Stephanie's Garden Blog

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.

Themes at this years RHS Chatsworth Flower Show centred on mental health, reconnecting with nature and the creation of biophilic meditation spaces. The Harrod Horticultural Moon Gate Arch was a stunning feature on the Gold Winning 'Space Within' Garden.

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.

The kitchen garden is thriving and a lot of work has been done this week, the celery and celeriac have been planted in their final positions and seem to be very happy. The last of the courgette plants have been planted now too

It's been lovely in the kitchen garden this week plenty of blue skies and sunshine, this of course means no rain and an awful lot of watering, as this has been a week of planting.

Finally, the temperatures have improved enough to start planting in the kitchen garden, this week I have planted out the sweet potatoes, Dwarf French green beans, Runner beans Enorma, Peas Norli and Kelvendon wonder, sweet peas, Dill and Parsley.

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.

So, this week I want to talk about companion planting in the kitchen garden, companion planting is a must for organic gardeners as it is the natural way to control pests and aids pollination, plus it looks really pretty