Three of the 35 asparagus peas planted on 5 April  started to emerge, after 8 days in the heated propagator.

The problem now is keeping these seed leaves healthy whilst waiting for the rest of the peas to germinate.

TopVeg has not grown the asparagus pea before and is our entry for the Growing Challenge.

Dandelions are:

• weeds

• timepieces
• a survival food for bees and other pollinating insects while they wait for other flowers to open
• used to make wine
• salad leaves

NicheSaladLeaves
1 pkt 400seeds £1.89

This exciting blend of salad leaves adds a range of colours, tastes and textures to salads. The blend consists of Leaf Radish, Leaf Carrot, Wrinkled Cress, Kale Red Russian, Red Amaranth, Golden Purslane and Salad Burnet.

The seeds can be sown in succession, outside, from March to September. Seeds can be sown from October to February under glass.

When the leaves are about 4″ high, they are cut off about 1″ above ground level and the leaves come again in no time.

The leaves are used in salads or as a garnish. Click on the image below to find out more about this book:

Growing lettuce leaves in the garden gives a good source off fresh green leaves.

Eat in Colour, the campaign created by the fresh Produce Consortium, has launched an initiative to tackle the diets of football fans.

The Eat in Colour team have signed BDA dieticians from top Premiership clubs to create a downloadable match fit meal planner to give young footballers the best possible tips for getting match fit. Read More »

The spring cabbage variety Offenham2 - Flower of Spring - is ready to harvest from the vegetable garden.

The patch has been covered with netting because the deer were eating the cabbage plants. The soft net has just been thrown over the plants, and this has kept the deer away. Read More »

The end of the parsnip harvest has arrived.  The last parsnip in the garden was eaten today, 13 April.

The parsnip seeds were sown on 15 May, and the variety was Avonresister.  They have yielded very well and provided us with an adequate supply of parsnips for 7 months.  The taste and quality of the parsnips has been good.  This year the parsnips were not lifted and put into store, but kept in the ground.  This was quite satisfactory because the season has not been too hard.

Hedgehogs control slugs in the vegetable garden.

As spring brings increasing warmth, hedgehogs will be waking up from their winter hibernation. They will need food and water as soon as they wake up. Meat based pet food and fresh water will keep them in the garden, so that they are able to eat slugs and snails as well.

Many hedgehogs are injured by garden forks and strimmers, so it is worth being careful when tidying up places they use to nest.

More information on how to encourage hedgehogs into the garden, so they can control slugs, is at www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

The growth of the shallots, planted six weeks, ago is uneven. These 3 photos were all taken today, and each bulb was planted on 28 February.

The uneven growth of the shallots indicates: Read More »

The asparagus pea is an unusual vegetable which is easy to grow.

The asparagus pea has:

• pods which are eaten whole & taste of asparagus
• beautiful red flowers

The asparagus pea seeds were sown Read More »

A stale seed bed reduces the number of weeds which have to be controlled when the vegetable seedlings start to grow in the garden.

What is a stale seedbed?

A stale seed bed is a seedbed which has been prepared, & given a false start, some weeks before the seed is due to be sown. Any weed seeds in the bed will be encouraged to grow, so that they can be raked out & killed before the actual vegetable crop crop is sown. Read More »