 Friday, May 07, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (10 comments)
Weeding is one of the least popular jobs to be done in a vegetable garden. If the weather is fine and there is time to spare then it can be quite enjoyable. However, during busy periods weeds can quickly take hold and controlling them feels like more of a battle than a leisure activity. So, what are the best ways to keep weeds under control without resorting to harmful methods such as weedkillers? Read more...
Categories: weeding vegetables gardening |
Saturday, April 10, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (8 comments)
Traditional gardening advice is often based on a scaled-down version of agriculture: dig in manure, till the soil, plant the seeds, wait until they mature, harvest and then you’re done for the year. The problem with this is that it assumes you have plenty of land which is often not the case for home-growing. Over the years several techniques have been developed which can dramatically increase the quantity of vegetables you can grow in a garden area but how do you know which will work well for your situation? Here’s a concise guide to the available options... Read more...
Categories: gardening vegetables succession planting intercropping deep beds |
 Friday, November 06, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (10 comments)
Just when you think the gardening year is over, it's time to plant garlic. The most flavorful member of the onion family is always the last veggie to go into the ground, because garlic cloves start their life cycle by developing roots in cold soil. Then, after at least two months of chilling, the little slivers of green that barely poked up their heads all winter will take off like green rockets. By summer, each little clove will grow into a 3-foot tall plant anchored by a beautiful bulb, ready to dig and cure. Read more...
Categories: organic gardening vegetables garlic |
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, July 10, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (3 comments)
Growing your own food is the best way to ensure that you know exactly what went into producing it. However, most gardeners are unable to be completely self-sufficient in food and have to also rely on fruit and vegetables grown commercially. It is this which makes the question of pesticide residues so important – what exactly is on the fruit and vegetables we buy? Should we only buy higher priced organic produce or is it OK to compromise? The best way to answer this is to look at the extent of the pesticide problem... Read more...
Categories: pesticide, fruit, vegetables |
Friday, May 08, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (16 comments)
After 30 years of growing tomatoes, I am still discovering great tomato varieties, and there’s no end in sight. Consider the numbers. Let’s say there are 800 legitimate tomato varieties, and you have room to grow 4 varieties each year. After gardening for a century, you will have tasted about half of them. So here's my favorite varieties together with the reasons why I love them... Read more...
Categories: tomatoes, vegetables, gardening |
Friday, April 10, 2009 by Jeremy Dore and Barbara Pleasant (0 comments)
GrowVeg.com started life in Britain as a way to help gardeners organize their vegetable gardens and achieve more success through good planning. From the start we wanted to make a tool which made it intuitive to plan, space and rotate crops without having to wade through encyclopedias of gardening. What soon became apparent was the exploding interest in home-grown food developing around the world. Within a few weeks we had people emailing us from North America, Australia and across Europe. Just over a year on we are now a truly international company and I am delighted to welcome American garden expert Barbara Pleasant to introduce herself as our second regular contributor to GrowBlog… Read more...
Categories: GrowVeg.com, vegetables, gardening |
Friday, March 27, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (14 comments)
Plug plants are seedlings which have been germinated and grown in trays of small cells. When the roots have grown sufficiently they can be easily pushed out of the trays and either transplanted into larger pots or planted outside in the ground. Plug plants used to be largely confined to bedding plants and flowers but all that is now changing as edible gardening becomes more popular. Many nurseries and seed companies have started to sell a range of vegetable plug plants and these offer a very easy route to starting a productive garden. So what are the benefits of using plug plants and are they worth producing yourself Read more...
Categories: plug plants gardening vegetables |
Friday, March 20, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (6 comments)
The media image of the vegetable gardener is the typical suburban house in beautiful surroundings with plenty of space to grow things. In reality, many people who want to grow their own food don’t have a large back garden or convenient access to a plot of land. Particularly in cities, living in a shared house or an apartment can mean that there is only room for a few pots of salad by the back door. So what do you do if you want to grow more food but don’t have the space? One option that is becoming increasingly popular is the idea of sharing someone else’s garden or backyard... Read more...
Categories: garden vegetables city |
Friday, March 06, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (11 comments)
One of the most confusing terms that new vegetable gardeners come across is ‘bolting’. Also known as ‘running to seed’ this is where a plant suddenly, often in a matter of a few days, starts to grow flower stems, simultaneously stopping all useful growth of the vegetable itself. It is not just a problem for people new to growing edible plants – experienced gardeners also have to manage this problem as I found out last week when several salad plants I have been carefully over-wintering in my greenhouse suddenly shot up central stems. Once the flower shoots form not only is growth slowed as the plants put all their energy into reproducing but they can rapidly become unusable in the kitchen as well. Lettuce, for example, becomes bitter tasting and the leaves are less tender once the plant has bolted. So what can be done to prevent it? Read more...
Categories: salad vegetables bolting |