Fruit & Veg Growing Guides Archives - Kitchen Garden Magazine

Grow your own: Apples

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Shop-bought apples are great, but if you have never grown your own, your choice will have been restricted to a handful of varieties chosen partly for taste, but also for their travelling and storage qualities. Yet there are so many more to choose from, all with their own unique flavours and textures. Apples are easy to grow and undemanding and…

Grow your own: Apricots

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Apricots are a favourite for drying and the nutrient-packed fruits make a great alternative to sugary sweets in children’s lunchboxes. However, the fresh fruit is delicious too and more and more popular in the supermarkets; unfortunately imported fruit which has travelled halfway around the world often tastes rather poor for the experience. But with modern varieties it is now possible…

Grow your own: Asparagus

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Asparagus is one of the few perennial vegetables (those which come up year after year) and is one of the most highly prized – a true delicacy. It grows from thick spidery roots which act as the storage organs in winter when the plant dies back. In early spring the first young shoots to grow from these roots are harvested…

Grow your own: Beetroot

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Beetroot is a vegetable that you either love or hate but it is unique in its colouring and flavour. It is a more popular vegetable in Eastern Europe and the States where it is used more in hot dishes. Here we are keen on pickling it as well as using it in salads. The best beetroot is definitely home-grown because…

Grow your own: Blackberries

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

A walk along any hedgerow in late summer and autumn will bring a tasty harvest of delicious blackberries from the brambles that weave their way through the undergrowth. If you love the taste of these wild berries then you will love their cousins the boysenberry, dewberry, loganberry, sunberry, youngberry and many more. These are all crosses between raspberries, blackberries and…

Grow your own: Blueberries

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Blueberries were the first of the ‘new’ wonder foods, to be followed by pomegranates, cranberries, grapes… but despite the hype, this fruit really is packed with vitamins and antioxidants. What’s just as important, when you want to get the kids to eat them, is that they taste great! Blueberries are so easy to grow and the plants are genuinely very…

Grow your own: Broad beans

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Broad beans are a great crop for sowing in spring but also autumn to get some delicious beans in June when there is not much else in the veg garden. These large, leafy beans produce big pods which contain either white or green beans depending on the variety. The tips of the bean plants can also be picked and eaten,…

Grow your own: Broccoli

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Broccoli is a highly nutritious vegetable that is a must for the veg patch. You will really notice the difference in flavour of your own grown broccoli and, being so fresh, it will contain even more vitamins and health giving properties. It belongs to the brassica family and there are three types: white and purple sprouting broccoli which are harvested…

Grow your own: Brussels Sprouts

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

The Brussels sprout is a much-maligned veg probably due because of childhood experiences of eating it overcooked. However, when fresh and picked small straight from the plot, then boiled lightly, this is a truly delicious veg. It is even better if cooked in more adventurous ways. Sprouts do however take up a lot of space and are in the ground…

Grow your own: Cabbage

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Cabbage is another crop that has suffered the same prejudice as the Brussels sprout, again probably due to being served overcooked. However, if freshly cut and lightly cooked with still a bit of crunch in the leaves, this veg is simply delicious. Cabbage is a member of the brassica family and is relatively easy to grow on most soils, although…

Grow your own: Cherries

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

The wonderful taste of ripe, juicy cherries, whether on their own or in tarts, pies and jams, is simply mouth watering; and thankfully this is one fruit that has everything going for it as far as our climate is concerned. However, like many other fruits, the flowers are prone to frost and so it is important not to plant them…

Grow your own: Cucumbers

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

The traditional long, smooth cucumbers need to be grown in awarm, almost hot, humid atmosphere so require greenhouse or polytunnel conditions. Some of the smaller-fruited more prickly varieties can be grown outside on your veg plot. Many of the greenhouse varieties sold are now all-female plants which means there is no need to remove the male flowers. The ordinary old-fashioned…

Grow your own: Chicory

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Chicory is a popular Italian salad crop but they have never really taken off here. One reason could be their slightly bitter taste, but they should be more widely grown for the zing they can add to salads. There are two types of chicory to consider. One is the ‘Witloof’ chicory which is familiar as the white, green tipped chicons.…

Grow your own: Currants

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Red, white and blackcurrants might be small, but they are extremely tasty and packed with health-promoting vitamins and antioxidants. They are simple to grow, thrive in all parts of the UK and require very little attention, although if given just a basic level of care will repay you with bumper crops year after year. Pruning is simple; however, there are…