Kitchen Garden - March 2019
CONTENTS
YOU & YOUR PLOT
6 ON THE VEG PATCH
Joyce Russell’s top March jobs include planting
onion sets and potatoes, sowing and buying in
pollinating plants and strawberries
10 IN THE GREENHOUSE
Yorkshire-based gardener Martin Fish pots
citrus, harvests curly kale, pricks out tender
crops and sows seeds in the border
12 WHAT’S NEW?
The latest news, comment and advice from the
world of kitchen gardening
14 YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS
Learn what other KG readers have been up to
and pick up some great first-hand advice
18 DISCOVER YOUR NEW KG SUBSCRIBERS’ CLUB
Discover the great features, money-saving
offers and competitions we have lined up for
KG subscribers in March
20 KG PROBLEM SOLVER
This month our experts solve readers’ garden
problems and there’s advice on gooseberries
and currants from RHS expert Guy Barter
64 NEXT MONTH
Some of the highlights to be found in your
April 2019 issue plus news of great free gifts
110 LAST WORD ✪
Cooking legend and author Prue Leith
explains why growing her own fresh produce
has always been an important part of her life
GET GROWING
16 ON THE PLOT WITH THE THREE MUDKETEERS
This month the KG team are sowing leeks,
mulching fruit trees and discovering some
great bird feeding products
22 GROWING ONLINE
Our pick of gardening social media and websites
26 NEVER MIND THE HEAT, SAVOUR THE FLAVOUR ✪
Our roving reporter Martin Fish travels to
Nottinghamshire to meet a father and son
team who are just crazy about chillies
32 TINY PLOT WITH BIG IDEAS
The runner-up in our Passionate Plotter
competition 2018, Dennis Kennedy, takes us
on a tour of his Devonshire plot
36 STORE CUPBOARD INSPIRATION ✪
Organic gardening expert and cook
Stephanie Hafferty reveals her recipes for
herb sugars and salts
40 CURSE OF THE CARROT FLY ✪
Allotment gardener Rob Smith looks at the
many simple ways of protecting your crop
from carrot fly
45 DUCKS ON THE PLOT ✪
Poultry keeper Katy Runacres offers insight
into the pros and cons of keeping ducks
51 SAVE WHILE YOU GROW ✪
KG regular Ben Vanheems hates to waste
money and has some great cash-saving tips
to share
56 FUTURE-PROOF YOUR FRUIT TREES ✪
Gardening expert Sally Cunningham explains
how to help fruit trees cope with warmer
winters
60 VEG OF THE MONTH ✪
KG staff writer Tony Flanagan brings you his
growing guide to greenhouse cucumbers
66 GROWING ON THE WEB
This month we travel to Northern Ireland to
meet a blogger who says he is addicted to
growing his own
70 LET THE SOWING BEGIN ✪
Gardening writer Joyce Russell offers her top
tips on getting the best from your sowings
74 FRUIT TREE PROPAGATION PART 2
Professional fruit grower David Patch
encourages you to try your hand at the art
of grafting
78 THE CULTIVATED PLOT
March madness ensues as gardening writer
and photographer Graham Strong finishes soil
preparation and begins sowing
82 REKHA’S GARDEN AND KITCHEN DIARY (NEW SERIES)
In her first KG article Rekha, former contestant
on BBC’s The Big Allotment Challenge, takes
us through her gardening month
84 PARSLEY PLUS ✪
Gardening writer Gaby Bartai just loves
Hamburg parsley and encourages us all to give
this much-neglected crop a try
88 THE GREAT OUTDOORS ✪
Leading tomato breeder Simon Crawford of
Burpee seeds, brings us his growing guide to
blight-free outdoor tomatoes
92 HERB OF THE MONTH
This month, a KG pocket guide to growing
Coriander
WHAT TO BUY
94 POTATO PLANTERS TRIED AND TESTED
The team put a range of planters through their
Paces
Claim your free* chilli plant collection worth
£11.95, plus great savings on rhubarb and
blackberries (*Just pay p&p)
102 GREAT GIVEAWAYS WORTH OVER £2165 ✪
This month you could win topsoil, planters,
crop protection products and show tickets
104 GARDEN STORE PLUS SUBSCRIBER SAVERS ✪
News of some great new products and
services and a chance for KG subscribers to
save pounds