Keeping Cats Off the Veg Garden

Squashed Lettuce!

I live with two lovely cats who enjoy the garden almost as much as I do and like nothing better than climbing on any structures whether it be the shed, fence, mini greenhouse or my raised beds.

The main problem with cats is trying to find a solution that will stop them from digging in soil or compost. The cats issue is a popular one on vegetable growing forums with at least one thread usually dedicated to the problem.

Over the years I’ve tried a few different methods for keeping cats off the vegetable garden, with mixed results:

• Enviromesh floating cloche – The mesh is draped over the bed and held down with rocks. Results: Our cat laid on the mesh and squashed my lettuce but it stopped the digging.
• Sticks, canes or holly twigs – Laid criss-crossed over the raised bed or pot.
  Results: This does work to some degree just make sure they cannot get a paw into a gap to enable them to dig, because the twigs are quite light and will move easily.
• Orange Peel – Scattered on or around the area you want to protect. Apparently cats don’t like the acidic smell.
  Results: This worked until it rained and washed away the smell. Orange peel doesn’t break down in the soil either and gives an acidic nature to the soil type.
• Planting Coleus canina (or Plectranthus ornatus) otherwise known as Scaredy-Cat Plant – Grown in pots they can be moved about and cats don’t like the smell.
  Results: We didn’t like the smell either! and unfortunately they didn’t work.

Cats Off Solution

Veg Planter Cardboard Cover

I have found the best way to deter my cats and other neighbourhood cats is to have my raised beds covered in a giant enviromesh cloche all year except for beans which need to be open for bees and other pollinators. As the beans are densely packed together, they don’t venture into the plot.

My new ‘eco pot’ idea is to recycle cardboard shredded packaging by putting it over the planters on the deck (so it looks like a cargo net) to prevent cats digging in my newly sown containers, so far it seems to be working.

During today’s heavy rain, the cardboard netting over my potato planter caved in, but I’m thinking thats ok, it can be a mulch with the compost. I might have to use a few twigs for the taller planter instead. The cardboard netting over the Vegetable Planter is working much better due to the compost being level with the top of the planter.

Keeping Rabbits Off the Veg Garden

Wild Rabbit

In simple terms the main problems with wild rabbits are they can jump quite high, dig soil and chew vegetation.

I’m an organic vegetable grower so I don’t believe there’s any need to use of chemicals because ultimately we live alongside wildlife and should respect their habitats.

Here’s a few ways to keep rabbits out of your vegetable garden or container garden:

• Chicken Wire Fence – This is the obvious answer, put up mesh chicken wire fence but making sure to dig down about eight inches into the soil to prevent rabbits digging underneath.
• Wire Plant Cloches – Instead of trapping in the rabbit, protect the plant with the wire netting instead, creating cloches or spheres to surround your favourite plants or vegetables.
  Here’s how to make a wire cloche.
• Plant Rabbit Proof Plants – Here’s a list of shrubs, trees, flowers and vegetables to grow if you want rabbits to find something else to munch on in your garden. The vegetables include anything in the allium (onion) family). Click here for more – RHS Rabbit Resistant Plants.
• Knowing what Veg Rabbits love – Rabbits love to eat vegetation in spring and summer and like nothing better than young shoots like peas, beans and lettuce. If given half a chance they would munch through the whole lot. Also flowers like tulips, dandelions, clover and weeds attract rabbits to the garden. However they do not like lavender and catnip so inter plant the garden with these types of plants.
• Red Cayenne Peppers or Dried Chilli Pepper – Make a weak solution of water and ground chilli pepper or powder and strain through a sieve, then add a little vegetable oil and put into a spray bottle. It may need a little adjusting on how much chilli powder is put in, but sprayed around the area of vegetables will keep the bunnies away, although it does wash away after rainfall.

Other Top Tip Posts:

• 5 Reasons Why you should grow Nasturtiums Near Vegetables
• Top Tips on Growing Beetroot
• How to deal with extreme weather on your vegetable plot
• 8 Reasons to start growing vegetables now!

Share

Olympic Vegetable Varieties – Here are the Contenders:

Courgette – Endurance F1

Courgette Endurance

Sow Courgette: April to May
Start Sowing: In Pots in a mini greenhouse, then plant out into raised beds or patio containers when large enough.
Harvest Courgette: July to October

Courgette Endurance F1 is an athletic little number with an open habit and no spines. Dark green fruits can be harvested all summer, its one to watch that will go all the way to the finish line i.e. your dinner plate. Pick courgettes regularly for a more abundant harvest.

Squash – Sprinter F1

Squash Sprinter

Sow Squash: March to May
Start Sowing: One or two seeds per pot in a mini greenhouse, then plant out into raised beds or patio containers after May or sow direct into beds. Squash need a fairly large bed or can be trained up trellis.
Harvest Squash: September to October

On the starting line is this variety of squash, as it races to maturity to produce large vegetables. Squash Sprinter F1 has a trailing habit but with a little coaching can be trained up trellis and stored for long periods.

Broccoli – Ironman F1

Broccoli Spears

Sow Broccoli: April to May
Start Sowing: In Pots in a mini greenhouse, then plant out into raised beds or patio containers when large enough or sow directly into beds in May.
Harvest Broccoli: June to September

This heavy set vegetable is dome shaped with a close cluster of florets. Ironman Broccoli goes from strength to strength and thrives in stressful conditions and can overcome drought and diseases without too much of a problem.

French Bean – Speedy

French Beans

Sow French Beans: May to August
Start Sowing: In Root-trainers or Pots in a mini greenhouse, then plant out into raised beds or patio containers when large enough.
Harvest French Beans: July to October

This slender beanpole variety holds sprinting close to its heart and crops within 60 days in spring right up until late summer.
French Bean – Speedy is a tender, sweet variety is perfect for the picking, if you can keep up it!

Parsnip – Gladiator

Olympic Vegetables

Sow Parsnips: March to May
Start Sowing: Sow directly into the ground in raised beds or deep pots.
Harvest Parsnips: September to March

This variety is a hybrid between sturdy and vigorous. It was created to have the strength of all the other parsnips put together and crush them with its canker resistance. Parsnip – Gladiator is also an easy peeler once its harvested.

Leek – Sprinton F1

Leek

Sow Leek: March to April
Start Sowing: In Root-trainers or Pots in a mini greenhouse, then plant out into raised beds or patio containers when large enough.
Harvest Leek: October to April

This sleek variety lives up to its name by being tracks ahead when sown in late summer to early autumn.

Leek Sprinton F1 produces long shanks and is extremely hardy in colder areas.

Runner Beans – Prizewinner

Runner Beans

Sow Runner Beans: April to May
Start Sowing: In Root-trainers or Pots in a mini greenhouse, then plant out into raised beds or patio containers after last frost at the end of April.
Harvest Runner Beans: July to October

There would be no competition, if there was no prize and here it is in all its glory, the heritage Runner Bean variety Prizewinner. Its scarlet flowers and award winning fine tasting beans are a hit with british veg growers as apparently its one of the most popular varities in Britain. And the gold medal goes to ….

Which Vegetable is your Winning Variety?

Share

This (harebrained) idea all came about when I was reading the latest edition of Grow it Magazine with its article on Growing Lettuce. I don’t know if photo’s of veg are ‘touched up’ quite in the same way as models on the cover of fashion magazines but these lettuce’s grown in straight rows were very appealing to my inner mind. The cogs were turning as to whether it might just be possible to grow the same effect in my square raised bed and squeeze some colour into my vegetable planter.

Even though my history of lettuce growing consists of slugs, heat bolting and aphids, something in my head (which has gotten me in trouble many a time) is saying to me, yes it is a good idea to try this out.

Sowing Lettuce Seeds

Lettuce Seedlings in Coir Tray

Top Tip from Charles Dowling’s Love Your Lettuces article which I’d like to share is that Oakleaf lettuce’s are more susceptible to slug damage… now it all makes sense! So I’ll be growing the Cos, Lollo and Batavian varieties instead.

I’ve already started the lime green Lettuce Ilenia on the windowsill in coir trays and after 3 to 4 weeks I’ll need to plant them on into my raised beds and vegetable planters.

After 10 – 14 weeks, lettuce leaves should be ready to harvest, just pick off the lettuce leaves closest to the soil as the plant will carry on growing.

So the inevitable question arises now, which other varieties of lettuce should I grow? Here are a few suggestions if you want to try this idea out for yourself.

Red Shades of Lettuce

Dazzle Lettuce

Dazzle

Type: Little Gem / Cos
Shade of Red: Maroon Outer, Yellow Inner leaves

Lollo Rossa

Type: Frilly Lettuce
Shade of Red: Dark red leaf frill tips with dark green inner leaves.

Reddy Green Shades of Lettuce

Freckles Lettuce

Freckles

Type: Cos Lettuce
Shade of Red/Green: Bright green with dark red splodges

Merveille de Quatre Saisons

Type: Open, Hearted Variety
Shade of Red/Green: Bronze crinkled leaves, with bright green inner leaves.

Green Shades of Lettuce

Maritimia Lettuce

Black Seeded Simpson
Type: Hearted variety but can be picked as baby leaf
Shade of Red/Green: Lime green and yellowy colour, crunchy leaves.

Maritima
Type: Batavian
Shade of Red/Green: Close leaf, bright green leaves. Resistant to aphids which is a bonus.

I was also encouraged to find a few vegetable growers who had attempted the rows of red and green lettuces before like BearsGardenSpot and Dunwoody Gardens.

Share

Windowsill seed sowing for me is an essential growing gap filler from christmas to the last frost date at the end of April. Everyone gets that growing itch, especially as we move through March and April with the spring bulbs in colour and the first bees start buzzing around. Also with the sale of seed potatoes and onions, I know I look around for other vegetable seeds to start sowing.

iGrowVeg Seeds and Booklet

I wanted to start some veg seeds off in the comfort of my own home because even though I try and convince myself I’m not a fair weather gardener, I still won’t make it outdoors for long periods of time until April. So that leaves me twiddling my ‘green’ thumbs until then.

Until I decided to create my own Windowsill Vegetable Grow Kit, a little adventurous, you may think, but I couldn’t find anything I liked that was easy to use and I wanted a kit that had everything in one bag to start sowing veg seeds indoors. An thus my kit and online shop was born.

Lettuce in Windowsill Kit

My Windowsill Vegetable Grow Kit was developed to be kind to the environment by using recycled, compostable and biodegradable items so that there would be minimal waste. I have also created the kit for those who are on a budget because I don’t believe you have to spend lots of money to be able to grow your own vegetables.

It has a second sowing system, which gives you two ways of continuing your windowsill sowings at no extra cost. Once your first pot seedlings are ready to plant outside in containers or raised beds, use the seed tray to continue your lettuce or herbs on the windowsill, harvesting the lettuce by cutting with scissors as it grows.

Booklet tips for sowing Peppers

The Windowsill Veg Grow Kit contains:

• Coir pots,
• Coir tray,
• Compost coins,
• Compost block,
• 5 Mini Envelopes of Veg Seed including Tomato – Tiny Tim, Pepper – Californian Wonder, Radish – Pink Beauty, Spring Onion – Redmate, Lettuce – Ilevia,
• Plant labels,
• My step by step instruction booklet on how to get started sowing your seeds and advice on how to care for your seedlings,
• There’s also a seed sowing diary in the back to record your sowings and
• A handy seed pocket to store your seeds safely until you want to sow them.

Click here for more details or to buy the iGrowVeg Windowsill Veg Grow Kit

Browse the iGrowVeg Shop

Share

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

Share

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

Share

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

Share

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

Share

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.

Share

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

Share