We are planting some midwinter broad beans today, before the ground gets too hard. Frost is forecast, and the frost freezes the soil making it too hard to dig.
Midwinter broadbean seed
Midwinter broad beans are an ideal variety for planting in January.
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Building a Productive Greenhouse – a guest post by Caitlin Smythe
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Many gardeners use greenhouses to cultivate exotic, heat-loving or tender plants, to get seedlings ready for re-planting or to extend the seasons and make use of the waning autumn sun. Even gardeners with small, unheated greenhouses can make the most of the sun’s warmth to produce vegetables that are nutritious and tasty. Start by having a look at some of the best public greenhouses available in your area.
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One of the most impressive greenhouses open to the public is in
Kew Gardens in London. The Princess of Wales Conservatory is divided into ten computer-controlled micro-climactic zones and populated with Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. Every inch of this conservatory is covered in plant life – from ferns clinging to rock faces to climbers twisting up columns – so that visitors can spend hours taking in the subtle and fragile details of beautiful collections of orchids, cacti and bromeliads. It’s certainly worth the visit for budding gardeners but remember to look for voucher codes before paying full entrance fees.
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Naturally, not every home garden is equipped with the kind of resources available at Kew; however, it’s possible to have a productive greenhouse for most of the year. Electrically heated greenhouses provide optimum temperatures for growing vegetables but they do tend to weigh heavily on homeowners’ utilities bills. A warm greenhouse is an excellent place to grow fragile vegetables such as aubergines, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, and while these are fun to prune and harvest, they’re great to serve at the dinner table as well.
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For home gardeners just starting out, it’s important to insulate greenhouses, whatever the mode of heating you choose. Begin by sealing cracks, replacing panes and ensuring that doors fit snugly. It’s really important to protect plants from frost and experts recommend draping fleecing over plants or covering the whole greenhouse with roll-down blinds during cold snaps.
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Name of author: Caitlin Smythe
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Thompson & Morgan have over 14 delicious potato varieties to choose from, starting at just £2.99 for 20 tubers. If you have never grown your own potatoes before, it’s really easy to do – check out the potatoes on offer by clicking this link.
START DATE: Now
END DATE for the GYO potatoes offer is Midnight Wednesday 29th February 2012 (subject to availability)
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FREE P&P WHEN YOU SPEND OVER £10 on seeds from Thompson & Morgan
For those of you who have yet to order your seeds for early sowing, your spring planting plug plants or vegetables for your garden or allotment, then this weekend is your perfect opportunity to do so.
With the long awaited winter pay day fast approaching for many of us, get your order in early with a great FREE P&P special offer for when you spend over £10, which will save you up to £6.90.
START DATE: Thursday 26th January 2012 END DATE: Midnight Tuesday 31st January 2012
USE ORDER CODE: AF12231 for free p&p when you spend over £10 on seeds
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Aldis are selling packets of vegetables seeds for 39p – how cheap is that! A good excuse for trying out something new!
Click this link for details: Aldi seed packs
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Rainfall in the TopVeg garden in 2011 was 413 ml
- January 12.5 ml
- February 60 ml
- March 9.5 ml
- April 1 ml
- May 25 ml
- June 43 ml
- July 51.5 ml
- August 71.75 ml
- Sept 15.5 ml
- Oct 62 ml
- Nov 15 ml
- Dec 46 ml
The annual rainfall in the TopVeg Garden:
The annual rainfall in 2011 was the lowest we have had in the TopVeg garden in 6 years, even lower than 2010. What was yours?
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