Do I need to keep brassicas netted over winter?
We nearly always recommend that you net any brassicas – kale, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower etc – in your plot using a mesh netting. This will help to keep butterflies from…
Growing Tips and Advice
When to sow broad bean seeds
If you’re growing one of our Small or Large Autumn (or Year Round) Veg Patches, you will have received some broad bean seeds with your delivery. These are best sown…
A Few Pre-Frost Garden Jobs
We’re just edging towards frosty mornings now, and with that in mind we’ve made a little to-do list so that you don’t lose any crops… Harvest pumpkins & winter squashes…
Using biodegradable mulch sheet
Although this photo is from a garden in summer, using a biodegradable sheet mulch like this can work really well in autumn and winter too, by keeping the soil a…
The Next Few Months – from Autumn to Spring
As the leaves fall at this time of year, the veg patch empties rapidly with plants being pulled up at the end of the season. You may be planting up…
The Next Few Weeks – Autumn Planting & Summer Clearing
This article takes a look at the next four or five weeks in the vegetable garden, through late September and early October, which is a time both for clearing up…
Plant Purple Sprouting Broccoli for Spring…
You can plant out Purple Sprouting Broccoli plug plants over the next few weeks and, all going well, they will provide you with a wonderful crop in spring. Where to…
Storing Beans – Borlotti, Yin Yang & Canellini
Some of our bean varieties are particularly good for storing – these include Borlotti, Yin Yang and Canellini. You can either dry them to store in an airtight container, or…
Leaf problems are common in early autumn
If you’re seeing powdery mildew on courgettes and squashes, or burnt looking edges and yellowing leaves on beans, or spots on spinach, don’t worry too much – you’re not doing…
Don’t harvest winter squash yet…
Although they often look very tempting to harvest now, in September, winter squash and pumpkins still need a little longer to ripen before you harvest them. Fruits are usually ready…
Ants & Aphids
Dry weather is likely to have provided the perfect conditions for ants to really get to work this season. For the most part, they do little harm, but do be…
Chewy, Stringy Celery?
Conditions have not been ideal for growing celery this summer – it is a thirsty plant, and the long, dry spells have been unfavourable. If you have harvested some recently,…