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Browsed by
Category: Fruit, Vegetables & Herbs

Tips on growing good Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs

Growing Okra or Ladies Fingers

Growing Okra or Ladies Fingers

Okra

Abelmoschus esculentus or Okra aka lady’s fingers or gumbo is a flowering plant in the mallow family.The seed pods are popular as a vegetable in Caribbean cookery.

Growing Okra

  • Okra is grown for its edible, hairy, green seed pods.
  • Originating in Africa, the plant is cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions around the world.
  • Okra likes hot, sunny, humid conditions, a challenge for any British gardeners.
  • A conservatory, greenhouse, low glass frame or cloche is best and a second covering of plastic over plants will help raise humidity more.

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Favourite Fruit Varieties

Favourite Fruit Varieties

What is your favourite fruit?

Currants

From the Ribes currant family I prefer the Red currant for making pies. However I also grow Black currants R nigrum for the intense flavour. They bear fruit from new shoots made the previous year so prune some old wood in winter.
I have just tried White currants last year and they are similar in cultivation to Red currants but need little or no pruning.

Soft Fruit

  • I have just planted a new bed of strawberries. My previous attempts were in a shady place and didn’t excel. This time I have tried a variety called Loran plus a dozen plants from my brother in law type unknown. The plants have had three wet weeks to get established and by the end of next month will be ready for the winter rest.
  • Raspberries were not brilliant this year but made 18 jars of jam. Many of the canes are up against a hedge and therefore short of water much of the year so I am content with the result.
  • It is a long time since I grew Loganberries and I pick wild blackberries again for pies
  • A thornless Blackberry may be suitable for a child friendly garden
Sow Red Salad Seeds

Sow Red Salad Seeds

Red food stuff is a popular trend at the moment. Good leafy crops add vibrancy to a salad and you are probably eating well if you grow them yourself.

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Seeds of fast leafy salad crops can be sown until the end of July and they will be ready to start picking in about 50 days. Loose leaf Lollo Biondi and Lollo Rossa will be ready from about this time and you can pick individual leaves as you need them. Give them some cloche protection in September and you may be picking through October.

Salad seedlings are nutritious and at the peak of flavour so try Red Mustard or Red Chard for early picking but with added colour for your salads. The spring onion North Holland Blood Red is also worth eating as you thin our the crop.

For something with a bit more kick Rocket, Radiches or Nasturtium leaves may suit or try Mizuna or the leaves of Beetroot.

 

Grow your Own Figs

Grow your Own Figs

The Brown Turkey fig, Ficus carica, produces large, sweet, juicy figs even in British conditions.

Fig Growing Tips

  • Grown in a large pot they can get upto 12 feet tall but to encourage fruit prune in autumn and keep to a reasonable size about 5 -6 feet tall.
  • Keep  plants well watered particularly when young.
  • Grown against a south facing wall the full sun will encourage both fruiting and ripening.
  • Expect fruit to ripen in August or  September and pick regularly leaving tiny, embryo fruit towards the ends of the shoots will over-winter and  will ripen the following year.
  • Left to grow some Figs varieties can produce very large trees but they are not suitable for the British climate.
  • Fig trees do not need a pollinator so one tree should suffice.
  • Some winter protection may be needed in very hard frost.
  • Constrain the roots to encourage fruit and suppress the desire for the fig to become a large tree.
Growing Food for Fussy Kids

Growing Food for Fussy Kids

Lateral thinking can get fresh garden produce down the little darlings throats. The Ribena tree or apple juice tree can create drinks and breakfast cereal additions. Many veg can go in a blender or be added to favourite dishes in small quantities disguised as necessary.

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How can you get children to eat their ‘Greens’?

If your kids are too fussy when it comes to  food from the ground rather than from an advertising packet the here are some tips and ideas for you.

Growing Kids Food

  • Involve children in the growing process. Give them a small plot and some big starters like onion sets, part grown seedlings or pea seeds.
  • Look for coloured varieties that are attractive to grow and tasty to eat, particularly important for brassicas such as purple sprouting.
  • Give fruit and veg interesting names like the Ribena tree above or the Harry Potter Potato.
  • Choose food they would eat if packed in a tin or freezer, such as Peas, Sweetcorn or even Carrots.
  • Cucumbers and courgettes are easy to grow and do not have strong tastes to put off the kids.
  • Kids can pick there own mange-tout or sugar snap peas and eat them pod and all.

Do Not Forget Fruit

  • Sweet and palatable this is easier stuff to get the kids eating away.
  • Soft fruit like Strawberries and Raspberries have juicy, attractive  red fruit that can also have a bit of sugar and cream added.
  • Rhubarb is the subject of several children’s jokes, it  is easy to grow and tastes great in cooked puddings.
  • Apples can be grown on small low growing rooting stock so the apples can be in reach of the children for picking. Try Ballerina types.
  • Grapes can be a good crop if tou have a sunny spot to get the natural sugars working.

5 a Day for Kids for Amazon

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Growing Courgettes

Growing Courgettes

Courgettes
Courgettes

Courgettes are an easy crop to grow and well cared for will produce an excellent crop of tasty veg. Global warming in the UK, has made this crop even more successful and can be grown out of the greenhouse, even in the north of England.

Tips for Growing Courgettes

  • Sow from late March to May in pots to make easy planting out later. Make sure soil is well manured and fertilised, the plant is a heavy feed.
  • Early courgette plants should be grown in a warm greenhouse to protect against any frost and cold temperatures. They do well in full sun.
  • Courgettes do better in warmer climates, heat will give a bigger and faster crop.
  • Protect from slugs in the early stages of growth. But, once established they are fairly pest resistant.
  • Crop regularly when courgettes are 4-6 inches. Cropping encourages more vegetables to be made and stops them turning in to marrows.
  • When growing in the greenhouse be ruthless in removing any fungal leaves or fungal vegetables. This fungal disease can easily spread if not kept in check.
  • If you grown courgettes in the greenhouse you may find the leaves can become too big. If this is the case, you can remove some of the bigger leaves without much loss. It is important to ensure good airflow.
  • When vegetables are forming it is important to keep well watered and well fed. A proprietary tomato feed is an excellent food for the cropping vegetable.

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Grow Early New Potatoes

Grow Early New Potatoes

potato

Quick Tips on Growing Early Potatoes

  • Aim for crops of new potatoes to lift  in May-July from ‘first early’ varieties Rocket, Arran Pilot, Duke of York, Pentland Javelin, Rocket, Winston and/or Lady Christl. they will be ready in 10-12 weeks.
  • Buy small tubers (size isn’t so important) of seed potato from your garden centre or mail order
  • Encourage sprouting,  ‘chitting’, by placing the potatoes in a cool light place with the bud eyes facing upwards. For a small number you can stand them in old egg boxes. You are aiming to get short, strong shoots at the rose end. If there are too many shoots I rub off some of the surplus to channel energy.
  • A bit of warmth or at least a sheltered spot will bring them on. Avoid frost and cold as they grow.

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Help with February Gardening Jobs

Help with February Gardening Jobs

snowdrops

There are numerous jobs to start in February and most gardeners will be very busy. Perhaps too busy to read this article. Still Gardeners Tips tries to help new and experienced gardeners with a series of tips and job lists that should save time in the long run.

Jobs for New Gardeners In February

  • Do not rush, the season hasn’t started and there is a lot of time to catch up.
  • Complete any hard landscaping and design changes that you do not want to be doing when the growing season starts in earnest.
  • Plot and plan, February is a great time to be sorting out your thoughts and getting all your ‘ducks in a row’ ( do not mix ducks with an ornamental garden they eat and fertilize the wrong things.)
  • Read what the experts will be doing – plants want to grow for beginners and experts alike.

Jobs for Expert Gardeners In February

  • Sow seeds of Broad Beans and Sweet Peas in a cold greenhouse or outdoors with some protection.
  • Sow hardy annual seeds in trays
  • February is the time to dig in any green manure that has over wintered.

Fruit

  • Prune outdoor vines, blackcurrants and gooseberries using off cuts as cuttings
  • If you are troubled with moss on tree trunks use lime wash to remove it.
  • Spray peaches against leaf curl

Vegetables

  • Order any seeds and sow early carrots, parsnips or parsley
  • Draw up soil around spring cabbages
  • Plant out autumn sown lettuce and broad beans

Flowers and Shrubs

Grow Bouquet Garni Herbs

Grow Bouquet Garni Herbs

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Herbs to make a bouquet garni can be grown at home and used later for cooking. All these herbs you can grow in the garden or on a suitable windowsill.
The ingredients for our basic Bouquet Garni are the herbs Parsley, Thyme, Bay and a clove of Garlic. Tie them together with undyed string. Then add other herbs that are specific to the dish you want to cook.

Herbs to Use

Use the herbs that are fresh and in season. If you have dried your own use sparingly to test the strength of flavour.
Herbs with high oil content can withstand longer cooking in stews and casseroles and include Rosemary, Oregano, Sage and Bay.
Loveage and parsley also retain flavour during lengthy cooking and combinations of stronger flavours are good for cooking meat dishes.
Poultry blends well with lemon flavour so lemon thyme, lemon grass leaves (harder to grow) and lemon balm will add the flavour you seek. You can also add a mixture of summer savoury, tarragon or hyssop.
Fish combines best with soft leaved herbs. Fennel, tarragon, dill and sweet marjoram are suitable as can be mint or welsh onion.

Jekka McVicar

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Fruit Tree Feeding Tips

Fruit Tree Feeding Tips

pear cordon

Encourage a better fruit crop by feeding your edible and ornamental fruit trees. Fruit trees are heavy feeders and need extra food to crop well.

Nutrition Requirements

  • Nitrogen promotes foliage and vigorous growth.
  • Dessert apples need less than cooking apples and pears. Plums, gages and cherries appreciate more.
  • Phosphorus promotes healthy growth and fruit.
  • Potassium gives fruit good colour, flavour and bud development.
  • Magnesium can stop bitter pit – apply Epsom salts

Feeding Quantities

  • As a rule of thumb, feed apples and pear with Growmore 100g per square meter.
  • If foliage is yellow increase feeding by half and double the quantity for plums and cherries.
  • Organic gardeners can use blood fish and bone plus organic potassium material at 15gm p/sq./m
  • Apples and Pear appreciate a low nutrient mulch like garden compost whilst plums like manure. If possible avoid growing fruit trees in grass.
  • Mulching is very good for organic growing as it preserve natural nutrients and helps make them accessible.
  • Soil can be tested for deficiencies but good husbandry will help create good fruit crops

Other Tips

  • Quince will appreciate some tomato feed in spring.
  • Treat crab apples like pears.
  • Vigorous rootstocks are unlikely to need feeding once they are established.
  • Water is a form of food and a shortage will reduce the number of fruit and stop them swelling.
  • Feed the outer roots not particularly  those  close to the tree trunk.
  • A good cooking apple is a variety where the fruit ‘falls’ when cooked.