Kitchen Garden - March 2016
YOU & YOUR PLOT
6 ON THE VEG PATCH
Plant onion sets and early potatoes, tend to
strawberries, check rhubarb, graft apple trees
10 IN THE GREENHOUSE
Sow lettuce, tend to broad beans, earth up
potatoes, pick peas and deal with pests
12 HOT TOPICS
The latest news from the world of
kitchen gardening
14 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS
Enter our fun Spot The Difference competition
18 QUESTION TIME
Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank answer
your fruit and veg growing conundrums
47 MEET THE PLOTTERS
We visit the plots of more entrants in our
Passionate Plotter Competition 2015
100 NEXT MONTH
Some highlights to be found in your April issue
plus details of great free gifts
110 THE THREE MUDKETEERS
Tips and gardening gossip from the KG team
114 LAST WORD
This month with KG reader Angela Magee
GET GROWING
20 CREATE AN ASPARAGUS BED
Organic gardening guru Charles Dowding offers
his top tips for growing this perennial delight
25 MAKE A GARDEN TRUG
Martin Fish brings you a simple project that
can turn an unwanted pallet into a delightful
and useful gardening gift
30 VEGETABLE FAIRYLAND AT LE RIVAU
We visit a fairytale chateau in France and its
beautiful productive garden
38 BACK TO BASICS WITH CARROTS
KG editor Steve Ott brings you his top tips on
this essential, yet sometimes tricky crop
52 EARTHY PARADISE
See the pristine plot in the Cotswolds where
vegetables and ornamentals combine to
provide a riot of colour
59 SEED SOWING: WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT
Don’t sow those seeds until you’ve read the
KG team’s top tips for success
64 VEG AT A GLANCE… ROCKET
Staff writer Tony Flanagan is a rocket fan
– here he brings you his essentials for a
successful lift-off!
66 ON TEST: BEEFSTEAK TOMATOES
Veg expert Colin Randel brings you news of
the award-winning beefsteak tomatoes from
the latest Royal Horticultural Society trials at
Wisley in Surrey
70 101 TOP TIPS FOR YOUR BEST EVER SEASON
The KG team bring you a mix of money
and time-saving top tips, plus growing
advice to get your 2016 season off to a
great start
76 HOW TO MAKE A GARDEN GATE
Gardening and DIY enthusiast Joyce Russell
has designs to make a simple rustic gate for
your plot
80 WAITING FOR A PLOT
Growing your own has seen a resurgence
in recent years, but has the bubble burst?
Gardening journalist Steve Neil investigates
84 FRUIT AT A GLANCE… ALPINE STRAWBERRIES
KG editor Steve Ott turns the spotlight on an
often neglected yet worthwhile little fruit, the
alpine strawberry
104 DIARY DATES
Great things to see and do this month, plus
giveaways entry form and seed company
contact details
WHAT TO BUY
88 NEW VARIETY ON TEST: RASPBERRY ‘RUBY BEAUTY’
Deputy editor Emma Rawlings brings you her
verdict on this new container fruit
90 TRIED AND TESTED
This month the KG team test the effectiveness
of a range of kneelers
94 GROWING GUIDES
Our pick of the best gardening apps, websites
and blogs from the world wide web
95 NEW KG INSTANT SAVERS
Save up to 20% on top quality gardening tools
and accessories
96 GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £2227
This month you could win Harrogate Flower
Show tickets, apple trees, propagators,
planters, crop protection cages and more
98 GARDEN STORE
News of the best new products and services
to reach the KG offices this month
101 WIN AN EDEN GREENHOUSE WORTH £1000!
102 READER SAVERS
Claim your free* strawberries and potted
blueberry worth over £20! (*just pay p&p)