Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden Magazine - UK's No.1 for growing your own fruit and vegetables. KG also offers great monthly give-aways, special gardening offers, recipes, growing tips and much more.

Welcome

TOP JOBS FOR OCTOBER • STEPHANIE HAFFERTY OUTLINES THE ESSENTIAL TASKS FOR YOUR VEG PATCH AND PROTECTED CROPS

UNDER COVER

WHAT'S NEW? • ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING

HAVE YOUR SAY • CONTACT US WITH YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS: KG.ED@KELSEY.CO.UK

Kitchen Garden

QUESTION TIME • GOT A FRUIT OR VEG PROBLEM? ASK KG FOR HELP

IMPROVING SOIL TO BOOST CROPS • Healthy crops start with healthy soil. Whether you’re working with sticky clay, freedraining sand or something in between, Martin Fish explains how to build better structure, boost fertility and keep your soil in great condition, season after season

PLUMS AND THEIR KIN Perfect for preserving • From bottled fruit and spiced chutneys to sharp vinegars and rustic cakes, plums, damsons, gages and mirabelles offer endless ways to stock the store cupboard. Rob Smith shares his favourite recipes and traditions for keeping these autumn treasures well into winter

OUR TOP PLOTTERS • Last summer we launched a competition to find our Top Plotters, with the top three winning some great prizes and all being featured in Kitchen Garden magazine this year. Here we feature one of our runners-up…

HELP THE HEDGEHOGS THIS AUTUMN • Hedgehogs are one of our most-loved garden visitors – and a great ally against slugs and snails. But their numbers are in long-term decline. As they prepare for hibernation, here’s how you can make your garden or allotment a safe and welcoming place for these prickly pest-controllers.

SO LONG, SLUGS! • Slugs and snails are one of our biggest and most widespread pests. They can mow down seedlings or ruin young crops in a matter of hours. But that’s no reason to panic or reach for the pellets. As Benedict Vanheems explains, we can outwit these slimy creatures completely naturally

VOLE PATROL • They may look harmless and cute, but voles can be a pest – they’ll tunnel through beds, nibble roots and even ring-bark young fruit trees. Rachel Graham tests a solution

TOP TIPS FOR HARVESTING AND STORAGE • Garden Organic’s research manager Dr Anton Rosenfeld shows you how to be canny with your vegetable harvest to prolong storage

BUILD YOUR OWN WORMERY • Turn kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compost and liquid feed with a home-made wormery. With just a few plastic boxes, some mesh and a drill, you can create a compact recycling system that keeps worms happy and your garden supplied with free fertiliser

BEETROOT: FROM PLOT TO PLATE • Martin and Jill Fish share their tips on lifting and storing beetroot so it lasts right through winter, while Jill offers a couple of delicious ways to enjoy this colourful crop in the kitchen

Restoring the splendour • Behind the 600ft façade of one of the UK’s grandest stately homes lies a productive plot. Sally Clifford meets the volunteers bringing new life to Wentworth Woodhouse’s Community Garden

BAGGED UP AND READY TO GROW • Peat-free compost is making gardening more sustainable. Here Rob Smith unpacks the findings from a major trial and shares tips for getting the best from every bag

TURN UP THE HEAT ON COMPOSTING • Becky Searle explains how hot composting can speed up the process, kill off weed seeds and deliver nutrientrich compost in a fraction of the time

PICK PERFECT: TRIED & TESTED FRUIT HARVESTING KIT • From apples out of reach to armfuls of berries, the right kit can make light work of harvesting. Rachel Graham put a range of tools and carrying gear to the test – from budget baskets to pro-level aprons – to help you decide what’s...