 Friday, October 16, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (7 comments)
One of my favourite parts of the gardening year is opening a new packet of seed and sowing them. Seeds represent so many garden aspirations and hold the promise of an abundant harvest. Yet, amazingly, recent tests in the UK have shown that up to 59% of packet seed is dead when you buy it, with no chance of ever germinating and producing a crop. Read more...
Categories: gardening seed germination |
 Friday, October 09, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (3 comments)
Depending on who you ask, pride is either a sin (St. Augustine) or a virtue (Aristotle). As a gardener, it does not feel wrong to gloat with pride over a perfect head of cabbage, but it can get you into trouble. For example, you can become so spellbound by a savoy’s crinkled leaves or the artful veins in a red head that you spend excessive time admiring them when you should be eating them. Is this what St. Augustine meant by “a love of one’s own excellence?” Read more...
Categories: gardening cabbage |
Friday, October 02, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (2 comments)
It seems that nearly every celebrity chef is embracing the idea that growing your own food is worthwhile. Last week I watched a cookery program in which the presenter took a portable stove down to some London allotment gardens and cooked up a delicious lunch from ingredients picked in situ. Such programs may simply be a reaction to the current surge of interest in the source and quality of our food but it has always been true that the very best cooks need the very best ingredients. Where better to source those special culinary delights than from your own garden? Read more...
Categories: gardening vegetables fruit taste |
Friday, September 25, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (3 comments)
If you garden where winter temperatures often drop below 10°F (-12°C), setting up a winter tunnel in autumn can bring tremendous payoffs. You can use the protection of a plastic-covered tunnel to extend the harvest of late-season leafy greens or to improve the winter survival of marginally hardy plants. Lastly, a tunnel or frame makes a fine home for late sowings of super-hardy spinach and mache. The little seedlings will sit patiently through the coldest months and explode with new growth first thing in spring. Read more...
Categories: Gardening winter protection |
Friday, September 18, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (4 comments)
The very best tasting tomatoes are those that are ‘vine ripened’ – left to reach a deep vibrant colour on the plant. Nothing beats the taste of freshly picked ripe tomatoes which are, without question, infinitely superior to shop-bought produce. However, as the season draws on and temperatures start to drop there are invariably lots of green tomatoes left on the plants that don’t quite ripen in time. Rather than wasting them, why not try some easy techniques to ripen them indoors? Read more...
Categories: gardening tomatoes |
Friday, August 28, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (1 comments)
Fast and dependable, beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are among the most popular crops grown in gardens. Over 85 percent of GrowVeg users grow beans, which come in a huge array of types and colors. Trying them all will keep you busy for years, especially if you grow both snap beans and shelling types. Read more...
Categories: gardening beans |
Thursday, August 20, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (6 comments)
When talking with new gardeners I am often asked what vegetables I would recommend for beginners to grow. To their surprise I often suggest swiss chard and the usual response is “what’s that?” Chard is one of the most versatile vegetables available and will keep cropping from early summer right through winter. Not only that but it is incredibly easy to grow, suffers from almost no pests and will withstand most forms of neglect in a garden – erratic watering, competing weeds and even poor soil... Read more...
Categories: Gardening chard |
Friday, August 14, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (4 comments)
My little patch of sweet corn is only 3 rows deep, so I plan to help with the pollination process. Unlike most garden crops, which are pollinated by insects or vibration, corn depends on wind to bring its male and female parts together. In a small planting, pollen shed by the tassels at the tops of the plants (the male parts) may blow away before enough of the microscopic grains land on the silks at the ear tips (the female parts). Fortunately, it’s easy enough to lend a hand. Read more...
Categories: gardening pollination corn |
Friday, August 07, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (17 comments)
Hot chilli peppers are something I have always had mixed success with. Usually I grow plenty of sweet peppers with a few chilli plants on the side. Yet despite trying several varieties over the past few years I have rarely managed to get much heat out of home grown peppers. Growing here in the UK does mean they take longer to ripen and need extra care and attention. Still, the results were disappointing – plenty of peppers but where was the heat? Read more...
Categories: gardening peppers |
Friday, July 31, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (7 comments)
Yes, ratoons is spelled correctly, and my garden is full of them. By midsummer most of my lettuces are ratoons, as are all of the cabbage and broccoli. What is a ratoon? Derived from the Spanish word retoño (to resprout), ratoons are second crops that grow from the stumps or stubble of the first. This makes ratoon cropping different from a cut-and-come-again growth cycle, in which harvested leaves or stems are quickly replaced by new ones (chard and basil are prime examples). Ratoon crops regrow from the lowest part of the stem, or stump. Sugar cane and rice often produce sizeable ratoon harvests, as do some vegetables... Read more...
Categories: vegetable gardening |