Raised Beds Archives - Kitchen Garden Magazine

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…

Perfect planters and raised beds to make the most of small spaces

20th August 2020 Shannon Butcher Advertising Features, Features

Raised beds and planters can be spotted in most veg gardens and even most casual gardens these days, whether for ease of use, aesthetics or to utilise smaller spaces more efficiently. That’s not all though. Raised planters and beds have better drainage, which is great for crops and flowers and they are a little bit kinder to our achy backs,…

Pests and diseases

5th May 2020 Shannon Butcher Tips and Advice

Slugs and snails Enemy number one for most vegetable growers, slugs and snails, love damp conditions and thrive in a warm, wet summer. Crops affected: Virtually any crop –snails above ground, slugs both above and below soil level. Worst affected are brassicas, carrots, potatoes, seedlings. Symptoms: Nibbled leaves and roots can be confused with other pests such as caterpillars. Look…

Perfect Polytunnels and Glorious Greenhouses- All you need for undercover

27th April 2020 Steve Ott Advertising Features, Reviews, Tips and Advice

Shopping for a Polytunnel or Greenhouse? No problem, Kitchen Garden has a great selection to help you find the perfect cover. Premier Polytunnels With the development of new polythene covers it is possible to grow all kinds of crops and exotic plants in a Polytunnel, so it’s no surprise that these structures are gardeners’ first choice for growing undercover. Many…

Growing in containers

22nd April 2020 Shannon Butcher Tips and Advice

So, what’s a container? This depends on what crops you are growing, for example lettuce and salad leaves can be grown in quite shallow containers. A small trough 17cm (7in) deep and 30cm (12in) long would suffice for a few mixed cut and come again salad leaves. Ideally, aim for atrough about 20cm (8in) wide, 60cm (2ft) long and at…

Starting the veg patch

22nd April 2020 Shannon Butcher Tips and Advice

You can start a veg patch almost any time if you have a nice piece of bare soil. However, if you are starting from scratch and the area is still lawn or very weedy this is best treated with a weed killer such as glyphosate. This works better in warm, sunny conditions so summer is ideal, but failing this a…

Beat the boredom with these fantastic gardening products!

26th March 2020 Steve Ott Advertising Features, Reviews

A lot of us may be confined to our homes for now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t beat the boredom with these fantastic gardening products… Dovetail Greenhouses Price: Varied From their workshop in Staffordshire, Dovetail Greenhouses specialise in designing bespoke, handmade aluminium greenhouses which they erect across the length and breadth of the UK. Each greenhouse is custom-made from…

Plant Labels

22nd January 2020 Tony Flanagan Advertising Features, Reviews

Kitchen Garden Best Buy and Top Picks for March. This month the KG team have been looking at different plant label options BEST BUY MOULDED PLANT LABELS These British made moulded plant labels are made from 90% recycled plastic. They are 20cm (8in) tall and are available in the following colours: white, black and green. There are 20 in a…

Podcast 63: Growing with raised beds

13th September 2019 Steve Ott Podcast

The Kitchen Garden Magazine Podcast – packed full of hints, tips and advice from the team. Steve, Emma and Tony chat about the benefits of raised beds – a great way of keeping your vegetable plot contained and they can reduce the workload, making them ideal for newcomers to veggie growing. Raised beds are a popular way to grow vegetables,…

Join the Raised Bed Revolution

30th April 2019 Steve Ott Advertising Features, Reviews, Tips and Advice

Raised beds are the answer to many gardeners’ problems making gardening easier, accessible, more productive and available to all. Gardening Works Wooden Raised Beds are available in different sizes and heights making them user friendly for children, the elderly and the disabled who can garden at a height that is perfect for their needs, 75cm high disability raised beds and…

Popular deterrents slug it out – but to no avail

12th October 2018 Steve Ott News

Slimy pests still find ways to munch on our crops, the RHS discovers. Subs Club subscribers, read on… A study by the RHS has sadly found five popular remedies to be entirely ineffective in deterring slugs and snails. Copper tape, horticultural grit, pine bark mulch, wool pellets and eggshells were found to make no difference when applied around lettuces, with…

Time to slug it out…

14th June 2018 Steve Ott News

Gardeners’ favourite slug deterrents are in focus in the first Subs Club offering for June, specially for subscribers to Kitchen Garden. Home slug remedies get scientific trial Egg shells, copper tape and other home remedies traditionally used by gardeners to deter slugs and snails are being put to the test by the RHS this summer, in the first scientific experiment…

Best Buy April 2018 -Slug and Snail Deterrents

16th April 2018 Tony Flanagan Advertising Features, Reviews

Each month our expert editorial team pick the best products for you SlugLess This spiky straw slug and snail deterrent is 100% organic, contains no chemicals and is child and pet friendly. It comes in the form pellets which expand to create a dry, spiky surface. It also acts as a weed suppressant and moisture retainer. https://www.slugless.com TEL: 01789 761366…

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…