Our gardening blog covers a wide variety of topics, including fruit, vegetable and tree stories. Read some of the top gardening stories right here.
Propagation, planting out and cultivation posts from writers that know their subjects well.
Colourful flower borders are a joy to behold.
Image source: Artens
To help you get the most from your flower garden, we asked some of our favourite green-fingered bloggers for their expert tips and advice. From planning your beds to pruning, here’s some great advice to get your flowers blooming like never before.
Gardening is a lifelong learning curve based on shared knowledge, trial and error.
Image source: Rawpixel.com
If you’re just getting into gardening and could do with some help and advice to set you on your way, we’ve got just what you need: handy tips from gardeners from across the blogosphere. These growers have planted and grown it all before, so give yourself a head start by learning from their wealth of experience. Here are five golden rules of growing for newbies.
Chocolate Mint is one of the more interesting varieties
Image source: Nic Wilson
Mint is the most versatile of herbs – it adds zest to summer desserts and savoury dishes, and flavours herbal teas and cocktails. It thrives in semi-shade where other Mediterranean herbs like thyme and rosemary might struggle.
There are so many types available, all with different scents and uses – so it’s helpful to know a little about the different varieties before you start growing. But if you just want to jump into growing something versatile, then a basic mint plant is perfect for getting started.
Banana mint has a mild flavour
Image source: Nic Wilson
My favourites include tall apple mint (Mentha suaveolens) whose furry leaves add a fresh tang to boiled new potatoes with butter; it’s also really good in mint sauce. For herbal teas I prefer spicy varieties like peppermint (Mentha x piperita) – a cross between watermint and spearmint, Moroccan mint (Mentha spicata var. crispa ‘Moroccan’) and Tashkent mint (Mentha spicata ‘Tashkent’), also known as spearmint.
For even more flavour, I combine the mint with lemon verbena leaves for an aromatic hot tea, or add sugar, cool the tea and add ice cubes as a refreshing drink on hot summer afternoons. Moroccan and Tashkent mint also have the advantage of being resistant to mint rust, a common fungal disease that can affect leaves from spring until the autumn.
Other varieties to try include ginger mint (Mentha x gracilis ‘Variegata’), an attractive plant with variegated yellow and green foliage that tastes great with fruit salads. Or choose dark chocolate mint (Mentha x piperita f. citrata ‘Chocolate’) my children’s favourite, with deep red stems and leaves that really do taste of mint choc chip ice cream.
The spicy foliage of basil mint (Mentha x piperita f. citrata ‘Basil’) adds a tang to oils and vinegars,and the soft leaves of banana mint (Mentha arvensis ‘Banana’) have a mild flavour with just a hint of banana. There’s even a variety from Cuba called Mojito mint (Menthat villosa ‘Mojito’) which has a warm sweet flavour ideal for combining with soda water, lime juice, white rum and sugar to create the traditional Cuban highball.
Mint is a vigorous plant that spreads unless contained
Image source: shutterstock/Izf
It’s a good idea to grow mint in containers, unless you have a large patch that will tolerate invasion by this vigorous perennial. I have grown mint in large bottomless pots sunk into the ground – you just have to be vigilant and pull out any surface runners before they root and escape into the garden.
Mint thrives in semi-shade and likes to be kept well watered, but it copes with full shade and full sun too. It’s best to avoid growing different mints close together or in the same container as they can lose their distinct scents and flavours.
Once you have mint it’s quick and easy to propagate by stem or root cuttings. Either turn the plant out of the pot, break off a few roots (with or without shoots) and bury just below the surface in peat-free compost, or take several stem cuttings from a healthy plant and place around the rim of a pot filled with gritty compost. Keep moist until you see new growth and then pot on.
Corsican mint (or ‘mini mint’) forms a green carpet on the ground
Image source: David Eickhoff
Mint is also valuable in the garden as an ornamental plant. Creeping Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) creates a relaxed look trailing along a gravel path, between stepping stones or over rocks. At only 3-10cm high, it forms a mat on the ground and releases its spicy aroma when crushed underfoot. As with all flowering mints, this Corsican mint is a magnet for bees which love its tiny mauve flowers.
Hanging baskets are another ideal place for ornamental mint. Indian mint (Satureia douglasii ‘Indian Mint’), a tender perennial in the mint family, has delicate white long-lasting flowers that cascade over the sides of a basket. Or as we’ve done this year, plant sweet strawberry mint (Mentha x piperita ‘Strawberry’) in the centre of a hanging basket surrounded by trailing strawberry plants and then harvest both for a delicious dessert – just add cream. Find more great growing suggestions for your mint and other herbs at our herb hub page.
The author and publisher take no responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Not everyone reacts positively to all edible plants or other plant uses. Seek advice from a professional before using a plant for culinary or medicinal uses.
Make the most of these tried and tested tips from experienced gardeners.
Image source: welcomia
A great way to get the most from your garden is to follow the advice and guidance of generous gardeners who’ve already been there and done it. Here we bring you some top growing tips from expert gardeners and bloggers – green fingered folk who know their onions.
I have this fantasy image of myself in diaphanous summer dress, wandering around my garden with a woven willow trug and floral secateurs, in the hazy lazy afternoon sunshine, listening to the soporific buzzing of the bees, whilst gently snipping deadheads off my beautiful pristine roses. STOP! I’m actually crawling around the borders on my knees peering at the shredded foliage of the edging plants caused by my Dearly Beloved pressure washing the paths.
Having recently swelled with optimism at the pronouncement that spraying diluted garlic solution on hostas repels slugs and snails, despondency came in the form of leaf shredding pigeons and a leaf nibbling Oriental called Fred (cat, silly!), clearly neither species in the slightest bit phased by garlic fumes.
T & M Foxgloves Illumination Flame have disappeared under the filipendula seemingly in a matter of hours after planting in a suitable gap. The astrantia has crawled all over the dicentra and alchemilla molis. Such an unassuming plant, huh, roots like thatch, needed the WW1 trenching tool to hack some clumps out of the soil along with all the daffodil bulbs. Looks totally decimated, should have left well alone. Talking of daffodils, the wretched things bloomed so late that their leaves will be sprawling all over the place until end June if I want any flowers next Spring. All the phormiums died so out came the trenching tool yet again to prise them out. Why can’t the shallow rooted plants die?
Why oh why does the Salix integra ‘Hakuro-nishiki’ morph into a thatched beach parasol just as the perennial ground cover starts to really take off underneath? The time had come, the time that I dread beyond all other times, to let David loose on the hedge trimmer. Always a row first about methodology and a row afterwards about clearing up.
….And breathe! Well, the worst is over. Today’s somewhat less contentious task was to get the plant loops and stakes into the melee of jostling perennials before everything toppled over. I know I say this every year, but the roses are going to be spectacular. I’ve never seem such prolific sprays of buds, their branches in serious danger of collapse from the weight. And the T&M tree lilies (at least 6 years old now) are in bud already. They don’t usually flower until our NGS Open Day end July, another potential worry then. I put all this growth acceleration down to the recent tropical storms followed by hot humid sunshine. By the way, how many of you watched the eerily soundless lightning storm a couple of Saturday nights ago and thought of War of the Worlds? But lightning is supposed to be good for the garden; it fixes nitrogen into the soil or something like that. (Please feel free to correct me if I am way off the mark.)
So having finally planted up all the patio containers and baskets – T&M begonia Non-Stop Mocca red, Solenia Apricot, Fragrant Falls Orange Delight and petunia Suzie Storm – we turned our attention to the garden accessories. Tatty old white cast iron table and chairs are now subtle sage green, shady fencing where nothing will grow now adorned with pale grey framed mirror, with added bonus of bouncing light back into dingy border as well as reflecting bright sunny border opposite. All planned of course! The driftwood fence is up and is a real feature, a perfect backdrop to ferns, heucheras and a brand new acer. Which brings to mind What Does Good Taste Actually Mean? A certain celebrity gardener (famous parents, you know who you are!) opined to readers of his column in one Sunday paper, that whilst lime green foliage was a characteristic Spring charmer, ideal for lifting shady areas, to mix it with purple foliage, or perish the thought, silver, was a bridge way too far! Well I DON’T CARE. I love my limes and purples and oranges So There! And to celebrate the subjectivity of Good Taste I have created a window box of contrasts: bronze coleus Campfire, lime green ipomoea and black ipomoea, dichondra Silver Falls and lysimachia nummularia Aurea!
Here we are again, coming into the height of the gardening season. What better way to spend a Sunday than by visiting other NGS Open Gardens, talking plants, eating cake and oohing and ahhing at unusual and innovative schemes that you wish you had come up with first. The first week of June was NGS Festival Weekend and so we spent a leisurely Sunday visiting three of my gardens (i.e. gardens under my watch as local Assistant County Organiser.) Marjorie’s small but perfectly formed cottage garden in Hampstead Garden Suburb, full of hidden pathways clothed in old roses and clematis; Sandra’s sweeping lawns, leading to a glamorous sunken pool area surrounded by tropical raised beds and swathes of bamboo, a world away from Finchley Central! Ian and Michael’s Oakwood garden, transformed in two years from traditional lawn to terraced decking, exotic architectural planting, water features and pergola, worthy of Chelsea Flower Show. We truly are a nation of gardeners.
Talking of Chelsea, first time in twenty years, I went this year: RHS Members’ Day Tuesday. Not wishing to sound churlish, I was quite sceptical about how much I would enjoy it, as last time I barely saw the show gardens for crowds five deep in front of me and the old tented plant pavilion was sticky hot, cramped and made my hair frizz up! So I am delighted to report that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The fun started on the previous Sunday when my Chelsea companion Rosie came over with the programme, and we sat on the patio for a happy hour, drinking strawberry laden prosecco, whilst marking up our route in order of preference. Large show gardens first, then refreshments, Space to Grow show gardens, Great Pavilion, more refreshments, and back again, followed by Artisan show gardens, refreshments and finally, when I didn’t care if ever saw another plant again as long as I lived, the trade stands. Sunny day, the right dress, comfortable shoes and a hands free shoulder bag made manoeuvring through the crowds virtually painless. My highlights? Matt Keightley’s’s Feel Good Garden, currently being recreated down the road from here, for patients and staff at Highgate NHS Mental Health Centre. In the Great Pavilion, Tom Stuart-Smith created a garden for Garfield Weston Foundation, all shapes, sizes, textures and shades of green, green, green. Cool, tranquil magic. I could live there. Favourite plants? Evolution Group hellebore hybrids and variegated hellebores, rosa Jacqueline Du Pré and new Solomon’s Seal varieties. And of the trade stands, a pair of huge wire mesh boxing hares.
And even after looking at all that perfection, I was still happy to return to my own plot. I’ve fallen in love with our garden all over again this Spring. It never ceases to surprise, delight and challenge me. Until the next horticultural trauma, that is.…………..Happy gardening.
Caroline Broome has been gardening for more than 20 years. Having passed the RHS General Certificate, she has since developed her East Finchley garden into a “personal paradise” that she and her husband invite the public to visit each year via the National Garden Scheme. Learn more about our contributor using T&M’s ‘Meet the experts’ page.
So, I heard we (Thompson & Morgan) were having a floral fantasia trial garden this year at RHS Hyde Hall in Chelmsford and I was very pleased, and couldn’t wait to visit.
Then I got an email asking me to help plant it up, I was over the moon!!!
Since starting my new career in Horticulture many years ago now, I wanted to work at Hyde Hall. I did apply for an apprenticeship there, but travelling would have been too much, so I studied at Otley College as it was closer.
An early start at T & M HQ and off we went to Hyde Hall down the A12 into Essex.
When we arrived the beds were marked out with marker spray and labelled and all we had to do was crack on with the planting.
There were 26 trolleys heaving with excellent, strong plants all ready waiting for planting.
We also had a team of six Gardeners from the RHS to help us plant out.
The weather was kind to us, but the day before when the chaps were unloading the plants, they got a tad wet, apparently!
I planted some of my favourites including Cosmos Cupcakes and Nicotiana Marshmallow. Can’t wait to have some in my garden!
We think we planted about two thirds the first day, I went back for a second day of fun. It started of misty and cloudy, but to be honest, to me that’s perfect planting weather. It broke out warmer from lunchtime, so on went the hat and all important sun cream.
I loved day two, we got to plant the wonderful Sunflower, SunBelievable ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, what a truly stunning plant it is! In the centre of the garden, there is a large old trough packed with these beauts, I definitely want these in my garden. They are perfect for weddings, as my cousin’s wedding has a Sunflower theme so may have to grow some for her.
Pots and pouches complete the trial garden.
The garden is packed with summer favourites and also new introductions for 2018.
I am looking forward to visiting the garden with my children and showing them the riot of garden. Its open from the 9th June to the 30th September.
You will find the Floral Fantasia next to the Global Growth Vegetable Garden.
One of my earliest memories; helping my Mum and Dad weed the veggie plot and collecting chicken eggs from the chooks at the end of the garden. I grew up on a farm as a child and always had my own piece of land to grow and learn with, so I suppose its in the blood!
In my mid twenties, I re trained in Horticulture (Professional Gardening ANCH) and set up my own Gardening business working for clients in the Suffolk/Essex area. For the last thirteen years I’ve had the pleasure of working on a private twenty five acre estate tending to the grounds.
In 2016, I joined the team at Thompson and Morgan in the Customer Care department.
Also season ticket holder at Ipswich Town Football Club!!
Keep your veg plot brimming over with delicious produce with these handy tips!
Image: Steffi Pereira
From one man who likes his veg Tudor style to another who loves to grow Tomatillos, and on to other green fingered folk with handy hints to share, here we bring you awesome veg growing tips from people in the know – veg gardeners and bloggers from across the country.
Hi Everyone,
What an amazing May, so hot and dry! Hope this isn’t our summer.
I have a confession to make – I’ve not done half as much in the greenhouses as I would usually do. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in them, or in my garden, but with limited energy, mobility and dexterity I have not been able to do as much as previous years. But fear not, I’m not ready to hang up the trowel just yet.
So what have I been doing this month? It seems a lot of trying to keep the plants cool by opening al, the doors and windows and damping down the floor with a good splash of water. I went in there one morning and it was 35°c. Because the plants are still quiet small in Ty Mawr we still put the washing to dry on airers in there.
Lots of the plants put on so much growth they were moved to the cold-frame then later into their final growing positions.
Oh Star Wars day (May the Fourth – be with you), in The Office I decided to take my recycling project even further and filled up an egg box with soil before sprinkling a food for bees and butterflies seed mix into it. They took a matter of days to germinate. Because the egg box was similar in feel and texture to the peat pots I have been using, I was careful to keep it damp, but not too soggy, so that I could lift the box up without it falling apart. That same day I planted my trial-for-another-company petunias into a hanging wall planter bag and laid it on the staging to settle and establish. Then the next day I planned to clean the greenhouse after the winter storms.
Mark washed all of the glass on both greenhouses inside and out, while I decided to empty the storage seat to see what goodies I had. I found some incredibloom, some colourful cane toppers and and some pretty bulb markers that T&M sent me last year. After Mark washed the glass he took everything out to sweep the floor. I was really tired and when I was trying to help put things back in the greenhouse with him, I dropped a sunflower. The plant was fine, but there was now mud all over the clean floor.
Mid month, the new batch of Marigold Strawberry Blonde seedlings were big enough to be transplanted into bigger pots, I spent a few days pricking them out along with the African Marigold Spinning Wheels. For some reason my French Marigolds are refusing to germinate. I’m on my third sowing since March. I think they are sulking because the beautiful Orange Calendula and the fluffy Snow Princess are the star of my baskets so far.
As the temperatures began to soar I moved the Cape Gooseberries, and a collection tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and chillies from The Office to the hanging shelves in Ty Mawr. With access to longer periods of sunshine and a more temperate climate they established strong root-balls very quickly. Sometimes I had to water them morning, noon and evening as they were shooting up.
Mum had been sorting her garden, and no longer wanted her pretty shell planter. It matches the solar water feature of hers she gave me a few years ago, and my own blue containers that sit on the patio, so she gave it to me. I have planted it with the strawberry blonde marigolds and I cannot wait to see the flowering results. With a bit of luck the colours that are opposite on a colourwheel, chart, should look fantastic
Our new neighbours opposite us had recently asked if we wanted a collection of their primroses for the garden as they had far too many. We said yes please, and as we were talking and wondering around our garden, they commented on the biodiversity of wildlife that was in it. They said they had slow-worms in their garden as their cats kept bringing them in the house. Mark explained that Slow-Worms are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and if possible try to put them somewhere safe from the cats. The slow-worm breeds in May and the males can be aggressive towards each other in order to find a female and mate. I added that slow worms are very beneficial for the garden, as they eat slugs and snails, however I was very glad I didn’t have them in the garden as I am afraid of them and snakes.
A few evenings later we had a knock on the door, thankfully I didn’t answer it. I heard voices and in the hall there was Mark and the neighbour with a slow worm. I kind of went off on one about bringing it near me. When they finished laughing I asked why was there a slow worm in my house. Apparently, Mark has been re-homing slow worms in our compost bin, from the neighbours since that conversation. I was very brave and took a photo of it for this blog. This little critter has two puncture marks where a magpie dropped it on their lawn. It did occur to me that it was probably the one from our garden they re-homed before as our resident magpie is often up by the compost bin.
On the 18th of May we went off in the motorhome for the weekend. This time I left all the peat pots and the egg box in a tray of water. I soaked all the plants and we almost drowned the greenhouse borders. And just as well, as the temperatures soared. When we were back on late Sunday I had hay-fever from hell so avoided the garden until Monday morning. All the plants were fine. The Sweetpeas Turquoise Lagoon where placed in a large pot and I made a string and cane obelisk for them to climb.
The bee and butterfly egg box and other pollinator plants were big enough to go outside and we up- cycled an old plastic wheelbarrow into a feature planter. It was better to drill a few drainage holes in the bottom of the barrow than take it to the tip. Although it would have been recycled I think it will look better filled with flowers this way, rather than using energy to make it into something else.
My garden peas haven’t germinated, and I think the packet has been open too long, so I had to chuck the last few seeds out. Coincidentally, I sent off for some free pea seeds months ago and had forgotten all about it, so imagine my happy surprise when they arrived, the day the I chucked the old packet out. The seeds are part of a social-media incentive to get people growing their own produce, so I will be posting updates on my social media platforms about regarding the progress.
On the 24th of the month I got Mark to build a sort of trellis from my mums old greenhouse staging, canes and
string to give the Cape Gooseberries something that climb up. He then placed them in their final growing positions, along with the sweet peppers and aubergines. Which means that in The Office, I now have the following jobs left to complete:
In the cold frame, I need to transplant the carrot and Brussel Sprouts into deep pots or sacks. In Ty Mawr, I need to pinch out the tips of the trial-for-another-company tomaítoes, dead head the marigolds that keep the pests away. Next I will thin out some of the chilli plants in the fire bucket and place them in the borders between the Beetroots that are due to be pulled up in a week or so.On the hanging shelves I have some of the Lidl’s sweet peppers that I grew from the seeds in the ones I ate, many are planted in the borders, but I am hoping to give these to my nieces. Mark plans to erect their greenhouse for them as my brother still hasn’t done it. I meant to give them some of the sunflowers, but because of the weather the plants ended up going in and around our garden.
I hope I have more to share with you next month. Learning my limitations has been hard, things that I took for granted, like watering the plants building trellises and spending hours pottering are no longer possible. Instead I rely on Mark to do lots of the work for me. I have learnt do garden, little and often. If it take me three hours over three days to transplant seedlings, then so be it.
As I said at the start, I’m not ready to hang up the trowel just yet.
Until next time,
Happy Gardening.
Love Amanda.
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
I was never really sure when “spring” is meant to start, having just some lumpen idea of it being to do with daffodils generally being around and not needing to put on your big coat as much.
Turns out the cats, yes the cats, are well ahead of us. Come spring, and I’m being quite serious you understand, pretty much all cats emerge. Previously curled up into cosy spots indoors, springtime sunshine has literally seen all the neighbourhood moggies stride boldly outside, choose the sunniest spot, and um curl up into cosy spots outdoors.
With the great arrival of the cats comes the greater arrival of lots of welcome colour. Having been on a chromatic starvation diet over winter, suddenly there’s a happy riot. And same as all these cats, I’ve emerged too, blinking into the sunlight.
Anyway, like many people, I have a job. I also have a young family, as well as a whole raft of other stuff going on. I’m always busy, which is by and large a good way to be. However right now at work it’s really busy, it always is this time of year, and I’ve noticed I need to unwind. Mentally power down from the spreadsheets and mad deadline scramble. So, when a friend recently suggested we do a yoga class, I jumped at the chance. Ok, I panicked a bit about being seen in public in dayglo lycra, and then I jumped at the chance. It’s a great unwinder, even if our class does happen in the less than Zen superhero themed party room at the local soft play centre (childcare, natch).
Getting in the garden or just outdoors is another very real way to shake off the pressure and … breathe.
So, breathe all the way in, hold it there, and breathe all the way out again. No need for lycra in the garden, but I did consciously Slow. Down. and start to notice things. If the neighbours were all pointing and laughing, hanging helplessly from their windows at the mad deep breathing lady, I certainly didn’t notice them but I did notice other things:
Calm descending and gloves donned, nettles were literally grasped. Calm rapidly gave way at this point, I’ll be honest, to pain and mild blistering. Double-gloved now and grimly determined to chill out, those stingers were ripped out and other weeds sent packing. Right, the mossy bits next. We have heavy clay here, so the ground is generally wet. There’s a lot of moss, can’t lie, and I heave out a huge tussock of the stuff.
Oh good. Seems I’ve made a load of bees cross. I’ve uprooted their mossy home on the ground and – oh, is that the Queen? She’s most likely commanding her buzzing valets and stings-in-waiting to excommunicate me from the Kingdom as I gawp on, slack jawed.
Gah, if I hadn’t been on a self-imposed mission of business and extreme weeding, had I only listened to my own clamour for calm, the bees would still have a thatched roof over their heads.
So I jack in the weeding and listen. I did start to notice things now, for real this time.
So three things strike me in a neat way that wraps this up by way of a conclusion:
PS The bees rebuilt the roof. They’re doing fine.
Got any top nature tips from your own garden? Don’t be shy. Tell the world here!
I’ve lived in various places from freezing flats in Manchester with just enough room to swing a pot rubber plant, to a Leicester semi which must have held some kind of local record for most concrete used in the garden. That took some digging out. Now living in Market Harborough with husband Matt and two young daughters. And a cat who shows up for mealtimes. Gardening neophyte, learning always.
Swiss Chard “Bright Light”
Image source: London Plantology
Your greens no longer have to be green! Recent research indicates that some of the healthiest “greens” are actually purple, red and yellow. With new varieties of tasty salads and vegetables increasingly available, it’s so easy to create a feast for your eyes at the same time as excitement for the palate.
Spring is the ideal time to grow a range of vegetables for delicious salads. The temperature is not too hot and and the soil is just warm enough for seeds to germinate. This year I’m growing quick crops like radishes, spring onions, lettuce and all year round vegetables like Swiss chard, kale and Mexican tree spinach.
Lettuce is always on my list. I love fresh leaves, picked with my own hands, and they taste so much more delicious than any shop-bought greens. Lettuce grows well in containers making it an ideal crop for a small urban garden, balcony or windowsill. I prefer loose-leaf varieties as they’re quicker to mature and I can harvest a few individual leaves at a time – just enough for my lunch or a sandwich.
I start my growing season in early spring by sowing “Salad Bowl Mixed” lettuce. One of the fastest to grow, it takes only eight weeks from sowing to cutting and has beautiful green and purple oak-shaped leaves.
My other favourite lettuce is Lollo Rossa, a decorative loose-leaf variety from Italy. Crisp deep red leaves have a nutty flavour and look great on the plate when combined with wild rocket, purple basil and fan-shaped “Reine de Glace” lettuce. I sow both varieties in April and they supply me with tasty leaves throughout the summer.
I can’t imagine my kitchen garden without Swiss chard and kale. These greens are winter-hardy and started in the middle of summer will produce leaves well into the next spring helping to avoid a dreadful “hungry gap”. There are many colourful varieties to choose from and I like to experiment with a new variety every season. Swiss Chard “Bright Lights”, “Scarlet” kale and “Midnight Sun” kale are among my favourites.
Yellow Radish “Zlata”
Image source: London Plantology
Bringing a variety of flavour, texture and colour, root vegetables like radishes, beetroot and carrots are a great addition to the summer salads.
Radishes are one of the first vegetables I sow directly in the soil. The secret to a good radish? Grow them in a cool location with plenty of water – perfect for the British spring. “Rainbow Mix” radish can be sown as early as March and harvested in 4 weeks. It’s a fun variety to try with kids and contains purple, red, yellow and white coloured radishes in one packet. You never know what colour your next one will be! Gold “Zlata” and “Pink Slipper” are summer radishes that are slow to bolt. Their roots are juicy and radiant, even in the hot weather, and I start them every couple of weeks from May to September. Pale yellow and bright pink radishes mixed with green and purple lettuce look stunning and taste refreshing on warm days.
Beetroot is another great vegetable to begin your gardening adventures with. Performing well in any soil, it’s easy to grow, packed with antioxidants and gives you two delicious crops from the same plant. Beet leaves with bright red stems not only bring colour to the kitchen but many health benefits too. They are high in iron, magnesium and vitamins B6 and K. Purple-red roots have an earthy taste produced by the organic compound geosmin. Some people like it and some don’t, but I personally find this flavour adds an extra dimension to summer dishes. Try the yellow beet “Boldor”; the non-staining, white heritage variety “Albina Vereduna”; or beetroot “Chioggia” with its red and white ‘bullseye’ rings for a tasty alternative to traditional purple beets.
When I was a child, carrots were orange. Boring and orange. Nowadays carrots in my veg patch are nothing like that. From red and yellow to almost black, I’m discovering new varieties to get excited about all the time. The soil in my garden is a heavy clay with lots of stones, so not ideal for carrots. I use containers half-filled with compost and half-filled with sand, instead. Carrot “Sweet Imperator Mix” with thin long roots can be sown thickly in the container and comes in a variety of colours – white, cream, golden, red and purple. Other colourful varieties I like are “Red Samurai” and “Cosmic Purple”.
Nasturtium ‘Strawberries and Cream’
Image source: London Plantology
Plants must work hard and provide multiple benefits to earn their place in small gardens. Edible flowers are pretty, attract pollinators and bring a bit of zing to summer salads. There are many edible flowers available: Borage, Calendula, Viola, Bee balm, pea and bean flowers and many kind of herbs. I grow nasturtium and chives year after year in my London garden.
Nasturtium is a truly versatile plant whose leaves, flowers and seed pods are all edible. The leaves and flowers have a peppery taste that is ideal for spicing up salads. This year I’m trying the ‘Strawberries and Cream’ variety with big peach cream flowers. Nasturtium is a magnet for aphids and blackfly and I planted it among peas, beans and courgettes to keep my veg safe and improve pollination. Around August, I’ll collect the unripe green seed pods for pickling. Pickled in white wine vinegar they make great capers – sharp and salty – but don’t forget to leave some seeds for next growing season!
Nasturtium seeds
Image source: London Plantology
Chives are a low-maintenance perennial herb forming neat clumps of green shoots as early as February. The leaves have a mild onion-like flavour and are delicious served in butter with new potatoes. The flowers are also edible and buzz with bees throughout the summer. Purple and pink in colour, they’re an attractive garnish for salads and fish dishes. Like nasturtium, chives are good companion plants in the kitchen garden. The onion smell repels carrot flies which improves both the growth and taste of your carrots.
With a regular sowing of colourful vegetables every few weeks, you can have a rainbow of “greens” to fill your plate all summer long! Keep discovering new exciting varieties to grow and eat, and share your favourites in the comments below.
How do you enjoy your colourful salads? Are there any veggies you like to include that we’ve missed? Be sure to let us know on our Facebook page – we’d love to hear from you! In the meantime, check out what else you can grow by visiting our salad hub page for crop recommendations and growing advice. Find specific beetroot and chard growing tips at our dedicated hub page.
About the author
Sasha Ivanova is an urban gardener, blogger, and martial artist. Passionate about propagation and growing from seed, she grows all her plants in a small London back yard. Her research has led her to cultivate unusual edible plants, as well as experimenting with fruit trees in what she describes as a ‘garden without trees’. Read more at her blog, londonplantology.substack.com
Sasha Ivanova is an urban gardener, blogger, and martial artist. Passionate about propagation and growing from seed, she grows all her plants in a small London back yard. Her research has led her to cultivate unusual edible plants, as well as experimenting with fruit trees in what she describes as a ‘garden without trees’. Read more at her blog, londonplantology.substack.com