raised rainbow chard and flat-leaf parsley in odd gaps – some of the chard was requisitioned by my better half for the ornamental borders.
Sowed sweetcorn ‘Northern Extra Sweet’, two lots of dwarf French beans ‘Purple Teepee’ (purple podded) and ‘Opera’ and ‘White Lady’ Runner beans – all in Rootrainers to give them a good start. I’m also trying some yellow-podded climbing French beans – ‘Cocornetti Meraviglia Di Venezia’ from Seeds Of Italy, but need some longer labels in order to fit the name on!

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Monday 5th May 2008

Oops! I left the peas I planted this week overnight without protecting them from the pigeons that roost all around my plot in some big ash trees. Needless to say by the time I got to look at them again the following evening they have been pecked to bits; only the ones buried deep inside the forest of peas sticks survived unscathed. Some low-tech, but very effective white carrier bags on canes, tied so that the wind blows them out like balloons did the trick.

This weekend I’ll be planting the last of my maincrop spuds ‘Sarpo Mira’ and digging up my asparagus bed – planted last year and completely decimated by slugs and the very wet weather. This will make room for some more brassicas as the cauliflowers sown at the beginning of April are overdue for planting and I want to sow another batch of ‘Hispi’ cabbage, but am starting to run out of space already!

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Thursday 1st May 2008

The KG plot is filling fast and this week has been a race to clear beds of the remnants of winter veg and to get them ready to take the young plants from sowings made in March, currently outgrowing their welcome in the greenhouse.

We've also been busy sowing tender crops such as courgettes, squashes and sweetcorn for planting out once the frosts are over, which here in the East Midlands is at the end of May/beginning of June.

The first of the early peas ('Twinkle') have been planted among a forest of pea sticks. These have been recycled from a young birch tree that blew over in a storm during the winter in my garden and although I was very disappointed at the time, they were a blessing when it came to planting the peas out this week. After only a few days, the tendrils had already started get a grip on their new supports.
Despite saying that we wouldn't sow more peppers and aubergines than we need to grow on the plot and in the greenhouse, there were dozens in cell trays that needed potting up this week. However, space and the price of compost dictates that we had to be hard-hearted and I've only potted on as many as I can use although the rest should be easy enough to give away to gardening friends.

Something has been eating my seedlings. I'm not sure what it is – slug pellets have kept those particular culprits at bay so far, but despite netting and keeping a careful watch, half a row of beetroot 'Boltardy' seedlings have disappeared. Since the 'Burpee's Golden' never even put in an appearance (there were only a few in the packet anyway) its left to the 'Chioggia' to keep the early sowing alive.
We've been making great use of old seeds such as beetroot, chard and radicchio left over from a few seasons ago to fill trays in the new PatioGro for use as salad leaves and radishes sown in a container back in March and grown on in the polytunnel are really delicious now. Better get some more in the ground. No peace for the wicked!

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Monday, 7th April 2008

What a changeable few weeks it has been. The trick over the past month or so has been to get as much done as possible during the short, sunny interludes between the showers of rain, hail, snow – or all three!

Seeds sown direct into the plot on a lovely warm day a fortnight ago are still nowhere to be seen – except for my parsnips, pre-chitted in Tupperware tubs on damp kitchen towel. These brave little seedlings are the only thing to have dared to push their heads above the soil so far – except that is the shallots and garlic. They have managed to survive the attentions of the squirrels to shoot away quite well. Squirrels, I have decided, must have the memory and attention span of a goldfish, since they repeatedly pull out the bulbs only to discover that they don't like the taste and to leave them on the soil, little white roots helplessly blowing in the icy blast. I put them back in and low a and behold the next day they are out again. Perhaps they just enjoy the game. The plastic netting I put over the bed to keep off the birds, just serves to sharpen their teeth.
Yesterday I planted my early spuds enjoying the feeling of the warm sun on my back. By the evening the same bed was covered with a peppering of snow and an icy blast cut through me as I put my tools away for the night.
Things are different in the greenhouse, however. Seeds have come through quickly and some, such as the peppers, aubergines and tomatoes are ready for potting on from their cell trays into small pots.

I prefer to do my sowing in cell trays where possible and a, s soon as the tide turns and the spring finally arrives in earnest there will be cabbages, cauliflowers, kale and young leeks to plant out, making space for sowings of the really tender stuff such as courgettes, cucumbers and squashes

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Monday, 3rd March 2008

I have finally planted my fruit and not a day too soon as the buds were swelling on the heeled in trees and bushes. A few have actually burst on the old gooseberry that I have moved from another part of the garden to my new fruit patch.

Having cut down three old fruit trees, a pear, apple and damson to make room for the KG plot a few years back – real commitment as the apple was a little ‘Egremont Russet’ one of my favourite apples - I scoured the catalogues in the autumn with the intention of replacing them. After much deliberating, I opted for a collection of three apples – one a ‘Herefordshire Russet’ which I had tasted at an apple day held by Ken Muir at Honeypot Farm a few years ago and which has come out top of the taste trials there on several occasions, dwarf cherry ‘Celeste’ and a peach called ‘Avalon Pride’ from Suttons which is said to have great resistance to peach leaf curl.

Up the newly installed post and wire supports, which I can only hope I’ve cemented in well enough to take the weight of the promised fruit, I have two spine-free blackberries, ‘Chester’ and ‘Lock Tay’ (why grow fruit that bites back when there is an alternative) and in another bed two blackcurrants and two very thorny gooseberries (no alternative there), the relocated ‘Invicta’ and ‘Rokula’.

The beds, plus each plant as it went in was treated to a generous helping of homemade compost, a blow to the rat that had set up home in the compost bin, but at least it gave our new puppy – a border terrier/Jack Russell cross some hunting practice, although since the rat was nearly as big as him, I noticed he didn’t try too hard to catch up with it. Mind you I couldn’t move fast enough to catch a cold…half way through all that planting I put my back out – some gardener!
Having got the fruit bug I’m now saving up for some more for the autumn – a plum and a fan or espalier pear and perhaps a few more apples to grow as cordons in front of the greenhouse to cast a bit of shade, should we happen to get any sun this year. Well, we deserve it.

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Friday, 1st February 2008

The onion and shallot sets have arrived and the first of the potatoes are chitting in the greenhouse, but it’s far too cold to be doing very much on the plot at the moment.

As I write the wind is blowing in straight from the Arctic (not as my good friend Geoff Amos used to say, directly from the Urinals), so instead of contemplating work on the open plot, I'm keeping warm by putting a new path in the lawn and finishing off a small patio in front of my greenhouse. Mind you, at every opportunity I do pop into the greenhouse to see if early sowings of onions and peppers have grown since I last looked at them….a whole 10 minutes beforehand!

The new fruit patch is ready for planting and the various bushes and trees ordered in the autumn are heeled in and ready to plant into their permanent positions. Must get them in soon, but the soil is still a little too wet to work, so I'll give it another week I think and then get busy. On the fruit front, some new strawberry runners have arrived from Suttons and potting them into my strawberry pot is at least is one job I can do in the relative warmth of the polytunnel – which surprisingly after all the winds we have had in The Midlands over the past week, is still standing. I'm hoping that the cover will hold out for just one more year before it needs to be replaced, having already given sterling service for the past six years.

Taking of the polytunnel, the rocket I sowed direct into the border soil in the autumn once the tomatoes had been pulled out is growing amazingly well and I have been able to cut several lots to take to the kitchen. In fact the recent cold seems to have persuaded the whitefly that have been plaguing the plants all winter to give up as there seems to be far fewer of them around at the moment and those that are still in evidence are so sluggish with cold that it is an easy job to rub the from the leaves.

Although it is cold as I write this, it has been surprisingly mild for much of the winter and the soil hasn’t actually frozen – not for more than a day or so in any case. That means that for the first time in ages I’ve actually got most of the digging done AND haven't had any worries about lifting the parsnips whenever needed. Should be even better next year – in preparation for laying the path and patio I did my usual trick of ordering enough sand to cover the entire street in paving – most of it ended up on the plot, so the drainage should be near perfect this year. Waste not, want not!

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Wednesday 19th December 2007

The plot looks a bit sad at the moment as another night of frost makes the winter veg shiver, but the weather is nothing as far as my winter cabbages are concerned to the damage the hungry woodpigeons have done in the past few days. I made the mistake of uncovering them to weed and thinking that the plants were large enough to fend for themselves, didn’t worry about putting the netting back. But I’d underestimated just how hungry the birds had become; they have even taken to sitting on top of the sprouts and developing broccoli and nibbling the leaves. All the berries on my large holly tree disappeared much more quickly this year, too. Does all this mean we are in for a hard winter?

With the start of a new season just around the corner, the excitement is building and between the inevitable preparations for the Christmas break, it’s been good to have some simple jobs like tidying the potting shed and cleaning trays to help calm the nerves after yet another hectic shopping trip. Thumbing through seed packets, newly arrived from the seed companies, ads to the excitement. I’ll enjoyed Christmas so much more knowing that rather than fighting my way through the January sales I’d be sowing my onions instead – no contest!

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Tuesday, 6th November 2007

The recent cold snap reminds us all that autumn is well and truly here. I have though, been cheered up by the arrival of the first of my new fruit trees and bushes to be planted in a section of the garden previously used to grow mixed veg.

The arrival of the fruit – a blackcurrant and two blackberries – was heralded by a card that our postman had pushed through the letterbox while I was out a few days ago. It said simply, and with complete honesty, ‘plants dropped over back gate’. The thought of my two small, but expensive blackberries plummeting over our 2m gates conjured up a horrible picture, but thankfully they seem no worse for the experience.

Although autumn is said to be the best time to plant onion sets, shallots and garlic, I always wonder if I should wait until spring. I know the reasons why it should be better to do it now – that the roots establish during the cold months allowing the shoots to get off to an earlier start etc, etc, but I’m not so sure, especially on my less than perfect soil which sits very cold and wet all winter. What do you think? Do your spring planted crops catch up with those planted in the autumn – or is autumn planting essential?

On a recent visit to Garden Organic’s Ryton garden I was taken by head of horticulture and KG contributor, Bob Sherman to see the new biodynamic garden – and very beautiful and impressive it is. I’m still on the fence however about all that stirring of manure, sowing in the morning – or is it the evening and burying of cow’s horns under the compost heap……still I’d like to think I have an open mind about these things – I’ll let the results achieved by Bob and his team persuade me whether it’s the next big thing, or just a bit of muck and magic! Bob will be giving us an update later in the year in KG that should help any sceptics out there, including me, make up their minds.

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Monday, 22 October 2007

Mid October and the first frosts have hit the KG plot. Mad panic as usual to clear out the greenhouse to make room for tender plants and also those sowings of peas and late salads to eat as microgreens (don't do as I do........). Using up lots of spare seeds such as beetroot, lettuce, mixed salad leaves and rocket I've sown them in the polytunnel border having got rid of the aubergine plants and dug in some used potting compost. The seeds came up quickly and there is only a little damping off so far to worry about. Talking of aubergines, these were poor this year; apart from very sparse pollination which led to few fruit, the whitefly have been horrific. Next year I have vowed to get in a supply of predators (encarsia) before things get out of hand both here and among the peppers and toms.

As well as continuing to pick the toms in the polytunnel (the plants have survived the light ground frosts so far) the last of the last of the peppers have been picked in the greenhouse and the plants added to the compost bin. The chili and sweet peppers have done quite well although they are very late to ripen and the plants are smaller than usual.

Outside digging and clearing continues and we've been harvesting cabbages ('Kilaxy'), leeks and a few early heads of broccoli which have popped up. A few weeks ago we sowed a few of the raised beds with winter tares (green manure) to protect the soil from the winter rain and add some nutrients and also humus next spring. These are well through now. Must remember to dig them in before they seed!

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