February and March are not really good gardening months. In the old days there would be a slow transition from proper winter weather (snow) into cold dry days before spring. This year with 3 days in February the warmest on record here, one could be excused for thinking spring might come early. However, with April …Read More about February: Strange gardening weather
Onion Sets
Garlic and onions – “must have” crop
The new “must-have” crop for the small kitchen garden. Grown in pots or in soil, garlic and onions are started before summer crops and removed just when summer crops need extra space. While autumn planted is best, there is no reason not to rush in some cloves of garlic now and start the onions indoors …Read More about Garlic and onions – “must have” crop
Kitchen table gardening
The first rule of kitchen table gardening is keep it clean. A heavy plastic table covering works well. For those gardeners without the luxury of an outdoor heated greenhouse the kitchen table makes an ideal workbench. Preparing plants from seed early on in the season (before summer planting starts) means there will be pots of …Read More about Kitchen table gardening
New Year Gardening
January hardly seems like a time to be gardening. Indeed, November and December are better for starting garlic, broad beans and onion sets. These crops benefit from a cold snap once they are in the ground. However, with the extremes of modern weather it does no harm to plant these into January for a mid …Read More about New Year Gardening
Summer onions
The onions planted at the start of the year are now starting to look like onions. Onions are well suited to succession planting throughout the year and with the ground now warmed up it is time to directly plant seed. The excess heat of May was not ideal for direct sowing seed, some rain in …Read More about Summer onions
Garlic and onions
It is not too late to plant onions this year. They are particularly suited to raised beds with good drainage. Here a variety of onions and shallots are planted against the wood side of the bed and garlic planted along the middle of the bed. All have proved remarkably resilient to the slugs and snails …Read More about Garlic and onions