Stephanie's Garden Blog

Fruit Cages are becoming very popular additions to the garden as grow your own fruit and vegetable enthusiasts realize that you can harvest more of the crops you grow if you protect them from birds and other pests with a taste for something sweet in the garden.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be digging up our Desiree potatoes. Last week Jo dug up our other maincrop potatoes which were Cara. This is very early to be harvesting our spuds and we wouldn't normally do this until October, but we were unlucky enough to get Blight this year and had to remove the tops of the potato plants a few weeks ago.

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.

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!

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.

Designed with our RHS endorsed garden arch range in mind, Harrod garden pergolas are offered in a range of width and length options and as we've designed and manufactured the pergola range ourselves here in our Lowestoft base we can be sure the quality will exceed your expectations.

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.

Here at Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this week we will be planting our Christmas dinner. Our parsnips and sprouts have been growing since February and are looking very promising. We have also frozen some peas and runner beans to join them on our Christmas plate.

If August is holiday time for you, plans may be needed soon to enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden when you are away. August can be one of the hottest months of the year and this makes watering essential.