What could be better than a vegetable that‘s easy to grow, isn‘t troubled by frosts and needs little attention until you come to dig it up in the winter when there are few other fresh vegetables to be had? Leeks tick all these boxes and now is a good time to get started. There are […]
Home-grown garlic is far superior to shop bought; it is more succulent and flavoursome and with a range of varieties to choose from you can experience the subtle differences in flavour. It isn‘t a difficult crop to grow but it is in the ground a long time so ideally find a sunny corner or edge […]
Quick and easy to grow, cougettes have a reputation for producing prolific pickings. Follow our back to basics guide for your best ever results. While their pumped-up cousin the marrow is a familiar staple, courgettes are a relative newcomer to the UK veg scene. Perhaps it’s thanks to all those Mediterranean holidays and the fact […]
The humble carrot is such an important staple crop for many of us and with a little care and by selecting the right varieties it is possible to have fresh roots from the garden for much of the year. Carrots can be the easiest or the hardest of crops to grow; if conditions are right […]
Spring is just the time when veg is in short supply and expensive in the shops so plan ahead and sow some cabbage now for an early harvest next year. If you think your plot looks bare in spring with not a lot to harvest then try growing spring cabbages and spring greens so that […]
Packed with goodness and with their own delicate flavour, which has made them a favourite with gourmet chefs, broccoli and its close cousin, calabrese deserve to be on the menu on your plot, too. Follow our easy guide to growing these nutritious crops. Recent research proves what gardeners and mums with families to feed have […]
There are two types, climbing or dwarf, and they can either form round pods or flat and sometimes coloured, too. They are easy to grow and just one plant will produce many beans over a number of weeks Propagation French beans are not hardy so make early sowings indoors in pots or cell trays. Use […]
Colourful beetroot has made a comeback! No longer seen simply as a root veg only good for pickling, it is now eaten raw – roots, stems and leaves – as well as in many traditional recipes such as borscht and as an ingredient in wines and cakes. Of course it is delicious when served hot […]
Thanks to the fantastic Kitchen Garden magazine, Hartley Botanic brings you the best advice for both novice and experienced gardeners on how to grow the most popular vegetables in your gardens or greenhouses. Choose from 17 delicious crops from beetroot to tomatoes. With detailed instructions and discussions on different varieties of each vegetable, this series […]
I have a beautiful shrub in my front garden which is admired by all who see it in flower. So much so, that when it’s in full swing in May, I put a large name label on it so that people can read what it is, which at least stops some of them from knocking […]
A belated happy 2010 to all visitors to this site. I’ve been off air for a couple of months, taking care of family life, and, in this last week, before the Siberian winds set in, preparing the soil on the allotment for the warmer weather to come. A strange thing always happens to me at […]
Angels trumpets, or Angel Strumpets as someone punned, are spectacular, and easy. Once known as Datura now some are reclassified as Brugmansia which is not appealing and rebelliously many still prefer Datura. The most commonly grown form, D. suavolens, has huge lily like white trumpets with the fantastic scent most marked in the evening. There […]
