We dig deep into the World Wide Web to harvest some great websites, tips and gardening chitchat.
Sowing Mangetout (KG YouTube Channel)
Emma is sowing ‘Sweet Horizon’ mangetout, ideal for steaming or stir-fries. Seeds can be sown March-July and pods harvested June-September, depending on when you sowed them.
One method is to sow in cell trays initially, one seed per cell, filled with multi-purpose compost. Push each seed down 13mm (½in) deep, cover with compost and water in.
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Another method is to fill a piece of guttering with compost and sow the seeds in a zig-zag pattern about 5cm (2in) apart. When the plants have grown sufficiently you can slide them out en masse into the space outside you have set aside for them.
Visit: www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine and search: sowing mangetout
A Tale of Two Halves (KG Facebook)
This apple was picked a tree near Garfield, Washington, USA. This is not fake… it is the real thing and it is called a chimera apple.
A chimera apple is a VERY rare thing that happens when grafted fruit trees try to revert back to be their original type (rootstock) because of the genetic instability.
The apple was the only chimera apple on the tree. All the other apples were normal.
Visit:
Mae West the Gardener?
“It’s not the men in my life that count, it’s the life in my men.” Maybe if Mae West had been a gardener she might have said: “It’s not the seeds in my life that count, it’s the life in my seeds.”
The life in your seeds is an important topic this time of year, especially when you come to look at the seeds in your seed box and find packets dating back years.
How viable are they? Should they stay or should they go? Hard as it is, some seeds just need to be sent to that sleepy seed heaven in the sky – parsnips, for example, are less likely to germinate if they are more than two years old.
So, for a very useful chart on how long you can expect your seeds to last visit: www.allotment-garden.org and search ‘seed storage’.
Good to Grow Networking
Good to Grow is an online platform to support food growing in the UK, encouraging people to get involved in their local community garden.
You can register your garden to the Good to Grow network and thereby let volunteers and interested organisations know you are there, or you can register to volunteer.
The site has a map so you can locate Good to Grow registered gardens near you.
To find out more visit: www.goodtogrowuk.org
