Stephanie's Garden Blog

Gardening with children is a great way to get some fresh air, exercise and have fun together. As the summer holidays approach, all parents and grandparents are probably looking for ideas to stave off the inevitable 'I am bored' statement for as long as possible.

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.

This week in we will be thinning out the apples and pears on our fruit trees. Nature has its own attempt at this job with the June Drop, where trees naturally shed some of its fruit. This is the time to go over the trees and thin the apples further to allow the remaining fruit to grow to its optimum size.

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 the Kitchen Garden, we will be planting out our leeks. Every year around this time, I walk around the garden trying to figure out where I will put the leeks that have been growing in cells in the cold frame as well as in neat rows in a seed bed

We've just harvested our first strawberries and there are many more ripening. This week we?ll make sure we have some organic cream ready in the fridge to enjoy them at their best.

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!

In the greenhouse, we will be keeping a very close eye on our plants. Whitefly has appeared in abundance on the leaves of our pepper plants and, although they still look really healthy, we are taking action to nip the attack in the bud.

Healthy plants will resist pests and diseases much better than those grown under stress, so it's important to adopt a good feeding regime to keep your crops happy. Leafy vegetables, such as brassicas will be treated to a top dressing of fish, blood and bone every six weeks.