Couch grass is right up there in the top 5 most hated weeds in the country. People have driven themselves crazy trying to get rid of it. It has the tenacity of Dale Winton on the tail of a daytime quiz show and is about as entertaining if you find it in your garden. But actually, I don’t [...]
Archive for July, 2009
Rogues’ gallery: Couch grass
Posted in Rogues' Gallery, tagged couch grass, weeds on July 29, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Doing the tomato tango
Posted in Greenhouse growing, tagged tomatoes on July 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
My tomatoes are shaping up nicely – the ones in the picture are ‘Elegance’, which is a variety I discovered last year. It’s a medium-sized tomato so it’s a good all-rounder with a great flavour. I’ve also got cherry toms (‘Gardeners’ Delight – is there anyone who doesn’t grow this variety?) some plums (‘Roma’) and [...]
Oh sow simple
Posted in sowing, tagged salads, seed, sowing on July 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
These little lumps of cork might look a bit unpromising, but come October they’ll be big, beefy leafy plants which I hope will keep me in greens for most of the winter. I’m sowing a white-stemmed Swiss chard (sturdy-growing and with a good spinachey flavour) and a ruby chard, which has gorgeous stems the colour [...]
Pick of the month: July
Posted in Pick of the month, sowing, tagged heritage varieties, peas on July 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Pea ‘Purple Podded’ I don’t usually go for fancy cultivars but my curiosity was piqued when I saw the deep velvety-purple pods of these peas growing in someone’s garden a while back. Then I found out they were a heritage variety – they’ve been growing purple-podded peas for over 100 years – so my prejudices [...]
Salad days
Posted in sowing, tagged salads, seed, sowing on July 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today found me reaching for the seed packets again. I tend to spend May and June ever-so-slightly panicking about how I’m going to get everything I sowed earlier in the year out and in the ground - but by July I’m done and raring to go with some new sowing for late-season crops. Salad leaves are [...]
Something new to try
Posted in Container veg growing, Shows, Unusual veg, tagged beans, Hampton Court, lablab beans on July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Aren’t these pretty? I spotted them at the Hampton Court Flower Show this week and thought at first they were some kind of flowery sweetpea. Then I looked closer and saw those funny little flat purple pods. This is the lablab bean, and though I’d heard of it nobody told me it was so pretty. [...]
Extreme veg growing
Posted in Container veg growing, Shows, tagged baby leaf salads, containers, Hampton Court on July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What I’d give to be able to say I grew this cabbage. Sadly I must own up and confess to snapping this one at that catwalk of the veg-growing world, the Hampton Court Flower Show. Don’t be fooled by the ‘Flower’ bit: this is all about growing your own, and you’re just as likely to [...]
Meet my shed.
Posted in Uncategorized on July 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A girl’s gotta have a shed. Where else would you make a cuppa when the weather’s bad outside? And besides, you have to have somewhere to change out of your kitten heels and hang up the Dior jacket.
Crocus kitchen garden shop
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Harvesting Now
Blackcurrants, calabrese, cauliflower, courgettes, French beans, garlic, globe artichokes, gooseberries, kale, onions, peas, potatoes (new and second early), raspberries (summer), redcurrants, runner beans, salad leaves, shallots, strawberries, tomatoes, whitecurrantsSowing Now
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