Why are potatoes ridged up with earth?

• Earthing up potatoes stops the light getting to the growing tubers. If potatoes catch light, they turn green and they should not be eaten.

• Earthing up potatoes into a ridge improves the yield of potatoes. Read More »
  new potatoes plant potatoes

The First True Leaves are growing on the Asparagus Peas.

The two large cotyledon leaves are still bright green, but the first true leaves are now developing - 29 days after planting the asparagus pea seeds. Read More »

Vegetable Growing Cards

The vegetable garden is a green gym. The garden is a place to ‘work out’ in the open air, whilst doing something constructive.

Physically active people are up to 50% less likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke.

But some gardeners need to socialise, and the BTCV Green Gym is the ideal place.

The BTCV Green Gym ® is a scheme that inspires you to improve your health and the environment at the same time. Read More »

Measuring Soil Temperature

Thermometers
Any thermometer that will measure temperature at a specific depth can be used to measure soil temperature. Ordinary glass bulb thermometers are adequate, provided they are long enough to allow the temperature to be read whilst the bulb is in the ground at required depth. Read More »

How to know weed from plant is a common problem, particularly when sowing seeds.

Gardeners often distinguish weeds from seedlings by using simple tricks:

• mark seed rows with string and 2 sticks. If the new growth does not follow the string route, it must be a weed. Read More »

Celery can be grown from seed or purchased as seedlings in plugs.

Celery seed is sown in late March, & needs a temperature around 70 deg F. to germinate. Seeds should be sown about 5cm apart, & 0.5 cm deep. They will take about two weeks to germinate.

Seedlings can be planted out after 5 or 6 weeks when the temperature is above 55 deg F. 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.

Six Steps to Show How to Make Raised Beds:

1. Mark out the position of the bed. Any size will do - but they should be no more than 4 foot wide - so that you can reach in to the middle of the bed from either side

Read More »

hypercharleyfarley on the BBC Gardening message boards dropped an interesting aside:
‘By the way, Jerusalem artichokes & sunflowers are related - the name’s nothing to do with Biblical names, but a corruption of Girasole - turning to the sun, which is what sunflowers do.’

Further investigation on Wikipedia brought up ‘ when the Jerusalem artichoke was first discovered by Europeans it was called Girasole, the Italian word for sunflower.’ Read More »