The Museum of Garden History & the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) is filling a 1970s shed with gardening related items from the 1970s which will tell the story of gardening in the late 1970s and explore how it differed from gardening today.

In order to complete the project the museum is appealing specifically for the following items:
• A Flymo and other electrical garden tools. Read More »

Parsnips are usually left in the ground until they are needed. But if there are some left at the end of the winter they may be stored:

• dry (in a cool, frost-free place)
• in a clamp
• frozen. Freezing is best if parsnips are to be kept well into the spring.

Read More »

There are plenty of jobs to be getting on with in the fruit garden in January.

• Plant fruit trees and bushes in fine weather, if the soil is workable. Read More »

Vegetable gardeners itching to begin sowing can start some vegetable seed off in pots inside. It may be possible to plant seed directly into the ground in warm spots, if the ground has been covered for the previous few weeks. Read More »

Growing vegetables for a single person makes plenty of sense if living alone:

• vegetables will remain fresher for longer in the garden, than when buying veg from the shops

• only grow what you want

• exercise whilst doing something useful Read More »

Do not walk on wet soil because it will ruin soil structure.

TV programs are demonstrating how to harvest leeks by walking on the wet soil before pulling the leek.

Treading on wet soil has devastating, long-lasting effects on the structure of the soil: Read More »

TopVeg is proud to have permission from the MetOffice to display their logo and have a link to the MetOffice weather page. The logo is shown here, and the link to the MetOffice weather page may be activated by clicking here. Read More »

When calculating how many Seed Potatoes to buy, gardeners have to know what space is available in the vegetable garden for growing the potatoes.

Potatoes are grown from ’seed’ potatoes, which are small, immature potatoes or tubers. Seed potatoes are sold ‘loose’ in old fashioned hardware shops and garden centers, but it is more common to find them in small, sealed packets. Read More »

Large seed potatoes may be cut into several pieces, as long as each piece contains at least one eye. The ideal seed potato is the size of a hen’s egg. Read More »

A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2006, found that mental health problems were lower in rural areas. This could be due to Mycobacterium vaccae, a ‘happy bug’ found in garden soil. In rural areas, the “friendly” bacteria is breathed in through dust, & found on homegrown vegetables. Read More »