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Always more to learn

Deputy editor Emma and I have been growing fruit and veg for longer than we care to remember (or own up to) and if there is one thing we have learned from our obsession with all things gardening it is that we will never know it all.

Deputy editor Emma and I have been growing fruit and veg for longer than we care to remember (or own up to) and if there is one thing we have learned from our obsession with all things gardening it is that we will never know it all.

One of the great things about being an editor of a magazine is that you have the privilege of reading it before anyone else and we both commented after a day of studying the features, just how many great little tips we had picked up and would be trying out on the KG plot this year. Maybe that just goes to show that we don’t know as much as we thought we did, but I think it might also show just how knowledgeable our great team of writers are.

Joe Maiden has some wonderful advice to help you to grow your best tomatoes ever, while Terry Marshall, a professional tomato grower, explains how to overcome soil problems by grafting your own plants to disease-resistant rootstocks. Organic gardening guru, Bob Flowerdew, encourages us to try some exotic tender fruits. Graham Uney takes you though March on his new plot while Colin Randel has a round-up of the best autumn cabbage varieties for you to sow. And if you’ve ever been disappointed by the results of growing potatoes in bags, why not follow Andrew Tokely’s advice on planting this month? While on the topic of spuds, Joyce Russell has a unique method for planting on the plot which must take the award for being the easiest of all.

The UK seems to have sold off most of its assets in recent years – as I write, one more British institution, Cadbury, is being snapped up by US giant, Kraft. UK farming may be struggling to compete with cheap imports and red tape, but our farmers are still among the best producers of fruit and veg in the world and by their very nature, rooted into their native soil. There is always a lot we can learn from them for use on our own plots and this month we get an insight as to how two of the best – JBA Seed Potataoes in Dumfries and Galloway and brassica grower, John Clows, in Lincolnshire – produce their crops.

Back to growing on a smaller scale and Emma brings you her top tips on getting the best from your seed sowing this year; and since I love growing (and eating) asparagus, I got the job of bringing you my ideas for a great future harvest.

Last month we broke the news that leading organic gardening charity Garden Organic and Webbs garden centre chain were considering a partnership which would see the charity’s headquarters at Ryton in Warwickshire run as a commercial garden centre. This month we have an exclusive debate between two of our writers – committed organic gardener John Walker and director of horticulture at the charity, Bob Sherman, on the topic, which makes fascinating reading. Having read it, we’d love to hear your views, especially from the many ‘GO’ members who also take the magazine. We hope to publish as many of your comments as possible and to see what your take on the situation is: an essential move to keep this great organisation afloat or selling out to commercial interests.

Happy plotting

Steve Ott, Editor | Jump to Steve's blog

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