GrowBlog

How to Prune Blueberry Bushes

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:14:00 GMT

Blueberries are wonderfully nutritious and easy to grow but the bushes do require regular pruning if you are to get the best crop of fruit each year.

Growing Aubergines (Eggplant) in Cooler Climates

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:53:25 GMT

Delicious as aubergines are (eggplants to those outside Europe), any of us growing in temperate climates will undoubtedly find them just a bit of a struggle. Aubergines hail from India, where temperatures can occasionally top 50C or 122F (yes, really!). So with cool, northern summers it should come as no surprise that these plants need as long a growing season as we can possibly muster; it’s very much a case of early to rise and late to bed for these tropical beauties!

Winter Vegetable Garden Maintenance

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:50:28 GMT

Most people leave their vegetable gardens alone during the long winter months but a little preparation during these cold months can get you off to a roaring start in spring

Winter Pruning of Gooseberries and Currant Bushes

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:48:57 GMT

If you find pruning fruit bushes difficult you’re certainly not alone. The diagrams in books may look very straight-forward, but it’s a whole different story when faced with your own, undiagrammatical, pruning challenge. Still, it has to be done if you’re not to end up with a tangle of unproductive branches and here, in the in the northern hemisphere, it’s just about the right time to get out the secateurs, although you can prune at any time during the plants’ dormant period, up until early spring.

Creating a Potager Garden

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:55:32 GMT

People often say to me that they’d love to grow their own food at home, but that a vegetable plot would look out of place in their garden. They imagine ruler-straight rows and unsightly muddy gaps where plants have been dug up, but I always tell them that they can have their cake (well, veg) and eat it too – the answer is to create a potager...

Growing Onions in Clusters - The Easy Way to Grow from Seed

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:44:24 GMT

Received wisdom has many kitchen gardeners starting their onions off from sets – small, immature bulbs that swell to a respectable size within a few short months. But while sets are speedy, convenient and generally reliable, it’s worth noting that onions will also grow handsomely from seeds sown in the dark depths of winter. With all quiet on the veg front, it is reassuring to be doing something now that will carry us through to the new growing season that’s just weeks away.

Planning a New Herb Garden - Part 2

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:06:35 GMT

After deciding the location and shape of your herb garden, it's important to consider which herbs to place together. Grouping herbs in different sections by the kind of soil and environment they like will help them grow well.

Planning a New Herb Garden - Part 1

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:16:12 GMT

Winter is a fun time in gardening. Seed catalogues cascade through the letter-box, new varieties of vegetables beg us to order them, and, best of all, you can spend ages staring out of the window with a clear conscience as you plan for next year. Now, do you have a herb garden? Most of us have herbs dotted around our beds but there’s something delightful in having them massed in one area, putting all your flavourings together. So many herbs enjoy the same conditions that they make natural companions.

Forcing Chicory

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:45:13 GMT

There are few vegetables that can be grown through freezing cold winter but chicory can be 'forced' to produce delicious crisp leaves indoors at a time when salad is in short supply.

The Best Home-made Pumpkin Pie

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:26:19 GMT

We eat a lot of pumpkin pie at my house, because after all a serving of pumpkin pie counts as a vegetable (we say this like a mantra). I also think that a slice a pumpkin pie represents the culmination of a growing season in one of the most delicious packages known to humankind, which is the best reason to make pumpkin pie often and well...