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We've been busy during the autumn developing and testing our new Harrod Slot and Lock? range of connectors, low level strawberry cages and rock-solid vegetable cages. The new innovative Slot and Lock fixings spell the end of costly cage collapses when the tubing slips out of the connector - they do exactly what their name implies! Read all about how the Slot and Lock connectors ccan improve your gardening experience, the cage permutations we offer and plenty more in our Slot and Lock press release...

It?s not only the Chelsea football team who celebrated a West London twin triumph last month as table topping mail order gardening suppliers and manufacturers Harrod Horticultural have scooped a memorable award double at the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show!

Versatile is a term often bandied about when it comes to describing garden equipment but in the case of Harrod Horticultural's Slot and Lock? connector and crop protection cage range, it's a title well merited.

My husband and I have used black aluminium poles and slot and lock fittings to make a bespoke raised curved pond cover to protect from herons. We would love these photos to be on the website to show the versatility of the fittings.

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.

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.

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.

It is challenging times we are all facing at the moment but the garden offers some sanctuary. The plants are unaware of the current crisis and continue to grow and bloom as they normally do and we continue to care for them.

It has been a week of wind, rain and low temperatures which has made gardening a challenge. When the risk of frost was announced I was worried we would lose the younger more tender plants but we covered them in a weather protecting fleece and so far, they have survived.

March has seen the Kitchen Garden emerge from the long winter into spring and the burst of growing activity that it brings. We have experienced a very dry month in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden with some lovely spells of sunshine. However the temperatures have struggled and it is only now, at the end of the month that the warmth of the sun is beginning to be felt.

May started with refreshing rain but that did not last long. It was a hot and dry month, so much so that it was the driest since 1896!

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.

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.

Although the week started very dry and warm, towards the end of the week and into the weekend we had some very welcome rain in the Kitchen Garden.

We have had some windy days this week with more challenging weather forecast for us for the weekend which will mean we will have a lot of debris to clean up next week.

Powdery Mildew has struck our courgettes in the Harrod Horticultural HQ garden...

Back from the brink our nearly frazzled courgettes are now looking much healthier, the sunshine and showers this week has been great for them.

Spring has finally sprung in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. As I write this the sun is shining and the sowing season has begun in earnest. Whilst frosty weather still threatens, the days are getting longer and the darkest days of winter seem to be behind us.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden, we will be sowing seed outside this week. In our Superior Raised Beds, we will be sowing 'Amsterdam Forcing', an early variety of carrot. These will be given protection using a PVC cover and Hoops kit to keep them warm and snug whilst they germinate.

No kitchen garden in complete without a row of beans swarming with bees and covered in delicious beans. Such a versatile vegetable, and so easy to grow.

The Royal Horticultural Society's Lawrence Hall in London is the venue for the 2012 Garden Press Event which represents the perfect way to banish the winter gardening blues and get the lowdown on what's new in gardening. Visit Harrod Horticultural on stand H56 for a unique chance to see the most exciting and innovative developments to their extensive gardening range for 2012!

The Royal Horticultural Society's Lawrence Hall in London was the venue for the 2012 Garden Press Event - an annual event which represents the perfect way to banish the winter gardening blues and get the lowdown on what's new in gardening. Our horticulturist Martin Fiddes sends this report...

You could sense the excitement from the buzz around the crowd that the long-awaited project was finally open for the world to see. The glorious weather helped to bathe the Wellbeing Garden in all its glory and the stage was set perfectly for the ribbon to be cut by Sir Nicholas Bacon, Baronet OBE (Deputy Lieutenant).

This week in the Kitchen Garden, we will be starting to harvest our early potatoes. These were planted way back at the end of March. They have flowered and their haulms are now turning brown. There is nothing quite as good as the taste of freshly dug new potatoes - a delicious meal just by themselves.

This week has been very productive in the kitchen garden the first of our broad beans have been harvested along with some very juicy strawberries and the rhubarb I feel like a crumble might be on the cards the only decision is cream, custard or ice-cream.

There is nothing better than picking - and of course eating - fresh strawberries from your own garden and with Wimbledon approaching it is strawberries and cream all round!

This week In Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we will be planting out some winter broccoli in to new vegetable cages. We have two identical cages put up side by side. One is covered with white insect mesh and the other in covered with new black insect mesh. We are running a trial to see if the plants grow differently according to the colour of the mesh.

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.

Every year we spend a lot of time deciding on the planting plan for the Kitchen Garden and this year we have brought this to life with colourful illustrations of how we hope the garden will look when everything is in full growth.

Every year we spend a lot of time deciding on the planting plan for Stephanie's Kitchen Garden and this year we have brought it to life with colourful illustrations of how we hope the garden will look when everything is in full growth.

In the past, cauliflower was often overlooked, ranking low on the list of veggie favourites and relegated mainly to frozen vegetable medleys or crudite platters. But these days, the mild but delicious white vegetable is growing in popularity, thanks to its versatility.

Nothing comes close to home-grown peas for their tenderness and taste. What’s more, peas thrive in cooler climes, so are perfectly suited to growing outdoors in the UK.

May has been a busy month in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. Lots of sowing and planting out has been done and the garden has gradually transformed from brown to green as the month has gone on. We are still waiting for the hot sunny days of spring to arrive in our part of East Anglia and the cold nights have caused us some problems, but our crops look healthy and the new harvesting year has begun.

With March signalling the arrival of spring, I had high expectations for the weather. However, mother nature had other ideas. Aside from three bright, warm days the rest of the month was cold.

The season is definitely on the turn but to beat those late season blues, Harrod Horticultural have put together a feast of gardening products in our latest 116-page 2013 Catalogue.

Our team have been busy developing more exclusive Harrod branded products suitable for all gardeners. So whether you are thinking about getting your seeds off to an early start in the greenhouse or digging over your beds we are sure that you are bound to find something to help you in the Harrod Horticultural NEW 2014 range.

November is probably my least favourite month of the gardening year. No matter what your efforts, the garden always seems to look untidy; littered with fallen leaves and the skeletons of old crops. Spring and summer suddenly seem like a lifetime away and the short days seem to plunge us into constant darkness. It would be so easy to retire to the house and emerge again in the springtime. This, of course, never happens.

Summer is the season for growing fresh fruit and vegetables in abundance - and it really doesn't matter if you've got little or no space as our patio growing press release shows.

One of the most pleasurable things of early summer is picking and eating sweet, tender peas straight from the veggie patch. They are a valuable source of protein either raw or cooked.

The Harrod Horticultural garden is really starting to flourish, the sunshine and showers over the last week really seem to have helped and we are starting to pick our first peas of the season.

It has been a tricky time for us in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this month. The weather has certainly been providing us with some interesting challenges! Tender crops have been slow to get going and have needed some extra care and attention. However, as the month draws to a close, it looks as though the summer may well have arrived here at last. Let's hope it's here to stay.

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.

It has been another busy week in the kitchen garden planting out all the brassicas in our newly built cage, with sprouts, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower all being planted out.

We got some much needed rain over the last week at the Kitchen Garden, unfortunately forcing the photo shoot to be cancelled, but still lots to do to make sure the garden is looking its best.

As Autumn raspberry plants get taller and stronger they will need support from poles or a frame we have been specializing in fruit protection and growing frames for over 50 years and our exclusive product range is designed and manufactured here in our Suffolk factory.

The first of our rhododendrons has come into flower and looking beautiful next to the new laser screen panels, a perfect assimilation between nature and man.

It's our 14th year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and we thought it was a great time to look back at our stand over the years - things have really changed!

We are again proudly exhibiting at the 2013 RHS Chelsea Flower Show from May 21st - May 25th. As the RHS show celebrates its Centenary year, Harrod Horticultural also celebrates the 10th consecutive year of exhibiting at this prestigious, world renowned event.

What a fantastic week at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, great to meet so many customers and so pleased with our Product of the Year Award for our 'Stormproof' Slot & Lock Vegetable Cage.

It never rains but it pours! The word drought conjours up images of parched land and wilting crops but that's far from the case - and although the coldest, wettest April for decades delayed many of our Kitchen Garden planting plans, at least it topped up our numerous water butts. Find out how we've been coping with the 165% above average monthly rainfall and much more in our April edition of Stephanie's Kitchen Garden Diary...

As I am writing this the heavens have opened and there is a roar or thunder accompanied by a crack of lightning and I am reluctant to say is this the end of summer? We certainly hope not here in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden as our plants have got plenty of life in them yet - we still need some much yearned for sunshine to ripen them off...

It feels like deja vu reading July 2011's kitchen garden update - rain, rain and more rain. Our English summers seem to be having a common theme these days and the lack of sunshine is affecting our crops but as the saying goes England in this 'green and pleasant land', us gardeners will carry on gardening and we will get a good crop of vegetables this summer!

'Four Seasons in One Day' sang 80's-90's Antipodean pop stars Crowded House and that's not a bad way to describe May 2012! A start to the month which seemed more akin to February was in complete contrast to a scorching finale which saw our Kitchen Garden plants - and the weeds - go mad! The weather aside, it's been a great month with the culmination an RHS Chelsea Flower Show award double! Find out more below...

It has been all systems go in Stephanie's kitchen garden this April. The mild weather has got everything putting on lots of growth and is keeping us busy. The greenhouse has been a hive of industry and is currently packed with lovely healthy plants and seedlings. Outside, the pear arch is dripping with beautiful blossom and the apple trees are covered with pink buds ready to burst into flower. The growing season is well and truly underway.

August has been a month of extremes, beginning with hot sunny weather and ending with chilly autumn nights and plenty of rain. This has brought its share of challenges and kept us on our toes. It's been a month of successes and failures.

Spring has well and truly sprung in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this month. We've been enjoying some mild temperatures and the sun has come out at last. We've had very few frosts and the garden is beginning to awaken from its winter sleep. The birds have been enjoying the new feeding stations and, on sunny days, they are showing their appreciation by filling the air with birdsong. We've even seen our first bee!

Wow! What a month it's been. As the New Year came in we were basking in mild weather and now, as I write this, we have eight inches of snow! One minute we are opening the greenhouse door to ventilate it and then next we are covering everything in fleece to protect it from the extreme low temperatures. It's certainly a month for keeping an eye on the weather forecast.

Phew! What a scorcher July has been. Here in the Kitchen Garden temperatures have been soaring. Our crops have been thriving with so much sun and warmth and we have been harvesting aplenty. With the all watering, feeding and harvesting, it's been busy, busy, busy!

We are now well into the main harvesting season in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this month with trugs full of beautiful fruit and vegetables being delivered to the kitchen on a regular basis. The weather has been a healthy combination of hot, sunny and showers providing perfect growing conditions for all our crops.

At last the harvest has begun in earnest in the Kitchen Garden. It feels like it's been a long time coming as we are obviously delayed this year due to the weather. This month we have been harvesting kale, sprouting broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, salad leaves, spring onions, rocket, rhubarb and new potatoes. Picking lots of delicious organic produce is so satisfying and the very best part of kitchen gardening.

As I am writing this, the sun has briefly peeped through the clouds, an uncommon sight in the Kitchen Garden recently. We have been lucky enough to have escaped the latest load of snow, but a biting fierce easterly wind is dragging the temperatures down and we are suffering harsh night time frosts. Cloches and fleece have been our best friends in the Kitchen Garden, protecting our precious crops from the awful weather.

What a difference a year makes. Last year in March we still had snow and freezing temperatures and spring was nowhere in sight. This year, the garden is enjoying warm, sunny days and the crops are much further forward. We are harvesting broccoli, rhubarb, chard, spinach and kale and our broad beans are flowering and covered in bees. Our parsnip seedlings are already appearing through the soil.

We have had the perfect growing weather in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this month. It's been a mixture of warm sunshine and steady rain and the crops are really thriving. Unfortunately so are the weeds! And the pests are beginning to arrive as well....

We have had some really wild weather in the Kitchen Garden in November - high winds, storms, torrential downpours and generally wet, mild days. The winds have brought the leaves down off the trees in abundance, with plenty more still to come. As regular readers will know, I am not a lover of clearing leaves and wet ones are even worse! I am hoping that December will bring us some calmer, brighter days.....

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.

We've been enjoying an Indian summer in the Kitchen Garden this month. We have seen the longest dry spell of the summer and the irrigation all around the garden has been working hard to keep our crops happy. The warm temperatures have meant that many summer crops are still being harvested well into the autumn. It's certainly been a bumper harvest this year.

I always love all of our products and the different things we try to grow with them, but I have narrowed down my top 3 from May which have really helped things to grow and made gardening so much fun!

Spring bulbs will be fading now and the flower borders growing in leaps and bounds, summer is on it’s way.

It has been a month of storms, strong winds and rain, but still not as cold as it should be at this time of year. In the kitchen garden it has all been about tidying up and preparation for the upcoming growing season.

The last few days of February are at last drawing to a close and we enter my absolute favourite time of the year. The days are getting ever longer and the sun has some real warmth to it now. The promise of the growing season stretches out ahead of us as the green shoots of spring begin to emerge.

It has been another warm and dry week in the Kitchen Garden so once again watering has become a priority. Its a big job trying to keep the plants hydrated through this particularly dry spell.

You may be thinking, what are the benefits of purchasing a Harrod Horticultural steel fruit cage from us rather than from another company? Find all the answers here where we discuss the merits of a fruit cage, and with the many types available there is bound to be a style that suits your garden.....

Over the last week there seems to have been a surge in pests in the kitchen garden, with the calabrese plants being the worst hit by an unknown culprit!

With lots of activity over the last couple of weeks the Harrod Horticultural HQ greenhouse and raised beds are coming along really well, helped by the sun finally making an appearance!

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be planting out our Spring Cabbages. These have been growing away in our cold frame waiting for a space to become available in our vegetable cage.

This week it's all about the brassica's, planting out our sprouts, broccoli and kale now that the plants have been hardening off.

There are lots of jobs planned this week as the season gets into full swing - beans to be planted out, potatoes to be earthed up again and even more seed sowing!

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.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be planting garlic. This is one of our favourite crops and this year we are growing Picardy Wight and Carcassone Wight.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be planting out our broad bean plants and our shallots. These have spent the past week in the cold frame acclimatising to the weather and are now ready to be planted in their final growing space. The ground has already been dug over and fertilised with fish, blood and bone.

This week In Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we will be planting out our runner beans and climbing French beans. We sowed the seed in rootrainers in the greenhouse a few weeks ago and they are now good sized plants. Last week they were placed in the cold frame to harden off. Now that the night time temperatures have at last warmed up we can plant them out into the garden.

This week In Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we will be planting out our sweetcorn. The plants have spent the past couple of week in our cold frame waiting for the temperatures to warm up and hardening off. They are now big enough to survive outside. We will be covering them with cloches just in case a cold night threatens. These will be removed in a few weeks time.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be planting strawberries. Our existing plants are 3 years old and this year our crop was not as good as previously. Strawberries need renewing every three years to maintain a vigorous healthy crop.

It's an exciting time at the kitchen garden - some of our seedlings are starting to emerge in the heated propagator and really starting to get the feeling that Spring is on its way...

Here at Stephanie?s Kitchen Garden this week we will be setting up our irrigation ready for the coming season. We are currently experiencing a dry spell in East Anglia and haven?t had significant rainfall for a couple of weeks. Pots and beds are looking dry and we have already had to water our onion and garlic crops to try and prevent rust setting in later on.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be sowing spinach and chard into our mangers for overwintering. Our summer salad leaves are almost finished as they are beginning to succumb to the cold autumn nights. We will be clearing these and replacing them with winter crops. The mangers will then have their covers put on to give the seeds a snug environment to germinate in, as well as added protection over the winter.

This week In the Kitchen Garden we will be planting out the remaining tender vegetables currently taking shelter in our cold frame. Courgettes and squash will be planted out into the last remaining places in the garden. The garden will then be full with only small spaces for salads to be squeezed in.

Another year another golden opportunity to make this one the best yet! At Harrod Horticultural, we wanted to share our excitement with you about our variety of NEW products for 2013 as well as our NEW website too. There are plenty of inspirational, imaginative and practical products for the ornamental and kitchen garden boasting both traditional and contemporary designs and here's a few of the highlights