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So long, and thanks for all the fish
Here's where I started: my allotment, six years ago I have had a simply lovely time over the half-dozen years or so since I started this blog. Since July 2009, when I began by writing rather shyly...
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Peas please
Last month's sowing of 'Meteor' in the cold frame hardening off There is more than one way to plant a pea. This could be the conclusion of my entire 20+ years of growing my own veg, in fact, neatly...
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In need of support
Broad beans grow straighter when among bamboo cane grids The longer I go on growing my own veg, the more support I need. It was all so simple when I started. All I needed was a few little wigwams. You...
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Life in the greenhouse: February
This month it's all about greenhouse no. 2: a bit scruffy at the moment, but it's frost-free, equipped with a heated propagator, and about to become a seedling-generating powerhouse There… can you hear...
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Baring all
Three of the four gooseberries waiting to be planted: 'Invicta', 'Whinham's Industry' and 'Greenfinch' in case you're interested (the other is 'Careless') Last chance saloon for planting bare root...
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Pick of the month: January
Jerusalem artichoke It may not look like it, but this is treasure I’m cheating a little here as this particular Jerusalem artichoke isn’t in my garden – though it soon will be. It’s growing, a little...
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Life in the greenhouse: January
Greenhouse no. 1: salad plug plants not so successful, pak choi more so. And the peppers are still going strong! January is not the best month in the greenhouse. We’re at that stage of the year where...
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Living on the edge
Sleepers edging beds on a large scale in the veg garden at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea I have been thinking a lot about the edges of things lately. As m’learned colleague James recently demonstrated,...
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New year, not-so-new me
Remembering a time of plenty: sweetpeas and sweet rocket in my garden last June So here it is, then. Hello, 2015! Actually it feels much like 2014, if I’m honest. Now, I like an excuse for a party as...
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Life in the greenhouse: December
Greenhouse no. 1: salads still teeny-tiny and only intermittently growing, so I'm wondering if I timed the planting wrong (again) I am behind the curve. In fact so behind it am I that I’ve lost sight...
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Double your money
Time to prune the autumn-fruiting raspberries... Right about now, I’m starting to think about pruning my autumn-fruiting raspberries. They’re good old ‘Autumn Bliss’, rock-solid reliable, heavy...
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Talking a load of manure
Grazing rye.... or black plastic? Right, that’s it. I know what I said about green manures, but it was a load of old twaddle. Don’t believe a word of it. Sometimes, as a gardener, you just have to...
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Life in the greenhouse: November
Greenhouse half replanted with lettuce... but the peppers are staying November is change-around month in the greenhouse. Well, at least it’s meant to be. The trouble is, it’s supposed to be cold, and...
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Pick of the month: November
Medlars (Mespilus germanica) The taste of autumn: ready to pick at long last We gardeners are a patient bunch. Three years I’ve been waiting for this lot. Since they’ve been thinking about possibly one...
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Potato trials 2014: The Verdict #2
My potatoey adventures proceed apace: and now it’s the turn of the maincrops. I grew only two maincrops this year, mainly because I haven’t yet got my third potato bed up and running (we eat so many...
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Potato trials 2014: The Verdict
Well. Who’d have thought it. The annual Crocus Kitchen Garden Potato Trials – that august institution by which potatoey reputations are won and lost – are five years old this year. For five years I...
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Life in the greenhouse: October
About now my greenhouse becomes less vegetable power house and more storage depot. Those big pumpkins on the floor are ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ – known affectionately as Cinderella pumpkins, and you can...
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Care in the community
Jon Wheatley's Hampton Court show garden celebrated Britain in Bloom's 50th anniversary Britain in Bloom finalists across the country are currently biting their nails to the quick waiting to hear the...
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Life in the sloe lane
Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but if you really can’t be bothered with all that seed-sowing and weeding and tying in and composting you don’t have to do much gardening to get a free supply of...
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