Stephanie's Garden Blog

I have been busy preparing the bed for our autumn carrots by sieving the top layer of soil to make it as light as possible and to remove all the debris. It was a very stony bed which is no good for carrots, this has delayed the sowing of the carrots but hopefully they won't mind to much.

The weather has been extremely hot here with glorious sunshine, which has meant I have been doing lots and lots of watering. But the vegetables have loved it and are growing really well and getting big especially the sweetcorn which has now got kernels, not quite ready for picking yet but I think it is going to be a very good year for sweetcorn.

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.

It has been an exciting week in the kitchen garden as we have been doing the photography for our upcoming catalogue. We have had our raised beds, obelisks and plant supports re-photographed and some new product ranges still to be announced.

We have been busy preparing for a photoshoot this week and everything is now looking lovely with the hedges trimmed into shape and lots of weeding and tidying done. It is very satisfying to look round the garden and see what has been achieved with all our hard work.

If you have a sunny patio you can grow an amazing variety of fruit and vegetables in very little space. You won't be self sufficient but you can certainly make a good contribution to your kitchen table.

It has been a very good week in the kitchen garden everything is growing well and yielding lots of produce. We have red currents, spinach, courgettes, broad beans, rhubarb, sprouting broccoli, and cucumbers and the shallots are ready to be lifted and dried.

This week in the kitchen garden it has been a week of planting out, the last of the runner beans (Enorma) have been put in. This year we are doing more successional sowing, to give a longer harvest period and to hopefully avoid a glut of any one vegetable.

The last of the cauliflower (Romanesco) has now been planted out under the cover of butterfly netting to protect them from the butterflies, and the caterpillars that will eventually follow.