How to Grow Summer Turnips and Kohl Rabi
You may think winter turnips and swedes only have a place in the traditional allotment. But many smaller turnip varieties take as little as eight weeks from sowing to eating,…
How to Grow Swedes
Swedes are one of those vegetables that never seem to get into ready-prepared, convenience dishes and yet are still popular with cooks who prepare their own food. They belong, perhaps,…
How to Grow Sweet Corn
Sweet corn, maize or corn-on-the-cob (Zea mays) is a cereal. It is a rather dramatic plant, growing up to 1.5m or more. The airy spikes of male flowers decorate the…
How to Grow Tomatoes
Tomatoes are probably the most widely grown of all vegetables. Even people without a garden often manage to grow a plant or two on a balcony or patio. One reason…
How to Grow Tomatoes in Your Greenhouse
In the past, gardeners have tended to be rather conservative in their choice of tomato varieties. But modern hybrids, developed for commercial growers, have been joined in recent years by…
How to Grow Turnips
Like swedes (rutabagas or yellow turnips), turnips are members of the cabbage family. The origins of the turnip go buck so far that they are obscure, but the wild plant…
How to Grow Vegetables in Your Border
Vegetable plants can benefit from the extra shelter provided by a mature, established shrub border early in the season and from the partial shade in high summer. The downside is…
How to Grow Vegetables with Allotments
You do not even need a garden to grow vegetables you can rent an allotment. If you are new to vegetable growing, you can rely on plenty of friendly advice…
How to Grow Winter Cabbage
Winter cabbages are some of the largest and most ornamental of the cabbage family, and include blue-green Savoys and red-tinged 'January King'. Both are worthy of a place in a…
How to Grow Winter Radishes
Winter radishes are not often grown in the UK, though they are popular in the Far East as a winter vegetable. They can grow very large, and although some milder…
Posted inGeneral How To's
How to Grow your Organic Flower Garden
Whether you grow flowers alongside or mixed up with your vegetables and herbs, or have no room for anything but flowers, they should be grown organically. Firstly because they are…
Posted inGeneral How To's
How to Grow your Organic Gardens under Cover
Greenhouses, polytunnels, frames and cloches will all extend your gardening potential. In a small town garden you may have only a conservatory or sunroom attached to the house but with…
Posted inGeneral How To's
How to Manage your Beds in your Organic Gardens
Once made, the beds themselves should never be trodden on. Being only 1 metre wide they can be worked from both sides so all weeding, sowing and planting is done…
How to Measure the Scale of your Organic Vegetable Garden
Planning your layout can be one of the most enjoyable parts of gardening. Writing "carrots" and "onions" in neat lines feels like you are half way to growing them. But…
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How to Control Weeds in your Organic Garden
Competition from weeds will shade out, smother or starve your young plants so a weed control service is recommended to keep your plants healthy. Your most useful tool is the…
Posted inGeneral How To's
How to Deal with Pests and Disease Problems in your Organic Garden
After all your preparation, care and attention, you'll want to make sure that you, rather than the pests, get the benefit. Tackling pest and disease problems is always assumed to…
How to Do Mulching in Organic Gardens
Mulches: suppress weeds keep in the moisture protect the soil from heavy rain insulate the soil from heat and cold provide shelter for worms to get on with their good…
How to Grow Brussels Sprouts
It is possible to have fresh Brussels sprouts from August until the spring, but it is as a winter vegetable that they come into their own. Brussels sprouts require rich…
How to Grow Bulbs, Corms, and Tubers for the Late-summer Garden
Sometimes, when visitors "ooh" and "ah" over bold dahlias, giant summer hyacinths, and fragrant, mysterious acidanthera, I catch myself saying apologetically, "Oh, those—I can't take credit for them. I just…
How to Grow Leeks
Like most forms of onion, leeks have been grown since ancient limes. They were probably derived from Allium ampeloprasum, which grows in the Near East and in countries of the…