Grow Your Own

Grow your own

PlantforLife and the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) have teamed up with celebrity plantsman, Chris Collins to champion the next phase of ‘grow your own’ gardening by educating people with simple tips on how easy it is to plant and grow fruit trees and berries in containers or a small space in the garden.

Your local Garden Centre should now be featuring heavily on grow your own tools, skills and passing on offers that will entice you into Growing your own vegetables. Grow your own is not a new craze, it is simply that growing your own has become far cheaper in recent years and is now cheaper than buying in any high street supermarket.
Make sure that you have the best tools to grow your own and make gardening easier by talking to your local garden centre and asking for their advice. Poplar Tree Garden Centre offer advice via email, telephone or in person in their store and you can buy many Grow your own items online which will give you everything you need to get gowing and thrive.

Chitting Potatoes

Chitting Potatoes

vegetable garden

There has been talk about whether it is necessary to chit potatoes but it is too early to plant them and if left in their bags, seed potatoes will produce long sprouts that will break off at planting time anyway.

Chitting is simply placing the potatoes in a frost free place with indirect light and will produce short strong shoots, getting them away to a faster start. You can use egg cartons or seed trays to keep them in. Don’t forget to label them so you don’t get confused as to variety come planting time.

I read that spraying with seaweed solution at fortnightly intervals while chitting will improve the crop but I didn’t notice any benefit myself.

With main crop potatoes, I reduce the number of shoots to three, or four on larger seed potatoes, so that they produce larger potatoes rather than masses of smaller ones.

Autumn Raspberries

autumn raspberries

Raspberries are best grown from bare-root plants in the autumn. I have found that seed varieties are also extremely delicious. There are lots of different varieties available, which bear fruit at different times. The majority of raspberries are harvested between early and late summer, while others are grown for their autumn berries.

There are alternatives to autumn raspberries:
If growing summer varieties, drill holes into the posts and stretch three rows of galvanised wires (12 gauge) between them – these should be 76cm (36in), 106cm (42in) and 167cm (66in) above the ground and held in place by straining bolts, which can be tightened with a spanner. If you have an autumn variety, there’s no need to add the top wire.

Prune canes that held fruit in summer during the autumn, cutting them right back to the ground. Tie in about eight of the strongest new canes from each plant to fruit next year, and remove the rest. Prune autumn fruiting varieties in mid-winter, cutting the old canes back to ground level. Tie in new stems to the supporting wires as they grow, using garden twine

I will let you know how this years crop of autumn raspberries taste later in the year if anyone is interested.

Reduce food Imports by growing vegetables

hanging vegetable garden

With 80% of people living in towns in the UK and 23% of each person’s carbon footprint coming from the production of food and its transport, this idea would solve some big environmental issues. It is estimated that a 30 storey vertical farm could feed 50,000 people which means that 150 vertical farms could feed the whole of London. Add to this the fact that 80% of London’s food is imported and the potential gains look extremely attractive.

Higher temperatures in cities caused by concrete and tarmac absorbing heat and releasing it slowly, provide a longer growing season and improved yield.Rainwater could be harvested on roofs and networks of pipes would allow the water to drip through to each level, irrigating crops and removing the need for high water bills – this system would actually use 5% of the amount of water needed for a conventional farm.

Currently 50% of the world’s population lives in towns and cities but by 2050 this is estimated to rise to around 80% – the Hanging Gardens of Babylon could see a global revival.

How to make Compost

It’s not rubbish, it’s renewable. Why throw your kitchen scraps in the bin when you could be using them to make your garden more lovely and attractive to wildlife?

A compost heap makes a delicious refuge. Larger mammals come to root around for old fruit, hedgehogs to eat the slugs, and reptiles and amphibians love the warmth it generates. It’s also a great way to attract the elusive slow worm.

Ideally site your compost bin in a reasonably sunny site on bare soil. If you have to put your compost bin on concrete, tarmac or patio slabs ensure there’s a layer of paper and twigs or existing compost on the bottom. Choose a place where you can easily add ingredients to the bin and get the compost out.

Have a container available such as a kitchen compost caddy or old ice cream tub. Fill your compost caddy or container with everything from vegetable and fruit peelings to teabags, toilet roll tubes, cereal boxes and eggshells. Take care not to compost cooked food, meat or fish.

Empty your compost caddy along with your garden waste into your compost bin. A 50/50 mix of greens and browns (see pages 6 and 7) is the perfect recipe for good compost.

It takes between nine and twelve months for your compost to become ready for use, so now all you need to do is wait and let nature do the work. Keep on adding greens and browns to top up your compost.

Once your compost has turned into a crumbly, dark material, resembling thick, moist soil and gives off an earthy, fresh aroma, you know it’s ready to use. Lift the bin slightly or open the hatch at the bottom and scoop out the fresh compost with a garden fork, spade or trowel.

Don’t worry if your compost looks a little lumpy with twigs and bits of eggshell – this is perfectly normal. Use it to enrich borders and vegetable patches, plant up patio containers or feed the lawn.