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What to Grow in a Greenhouse Over Winter in the UK – September to November

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If you think your greenhouse is finished for the winter once the tomatoes are pulled out, then think again! The Greenhouse usually becomes a forgotten place where the spiders live in autumn and winter. In August, all the warm loving plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers have been cleared away and you might thinks theres nothing worth growing now? But that’s where you are wrong! The Autumn and Winter months are where the greenhouse can help really you out. It gives extra protection for a long as possible to plants from frost, snow, the harsh winds and rain. The greenhouse also gives protection (as long as the door is shut) from cabbage white butterflies and other annoying pests too, especially if you have a friendly spider or two. Picture This… Cauldron of Baby leaves in the greenhouse In your greenhouse, picture a lush lawn of greens in troughs and containers, think lettuce without slug slime, think green leaves like rocket and mustard leaves not fl...
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September is Autumn – A Season of Change

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Out with the Old & in with the New Season Tomato and Sweet Pepper Harvest in Late August September is time for a season change, we are now coming into Autumn, which is one of my favourite seasons. In the vegetable garden, it’s a time for change, I’m harvesting all the tomatoes, sweet peppers and mini cucumbers in the greenhouse. Clearing out the courgette & summer squash plants, ready for the sowing of new seeds, planting out seedlings and preparing the beds for the onions, shallots or garlic. Soil Preparation for a new planting season I’m all for the no dig method of leaving the compost on top of the soil and not digging in. However, this year due to the extreme heatwave in the UK, I’m finding that it has dried out the soil and compacted it due to there being no rain for 2 months and I fear that if I don’t dig it, nothing will grow, due to the soil being like concrete below the first 6 inches into the soil and my new Leek seedlings won’t like that. Ove...
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September is Autumn – A Season of Change

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Out with the Old & in with the New Season Tomato and Sweet Pepper Harvest in Late August September is time for a season change, we are now coming into Autumn, which is one of my favourite seasons. In the vegetable garden, it’s a time for change, I’m harvesting all the tomatoes, sweet peppers and mini cucumbers in the greenhouse. Clearing out the courgette & summer squash plants, ready for the sowing of new seeds, planting out seedlings and preparing the beds for the onions, shallots or garlic. Soil Preparation for a new planting season I’m all for the no dig method of leaving the compost on top of the soil and not digging in. However, this year due to the extreme heatwave in the UK, I’m finding that it has dried out the soil and compacted it due to there being no rain for 2 months and I fear that if I don’t dig it, nothing will grow, due to the soil being like concrete below the first 6 inches into the soil and my new Leek seedlings won’t like that. Ove...
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Buying Vegetable Plug Plants: What I Bought for my Winter Vegetable Garden

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The tomatoes are finally turning red, the courgettes are turning into marrows, the beds are looking tired (they are not the only ones in this heat!). Are you wondering is this it, for the year? It’s not time to give up, just yet, as there’s Winter vegetables waiting to be grown. Kale Plug Plants have arrived! “They are here!” I cried, “my plants are here”. My husband and daughter look at me as it to say yes her plants have arrived but so what?! To me, a box of living, breathing plants, is an exciting thing, it’s a box of goodness to unwrap in August (an early Christmas present if you will). I know this box of tiny little plug plants, will soon be a harvest of nutritious greens, piled up on my families plates, next to the rest of the roast dinner, in winter season, staving off those nasty bacteria illness bugs. It might not mean something to my husband and daughter, but this certainly means something to me, I am a vegetable growing addict who learned how to grow veg...
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What to Sow in August: The Great Raised Bed Staring Competition

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You wander into the garden, after the recent heatwaves, and it is all looking a bit ‘crispy’. One raised bed has a few tomato plants clinging on for dear life, with curled leaves and green tomatoes and the other raised bed has 2 chard seedlings, a rogue sunflower and a tired lettuce plant that has bolted, you are too exhausted to even pull it out, saying you are leaving it for the wildlife and the thought of free seeds for next year. You walk past the third raised bed, rather sheepishly as you are dreading looking under the courgette plant for the 8th courgette, that’s auditioning to become a marrow. The 8th Courgette – Please stop now, no more! You stop and stare and your empty raised beds stare back, they have been bare ground, encouraging a ‘weed’ gathering for 3 weeks, now since the onions and garlic were harvested. And the question is, is it really worth sowing anything now? Will it all wither in the next heatwave which wasn’t forecasted but has now appea...
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Think Like a Grower: What Your Plant Leaves are Trying to Tell You

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Plants can’t speak but they do have the capacity to reveal clues about distress and discomfort they are feeling through their leaves. Plants are trying to tell you something through the dots, marks, colour and texture of their leaves. Plants are hoping you pick up on some tell-tale signs so you might be able to fix their woes. Learning to read a plants cry for help is one of the skills that turns a beginner into a confident grower. Think like a Grower and look beyond the problem itself and ask yourself why is the plant behaving in this way? Is it stressed, too wet, too dry or is something attacking it? Plants are talking all the time through their leaves, you just need to know what they are trying to say. Why Leaves Tell a Story Plants cannot tell us the problems they are facing or if theres something bothering them by picking up a phone or sending a message saying “I’m thirsty.” However they do communicate to us through changes in their leaves and growing ...
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