I’ll hold my hands up and admit now I have fallen off the vegetable cart (so to speak) already, in fact I did at the end of December, (time off over xmas = more time too think about growing). I have started growing lettuce seed on my windowsill and I’m testing out a growing kit at the same time so in my mind its ‘research’.

This is the earliest ever I’ve started sowing on the windowsill and my hopes are up from my last two experiments a few years ago:

Week 1 Radish

• Grow Your Own Veg Windowsill Challenge
• 5 Reasons To Grow Vegetables on a Windowsill
• Indoor sowings in February.

I’m sowing cut and come again green mixed lettuce leaves in a coir tray and growing them with the idea of cutting the leaves for sandwiches or garnishes. This week, I’ve also been reading about Veg Plotting’s 52 Week Salad Challenge which is really good timing and a great idea to get everyone in the mood for growing plus the added health benefits of homegrown salads. If you are on Twitter, search for the #saladchat hashtag for more windowsill growers and ideas.

It worth taking note of the few issues below that you may encounter when growing on a windowsill.

Problems of Sowing Seeds on a Windowsill too early

1. Not being able to plant outside until chance of frost has past

If you are windowsill growing to get ahead on your tomato, pepper, cucumber or any other tender vegetable, you may have a planting out timing issue. Its worth bearing in mind that the chance of frost doesn’t pass until mid to end of April in the UK, if you are sowing early in January and wanting to plant outside in Late February to March, there’s still a risk of frost which can kill tender vegetables.

Solution: If planting outside during frosty seasons, protect seedlings in a mini greenhouse, insulated cold-frame or under fleece close to house walls for shelter and insulation.

2. Temperatures on your windowsill will drop during icy cold nights.

Seed has a certain optimum temperature that it needs to reach before it will start germinating on your windowsill. Therefore for example Lettuce has an optimum growing temperature of between 5 and 27 degrees centigrade and its minimum germination temperature is 2 degrees C, so if the temperature falls on your windowsill on a cold frosty night to minus 2 then your seed germination will stop.

Solution: Check the optimum vegetable seed germination temperatures before sowing and move seed trays away from draughty windows during cold night temperatures.

Week 2 Lettuce Pod

3. Leggy Seedlings from too much radiator heat or central heating.

Another problem of growing indoors, especially if the windowsill is above a radiator or if your central heating is on daily, is leggy seedings. Seedlings will put on a spurt of growth from the sudden heat as it mimics spring temperatures and tricks the seedlings into thinking they have to grow faster. However if your seedlings decide to do this in January they will out grow their seed tray.

If they have become too leggy they will be long and falling over, if you catch them in time, they can be potted on to a larger pot. This can be done indoors as long as the windowsill is big enough otherwise planting outside would be risky in January due to frost.

Solution: Use a windowsill away from a heat source or in a room without central heating. Remember to check cold night temperatures.

If you’ve still got that growing itch, why not try out a few of these kits, to get you sowing:

• Dobies.co.uk Windowsill Salads Kit – 3 week lettuce on your windowsill
• Greenfingers – Self Watering Herb Windowsill Kit – Easy to grow herbs or salads
• Sproutapouch – Great idea, sow your own salad micro-seeds in a handy bag
• Sow Gourmet – Microgreen detox seed kit by post
• Grove Nurseries – a range of window micro leaves boxes

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Last nights temperatures went down to zero degrees in the south but if you think thats cold, spare a thought for Felicity Aston who is on a 70 day solo trek across Antarctica in temperatures of minus 10 to 30 degrees centigrade. I have been following her tweets and phonecasts on twitter @felicity_aston with great interest as she is from Kent where I grew up. Find out how she is surviving in these arctic conditions and her mapped journey on the Expedition website.

This got me thinking about plants and how they survive in winter, so here are some survival tips on how to keep your vegetable seedlings and bulbs happy throughout the winter.

1. Wrap them up

Plot covered in fleece protection

Remember seedlings that grow over winter are already hardy to some extent. In frosty or snowy conditions, they will need a cloche or fleece tunnel to protect them. But no need to worry, most vegetables make it out alive! 10 Vegetables that can survive the Snow.

Make Your Own Cloche:

• Building a Small Fleece Tunnel
• Building a Geoff Hamilton Giant Cloche

2. Let the winter weather do the watering for you

Frosted Nature

There is more than enough moisture from rainwater, dew, frost, ice and snow to keep the soil wet. In the winter, I sit back and let the weather do my watering for me. I don’t water my broad beans, peas, onions and shallots overwinter because I don’t want them to rot or wither from water-logging.

Whilst you are sitting back and relaxing, why not plan next years vegetable plot with my 7 part series, free plot plans and templates.

• Planning Your Vegetable Plot Part 1
• My Vegetable Plot Plans – From beginners to colourful veg to salads and more.
• Free Resources – extra pdf’s and templates to accompany my Plan Your Veg Garden series
• Veg Variety Gallery – Stuck for what variety to grow? Try a few of my showcase vegetables

3. Check on your seedlings from time to time

Its worth checking on your plants now and again for any pests like slugs (they love wet weather), frost damage, cloche collapse, plants falling over that may need staking etc. Also its good to check how your plants are growing.

Don’t worry if they haven’t grown a lot, they do tend to slow down over the winter and will start growing when the temperatures rise in Spring.

• Slugs and how to get rid of them!

4. After snowfall, check for collapsed cloches

My snowy vegetable plot

Cloches or fleece tunnels tend to collapse with the weight of snow so its best to clear the snow away and any ice thats formed on the netting or fleece as this will block the ventilation and air circulation under the cloche and may prevent light getting to your seedlings.

Try to clear the cloche before ice has formed as its quite difficult to remove without misshaping or damaging the cloche.

• The Affects of Snow, Ice and Cold on your Vegetables

5. Mulch to lock in the moisture

Autumn Leaves

In this weeks Gardeners World christmas special, they spoke about the importance of mulching and how it keeps the moisture in the ground and feeds the soil with homemade compost. Remember to keep the mulch away from the plant stems due to rotting.

• How to Mulch and Mulching Materials
• How to use organic fertiliser on your Veg Plot

6. Unwrap Seedlings in Spring

Broad Beans Flowering

If you are growing Broad Beans or peas or flowering vegetables, Springtime, the month of April is when the last frosts have finished and the weather will begin to warm up. This will kickstart your seedlings into growth.

Remove the cloches and tunnels to allow the bee’s and insects to pollinate your bean and pea flowers, this will provide food for wildlife emerging from hibernation and you’ll get more pods to harvest. Its great to watch the first flowers forming on broad beans after the winter, its one of my favourite times to be in the garden.

• From Flowers to First Beans
• Its a bugs life in the vegetable garden

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This year I’m excited to be planting Garlic. I’m also trying out onion from Seed in February but its also great to plant onion and shallot sets for the year ahead now and there are lots of vegetables to sow undercover for a new year to spring harvest.

Benefits of Growing Vegetables in Autumn and Winter

1. By growing winter vegetables, it proves you can grow vegetables all year round,
2. There’s vegetables to harvest from winter to spring,
3. There’s now a reason to go out and check on your plot,
4. Using the soil to your advantage over winter and not leaving it bare,
5. Very low maintenance and only watering from nature is required. i.e. you can leave most of your veg to fend for themselves,
6. Seeing the flowers appear on Broad beans and peas and bees arriving in Spring,
7. Knowing you will have some harvests before other fair weather veg gardeners so your veg growing season starts early!

So why not give it ago this year? There’s still time to grow the following:-

Shallot Clump

Onion, Shallot and Garlic Collection from Unwins
A set of popular and reliable varieties.

Shallots – Jermore (also known as Banana Shallots)
Long bulbs, the perfect cooking variety.

Elephant Garlic
Not a true garlic, but the cloves are huge. Also used in the latest series of British Food Revival. Here are a few receipes for using it in the kitchen from The Elephant Garlic Company.

Winter Posts to get you Growing:

• The 12 Vegetables of Christmas – Fancy having veg to harvest for christmas?
• The Affects of Snow, Ice and Cold on your Vegetable Garden
• Planning Your Veg Garden Series (7 Parts)
• If you’ve only just got a new vegetable plot, but don’t know where to start try:
  Help! I Want To Grow Veg
• Back To Basics – How to build your plot, shapes, sizes, soil etc
• Growing Broad Beans in 10 Steps
• Beginner Garlic Growing
• Eight Reasons to Grow Your Own Onions
• Growing Onions and Shallots from Sets

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I have been using my iPad in the kitchen as a cookbook to try out some of the delicious recipes on BBC Good Food website. If you haven’t tried the Yummy Scrummy Carrot Cake, I urge you to try it, clue’s in the name! There’s an iPad App you can download from the App store and pay for individual copies of the BBC Good Food Magazine. However great as this sounds, I still have to touch the screen with floury fingers to scroll to the next steps in the recipe which is not so good for the screen.

Which is why you can’t beat a good cookery book

I don’t quite know what it is, but whether you cook or not, Britain’s love cookbooks. It just wouldn’t be the same in WHSmith at Christmas without wall to wall celebrity recipe books. So accompanied with my vegetable harvests in the shed I’m hoping I can whip up something for the winter for me and for the family in their Christmas Food Hampers.

The first book I’ve got my eye on is:

River Cottage Veg Everyday

 River Cottage Veg Every Day! (River Cottage Every Day) £11.99

I love the everyday veg program and the reason I love it is because Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall shows us how simple it is to jazz up, spice up or use your home grown veg in a different combination to turn it into the delight it should be from plot to plate. Somehow he lures us in to thinking vegetable only meals are not just for vegetarians, these hearty veggy meals can be used to save money during the week and save meat for the sunday roast or midweek stew. I can’t help but to salivate, reading the list of recipes.

• Spinach pasties,
• Curried bubble and squeak,
• Warm salad of grilled courgettes, lemon, garlic, mint and mozzarella
• Roast jacket chips with merguez spices and spiced yoghurt.

If that doesn’t tempt you, try the book video. Needless to say this is definitely on my christmas list.

Lorraine Pascale – Home Cooking Made Easy

Home Cooking Made Easy

Home Cooking Made Easy £6.99 The Book People

I downloaded her Baking Made Easy cookbook on the Kindle App for the iPad. I was really taken with her series last year so much so I bought the ebook straight away. Her new series is equally as good and the new book really is as it describes cooking made easy and also there are some lovely hamper food gifts which you can make quite easily with no fancy ingredients. The Bacon & Mature Chedder Cheese twisties and Pumpkin and Rosemary Muffins got my vote.

The Great British Food Revival Continues

Great British Food Revival : The Revolution Continues: 16 celebrated chefs create mouth-watering recipes with the UK’s finest ingredients £11.49

This is the book is not released in the UK until 10th November and is for the new series. I have enjoyed this TV series more as it has already showcased the best in British peas, garlic and pears with a promise of more vegetables to come and celebrity chefs plugging local produce. What could be better than that?

The Preserving Book by Lynda Brown

Preserving Book

The Preserving Book £5.99 from The BookPeople

Calling all you fruit and vegetable growers! good start, that got my attention. Last year for the family Christmas hampers I made marmalade but slightly cheated by buying the orange seville in a tin from Lakeland so all I had to do was add sugar, heat and put in jars.

So this year I’d like to make Strawberry Jam from real strawberries as opposed to canned ones and chutney, so I’ll definitely need a book, there’s no question there.

I spotted The Preserving Book which seems to have instructions for how to do it all – preserves to jams to chutney to pickles with information on what equipment to use and 200 photo recipes and the reviews are good too.

And you’ll probably want to store those favourite recipes you found, the best way so far I’ve found is this:-

Moleskine Recipe Journal

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Explaining Garlic Types

Softneck

Softneck are the common type of Garlic found in supermarkets and easier to grow. Softnecks have layers of papery skin surrounding the cloves which is why they last longer when storing. Softnecks can be braided when storing. There are also two types of Softneck variety, they are called:

1. Silverskin – Most common, cloves good for storing,
2. Artichoke – Milder flavour and larger cloves.

Hardneck

Hardnecks are usually grown for their colourful cloves and flavoursome cooking varieties. They have a very thin layer that holds a smaller number of cloves together and therefore cannot be stored for long. Hardnecks have a ‘scape’ which is like a stem that curls at the top. There are also three types of Hardneck variety, they are called:

1. Rocambole – very thin skin and few cloves
2. Porcelain – shiny white porcelain skin wrap
3. Purple Stripe – has bright purple stripy markings on cloves.

Garlic Names

Garlic varieties are named after the location they are grown in, which gives clues as to the climate they are use to.

In Britain, Seed supplier companies often have varieties from France and Italy mainly but also from Europe because the climate is similar to the UK.

Choosing a Variety from how you want to use it

It worth thinking what you will be using the garlic for, how mild or intensive you want the garlic flavour, whether you want to store it for a long period or not, are you using it for cooking etc. Think about what is most important and choose a variety based on that criteria. I have listed a few of the main UK suppliers and garlic variety characteristics. So see if any of the following Garlic varieties catch your eye and find out what I chose at the end of this post.

Dobies.co.uk Garlic Varieties

• Softneck: Solent White (from Isle of Wight, good crop with large tasty cloves)
• Softneck: Arno (from France, sweet medium flavoured with RHS Garden Merit Award)
• Hardneck: Vayo (from France, lovely purple striped bulbs and great mild flavour
• Hardneck: Sprint (from France, fast growing, large white bulbs with purple sprays.

Suttons.co.uk Garlic Varieties

• Semi-Softneck: Purple Wight (from Isle of Wight, purple striped and good storer)
• Sultop Garlic Hardneck, pretty red skinned and easy to peel variety

Unwins Garlic Variety

• Hardneck: Lautrec Wight (from Isle of Wight, deep pink cloves, great flavour for cooking)
• Not a true garlic: Elephant Garlic (Used in cooking it is mild and sweet when roasted)

Mr Fothergills Garlic Varieties

• Softneck: Avignon Wight (from Isle of Wight, big bulbs, strong flavour, vigorous grower)
• Hardneck: Chesnock Wight (originally Ukraine, now from Isle of Wight, robust bulb)
• Softneck: Tuscany Wight (From Italy, grown in Isle of White, white bulbs, popular flavour)

DT Browns Seeds Garlic Variety

• Hardneck: Edenrose (from France, lovely rosy pink cloves and white thin skin, mild flavour)

Garden4Less Garlic Varieties

• Softneck: Marco (Strong flavour and long storer)
• Softneck: Cristo (From France, pink cloves, white skin and strong flavour)
• Softneck: Germidour (From France, large mild bulbs)

Simply Seeds Garlic Variety

• Softneck: Picardy Wight (From Isle of Wight, smoky pink cloves, strong flavour)

The Really Garlicky Company Garlic Variety

• Hardneck: Music (Grown in Scotland, intense sweet garlic flavour and easy to peel cloves)

The Garlic Farm Garlic Variety

• Hardneck: Morado (From Spain, white with purple flat cloves)

Please note: The supplier website links above may link to empty pages when the garlic bulbs are no longer in stock.

For a range of Garlic Varieties from USA, try these suppliers:

• Territorial Seed
• Burpee Gardening

My Choice of Garlic

Vayo - Garlic from Dobies

Phew, after all that, I wanted to grow Music from The Really Garlicky Company but wasn’t sure whether the climate in the southern UK was going to be too warm for this variety (as its grown in Scotland).

Instead I’ve decided to choose the lovely purple stripy garlic bulbs of Vayo by Dobies. As they are a hardneck variety, they will be good to cook with and have a mild flavour.

I’ll be planting my garlic bulbs shortly, but for those who want to plant now, here’s a video on Growing Garlic: Vegetable Seeds to Sow and Plant in November.

For other Vegetables To Sow, try my Winter Veg Guides.

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Why I’ve Never grown Cauliflower so far

When I was studying the Certificate in Gardening by City and Guilds at evening classes a few years back, the lecturer told me cauliflower’s were one of the most difficult vegetables to grow because of the amount of consistent watering they need to form the curds (the group of florets).

If you’ve been following my posts for a while, you’ll know that I’m not great with watering and just tend to leave it up to mother nature most of the time so this is the main reason why I haven’t grown cauliflowers as it would be a waste of time.

However I learn’t this week that you can sow cauliflowers now in October under a cloche and they will be ready to harvest in June. After thinking though this option, it would be perfect for me as watering wouldn’t be an issue with the british winter weather (after we get past this warm snap) and pests like caterpillars (from cabbage white butterflies) tend to disappear after about November so they’d be happy to grow overwinter to the new year.

Cauliflower’s also need rich soil, so I’m going to sow them in the raised bed where the french beans have just finished their crops as bean roots fix nitrogen in the soil for the next crop.

Cauli’s definitely don’t like….

• Frost – it turns the curds brown which then rot,
• Wind – it upsets their balance as they are sensitive plants,
• Loose Soil – remember to firm them in by pushing the soil down around the stem,
• Limited Space to Grow – they need space for their heads to grow (except Snowball with its baby heads), they can also be grown in 12 inch deep containers.

Cauliflower Varieties to Grow in October

There are a few varieties that can be grown all year round, here are a few options and the one I’ve chosen to grow called Snowball:

Snowball

Snowball Cauliflower

This is a heritage variety and very popular due to its compact heads and it can be grown in small plots or gardens under a cloche or in a coldframe.

It is classed as an all year round cauliflower and grows vigorously. The heads can be harvested once they reach 6 inches in diameter.

Snowball is a reliable variety and can be frozen or canned for storing.

Buy Seed From:

• Dobies (UK)
• MoreVeg (UK)
• Burpee Gardening (USA)
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (USA).

All Year Round

Cauliflower

A larger headed variety which will be ready to harvest in July. It is reliable to grow at any time of the year and can be used successionally to provide as its name suggests cauliflower all year round.

Buy Seed From:

• Unwins (UK)
• Dobies (UK)
• MoreVeg (UK)
• Victory Seeds (USA)
• Reimer Seeds (USA).

Avalanche

Avalanche Cauliflower

Another solid miniature headed variety to harvest in June. This cauliflower stands well over winter and is a vigorous grower. If spaced well in beds, larger heads will grow.

Check out the results of My Tiny Plot on her Avalanche Cauliflowers.

Buy Seed From:

• Greenfingers (UK)

Other Winter Vegetables to Sow or Plant alongside Cauliflowers:

• Garlic
• Onions
• Broad Beans
• Peas
• Winter Spinach
• Winter Lettuce
• Pak Choi
• Stuck on What to Grow for Winter? Try a Vegetable Seed Collection

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And its even better if you own a greenhouse, polytunnel, coldframe or one of those plastic mini greenhouses that you spend more time trying to keep down with paving slabs than growing anything (yes, I’ve been there, lost trays of seedlings when the wind caught it and got the T-Shirt!).

This is the time of year until March where undercover growing rules! You can grow a continuous supply of salads in pots, growbags or seed trays, start off seedlings in pots and plant out in the new year and even have a place to shelter frost prone plants like christmas potatoes in pots. These undercover environments (even unheated) are perfect protection for overwintering vegetables, its amazing how much you can grow at this time of the year.

Vegetables To Grow Undercover September to March

For Harvesting before Christmas:

• Oriental Vegetables like Pak Choi, Spicy Leaves, Mizuna,
• Winter Lettuce and Spinach,
• Kale (for baby leaves)
• Chard
• Endive
• Mustard Greens
• Baby Turnips

For Slow-Growing Vegetables to Harvest in the New Year, try:

• Winter Spring Onions,
• Onions (from Seed and Sets)
• Garlic in Pots
• Winter Radish
• Carrots
• Broad Beans (Plant out in Nov or March)
• Peas (in Pea guttering as they don’t like being too disturbed when transplanted)
• Sugar Snap Peas (Sow now or in February)
• Tomatoes (Sow in December for early crop, keep seedlings frost free)
• Sweet Peppers (Sow in December)
• Leeks – Start sowing in March

For more advice on what to grow try my Winter Vegetable Guides and Veg Seeds To Sow Now. Find out what other people are growing this Autumn in my Autumn Veg Competition.

Horticultural Fleece

Greenhouse Frost Protection

Vegetables in an unheated greenhouse can be sown up until mid to the end of October (depending on where you are in the UK) but after that there will be a risk of frost. Frost can occur even in a unheated greenhouse as cold air can seep into windows, cracks and even come up through the paving slabs.
There’s a few things you can do to protect your seedlings in a greenhouse, they are:

• Tape up any ventilation windows to stop the cold air getting in,
• Check for broken, chipped glass or plastic panels and gaps down the sides of the frames
• If you haven’t got a thermometer, they are useful to see the temperature inside the greenhouse so you can monitor frost risk,
• Raise your plants up off the floor on benches or staging so the frost cannot penetrate through the base of the greenhouse,
• Use insulated planters to raise vegetables off the ground and add frost fleece protection to drape over the plants,
• There are cheap methods of insulating greenhouse, try Bubble Insulation, sold in rolls or by the metre and clips or tape to hold it in place.
• Invest in a fleece insulating cover for your mini greenhouse, you can pick them up fairly cheap from poundstretchers or Selections here for £7.99 for a 4-Tier cover.

For more information on what frost and the cold can do to your vegetable plants, please read:

• To Cloche or Not To Cloche, that is the Question
• The Affects of Cold, Ice and Snow on Your Veg Garden
• Vegetables that can survive the Snow

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Harvesting My Potatoes

I harvest my maincrop potatoes, when the plant dies, goes brown and then disintegrates.
When digging up potatoes it’s ideal to have at least two pots, buckets or containers so you can separate the good potatoes from the bad. I use a trug bucket for the good ones and a sieve for the bad ones to go in.

I use gloves and my hands to dig through the soil to find the potatoes, I find it easier this way. Any of the following types of potato diseases or markings will go in the bad pile, which then can be sorted again to remove the in-edible ones for storage.

Potato Diseases and How to Spot Them

Common Scab

Severe Potato Scab

Common Scab’s latin name Streptomyces scabies, sounds worse than this potato disease actually is. Common scab appears as corky legions (dips or pits) or raised scabs, brown or light brown in colour. In mild cases, the scab may only be sparse on the potato but in severe cases (see my photo) the scab can cover the whole of the potato surface.

Common Scab is a cosmetic disease and unsightly to look at however it can be simply peeled off to use the potato in the kitchen. Common Scab potatoes can also be stored but should be monitored in case of rot.

How To Stop Common Scab
Scab occurs if the soil remains dry in June and July when the tubers are in the height of their growing period. Things that can help are:

• Mulch the potatoes with leaf mould or grass clipping to keep the moisture in the soil,
• Use tubers from a certified source so they are scab-free,
• Regularly water the potatoes in June and July for successful formation of spuds,
• Choose resistant varieties like Arran Pilot, Golden Wonder and Pentland Javelin.

Storing and Cooking Potatoes with Scab
Can they be kept? Yes, do not remove the dirt as it helps to protect the skin.
Can they be stored? Yes, but they need to be fully dried out first on a drying rack in the sun or in a cardboard box in a cool airey shed. Once dried they can be stored in paper or hessian bags and keep checking on them for rot.
How To Prepare for Cooking:
Peel the skin first to remove the scab before cooking or boil and the skins will fall off so you can discard them.

Powdery Scab

Powdery Scab

Powdery Scab (Spongospora subterranea) appears on the skin as a mass of irregular craters which have powdery spores in them and the whole area under the skin is brown or black. Severe Powdery scab can lead to distorted tubers or canker outgrowths on the sides of the tubers (which doesn’t look pretty).

How To Stop Powdery Scab
Powdery Scab occurs under cool and wet conditions and is spread by spores in the soil or tuber. Here are some ways to help stop it:

• Don’t overwater the soil or if you have heavy soil, add grit or drainage materials,
• Use tubers from a certified source so they are scab-free,
• Use potato varieties with some resistance to the disease like Desiree, Hermes and Sante.

Green or Black Patches

Green Potatoes

Green or black patches on the skin show that the potato tuber has been exposed to too much sunlight and a build up of the natural chemical ‘Solanine’ occurs.

The green part of the potato is toxic and if eaten in large quantities and will make you ill. I tend to discard all these potatoes (just in case) but you can cut out the green part and remove the skin before cooking.

If the build up of Solanine reaches high levels, the potato will have a bitter taste when cooked, in this case don’t eat it.

How To Stop ‘Greening’ Potatoes
To stop the ‘greening’ occurring, make sure the potatoes are covered with soil throughout their growing period. Also avoid the soil drying out, as the wind may expose any potatoes close to the soil surface. This is why earthing up is important.

Can they be kept? No, once a potato turns green it is irreversible. The green patches are toxic and can cause mild upset stomach. The potato can be cooked immediately with the green section cut out and the skin must be peeled. If there is a bitter taste when cooked, don’t eat it.
Can they be stored? No, as the Solanine chemical spreads whilst being stored. High Levels of this chemical render the potato not fit for eating.

Drying and Storing Potatoes

Once potatoes have been harvested, they will need to be dried before storing in bags. This will give them time to ‘harden’ up and lose any moisture which was sitting on their skins from the soil.

Ways to Dry Potatoes

Potatoes drying in a box

1. The easiest way to dry potatoes is to leave them out in the sunlight to dry on a rack (I tend to use a couple of cake cooling racks), then leave them out during the day, store them in the shed at night with a piece of newspaper over them and bring them out again the next day.
2. You can also lay them out on a sheet of newspaper and cover with another sheet and place in a cool, dark shed,
3. If you haven’t got any sunlight or racks, the other option is storing them in a large cardboard box with newspaper over the top (to stop them turning green) in a cool airey shed for a couple of days.

Storing Potatoes

After your potatoes have been dried for a few days they can be stored, if stored correctly they will last throughout the winter and if you’ve got any left they can be re-used as seed potatoes in March or April for the next crop.

Potato Storing Tips

• Potatoes can be stored in Paper bags – Supplier: Organic Gardening Potato Sacks
• They can also be stored in hessian sacks – Supplier: Dobies Hessian Potato Sacks
• Also in Potato Jute Sacks – Supplier: Selections Jute Potato Sacks
• Or in Potato Baskets – Supplier: Selections Potato Hopper and Selections Potato Pail
• Wherever they are stored, don’t expose them to light or temperatures above 10 degrees centigrade or they will sprout and won’t store properly. The ideal location is in a cool airey dark shed or basement that is frost free.
• Don’t leave the potatoes in a place where they can freeze or they will taste funny,
• Check your potatoes every few weeks for stinky rotting potatoes, which need to be removed immediately.

More Potato Posts:

• How To Fix Your Potato Chitting Problems
• All About Potato and Tomato Blight Disease
• Grow Your Own Jacket Potatoes
• Quick Links to my other Potato Posts

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I’m glad I’ve sowed it this year as I’m loving the deep red colour on the leaves even from seedlings. It reminds me the first time I saw the striking red leaf veins of beetroot leaves, the colour was awesome. With a plot of new green seedlings growing steadily, it is nice to see something stand out from the crowd like this Red Pak Choi.

Sowing Details

Sow: March to October (under a cloche from Sept to Oct),
Harvest: May to December

Where: Pak Choi can be sown in the following places:

• Direct into the soil in raised reds or Allotment beds,
• Directly into medium (40cm diameter) to large Pots or Patio Planters
• Sow into Window Boxes/Troughs,
• Direct in Greenhouse beds or in large pots or planters in a mini greenhouse.

Pak Choi Ruby Seedling

Pak Choi Seed – UK Suppliers:

• Suttons – Pak Choi Ruby F1
• MoreVeg.co.uk – Oriental Pak Choi Rubi F1

Pak Choi Seed – USA Seed Suppliers:

• Johnny’s Seeds – Red Choi (F1)
• Territorial Seed Company – Violetta Pac Choi

If you are growing Pak Choi outdoors, its also worth looking at cloche’s or frost protection for when the weather turns colder in October onwards. To save money on cloches, you can either make your own custom sized cloche or there are a few Online Sales for those who want to grab a bargain on Tunnel Cloches or Dome Cloches.

Questions and Answers on Growing Pak Choi

1. Should the plant be flowering?

Yes and No. Pak Choi does tend to ‘bolt’ which means send up a stem out the centre of the plant and flower. The weather and when it was sowed (i.e. in June) usually contribute to the plant flowering. Try sowing in late Summer like August as the temperature will cool down from then on. Pak Choi only flowers when it comes to the end of its life and after the flowers will come the seeds. There are varieties like Green Revolution F1 which have bolt resistance.

2. Whats eating my Pak Choi leaves?

Unfortunately Pak Choi leaves are a favourite food of the following pests, click on the links to find out how to treat them:-

• Aphids / Greenfly
• Caterpillars
• Slugs and Snails
• Whitefly

If you have been growing any other brassicas and encountered these pests, don’t sow Pak Choi in the same place straight away, just in case they haven’t dispersed from the soil and other plants.

3. How do I get a second crop of Pak Choi from the same plant?

After 6 to 8 weeks, your Pak Choi should have headed up. Cut the stem 2-3 cm above the base of the plant and it will re-sprout leaves which can be picked in a few weeks time or harvest the whole plant.

4. Can I Grow Pak Choi in Pots?

Yes, it has very shallow roots so will grow well in pots. It also grows well in dry conditions, water occasionally but don’t drown the plant.

Other Pak Choi Posts you may be interested in:

• How To Grow Pak Choi with tips on Thinning Seedlings and other Winter Veg to sow
• Try Growing Oriental Vegetables this year
• Last Year’s Pak Choi Harvest
• 6 Reasons To Start Growing Winter Vegetables Today
• Winter Grow Guides

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Beans are our favourite vegetable and are eaten every week. In the past, we would buy a pack of fine cut green beans from the supermarket but this year I hoped I would be able to get the sowing timings right and have beans ready to harvest a bit at a time throughout the summer months into autumn. I think I’ve pretty much done it as long as I get a good crop of runner beans to freeze, I could be eating beans until next year.

Bean Sowing Timings – My Method

• Mid-April – Sow French Beans in Pots
• End-April – Sow French Beans direct into Vegetable Plot (F1)
• Early May – Sow Runner Beans in Cells and Pots (R1)
• Early May – Sow 2nd lot of French Beans direct into Vegetable Plot (F2)
• Mid-June – Sow more Runner Beans in pots (R2)
• Mid-June – French Beans in pots are flowering
• Late June – Sow 3rd lot of French Beans direct into Vegetable Plot (F3)
• Mid-July – Harvesting French Beans from Pots
• Late-July – Harvesting French Beans from Vegetable Plot (F1)
• Mid-August – Harvesting 2nd lot of French Beans from Vegetable Plot (F2)
• Mid August – Runner Beans Flowering
• To be continued….

Please see the Bean Timeline below to help you sow and harvest different types of beans (broad beans, french beans and runner beans) throughout the year in the UK.

Bean Timeline

Grow Your Own Veg Savings

In terms of money so far we have been harvesting beans for 4 weeks so we have saved £1.27 per pack of green beans times 4 equals £5.08, then we have also been harvesting baby carrots for the past two weeks saving £2.

Spring Onions harvested and stored (I usually buy a bunch from Asda every week) now saving 87 pence a bunch – 4 x 0.87 = £3.48 savings. Shallots harvested and stored will keep us from buying onions until next year. It all adds up to £10.56 in just a few weeks.

For Calculations and Allotment Savings:

• Dobby’s Pumpkin Patch
• Real Men Sow

Other Vegetable Growers Experimenting with Beans:

• Real Men Sow – Ignoring Seed Packets – Follow on Twitter @RealMenSow
• Mals Allotment – Its Bean a long Time and follow up There are no wrong answers
• Vegetable Mad Science Experiments – Part 1 Beans
• Bean Diary – Bean Germination Experiments
• British Beans and Pea Academy – get the most out of your beans
• Grow Beans in a CD Case – Great for Children
• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Bean Recipes

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