If you were alive 144 million years ago, you wouldn’t need to worry about providing winter food for wild birds because you would have been on the menu yourself. It might be hard to believe when you look at a rotund little robin or a ten to twelve centimetre tall goldfinch, but all birds are descended from the same group of dinosaurs (theropods) as Tyrannosaurus rex. Luckily (for us), a lot can change in 144 million years meaning our role has switched to providing bird dinners rather than being part of the dinner itself. Unfortunately for wild birds, our role as bird feeders is becoming incre ..read more

Preparing the garden for winter I know I mentioned feeding your soil in some detail at the end of August but it really is the best thing you can do for your garden at this time of year. Layers of organic matter which may include garden compost, manure, leaf mould and grass clippings or seaweed provide both food and protection to all the living things in your soil. It is, of course, the living things in the soil including bacteria, amoeba, centipedes, grubs and earthworms that process organic matter and turn it into plant food so when we talk about feeding soil, it is this lot that we are feed ..read more

As September is one of the busiest harvesting months, this week I thought it might be helpful to talk about preserving or storing vegetables over winter as, if your garden is anything like mine, you will have more produce than you can use. To my shame, I must admit I am not a preserving expert so what follows is only a couple of notes but this is something we will be concentrating on (and supplying products for) next year so there will be a lot more information to come. Sowing small amounts of seed at regular intervals throughout the year means you can be eating fresh from the garden for mos ..read more

As you know, September is about the final act in the vegetable garden when we harvest many of our crops and prepare the soil for winter. This week I have had a quick run around the garden to check in on some September crops and to look at some of the plants that are going to tough it out through the winter and into next spring. As always it doesn’t include everything but hopefully it will give you some tips on the vegetables you may be growing now or are thinking of growing next year. More on seed saving I briefly mentioned last week that I have been growing the Italian bean ‘Borlotto Lingua ..read more

September in the Vegetable Garden Following our article on Autumn sowing for the polytunnel (17th August), we have had a number of requests for information on outdoor sowing in September, naturally I am happy to oblige. One of the reasons I am so happy is it will be a very short article as there is very little you can sow. Early September can be deceptive as seeds will germinate easily (in relatively warm weather) but they won’t have enough time to reach maturity before it gets too cold for growth, usually by early November. I don’t want to state the obvious but as we move towards the 21st of ..read more

This week we are back in the vegetable garden to look at growth towards the end of the season and to make sure we get the best possible harvests before the cold weather arrives. While August can seem early to think about winter and preparing your soil next year, being active in the garden now will pay dividends next spring. I touch briefly on improving your soil but will go into more detail in a following post; just remember, if you need to add bulky material for next season, it is much more pleasant to do it in relatively warm August/September weather rather than in sideways November wind an ..read more

Winter in the Polytunnel or Greenhouse We had a number of questions recently on polytunnel growing, particularly whether polytunnels are worth the investment and whether it is true that they enable year round growing so I figured I might as well give a quick overview this week. We don’t currently sell polytunnels so this isn’t a sales plug but I am very enthusiastic about covered growing spaces because my tunnel is such a key part of my garden. I use a polytunnel rather than a greenhouse because, in the cool North West, I need as much indoor growing space as I can get and a large greenhouse ..read more

I can’t believe I am already writing about the vegetable garden in August, where has all that time gone? I don’t know what the weather is like where you are but we are seeing cooler, showery days which may not be great for the beach but are very welcome for the garden. I was surprised at how much the soil dried out in the hot weather in July, especially over such a short period of time. Of course there are some crops that will enjoy high temperatures but there are plenty of others that don’t. If you are growing any member of the brassica or cabbage family including autumn or winter cabbages ..read more

Tomato fruit problems In general tomatoes are easy to grow plants and will usually produce something no matter what you do to them but, for good yields of high quality fruit they do need some maintenance to grow really well. Fortunately they are vigourous plants so the majority of issues you might encounter can be turned around and will usually result in a reasonable harvest once the root cause has been identified and corrected. This week, I am concentrating on fruit problems as I have had a number of emails recently, particularly about fruit not setting which is when the tomatoes flower but ..read more

Keep sowing those seeds! I know I said it in a previous mail but I feel I should again remind you to keep sowing seeds for late summer, autumn or overwintering crops. I know it doesn’t feel like it with the good weather we are having but every day really does count at this time of year. I don’t want to upset you but the days are getting shorter so, unlike spring when you can catch up with lengthening days, our growing window is now steadily decreasing. If you are pushed for time and just need to get the seeds in, broadcast sow them in a tray of compost (broadcast means just fire then in witho ..read more