Sow What?

Last time, I started my discussion on how to plan your garden so that it is most productive all year round by giving advice on companion planting.  Companion planting, or the practice of growing vegetables with herbs and flowers, is useful for deterring pests and keeping the soil in balance as different crops need different nutrients as they grow.  However, whilst some crops return nutrients to the soil that can be used by others, if members of the same crop family are grown together in the same place year after year, nutrients can be depleted and pests will be encouraged to return.  Most farmers and many seasoned gardeners follow the practice of crop rotation to improve yield, moving crop families around the plot each year in a particular order.

Even in a small garden, crops can be rotated to take advantage of the many benefits.  In fact, I recently designed a system of rotated raised beds for a family to grow food on their garden patio.  The children really enjoyed growing the tomatoes and courgettes in particular.  Hopefully, the following advice will encourage you to try it for yourself – no excuse!

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Don't let this happen to your tomatoes this year!

Tomato plants are easy to grow but they can succumb to a number of pests and disease.  Before delving into common problems, there are a few general steps we can all follow to take care of our plants as healthy plants are always more resilient. Read the rest of this entry →

Having given tips on sowing and transplanting tomatoes, it is time to think about what to grow with your tomatoes so that you can start planning.  I love to grow lots of flowers around my tomato plants as they look pretty, cover the soil and deter pests as well as attracting pollinating insects.

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Chicory - Good for us all

Ummm me want chicory

Did you know that chicory is not just a very tasty to us humans.  We may go a little crazy and use it as an alternative to lettuce and something to add a bit of spice to a salad, but recent studies have shown that sheep benefit from grazing on chicory when it is sown within grass and used as a grazing crop.  Farmers Weekly recently published an article in which chicory was praised as it has proven to be a far more resiliant crop than grass alone.  Read the rest of this entry →