Mudketeers Archives - Kitchen Garden Magazine

Mudketeers diary – 6th May 2020

6th May 2020 Steve Ott Blog

Young lettuce planted out In April I sowed some lettuce in cell trays filled with multi-purpose compost. It is a good way to start lettuce off; getting them to a decent size before planting out. You avoid a lot of issues such as pests and poor weather that can affect direct sown lettuce. Once they are a couple of inches…

Mudketeer’s diary- 20th February 2020

20th February 2020 Steve Ott Blog

Chitting potatoes I have just bought my seed potatoes. I bought first earlies ‘Foremost’, second earlies ‘Charlotte’ and some main crop ‘Pink Fir Apple’. I have put them in seed trays and placed in athe greenhouse to encourage the chits, the shoots to start growing. We had a tip via Facebook about putting the potatoes in moist compost. This is…

Mudketeers diary -14th February 2020

14th February 2020 Steve Ott Blog

Lifting and planting strawberries A lovely day out on the plot before storm Dennis arrives. I decided to lift some strawberry runners to plant up in pots. The old bed is going to be dug up and used for vegetables but I wanted to keep some of the strawberry plants. I chose runners that had rooted and had good clean,…

Mudketeers diary – 20th January 2020

20th January 2020 Steve Ott Blog

Forcing rhubarb It was such a glorious day, the sky was blue with not a cloud in it and the sun was almost warm. I decided to tidy the rhubarb which had started sprouting well due to the mild weather. I pulled off the dead stems and also most of the larger red stalks. Then I covered the plant with…

Mudketeers diary- 17th April 2019

17th April 2019 Steve Ott Blog

Eggbox growing I decided to experiment this year with starting seedlings off in egg boxes. I bought 50 of them off Ebay and they worked out at 12p each. To give greater depth to the container I closed the box and then cut out the top. I half filled the egg box with compost and dropped a seed in each…

New Mudketeers’ website is now live!

21st December 2018 Steve Ott Blog, News

Are you a Kitchen Garden subscriber? Now you have your own special ‘plot’ where you can find lots of extras and exciting offers! Award-winning Kitchen Garden magazine is now going even further to reward subscribers to the magazine. In the past, subscribers have been able to get their magazine before it goes on the newsagents’ shelves and benefit from great…

Mudketeers diary -10th Oct 2018

10th October 2018 Steve Ott Blog

Late bloomers My dahlias did not like the hot summer. They sat there doing nothing for ages. I think they were just waiting for cooler weather and now the display is lovely. This one is ‘Nicholas’. I am now hoping we don’t get frosts any time soon so I can enjoy the show a bit longer.…

Mudketeers diary -April 25th 2018

25th April 2018 Steve Ott Blog

Tomatoes on the move The young ‘Sungold’ tomato seedlings are being split up and planted into individual 9cm pots filled with multi-purpose compost. I am keeping them in the greenhouse (unheated). It is a bit risky if we suddenly have some very cold temperatures but I think they will be okay. If we do get frosts I will have to…

Mudketeers diary-28th March 2018

28th March 2018 Steve Ott Blog

Triffid tale Nothing makes such a dramatic entrance as rhubarb. It’s thick fleshy shoots emerge from the ground like a monster from the deep. All I need do now is to mulch with some garden compost around the base making sure I don’t get too near the emerging shoots or it could cause them to rot.…

Mudketeers diary-23rd March 2018

23rd March 2018 Steve Ott Blog

Let-tuce start sowing What a lovely morning to start sowing. The sun was out, the sky was blue and from the warm comfort of the greenhouse I could hear the birds singing their little hearts out. I could feel all pressures of life just drain away as I sowed some lettuce seed in cell trays…

Mudketeers diary-13th March 2018

13th March 2018 Steve Ott Blog

Spuddy marvellous The seed potatoes are sprouting nicely. I had them in the porch for a while as I thought the greenhouse was too cold for them. I have just put them out in the greenhouse to encourage nice stout, green shoots. I won’t plant them out until late March. In fact Easter weekend seems the perfect time to plant!…

Mudketeers diary-18th Dec 2017

18th December 2017 Steve Ott Blog

Covering the beds I’ve been adding a layer of well rotted horse manure to my raised beds and covering with polythene to prevent winter rain washing through the nutrients. I am fortunate in that I have a couple of ponies (one pictured below) who are good enough to provide the manure. I take home a bag of well rotted stuff…

Mudketeers diary -15th Dec 2017

15th December 2017 Steve Ott Blog

Long lived kale In autumn 2016 I sowed a new kale called ‘Emerald Ice’. I put three in a large pot but only one survived. I ignored the plant and did nothing with it and it got hidden by other crops. Now over a year later, it is still growing and producing some very attractive growth. I ought to harvest…

Mudketeers diary-19th April 2017

19th April 2017 Emma Rawlings Blog

What hungry gap? April and May are months often referred to as the ‘Hungry Gap’ in veg gardening. It is a time when the winter veg is used up and the summer crops are still but seeds! I looked at my plot the other day and thought there wasn’t much on it until I went a-foraging. For lunch today I…