IN THE KITCHEN GARDEN – Growing under plastic
Monday, April 30th, 2012
What can you say about June – well it’s normally the month when we all begin to reap the benefits of our backbreaking effort to return the plot to some kind of productivity, but with many of you working under the weight of a hosepipe ban, it’s going to be a little more difficult, but hopefully not impossible. The show must go on, as they say. Jayne Neville in Veg Talk and Andy McKee and Mark Gatter in Gardening Under Plastic are all concerned about keeping on top of the plot and its tendency to get out of control as summer takes hold, and it’s all good advice. With water scarce focusing it on where it’s needed rather than sharing it with the weeds is sound advice. Concerned about those pesky weeds Jayne even gives a rundown of hoes available to help you banish them from Room 101. This month Terry Walton deals with growing soft fruit, so it’s strawberries, raspberries and black and red currants, featuring a range of his own personal favourites. And finally, for the lazy (sorry, that should have been more laid back!) but ecologically concerned gardener we have a feature on creating a hay meadow. If I heard someone say ‘I haven’t got space for a plot, let alone a meadow’ then let me tell you that this will work in a garden, as contributor Penny Bunting’s dad discovered when he neglected his own garden for a little while – yes, you did hear right, this one requires you to spend a little more time in a deckchair with a nice cold beer rather than days bent over a spade. That’s your kind of gardening? Then please read on…
Tags: Jayne Neville, Mark Gatter, Penny Bunting, Terry Walton
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With billions of pounds worth of food wasted in the UK every year ‘food magician’ Richard Fox has taken on the challenge of tracking down mouth-watering recipes for all those ingredients which lurk anonymously at the back of our cupboards and in the darker recesses of our fridges – cheese with a little mould on it (what else is cheese really?), carrots with a darkening surface (peel them, man!) and even a Pot Noodle, possibly left behind from just before your offspring got their first flat. Check out his recipes; we have and they do work. Sometimes being a guinea pig can be fun! And on a more conventional note (if ever Mel can be accused of being conventional) the Jammy Bodger has gone scone mad and produces a range of savoury and dessert scones to delight any fans of high tea, or any tea for that matter. I challenge you not to be tempted by her Parmesan and bacon scones, or her normal scone, made and served in Mel’s own unique way. And what can I say about Andy Hamilton? Well, for anyone less than perfect, mistakes happen, and Andy sets out to look at some of the more common mistakes in home brewing and how you can correct or avoid them, and to celebrate eliminating mistakes he creates a simple elderflower champagne with a difference. Cheers! Hic!
Poultry and bees are the order of the day with Clare Beebe hunting down the range of different housing available to today’s chicken keeper as the traditional medium of wood is challenged by a range of newer materials which could theoretically last forever without maintenance, boast an easier cleaning regime and a likely reduction in the dreaded red mite. Janice Houghton-Wallace checks out those slackers among your flock who don’t lay and tries to find out why and we also welcome Karen Pimlott to Home Farmer as she places your chickens on her psychiatrist’s chair to get just an inckling of what makes them tick as they go about their daily business as ‘ladies who lunch, and lunch, and lunch… Claire Waring brings us a little more on avoiding swarming in your bee colonies together with tips on preparing for your honey collection and finally, a new look at the old as Dot Tyne sets her gaze on the man who probably most motivated John Seymour, William Cobbett. Perhaps one of the most colourful and fascinating figures England has ever produced, 2013 is the 250th anniversary of his birth and Dot looks at his life and work on self-sufficiency, Cottage Economy in the first of a series exploring how appropriate this work is for the 21st century self-supporter.
We have a stowaway on board this month as Dave Hamilton moonlight temporarily from his usual garden spot to feature the garden shed, with tips on getting one and a great step-by-step method of making a basic one with instructions that can be adapted to whatever role you might require of your own, from tool shed or potting shed to sanctuary and escape. We’ve also got regular special projects operative John Butterworth on an ideal project for the summer months as he covers the task of pointing your stone or brickwork, Simon Dawson on the subject of quad bikes, Josephine Roberts on the subject of holidaying on a tractor in Wales and Ruth Tott (with a little help from Julie Moore of Mumbleys Farmhouse) on the topic of training courses.
