Fruit & Veg Growing Guides Archives Page 3 of 4

Grow your own: Peppers

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

There are two types of pepper, or capsicum, to give them their proper name. There are the chilli peppers and the sweet peppers, the latter being the milder relatives Peppers are not the easiest of crops to grow because they do need warmth and sun to do well, but given the right conditions they will produce a good harvest. Ideally…

Grow your own: Plums

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Plums are addictive. Just plant a tree in your garden, wait for it to become heavily laden with ripe juicy fruit, as it surely will, and try to resist eating one, then another, then another… Apart from the wonderful juicy crop, plums have the advantage of needing very little care; when it comes to pruning, for example, the message is,…

Grow your own: Potatoes

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Potatoes are one of our staple foods and a familiar veg to all. There is always a great supply of relatively cheap potatoes in our supermarkets all year round, so why grow your own? Well it would be denying one of the greatest pleasures of growing your own vegetables and that is lifting your first early spuds. Nothing beats that…

Grow your own: Raspberries

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Raspberries are a mainstay of the fruit garden and no patch is complete without them. Apart from their great taste and easy-going nature which makes it so easy to grow your own, they are heavy cropping and versatile in the kitchen. They love moisture and will grow well against a shady wall, but are not good in a very hot,…

Grow your own: Rhubarb

3rd March 2023 Alex Bestwick Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Rhubarb is probably the easiest of all fruit and veg crops to grow since by and large it can simply be left to produce a harvest of colourful leaf stalks without much help from us. However, the best thick and tasty sticks will have been given just a little attention during the season. Rhubarb varieties ‘Timperley Early’Is a good one…

Grow your own: Radish

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Radish is one of the easiest vegetables you can grow and one of the fastest to mature. It can be grown between slower crops such as leeks or brassicas making it useful for the small plot where space is limited. There are also winter varieties of radish that are usually larger and some are black. They have a very strong…

Grow your own: Runner beans

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Runner beans must be UK gardeners’ all time favourite beans, yet when it comes to growing your own, they can be a little temperamental. This is often because hot weather prevents the pollination of flowers needed to produce pods, but usually a drop in temperature will get them going again. Runner beans like well prepared soil with plenty of garden…

Grow your own: Salad Leaves

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

The popularity of pillow-packs of salad leaves in supermarkets has helped to fuel the popularity of grow-your-own salad crops. They are so easy to grow and the choice is immense. Anyone can grow fresh salad leaves, even people without a veg plot. All you need is a window box. The beauty of salad leaves is that they can be added…

Grow your own: Spinach

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Spinach is a crop is not hugely popular as a cooked vegetable but the young leaves are used more in salads now. It has a reputation for being really high in iron, although it has no more than some other leafy or green veg. So if you don’t like spinach but do like other greens then don’t be too concerned.…

Grow your own: Squashes

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Squashes are members of the gourd family and include pumpkins, courgettes and marrows. This section we will concentrate on summer squashes other than courgettes and also look at winter squashes which include the pumpkins. Summer squashes tend to be softer skinned and do not store well. They mature during the summer and early autumn and are best picked and eaten…

Grow your own: Strawberries

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Strawberries are among the easiest and most adaptable fruits we can grow since they are just as happy in a strawberry pot on the patio or a hanging basket as they are in the soil on the veg plot. Yet they are expensive in the shops and once you have tasted a homegrown strawberry you will never want to buy…

Grow your own: Sweetcorn

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

There is nothing more delightful on a warm summer’s evening than eating barbecued home-grown sweetcorn; the juices and melted butter dribbling down your chin. It’s simple to grow your own and a great one to involve children in. You’ll have the kids eating vegetables in no time! Sweetcorn is a type of maize and it produces its cobs of yellow…

Grow your own: Swiss Chard

3rd March 2023 Shannon Butcher Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Swiss Chard is worth growing just for its decorative leaves and stems alone. However, the stems and the leaves also make a tasty alternative to spinach. Swiss chard is a crop for autumn, winter and spring harvests at a time when there is little else around. It grows in a clump about 45cm (11⁄2ft) high and wide. Varieties ‘Bright Lights’A…

Grow your own: Turnips & Swede

3rd March 2023 Web Editor Fruit & Veg Growing Guides

Home-grown turnips are the best to eat. They can be harvested about golf ball size and eaten raw in salads, rather like radishes, or cooked in many ways. They are also fast to mature and have a long sowing season. Their leaves can be harvested in spring as an alternative to spinach. Grown in the same way, swedes are a…