Editor's Intro
Time to rise and shine
2 February 2012
After a long time spent daydreaming about moving from the armchair and doing some ‘proper’ gardening, it’s finally time to get out there and to get our hands dirty. I for one can’t wait and I’m sure you will all feel the same; I can hear the collective sigh of relief from here.
One foot in the compost heap
5 January 2012.
I must have one of the few jobs in the country where it is possible to get away with talking manure (and when I put my foot in it, it is often quite literally). In this issue, however, we discuss the pongy stuff rather more freely than usual – more precisely, whether we need to use it on our plots at all.
Happy New Year
1 December 2011.
Many people hate the winter, preferring to stay inside and to ignore the world outside until the spring arrives. But for others – gardeners in particular – the winter months are a time of great excitement.
No two years are the same
3 November 2011.
It’s a great time of the year for making plans and for looking ahead to the season to come, but in doing so it’s also a good idea to look back over the past season and to see what lessons can be learned. Several of our contributors are doing just that in this issue, but in the case of gardening there is always one thing that can throw a spanner in the works and spoil the best laid plans of even the greatest gardener – the great British weather.
Tears of joy at onion success
6 October 2011.
As I write this, the KG team has just come back from three days at Harrogate Flower Show, and what a great show it was. KG again sponsored many of the competitive classes at the show including the heavy onion classes. The highlight of the whole event of course had to be when an enormous cheer echoed around the hall as the announcement was made that the world record for a single bulb had been smashed.
Positive news from the plot
1 September 2011.
One of the major perks of this job is that I get to go out and about and to meet people who love gardening and kitchen gardening in particular. On a number of occasions this summer I’ve spent many happy hours at Wisley Gardens, private gardens and several National Trust properties including Gunby Hall, the subject of my feature starting on page 52. Just recently the family and I went to Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire and spent several very pleasant hours walking around the grounds there and in particular the wonderful walled garden.
Veg plot entrepreneurs
3 August 2011.
I’m writing this while the final of The Apprentice is on the TV. Four talented and driven young people are vying for a £250K investment from business entrepreneur (Lord) Alan Sugar and are being grilled by experts about their business plans. The winner is to be awarded the investment cash, and, as all followers of this addictive show know by now, this person was inventor, Tom Pellereau.
Thank goodness for home-grown!
1 July 2011.
At the time of writing, news on the E. coli outbreak in Germany seems to have fallen from the front pages. As far as I’m aware bean sprouts have been blamed but so far no positive proof has been found linking the German farm that produced them to the source of infection. However, as we point out on our news pages this month, the source seems likely to be animal waste in some form that has somehow got into the food chain and the effect on the sales of salads has been catastrophic Europe-wide.
It’s good news month!
2 June 2011.
Well I am glad to be able to bring you some great news. We reported last month that as part of the Government’s drive to cut red tape for local authorities, the statutory obligation to provide local people with a place to grow their crops might be lost.
Just when it was going so well
5 May 2011.
Just when everything on the plot seems rosy it looks like a blight may be appearing on the horizon – and for once I am not talking about potato blight. As we have been highlighting on the KG website (www.kitchengarden.co.uk) and on the news pages (see page 6) this month, discussion about local government savings has brought the provision of allotments, which is currently a statutory obligation, under the spotlight.
Current Issue: March 2012
Grow better beetroot
Best varieties for colour and taste
Raw passions
Is a raw food diet more healthy?
Meet new plotters
In Huddersfield, Ipswich and Norwich
Toby Buckland
on growing better tomatoes
All-year cabbage
It’s easy with our expert advice!
No gaps, no gluts
Making the most of your patch
10 Free* strawberry plants
Free
Cabbage ‘Golden Acre’ & Beetroot ‘Boltardy’ seeds
Win over £2000 worth of gardening goodies
Inside: 4-page pull-out-and-keep sowing guide
Plus... 20 hand tools on test... Save on asparagus & peppers...
PLUS:
• Next issue on sale: April issue 1st March 2012
