urban-garden-news | Greencuisine Trust

URBAN GARDEN NEWS

December - Celeriac

Celeriac has been one of the most successful crops this year. The seeds were sown and the seedlings raised by Pete at Ashurst Organics. Most were planted in the straw bale raised beds but 6 were raised in large pots both were successful but the ones in the beds were larger. We used organic rich soil and kept the plants moist throughout the growing season.

Find out more about celeriac here

November – Beetroot

We sowed beetroot in the straw bale beds and in pots. We used soil that had been enriched with bokashi (bokashi video) and made successive sowings from April through to the beginning of September and lifted the last roots in November.

Find out more about beetroot here

Stevia

We grew three pots of stevia in the urban garden and every time someone needed a drink sweetened we popped in a stevia leaf

Stevia are propagated by cuttings, we have taken a 1/2 dozen so hopefully we will have abundant leaves next year

The cuttings were placed in water until small roots appeared - about three weeks then transferred to small pots with good fertile soil and kept indoors. We have actually brought the mother plants in though this may not be necessary.

Find out more about stevia here

September - Sweetcorn

Eight magnificent, stately, sweetcorn plants that we grew in the garden produced 14 sweet, golden cobs of corn. The seedlings came from Ashurst Organics and we planted them out dangerously early but we were lucky as there was no frost.

August - Tomatoes

It's pretty hard to beat a homegrown tomato, eaten sun warm from the plant. The weather can make it tricky growing tomatoes outside, but it was a good summer for ripening tomatoes at the byre.

July - Courgettes

Courgettes are relatively easy to grow either in containers or in the garden. They like a rich soil and to be well watered. Once established the huge leaves suppress weeds but they will also smother other low growing plants so be careful what you grow nearby.

June - Perpetual Spinach

Perpetual spinach isn’t actually spinach but a type of chard. One of the best things about perpetual spinach is it is a cut and come again vegetable and you can crop almost all year round.

We planted young plug plants, given to the garden project by Ashurst Organics, in raised beds and containers at the end of April. Perpetual spinach is a particularly good container vegetable and as it is shade tolerant, it is perfect for small spaces, patios and balconies.