Proof that vegetable growing can be done by anybody. From a couple of under 30s – one who grew up growing and one who has just got going…
As you may remember, we sowed some "trial" brassicas back in March to test open packets of seeds that we had left over from last season. We sowed three of a variety of seeds: cauliflowers, broccoli and romanesco cauliflowers. The first cauliflower variety is now ready to harvest. These are Barcelona. Not the best looking... Continue Reading →
We won a few elephant garlic cloves in one of our National Vegetable Society Essex District Association raffles at the beginning of 2020. We tried to grow garlic last year with little success, but we were up for giving it another go this year! We grew the garlic in multipurpose compost last year, but we... Continue Reading →
After an initial panic that our strawberry plants weren't growing as rapidly as we'd hoped, it turns out that even smallish plants can grow a fair crop of strawberries. This is the latest harvest! What this has got me wondering now is - how many strawberries could we have got if we'd started tending to... Continue Reading →
We said radishes were fast growing, and we weren't lying! We had our first harvest of these less than 6 weeks from sowing. Our beetroot are nearly there too now and we could probably start eating these any day now. We just need to wait until the weather improves a bit so we fancy salad!... Continue Reading →
This time last year, we made a plan for the growing season ahead. So we thought it would be a good time to look back at that plan and see how we got on! Potatoes We'd set ourselves the goal of three sowings of potatoes for 2019, to harvest in May, July and December. Well... Continue Reading →
The Essex District Association of the National Vegetable Society hosts a Mini Show each year in early July. This year, our sights were set on the collection of four kinds of vegetable, one of each kind. We had the following: cherry tomato, kohl rabi, courgette and potato. And this is our final exhibit! We were... Continue Reading →
There are a few things that you haven't heard about for a while, so we thought we'd give you an update on these. Sweetcorn After a number of weeks where the plants didn't seem to make much progress at all, they seem to have got established now and have shot up all of a sudden.... Continue Reading →
The kit has been growing with varying amounts of success across the different crops...! Spring onions Only two germinated, and then one of those didn't make it to this stage. The remaining one is still growing away in the pot (a pot big enough to fit 50 in!) but never mind, we'll see how it... Continue Reading →
Our maincrop potatoes were ready to harvest a week or two ago. The haulms had stopped growing, and were starting to lay over and die off. Although maincrop potatoes in the ground wouldn't usually be ready just yet, we think we had hindered ours slightly by growing them in the pots. Although handy for handling... Continue Reading →
We asked a gardener friend of ours that has experience of growing Romanesco cauliflowers to recommend a variety for us to try when we decided we wanted to give them a go this season. At the time, we were advised that Romanesco cauliflowers are an "autum" cauliflower, i.e. they grow best when maturing during the... Continue Reading →
