Try Out | Cloud Pruning

If you’ve ever sprawled on the grass, looking up at the sky and marvelled at the undulating shapes of the clouds, this gardening trend might be for you. The Japanese art of Niwaki or ‘Cloud Pruning’ is all about pruning trees and shrubs into the shapes of clouds. 

Niwaki literally translates to ‘garden tree’ and Cloud Pruning is all about showing off the ‘true essence’ of the tree. Cloud Pruned trees look a bit like bonsai; the only difference is not size, but the fact that bonsai trees are grown in pots and Niwaki trees directly in the ground. 

How to start Cloud Pruning

1. Select your plant. Evergreens are best; perhaps a box, pine or Japanese privet. 

2. Plan your secateur attack. With privet, box and other hedges, prune into curved, fluffy cloud shapes from their usual ‘box’ shape. With trees, you might like to ‘clear’ some branches of leaves and twigs close to the trunk so that the ‘leafed’ parts appear to float like clouds. 

3. Use secateurs to trim the outside of a bush or shrub, and a pruning saw for thicker branches on a tree. Try to take out branches close to each other to allow the silhouette of the branches you leave to shine out a bit. 

4. You can use weights and stakes to encourage the branches to grow in a particular direction.

5. Prune once or twice a year to slowly form the shape you want. 

For more on Cloud Pruning, you could read Niwaki: Pruning, Training and Shaping Trees the Japanese Way by Jake Hobson. 

If you’d like to know more about general topiary, turn to page 84 of our July issue, in which Julian Owen meets some practitioners of the art, in our Modern Eccentrics series. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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Tasting notes | Roses

Stop and smell the roses with our tasting guide to the various scents

After tropical orchids, the rose as a species has the widest variety of scents to enjoy. Like lavender, the smell of roses has a calming effect on the mind, but the scent of a rose also has the ability to lift the spirits, so why wouldn’t you want a deep sniff?

Whatever your preferences, there’s a rose for you. Here’s a brief introduction to the many and various scents of the rose. 

What you need to know first is that only a few roses actually smell of roses. Confused? Your nose will be. For the most part, it’s the red and pink roses that smell of the scent we tend to call ‘rose’. Others smell of fruits, violets, tea and a plethora of other things. 

Secondly, if you’re looking for a rose to give your nostrils a real treat, look for darker-coloured roses - the deeper the red or pink the stronger the smell - and go for roses with lots of petals. 

Scent experts recognise five main scents of rose. David Austin, unsurprisingly, has a lot to say on the subject. Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Old Rose

   This is the traditional ‘rose’ scent. Albas, Damasks and Gallicas tend to have this scent. Also worth a sniff are some of David Austin’s English roses, such as Gertrude Jekyll and Rosa Desdemona. They’ll give you that English country garden scent and have quite a heady, high summer aroma. 

2. Fruit

   Roses can smell of many types of fruit, but most common are lemon scents. You’ll also hear roses being described as smelling of apple, mango and blackcurrant. They smell, as you’d expect, of a fresher type of sweetness than the old rose scents, and some border on being quite zesty. Rosa Zephirine Drouhin is a climber with a strong fruity scent that is lovely scrambling over a pergola. Other varieties that will give off a fruity niff are Lady Emma Hamilton and Jude the Obscure.

3. Musk

   Often also described as a ‘cloves’ scent, musk-scented roses smell warm and their scent tends to ‘waft’ easily on the breeze, so you don’t have to stick your nose too far inside to get a musky hit. Unlike other roses, where the scent comes from petals, musk roses’ scent comes from their stamen. For a rich, musky scent try tall rambling roses with lots of small flowers such as Rambling Rector. 

4. Myrrh

   Not to be confused with the stuff one of the Wise Men brought, myrrh type roses don’t smell of myrrh itself, but of more of sweet anise (the name comes from the Latin for Sweet Cicely - myrrhis odorata). Myrrh scented roses are a bit Marmite - you either love them or you don’t - and have notes of liquorice. It’s quite a complex smell. Sceptr’d Isle and Gentle Hermione are both good bets. 

5. Tea

   Put all thoughts of PG Tips out of your mind. Tea roses have a rich, fresh black tea aroma. It’s a more ‘grown-up’ smell than some of the ‘old rose’ and ‘fruit’ rose scents, to our nose. They often have notes of violets and smell quite earthy in a pretty way. Lady Hillingdon and Lady of Shallott are both heavily scented tea roses - you can almost picture the women themselves sipping China tea underneath an arbour of peachy tea roses. 

Many rose varieties will smell of two or more of these types, so you can mix and match your favourites. And, of course, there’s much more to it than that. Some have chocolate notes, or honeysuckle. Some burst with citrus or undertones of smoke. Take time to stop and smell the roses and you’ll find yourself on an olfactory journey that never ends. 

If you’ve been inspired to plant your own rose garden or just add a rose to your garden, read our feature Coming Up Roses in our June ‘Flower’  issue, in which Kendra Wilson advises on modern ways to feature roses in your outdoor space. 

The June issue is in shops and available from our online store now.

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5-minute gardening

Daunted by your garden? Try taking it five minutes at a time

We were really inspired by Laetitia Maklouf’s feature on ‘little by little’ gardening in our March issue - the concept of spending just five minutes in the garden each day. We’ve all been out doing our little-by-little jobs every evening as the days get longer and seeing a real change in our gardens already. 

Here are a few ideas for jobs you can do in five minutes that will help add up to a beautiful outdoor space by the time summer’s here.

1. Weeding. Pop on your headphones, a podcast, a pair of gloves and tackle one small patch of earth, maybe just a square metre. Don’t get distracted by anything else, just concentrate on your patch.   

2. Plant out forced bulbs. Have you got hyacinths languishing indoors? Don’t throw them away, try re-planting them outside.  

3. Trim and tie down anything climbing before it comes into leaf and 

4. Turn your compost if it needs it, or just tidy up your compost area so it’s easy to get to with food waste. This week is National Compost Week so there’s no time like the present.

5. Pop some pots of whatever is flowering at the moment by your front door so you can enjoy them every time you go in or out. 

You can read all about Laetitia’s little-by-little gardening ideas on p102 of the March issue or in The Five Minute Garden: How to Garden in Next to No Time (National Trust Books).

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How to | Plant a fruit tree

Bare-root fruit trees can be planted from October to March. Here’s how to start your own orchard

Dig a hole, no deeper than the roots but at least three times the diameter of the roots system.

Prepare the soil by loosening it at the bottom of the hole and then mixing in some organic matter. Tease out the roots prior to planting and place in the hole.

Refill with soil, making sure that any gaps around the roots system are filled. Small trees won't need staking but larger ones will.

Firm the soil and water the tree in well, continuing to water regularly for the first year. 

This advice was taken from a feature by Simple Things’ gardening guru Cinead McTernan. For more inspiration on growing fruit trees (and eating from them), pick up our February issue, which has wisdom on all things orchard from Raymond Blanc, including the secret to the best apple crumble in the world…

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In praise of potting sheds

Because it’s about more than the soil and seedlings

There’s no denying it, a potting shed is endlessly useful. As well as being a spot for bringing on seedlings, it’s a place to work on your own soil, keep all your tools neat and tidy and have your seed packets and catalogues stacked away….

But that’s not really why any of us have a potting shed, as any fool knows. For the uninitiated, and those not yet fully throwing themselves into potting shed life, here’s what they’re really for:

1. Having a grown-up wendy house. No one truly gets too old to appreciate the joy of a tiny little house of one’s own to pass the time in, play in and arrange ‘just so’. A place no one else will try to invade (because it’s too darn small).

2. Keeping your most delicious comestibles. If you’ve any kind of sense you’ll kit out your potting shed with a few essentials. Nothing too fancy. You don’t want to arouse interest. Just an old Thermos you can take out full of boiling water, a nice enamel mug, a small box of a few interesting herbal teas, and most importantly, a thoroughly uninteresting looking old biscuit tin in which to secrete cakes, biscuits and other treats. A cup of tea and a slice of fruitcake never taste so good as when they’re secret.

3. Hiding from your nearest and dearest. Yes, we’re sure they’re lovely but sometimes we all just need to disappear for an hour. The potting shed offers that ideal combination of being outside the four walls of the house (thus putting off potential ‘company’ happening upon you) but not actually off the premises (so you don’t strictly speaking have to tell anyone you’ve gone there. If you slip up the garden like a ninja it could be a good half hour before anyone notices you’ve gone.)

4. Communing with spiders. Because somehow they count as welcome company rather than unwanted intruders. You might look askance at your other half trying to muscle their way into your potting shed but Gerald?! Well, he came with the bricks. And he’s always there to lend a hand (or eight) when needed. Gerald’s welcome to stay.

5. Enjoying without distraction. Do you find you only ever really do the whole crossword, get stuck into a book or sit and listen to the afternoon play on Radio 4 when you’re not in your own house? That’s likely because there’s always a job you ‘should’ be doing to take the place of what you want to be doing. Get a potting shed and suddenly all that laundry that needs folding, the drain that needs unblocking and the spuds that need peeling for dinner disappear! Out of sight out of mind, see? Who knows? Perhaps by the time you skulk back indoors someone else will have done the chores for you! We live in hope.

6. Doing some Proper Pottering. After all where can you truly potter if not in a potting shed, sniffing the unmistakable smell of compost, sweeping up, scrubbing the odd pot and arranging seed packets. There’s no place where it’s easier to be gently useful and relaxedly occupied.

If you’re already yearning for a potting shed of one’s own, pick up our July issue, which has instructions on how to make your own potting shed in a day (like the one pictured above). It’s small but very easy to put together and there’s enough room for you, a newspaper, a comfy stool… and Gerald, too.  

The project is adapted from Upcycling Outdoors by Max McMurdo (Jacqui Small). Photography: Brent Darby.

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My Plot | Natural born swimmers

Sarah and Will Murch dreamt of wild swimming in their garden. So they turned a disused patch into a tranquil pool, now a haven for wildlife a well as their family.

'Every time I visit the pool, I am blown away by its magic; it always surprises me. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dull day, windy or sunny – it is always beautiful and every time I swim, I am gobsmacked that we built this. The wildlife that is drawn to the garden is a big thing for me. Sitting by the water and seeing the swallows dip and the dragonflies hover is pretty amazing. It is also the place we all come together as a family – we are all drawn to the water. It is where we gravitate, it calms and revitalises, and not just when swimming in it but also by being beside it. It is a very special place.'

Turn to page 110 of September's The Simple Things for more on how Sarah and will created their pool.
 

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Six medicinal herbs worth growing

The brains behind medicinal plant nursery Barefoot Botanicals are the growers behind August's My Plot. Marina and Ross explain how they turned a rough patch of land into a field of flowers - the ingredients for their nursery and herbal clinic - on page 114 of August's The Simple Things. 
 
Here, they share six medicinal herbs worth growing:

Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) 

Traditionally used: for menstrual disorders and diarrhoea.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) 

Traditionally used: to relieve stress and anxiety, insomnia, digestive complaints and flu.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Traditionally used: to relieve stress and anxiety, colic, IBS and insomnia.

Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)

Traditionally used: as a sedative; to ease whooping cough and to relieve eczema.

Cowslip (Primula veris)

Traditionally used: to relieve coughs, rheumatism, asthma; or as a sedative.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) 

Traditionally used: to relieve sore throats and respiratorytract infections.

All plants available from barerootbotanicals.ie

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My Plot | The 7 layers of a forest garden

Edible forest gardens imitate the tiered structure of natural woodlands, but have a higher proportion of edible species.

When creating a forest garden, it is important to ensure enough light reaches the lower layers for healthy plants and maximum yields. The seven primary layers are:
1 Upper canopy The tallest tier is typically made up of standard fruit trees, nut trees and trees that fix nitrogen. Only suitable for large gardens.
2 Sub canopy, or canopy trees for smaller gardens: mid-sized trees, including most familiar fruit trees.
3 Shrubs Bushes that produce berries and plants that attract pollinators and offer habitats for wildlife.
4 Herbaceous plants A perennial layer including some herbs and medicinal plants.
5 Ground cover Low-growing edible and often nitrogen-fixing plants which enrich the soil and help control weeds.
6 Underground plants Edible roots and tubers and micro-organisms including fruiting fungi (mushrooms).
7 Climbers or vines Plants that trail along the ground, over branches and up into trees and shrubs.

Taken from The Garden Awakening by Mary Reynolds (Green Books).

Turn to page 114 of July's The Simple Things for more from this month's My Plot - how Claire Leadbitter turned a bare paddock into a forest garden.

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My Plot | Daily life at Freedom Cove

As innovative gardens go, this water-borne home and veg patch takes some beating. In western Canada, Freedom Cove is a world filled with greenhouses, produce and art

Catherine King and Wayne Adams met in 1987 and immediately felt a connection through a shared love of nature and art. When they came across a pile of storm-strewn lumber in Cypress Bay, on Vancouver Island, they saw an opportunity to turn it into a home. Today, Freedom Cove has a lighthouse, four greenhouses, a dance platform, smokehouse and a candle-making workshop.

Daily life at Freedom Cove

We both get up around 7–8 am. In spring and summer, the first thing I do is check my plants to make sure they have enough water, open my greenhouses, and water any plants in propagators in the house while Wayne gets the fire going.

We eat breakfast together, then I do household chores and Wayne tends to the generator or solar system. Once I have done my bodywork – pilates, tai chi, or yoga – I head out to the garden to pot up plants, sow seeds, weed, prune, and do general maintenance.

We have lunch together and then focus on our art. We both carve, and I write, paint, dance, play musical instruments and sing. I am also a healer, so people come out to Freedom Cove to see me or we speak over Skype.

Wayne is constantly repairing water lines, painting, rebuilding damaged areas, repairing greenhouses, doing boat- and chainsaw-maintenance and getting firewood. He is also a fisherman, so spends a lot of time out on his boat. I am a vegetarian.

From June until September, tours come out to visit and we both show people around. We also make moulds of our carvings and turn them into beeswax candles, which we give to anyone who visits. In the evenings, after dinner, we’ll either work on a creative project, Skype with family and friends, or watch a movie.

Turn to page 110 for more from Freedom Cove.

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Growing | My year-round cut flower guide

It's not difficult to fill your house with something flowery all year long. It just takes a little planning and imagination.

On page 106 of May's The Simple Things, Francine Raymond shares her productive small garden in Kent, including this guide to a year-round cut flower guide.

January 
Indoor bulbs planted in October come into their own. This is the time to enjoy narcissi, hyacinths, cymbidium orchids and amaryllis. 
February 
Flowering cherries, sweet box, daphne, helebores and mahonia are fragrant additions to the home. Pussy willow, hazel and birch twigs add interesting structure to any vase. 
March 
I snip branches of pear before the buds burst: the warmth of the house brings them into leaf and bud. 
April
Time for tulips. I like to display them in a row of little glass bottles or bunched together in a crate.
May 
One of my favourite plants, auriculas, flower now. They can be brought indoors and displayed on a windowsill out of direct sunlight. 
June 
Sweetpeas flower in abundance this month. I keep picking to ensure there are plenty of blooms.
July 
Lavender is at its headiest now. Once bees have finished with the flowers, I clip off the stems and put them in a big basket.
August 
Succulents are at their best in August. I put pots of sempervivums and sedums on the kitchen table. 
September 
Now is the time to forage hedgerows for berries to display. A few sloe branches and some rosehips add extra colour.
October 
I grow pumpkins for decoration, then pile them high in the porch and festoon them with Virginia creeper.
November 
I press the heart-shaped leaves of cercis between sheets of paper; and dry seedheads and flowers for festive decorations. 
December 
I take cardoon heads and little pumpkins and turn them into nightlight holders.

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Growing | Ways to attract wildlife to your patch

The Butterfly Brothers aka Jim and Joel Ashton have been designing, building and taking care of wildlife gardens, often in urban areas, since 2006. Find out more in our feature on page 116 of May's The Simple Things or read on to discover 12 ways to attract wildlife to your patch. 

1 A patch of nettles can support more than 40 kinds of insects, as well as birds, which come for the autumn seeds. They’re also a food source for peacock butterfly larvae.
2 A feeder close to shrub cover is a safe place for birds to feed.
3 Hoverflies love the flowers of the native guelder rose (Viburnum opulus), and birds, its red berries.
4 Rowan trees are valuable to a number of moths, their caterpillars feeding on the leaves; the spring flowers attract pollinating insects, while birds love its autumn berries.
5 A variety of sprawling trees, shrubs and climbers attract foraging and sheltering birds, as well as provide potential nest sites.
6 A small pond in a sunny spot is a haven for all kinds of wildlife, including frogs, toads and newts.
7 Hops are a rich source of nectar for all kinds of insects, while the dense growth provides birds with shelter and nesting opportunities.
8 Long-flowering valerian is a good steady source of nectar for bees, butterflies and moths.
9 Essential for the humans: a seating area from which to watch the creatures’ comings and goings.
10 An alder tree attracts birds such as goldfinches and siskins with its seeds; caterpillars love the leaves.
11 A lawn left to flower is a haven for bees and other pollinators.
12 Open fences let hedgehogs roam.

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My Plot | Greenhouse advice

Every gardener craves a big, beautiful greenhouse. Julie King, who owns an enviable one in Suffolk, tells us how it gives her year-round blooms and much pleasure

• Decide how you are going to use your greenhouse before you plan it. I like to grow flowers in a greenhouse bed, so only have staging (a shelf on legs) down one side. You might want more floor area for seating or more staging for seed sowing.
• Choose your site carefully. My greenhouse faces south but is shaded by a tree on summer afternoons so it doesn’t overheat.
• Try to include water and electricity in your plan. Being able to have lighting and a heatmator propagator will extend the winter use of your greenhouse greatly.
• If your budget extends to blinds, fit them on the outside of the glass. Your greenhouse will be much cooler if you can stop the glass from heating up too much.
• Most flowers find the heat of the greenhouse too much in summer, but tender vegetables, such as chillies, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines, thrive in the hot, humid environment. l Herbs that are grown in pots outside can be brought inside and will continue to grow all winter if you place them on a heat mat. Rhubarb and strawberries can also be brought inside in January for an early crop.
• Include as many cold frames as possible in your greenhouse plan. Young seedlings that are kept in a greenhouse too long will be very tender and may not thrive when planted outside. Cold frames are basically mini unheated greenhouses sitting directly over the soil and are an ideal place to harden off your young plants.

Turn to page 106 for more greenhouse advice from this month's My Plot. 

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Moon planting | Biodynamic gardening

Planting with the moon needn’t be a space odyssey. A little know-how goes a long way. Hear how Kate Turner and Will Heap grow biodynamic fruit and veg and raise free-range hens on their allotment - turn to page 112 of June's The Simple Things for more and read on for the biodynamic basics

Biodynamic gardening is similar to organic gardening in that they both work in harmony with nature, but biodynamic growing goes one step further. In a nutshell, soil fertility is enhanced with specific herb, flower and mineral preparations, and fruit and veg are grown according to the rhythms of the planets and moon. Crop rotation, rich compost and companion planting are also used to produce food that is stronger, tastier and has a higher yield. The basic premise is that you put more into the garden than you take out. We love gardening this way and have seen some great results, but it’s not meant to be a dogma and we don’t get bogged down by it. For us, the allotment will always be about the simple pleasure of getting our hands dirty and the joy of eating our own veg.

THE‘PREPS’: biodynamic preparations are specially formulated natural remedies that have various jobs to do around the garden. Yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion, valerian, equisetum, horn manure and horn silica preparations help to enliven the soil and increase the vitality of your crops. Make them yourself or buy ready- made from the Biodynamic Association UK.

MOON GARDENING: you don’t need to be an astronomer to garden by the moon – biodynamic gardening calendars are available to guide you. They suggest the best times to do allotment jobs, such as planting and pruning when the moon is descending, or harvesting when the moon is ascending. Sowing seeds just before the full moon is always a winner on our allotment.

CROP ROTATION: we rotate on a four-yearly cycle based on groupings of leaf, root, fruit and flower, each representing the part of the plant that we want to enhance and eat.

COMPOST: an amazing way to enrich your soil, literally putting back what you’ve taken out. Adding biodynamic preparations to your compost heap is also the most effective way of getting their benefits into your garden and onto your plate.
 
CPP: short for ‘cowpat pit’ and a brilliant natural fertiliser. We have a sunken half- barrel in the corner of our allotment that we fill with cowpats from a local farm. Add the preparations and cover; let it quietly rot down before using anywhere and everywhere on the allotment.

COMPANION PLANTING: widely used in both organic and biodynamic gardening to discourage pests and disease (see The Simple Things Issue 59). Try planting nasturtiums with broad beans to lure blackfly away from the crop, or chives with carrots to discourage carrot fly.

LIQUID TEAS AND NATURAL FERTILISERS: simple plant-based sprays to boost the health of your crops and stimulate growth. Submerge a sack of comfrey and nettle leaves in a water butt to create a potent (and very smelly) liquid fertiliser.

DYNAMISING LIQUIDS: vigorously stirring liquid manures and plant ‘teas’ into a vortex before use is thought to enhance the vitality of the liquid and strengthen the benefits for your plants. Our children love to see who can create the biggest whirlpool in the bucket!
 

HELP AT HAND

The Biodynamic Association UK: Great for advice and ready-made preparations.

Calendars: The Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar is the most comprehensive. lunarorganics.com sells a simple version with a booklet to help get you started.

Biodynamic seeds: Stormy Hall and the Seed Co-operative produce top-quality open-pollinated seeds.

Books:
Biodynamic Gardening by DK, featuring advice from Kate and Will.
The Biodynamic Year by Maria Thun (Temple Lodge Publishing).
Biodynamic Gardening for Health and Taste by Hilary Wright (Floris).
Gardening with the Moon & Stars by Elen Sentier (Earth Books).
 

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Garden hacks | Make a colander hanging basket

An old colander can be turned into a nifty hanging home for dry-loving plants

YOU WILL NEED: 
Water-permeable liner
Scissors
Old metal or plastic colander
Strong ropes or chains
Hooks strong enough to hold a container of plants and water (try your garden centre) – one per hanging basket
Compost
Water-retaining crystals
Slow-release fertiliser
Container friendly plants such as herbs, ivy or succulents

1 Cut the liner to fit snugly in the colander, then attach your rope or chains.
2 Screw your hook into where you’re hanging the colander from. 
3 Combine your compost with the crystals and fertiliser.
4 A little compost goes in the bottom of the colander, before you position your plants. Then secure around the plant roots with more compost.
5 Hang it up, and make sure to keep it well watered.

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Growing: Edible perennials plan

Even if your garden is really tiny, it can still produce an abundance of delicious food. All you need is a planter and a plan.

We’ve all been there; you get lots of seeds you fancy but are not sure when, where or how to plant them, so you just stick them in soil, water, and hope for the best. If you don’t succeed, it can be hard to work out why.

Some plants grow well together, others don’t. Some crops will need other plants to give them shelter and support to grow to their best, others prefer open space and to be left alone to get on with it.

With natural planting, you create a diverse pocket of wildlife in an urban space and one that will provide rich tastes, colours and textures.

If you follow the simple planting plans on page 105 of May's The Simple Things, you’ll realise how easy growing your own food can be. They are designed for 1 sq m raised beds but are scaleable and feature plants that work well together, as nature intended. If you don’t like a particular vegetable then replace it with something similar that likes the same conditions. The plans allow you to grow several crops at different heights, each of which provide symbiotic benefits, resulting in more food. This means less watering, no digging, few weeds and no chemicals. Result! 

Below is a plan for edible perennials. 

PLAN 4

Perennial possibilities

If you don’t have a lot of time, or just think that growing annuals is a bit of a waste of energy, then you could grow plants that keep going for years and years, and indeed only get better over time.

Plot make-up

·      At least 4-6 hours of full sun

·      Water every other day

·      1-2 hours a week of your time

·      Eating your veg within 25-30 days

Plants you’ll be growing

A word of advice…

Consider using a portion of your plot for perennial crops, which live for a long time so you’ll only need to plant them once to get harvests for many years. They’ll also need less watering once they’re established, as they will develop more extensive root systems than annual or biennial crops. Some of these vegetables, such as the artichokes and asparagus, will actually need a few years to establish before you can harvest them, but after that they will go on and on. Others, cavolo nero and rainbow chard, for example, should provide you with a crop within a season, but they are perennial so they should see you through many years. Fruit trees, like a delicious apple or pear, are a good perennial choice as they keep producing year after year. I'd suggest either going with rhubarb or a dwarf fruit tree. Even if you don’t have a lot of space you can grow these – choose a dwarf tree, place it in any container and it will fruit for you. Other fruit, such as strawberries, are perennial too and won’t need much attention either.

Taken from The City Grower by Matt Franks (Kyle Books) 

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Growing: A city allotment

Bloggers and enthusiastic veg growers, Ade and Sophie Sellars tell us about the joys of harvesting their own and life on their plot

Sophie and Ade took on their allotment three years ago to grow more veg. Little did they know that it would change their lives. Sophie used to organise film shoots but now writes about gardening and cooking, and Ade used to work in TV but is now a photographer and horticulturalist. Together they produce a blog Agents of Field, which won Blog of the Year 2016.

“If you are interested in taking on an allotment, contact your local council and see what the situation is. You might be lucky like us, and not have to wait. But even if you do have to wait, try growing things at home first. We still grow herbs and berries in our back garden, along with rhubarb, which we grow in pots. You can easily grow tomatoes on a sunny balcony, and a windowsill is great for herbs and microgreens.

“In January, when there was the big furore over the salad shortage because adverse weather conditions had affected supplies from Spain, Sophie planted some pea shoots on the windowsill in our living room, and we were harvesting our own salad three weeks later.

“Don’t be discouraged if something fails, there’s always the following year to try it again. I’ve grown most vegetables by now, to be honest, but it’s always exciting to try something new. See what takes your fancy and give it a go!

“We’ve had our allotment for three years, and it has become such a central part of our lives. I jokily refer to it as my ‘fortress of solitude’ – it’s where I go when I want to escape the bustle of London life. It’s taught me so much, and I have a real passion for growing things now, something I wasn’t remotely interested in only a few years ago.

“Since taking on the allotment, we’ve launched an award-winning gardening and food blog, I’ve retrained in horticulture with the RHS at Capel Manor and Regent’s Park, and I’m now embarking on a new career in garden writing and photography. It’s totally changed my life and I love it!”

Turn to page 108 of April’s The Simple Things for more of Sophie and Ade’s allotment advice, plus their recipe for Rhubarb and banana squares.

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The Herbery: A grower's guide

In a new series, Lia Leendertz picks herbs from her garden to cook in her kitchen. Could it be simpler? To begin, try these unusual ways with herbs:

• Plucking the leaves and chopping them into food is not the only way you can use herbs: when you grow your own, other possibilities open up.
• Many herbs have edible flowers that taste like a slightly honeyed version of the leaf. Basil, oregano and thyme flowers are all ambiguous enough to use as garnishes for sweet or savoury food, and chive, dill and sage flowers are beautiful scattered over savoury dishes and salads.
• Make use of seeds, particularly in their young and green stages, when they are like nothing you will ever be able to buy. Green coriander seeds in particular are pungent little flavour bombs and green fennel seeds are sweet, crunchy and aniseedy.
• Buy a packet of seeds (or, even better, collect your own) and you can sow them thickly and harvest within a week or so as micro leaves, to provide little punchy and flavourful garnishes. Basil, dill, chervil, fennel and chive all make excellent micro greens.

Turn to page 33 of March’s The Simple Things for more advice on what to grow and where.

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Give it a grow: Raspberries

WHY WOULD I?

Plant now, and you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your labour by summer – raspberry canes will produce fruit from their first year, and even more the next. They prefer sun, but do well in shade, too. You can also try them in large (60cm diameter) containers.

WHEN DO I PLANT THEM?

Any time from November to March for summer fruiting raspberries, if there’s no frost and the soil isn’t waterlogged. Plant each cane 60cm apart, about 8cm deep. In a container, plant a few cm from the side, equally spaced, and ensure they’re kept well watered. 

HOW DO I KEEP THEM ALIVE?

Make sure soil is never too dry or too waterlogged. In spring, add a layer of manure around the base of the canes and you can water them with tomato feed as they fruit. In late autumn cut every cane that has borne fruit that year to about 25cm from the ground. It’s upsetting now, but will make for a more fruitful bush next summer. 
 

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Gardening: How to attract butterflies

Plant a few pollen-rich flowers in your garden and watch it come alive with butterflies and bees

Turn to page 108 of July's The Simple Things for our feature on how to open a nectar bar in your garden, and follow the ideas below.

1. Leave a few fallen fruits on the ground. In late summer, butterflies, such as the Red Admiral and Painted Lady, will feed on fruit juices in fallen over-ripe pears, plums and apples.

2. Avoid pesticides. If you’re struggling with pests, you can make your own organic sprays (see Issue 48 for recipes) that won’t harm insects or the environment.

3. Don’t forget caterpillars. Stinging nettles, thistles, holly and ivy are good sources of food and act as hosts on which butterflies lay their eggs. 

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Give it a grow: Beetroot

WHY GROW THEM?

Don’t let the memory of eating that tasteless, shop-bought pickled beetroot put you off growing this wonderful vegetable. Try it roasted, blended (check out Ottolenghi’s incredible puréed beetroot with yoghurt & za’atar recipe) or raw to enjoy its delicious, earthy flavour, as well as benefit from all the vitamins packed within. It’s also one of those crops that can be harvested early as a baby vegetable, or left in the ground to grow to any size between a golf and a tennis ball.

WHEN TO SOW?

Sarah Raven recommends soaking seeds in warm water for half an hour before sowing in the veg patch or container. For a constant supply, sow every three to four weeks from March to July in a sunny spot and good soil. Sow thinly, so crops have a chance to form juicy bulbs, in rows about 30cm apart. You can sow more densely and pick the leaves as a tender, tasty salad crop.

WHEN TO HARVEST?

Crops are ready about 12 weeks after sowing, though pick earlier for a smaller, sweeter crop.

WHICH ONE?

‘Burpees Golden’ for its colour, ‘Chioggia’ to delight diners with its candy stripes, ‘Albinia Vereduna’, which is white so won’t stain hands and ‘Boltardy’, which, as it sounds, is bolt resistant. 

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