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This week In Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we will be turning on the heater in the greenhouse. We have had some cold nights forecast and our pepper and aubergines are currently bearing lots of ripening fruits. A cold night could set them back and jeopardise the harvest. Our heater is on a thermostat that we will set at 15 degrees. This will keep our crops comfortable for the remainder of the growing season.

The greenhouse is a valuable kitchen garden asset but to use it to its full potential you'll need to keep it frost free in winter, if not warm!

Greenhouse vents and greenhouse shade are essential for the warmer months to maintain the optimum temperature in the greenhouse and to prevent scorching. The 3 simple overheating prevention steps are ventilation, circulation and shading.

Last week in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we put up the bubble wrap up in our greenhouse. Up until now we had been very lucky with the recent mild temperatures allowing us the time to thoroughly clean the inside of the glass and supports before adding the greenhouse bubble insulation

As we move further into spring it's time to take off the bubble wrap in the greenhouse and give all the glass a good clean, before the plants get too big.

At last we have passed the Spring Equinox and this weekend will put the clocks forward which will give us all a precious extra hour of light at the end of the day to spend in the garden. The ground has been dug over, all of our structures have been cleaned and the garden is ready for growing. A whole new season lies before us and we can't wait!

After a warm, sunny and very dry month, the rain has arrived at last in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. The warm weather has been enjoyed by plants and gardeners alike and brought the garden on in leaps and bounds, but the lack of rain at a crucial time in the growing calendar has led to copious watering at a busy time. The welcome rainfall will restock the waterbutts and give the irrigation and watering cans a rest for a while.

It has almost been like summer, not spring, with the warm weather we have been experiencing. Most days there has been full sun and blue skies which has been brilliant as that has given me the opportunity to get out and really start clearing the flower borders and beds.

The HARROD SUPERIOR GREENHOUSE design is elegant, strong and built to be a serious working greenhouse with its 25 YEAR GUARANTEED ALUMINIUM FRAMEWORK. It delivers precision engineering quality throughout, sophisticated glazing techniques, vast amounts of ventilation, integral roof blinds on one side of the roof and a host of innovative features as standard that make it the best growing environment of any greenhouse available today.

The popularity of growing your own vegetables is soaring, with waiting lists as long as your arm for allotments and community groups establishing new vegetable plots asnd gardens all over the country.

What will you require? To gain the full benefit of a greenhouse, a source of heat (other than the sun) is essential. This level of heat varies greatly, from the bare necessity of preventing frost damage, to the expense of providing high temperatures for exotic plants.

Is there a way of combating the dull, overcast days of late winter and early spring and bring our plants on earlier than they should? Horticulturist Martin Fiddes thinks there might be...

It's during the winter and early spring that the greenhouse becomes the most valuable asset on your plot - and lining the greenhouse with insulating bubble wrap can save you money (50% on heating costs) and keep tender plants alive.

Stephanie's Kitchen Garden has been in the grip of dark, freezing conditions this month, but in the greenhouse tiny green shoots are already emerging: a little glimpse of spring in the depths of winter.

For many gardeners, a greenhouse is not just somewhere to grow your plants it is also a design statement. So if appearance is one of your main considerations then a Greenhouse would be top of your list. However, where simple practical covered growing space is required, you will be getting much more growing space for your money if you choose a polytunnel.

The long bank holiday may have been a welcome break for us, but many of our plants in the Harrod Horticultural HQ Greenhouse didn't have quite so much fun...

We used one of our two-tier, 173cm greenhouse staging units and loaded it up with bags of compost. Two bags per module became three, then the lower tier came into play until finally...we ran out of compost! But thats not before we calculated that each module was supporting a heavyweight 77kg of compost, far in excess of any normal greenhouse load.

Often regarded as the ornamental flower garden, kitchen garden or vegetable patch nerve centre, the greenhouse can easily get cluttered, disorganised and generally become a mess without the provision of greenhouse staging – and that kind of chaos is bad news for gardeners but good news for pests!

You may wish to customise your Harrod Greenhouse with some handy optional accessories such as greenhouse staging, shelving, and work trays and reservoirs, available to add to your order at the time of purchase or to add to your greenhouse at a later date

Two bags per module (the 173cm long unit consists of three modules) became three, then the lower tier came into play until finally...we ran out of compost! But that's not before we calculated that each module of staging was supporting a heavyweight 77kg of compost, far in excess of any normal greenhouse load.

This week we have given the greenhouse a good clean and tidy so it's ready for the less hardy plants to be overwintered and for some autumn seed sowing.

It may seem slightly premature to approach the subject of greenhouse vents whilst snow is lying on the ground in some parts, but there's nothing like being prepared! The sun will eventually gain warmth and temperatures will rise - especially under glass.

We are currently harvesting some lovely rocket, grown in the greenhouse over the winter months and thankfully, not reliant on the weather conditions abroad. The milder weather has brought with it a flurry of activity in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden, and from the forecast it would appear that next week will be much the same.

It is a good idea to line the inside of your greenhouse during the winter. It is economical and quick to fit and will frost-proof the structure and can also extend your growing season for up to 6 weeks

This week I have started some seed sowing ready for next year. I have planted a couple of different varieties of sweet peas ready for a spring display and the greenhouse has had a couple of new additions.

The clocks are going back this weekend leaving us with less working daylight hours and the first air frost has chilled the garden. Our newly planted winter crops are snuggled under fleece and cloches and our tender plants have already been moved into the greenhouse where the heater is keeping them safe from the cold nights ahead.

The customer service team were hard at work again in the greenhouse this week potting on cucumbers and also had time to put a slot and lock vegetable cage together to protect one of the raised beds.

At last we have reached the end of February and the Spring is about to begin. After the hard work of the winter, it?s time for the growing to really start. Inside the greenhouse this week, we will carrying out one of my favourite jobs of the gardening year; pricking out seedlings.

As we head into May, in our part of the world we would normally expect to be planting out some of our tender crops such as beans, courgettes and squash plants. However we are in the middle of a very cold snap and planting out now would be a disaster for these tender plants.

This week in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden, we are going to be installing a new raised bed in our greenhouse border. Over the past couple of years our tomatoes, grown in the border, have not performed as well as we would like.

It has been another week of tidying in the kitchen garden especially in the greenhouse. The long sweet peppers and bell peppers have been harvested and all the plants removed along with the aubergines and we have harvested an amazing crop of sweet potatoes.

The greenhouse is the central focus of our Kitchen Garden at the moment, as it is home to tray upon tray of seedlings and small plants.

Since planting up the self watering propagators in the greenhouse we are already seeing so great results...

Here at Stephanie?s Kitchen Garden this week we have been giving the greenhouse windows a thorough clean.

It's late in the year for ground frosts in our part of the UK and the cold nights are really holding us up in our planting out. Our greenhouse and cold frame are bursting with plants that we would normally have planted out by now.

Our greenhouse crops are coming to the end of their lives. The tomatoes have all been harvested and we will be clearing the old plants and consigning them to the compost heap. The pots, tomato towers, plant halos and slot and lock frame and will be brushed clean and set aside for scrubbing and cleaning during the winter months.

April has flown by in a blur of activity in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. As always there is much to be getting on with at this time of year and the typical April weather of sunshine and showers has encouraged green shoots all around the garden. As I write this, we have just experienced two days of wintry showers and freezing winds which proves that it isn't time to cast the clout just yet.

Despite the return of warm weather over the weekend, the cold nights we have had over the past week or so have had a definite autumnal effect on our summer crops. The tomato plants grown outside have finished their productive lives. They, along with their counterparts in the greenhouse which have also ceased fruiting, will be consigned to the compost bins this week.

This week in Kitchen Garden we will be pruning our blackcurrant bushes; the plants are now beginning to shed their leaves and showing signs of dormancy so it is an ideal time to give them their annual haircut.

All around the garden new growth is slow to emerge this year. Snowdrops are a good month later than we would normally expect to see them in flower and the daffodils are only just beginning to peek through the soil. In the Kitchen Garden overwintering crops are surviving under their cloches and fleece covers, but showing no sign of new growth.

The Kitchen Garden is really getting into swing now, harvesting, and most importantly eating, the forced rhubarb is a real early season treat!

With it set to be the hottest few days of the year so far, make sure you are doing all you can to look after your plants as they will be feeling the heat too!

The recent warm spell has seen one variety of garlic we planted in a raised planter which should still be dormant shown signs of early green shoots. If we do get a sudden cold snap, it may stop the garlic in its tracks.

The weekly harvest is becoming more bountiful as temperatures increase and overwintering crops begin to grow. We are currently harvesting rhubarb, kale, spinach, rocket and the last of the leeks.

Most of the month has been grey, windy and wet with only the occasional sunny crisp day to lift the mood. It would be so easy to hibernate indoors and leave the gardening jobs until fairer weather, but work done around the garden now will pay us back later in the year when spare time is more precious

This week In Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we have been sowing Mizuna, Mustard Greens, Winter salads and spinach in the greenhouse. We already have these growing in our mangers and raised beds, however we want to make the most of our heater and grow some in the greenhouse border where the tomato plants will soon be removed.

Well the week started with the clean up from last weeks gales and heavy rain, there were pine needles, branches and leaves everywhere. Armed with my wheelbarrow, spring tine rake and garden vac the gardens have now started to look much tidier. I never realised how deadly an unopened pine cone could be until I stood on one and found myself sliding to where I didn?t want to be.

With the remainder of the brussels sprouts now harvested, there has been lots of tidying and composting going on to get ready for another gardening year!

At last the snow has gone and the garden has returned to normal. Following a week of suspended animation, both the plants and gardeners are making up for the growing time that we lost. Green shoots are appearing everywhere and it is almost as if the big freeze gave our plants a boost; certainly the spring sunshine and warmer temperatures of the past few days have helped spur on new growth.

The first cold spell of the Autumn has arrived in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden, with overnight temperatures dipping dangerously near to a frost. The forecast is for colder nights to come. Outside in the garden, we have been quick to cover our tender with fleece and cloches, but this week it is the turn of the greenhouse for some much needed attention.

September has been unseasonably warm in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. For most of the month we have been experiencing heatwave conditions, with temperatures only returning to normal within the last week. The garden has loved it and sun loving crops such as sweet potatoes have thrived. Here on the East coast we have had very little rainfall; plenty being forecast but never actually reaching us.

September has seen the garden transform from the lush green opulence of summer to the soft golden decay of autumn. It never ceases to amaze me how the seasons change in a blink of an eye. One day we are experiencing gloriously hot sunny days and the next we are reaching for jumpers and wellingtons and reaching for cloches and fleece.

Seeds are shooting up in every seed tray and pot in the Greenhouse. The broccoli, brussel sprouts, aubergine, celery and celeriac have been moved into an unheated propagator to free up space for more seed sowing and tomato plants that have been potted on can now be moved into the raised border bed in pots.

You can certainly feel the chill of the autumnal air now and the leaves on the trees are starting to change colour and fall, you could begin to think that there is not much to do in the kitchen now but don't be fooled by the change of season as September was a busy month in the garden with a flurry of seed sowing, harvesting and general jobs to do before the chilly weather sets in. Read on to see what Lynn has been up to this month in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden.

We've had our first snowfall of the Winter in the Kitchen Garden this month. A beautiful white, festive blanket covering everything in sight. Jo quickly took the netting off our vegetable cage to prevent the snow from weighing the net down and causing it to sag. She also shook the snow off our Slot and Lock portable cages. Luckily we had all our tender plants fleeced and ready for a cold snap.

December has been a very productive month in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. The weather has been very cold, but also dry allowing us to crack on with lots of structural and maintenance jobs. It's an ideal time of year to make changes to the garden whilst most of it is in its winter dormancy and less likely to be damaged or disturbed.

November in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden has been a busy and eventful one. The weather has certainly kept us on our toes. We've experienced high winds and heavy rain along and later on, the first frosts of the year. But November 2015 will probably long be remembered as the month that box blight hit the garden.

The clocks have gone back, the days are growing shorter and the big autumn tidy up is well under way. However the weather has been unseasonably mild which has meant some plants are still producing a crop at a time when they would normally have been consigned to the compost bin. We are still harvesting courgettes at the end of October in Stephanie?s Kitchen Garden.

The harvest is in and our larder is now well stocked with squashes, potatoes and sweet potatoes. The freezer is full of French beans, runner beans, raspberries and blackberries. They should keep us going through the long winter ahead, along with the sprouts, leeks, celeriac, parsnips and broccoli still to be harvested.

September has been hot in Stephanie's Kitchen Gardenas and for most of the month the heatwave continued, with temperatures only returning to normal within the last week.

It is time to dig up our main crop potatoes in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden, during August, the entire crop was hit by blight; a common problem for growers this year. We cut the haulms right down to the ground and burned them.

The start of this week was still unseasonably warm and dry so regular watering continued in the Kitchen Garden and the greenhouse, but the end of the week saw the arrival of gale force winds that have wreaked havoc! The garden is full of leaves but they will remain until next week as another possible storm is coming on Sunday with some more much needed rain, even now the ground is still very dry when you dig down just a few inches.

Despite meteorological spring being only days away, we are still very much in the throes of winter in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. As I write, heavy snow is falling and the temperature is -1C. A blast of arctic weather is keeping the garden chilled and covered in snow. It has been a long winter in the garden and it's not over yet.