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The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bogs and dogs: Chelsea flower show puts practical gardens in spotlight
Frisbees, solar panels and a toilet are among the rather unorthodox stars of the Chelsea flower show, as horticulturalists attempt to show how gardens can be practical as well as beautiful. The event, now in its 112th year, usually tends toward showcasing peonies and roses over human waste. But the Garden of the Future, designed by Matthew Butler and Josh Parker, features a lavatory that creates a biochar compost perfect for growing vegetables. 'It converts the solids into a biochar and then the liquids into a water that is safe to use on the ornamental planting,' Butler said. Brandishing a small pot of the substance, he added: 'That's from the toilet. So it's like a light friable soil. There's a little drawer next to the toilet, you pull it out, and the contents can be used on the garden to help improve the crops.' His garden also prominently features a ground-mounted solar panel, which powers an irrigation pump. This year has been very hot and sunny, with areas of the UK experiencing early stages of drought, making irrigation especially important. In response to weather extremes brought on by climate breakdown, the garden features drought-friendly crops that can be grown in home vegetable patches. 'Our chickpeas have been growing well,' Butler said. 'We both grow them at home ourselves too, and sweet potatoes, which are becoming a more common crop in the UK; farmers [are] growing sweet potatoes in lots of parts of the south.' Lucy Hutchings of She Grows Veg , who is exhibiting her perfect vegetables in the Great Pavilion at the show, has also been experimenting with drought-friendly crops. 'We are based in East Anglia, and it basically hasn't rained in a month and a half,' she said. 'Leafy greens tend to bolt in these conditions, and some have, so we are experimenting with drought-friendly varieties like amaranth.' The drought isn't all bad news though; while they can still be irrigated, it will be a brilliant year for tomatoes, Hutchings said. 'We're having to make sure that we water them, obviously, but they'll ripen quicker,' she said. 'It's going to be a fantastic season for tomatoes, and that little bit of drought actually really intensifies the flavour.' Frisbees and tennis balls are not usually a feature of the genteel event but Monty Don of BBC Gardeners' World brought both to his dog-friendly garden. Ned, the golden retriever, chased his toys around Don's creation, which features a special 'robust lawn' made for canine companions, flowers that are non-toxic to pets, and a pond for dogs to splash around. The BBC Radio 2 presenter Jo Whiley also brought her dog, which played on the lawn with Ned. Gesturing to the lawn, Don said: 'You can see it's looking quite trashed already. What it'll be like for the end of the week, I don't know, but it's a real lawn, and it's for dogs to play in.' Ned also helped him design the garden by creating pathways through the flower borders, Don revealed: 'If you look closely in the border, there are paths where the dog has weaved through.' He said a fox had already enjoyed these crumpled spaces, sleeping among the poppies on Sunday night. Queen Camilla, a dog-lover, was due to visit Don's garden along with her new terrier, Moley, which was adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, where the garden will be relocated after the show. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Though dogs are being celebrated at Chelsea, cats are not welcome in the SongBird Survival Garden. Susan Morgan, chief executive of the charity SongBird Survival, which sponsored the garden, said trees with spiky thorns were selected to put cats off climbing them and disturbing birds. 'Look at it – a cat wouldn't like climbing up that,' she said, pointing out a broad-leaved cockspur thorn. The garden is designed to welcome and support songbirds, which are in drastic decline in the UK. The garden is full of plants that produce berries for birds to eat, including blackcurrant and alpine strawberries, as well as pollinator-friendly flowers that attract insects, which are prey for birds. 'We also planted thick yew hedges, which are perfect for them to nest in,' Morgan added. She hasn't seen any songbirds using the garden yet, but there is evidence they have already been enjoying it. 'It's a bit busy here during the day, but there has been bird poo on the plants – we think they come at night. There's a blackbird on site we are hoping to attract when it's a bit quieter,' she added. Celebrities enjoying the gardens on the show's press day, which takes places the day before it opens to the public, included Cate Blanchett, Carol Vorderman, David Tennant and Judi Dench. The RHS Chelsea flower show is on from 20 to 24 May in the Royal Hospital gardens.
The Sun
26-04-2025
- General
- The Sun
Gardening expert's 99p Aldi hack will give you home-grown tomatoes all summer
Veronica Lorraine, Gardening Editor and Associate Head of Features Published: Invalid Date, THERE'S nothing like biting into a homegrown tomato - and if it's your first time growing your own you won't believe how different they taste from bland supermarket versions. Here in the UK all they need is a warm, sheltered corner and a bit of love and attention. 4 4 4 4 Traditionally you sow the seeds inside from February - or buy plugs to bring on in the greenhouse from now. But as with so much of gardening nowadays - the rule book has been thoroughly torn up - with all sorts of new and exciting varieties and techniques to get your tomato taste buds going. GROW FROM SHOP BOUGHT TOMATOES Gardening author Simon Akeroyd says in his Grow Your Groceries book: Cut a few tomato slices about 3mm thick Fill a container with Peat Free compost to about 3cm deep - you can use plastic grape containers - just make sure there's holes in the bottom. Place the tomato slices on the compost and cover with about 2cm with more compost Place on a warm sunny windowsill and water regularly When the tomato plants have formed true leaves transplant into individual pots Plant outside once the risk of frost has gone Grow Your Groceries by Simon Akeroyd is published by DK, out now. STORAGE TOMATOES Heirloom seed company She Grows Veg have introduced Storage Tomatoes to the market - which last for up to six months ONCE you've picked them! Founder Lucy Hutchings told me: 'They lack the gene that allows conventional tomatoes to self ripen quickly, which means once picked they take months to reach full ripeness - becoming sweeter and sweeter - so you can actually be eating fresh homegrown tomatoes on Christmas day and beyond in the UK.' PICK & JOY TOMATOES One for the urban/small space gardener - these are bred to go on your windowsill and will keep refruiting the more you pick. They're also nice and compact so you don't need much room. Available from Dobbies at £16.99 - worth their money for a whole summer of tomatoes. TOMATO 'FRAISE' Glossy, deep red strawberry shaped tomatoes - with an unbeatable shelf life - with sellers Suttons Seeds claiming they're 'tough against cracking and fruit drop for a more reliable yield.' From £2.99 a packet. REISETOMATE As recommended by Mitch McCulloch in his book The Seed Hunter - these look like a 'fused together bunch of grapes. I'm a gardening enthusiast – plant your tomatoes in late spring with a key companion, you'll deter pests from attacking He says: 'It was bred for trekking across the Andes - its' bobbly structure allowing segments to be torn off and the rest popped back into a bag without leaking juice.' Seeds are currently available on Amazon for £3.77. CORDON TOMATO 'GOURMANSUN' Yellow, big and beautiful, these spectacular Oxhart tomatoes produce large heart-shaped fruit, with golden orange skins streaked with red when they're ripe. Plugs available from Marshalls Garden froim £6.29 for three in May. TOMATO INDIGO ROSE 'The Black Tomato' These ' superfoods ' are loaded with antioxidants like blueberries, and specially bred for extra nutrition. They're also highly disease-resistant. Plugs from Thompson and Morgan from £9.99 HANGING BASKETS A great way of growing tomatoes without taking up much space is to buy a selection that can grow in hanging baskets. Not only are they a space-saver - but they also look great. Just make sure you keep them well watered as hanging baskets dry out quickly. YouGarden have a 'Tumbling Tom' tomato mix which produces hundreds of small, juicy yellow and red tomatoes all summer long. TOP TOMATO CARE TIPS MULCH - make sure you put a layer of mulch around tomato plants - to stop them drying out. SNIP Remove side shoots of cordon tomatoes regularly - so they're putting their energy into growing tomatoes instead of leaves. Bush tomatoes can be left. FEED Keep a regular feeding regime with tomato based feed (which can also be used all around the garden) WATER Tomato plants are thirsty and dry out quickly - keep a regular watering regime and if you're going away, get a neighbour to pop in and carry on. SUPPORT Tomatoes need a lot of support - you can build a cage support with bamboo canes and string HARVEST pick ripe tomatoes regularly to encourage more fruit PROTECT Tomatoes don't like wind so keep them in a sheltered spot
Telegraph
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The veg you've never heard of and should grow this year
Lucy Hutchings and Kate Cotterill aren't just green-fingered: they are pink, purple, red, yellow and orange as well. As the founders of heirloom seed company She Grows Veg, they specialise in a wildly wonderful range of unusual vegetables. Hutchings and Cotterill are passionate about introducing the British gardener to a world beyond commercial hybrid seeds, and thanks to them the humble veg patch has taken on exotic new dimensions. At the Chelsea Flower Show last year they won a gold medal for their beautiful arrangements of vegetables in the form of Renaissance paintings. 'We are opening people's eyes to the amazing Willy Wonka-style of vegetables that are out there,' says Cotterill, 47. 'And these varieties have been around a lot longer than what you see on the supermarket shelves, which have been bred for uniformity.' The friends and business partners met while on a garden design course at Beth Chatto Gardens in Essex eight years ago. Hutchings, 43, previously worked in fashion, but had started growing unusual vegetables and uploading pictures of them to her Instagram feed. Each time she would receive messages from gardeners wanting to know where she found them. In 2023 she joined forces with Cotterill, who left her career in marketing, to bring She Grows Veg to a wider growing community in the UK. The appeal isn't just novelty and appearance. They say the more unusual and colourful varieties also taste better and have a greater range of polyphenols (compounds in plants known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties). 'There is a perception that the more colourful veg is harder to grow, but that's not true. A black carrot is the same as an orange carrot,' says Cotterill. In an effort to dispel that myth, at Chelsea this year their theme will be 'Grow the Rainbow'. 'We're being told to eat the rainbow. We want people to go a step further and grow it. It's better for their wellbeing and the environment,' says Cotterill. Here are their top picks for what to sow this year. Mangelwurzel Mammoth Red A viral growing sensation on social media, this forgotten heirloom vegetable looks rather like Harry Potter's mandrakes. 'It was very popular in Victorian times because it is such an unbelievably reliable plant,' says Hutchings. Halfway between a sugar beet and a beetroot, this easy to grow, giant veg is delicious mashed, roasted or pickled. Sow from February to July. When sowing, direct plant seed at a depth of 3cm in shallow drills in full sun. Leave 20cm between plants. Harvest from May to November. Sweeter and less earthy than a beetroot, it will sit for a long time in the field. 'It is from the same family as chard so you get a long period of leaf cropping,' says Hutchings. One of her favourite ways to eat it is in a mangelwurzel tarte tatin. 'But you can also make chutneys with it. And if you get it really large, it's fantastic for fermenting. We have a wine recipe on our website.' Storage tomatoes Something that is popular in Italy but is yet to catch on in the UK is the storage tomato. 'We're working hard to change that,' says Cotterill. Storage tomatoes have a slight genetic difference from tomatoes we're used to growing, which means they have a very weak ability to self-ripen. Sow from April to May, and when the fruits are at full size in September to October, remove from the bush and hang them up. They will slowly ripen over winter and store for between two and six months. Keep them in cool, preferably dark conditions. 'You see them hanging from the rafters in Italian homes. It means you could be eating home-grown tomatoes on Christmas Day,' says Hutchings. 'You have to check them weekly for signs of spoil and discard ones that have. They are more resistant to spoiling though. And as they age they naturally dehydrate, leaving you with a crop of dried tomatoes akin to 'sun dried' if left long enough.' Use for cooking or eat fresh. French Bean 1500 Year Old Cave Bean This has the taste of a French green bean, but with a great story. These beautiful beans are said to be bred from a handful of ancient dried beans found in sealed ceramic jars in an Anasazi (an ancient Native American culture) cave-dwelling site. 'Miraculously, the beans germinated, resulting in this ancient and perfectly preserved variety of drying bean,' says Hutchings. Sow from April to June for harvesting from July to October. Sow close together, as little as 7cm apart, at a depth of 5cm. Plants should be efficient climbers, so will require little training. 'When eaten fresh they are stringless and delicious. If you let them mature on the plant until they are semi-dry, then they are great drying beans,' says Hutchings. 'They're good to have over winter, when usually there's just a lot of leafy greens.' Add to casseroles and soups. 'They have incredible health benefits in terms of fibre,' says Cotterill. Plantain You may recognise scrappy, hardy broadleaf plantain from dog walks. She Grows Veg stock two ornamental varieties, Plantain Purple Perversion and Plantain Variegata. 'They're considered future foods if our climate becomes more extreme,' says Hutchings. Sow from March to May for an almost year-round harvest. The plants enjoy full sun to part shade. 'It's a perennial, so once you sow it, you've got it forever,' says Cotterill. 'Some people grow them as garden plants, but both varieties are edible.' Young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked like spinach in the kitchen. 'They're great in soups, stews, curries and salads alike,' says Cotterill. Chicory Rose of Venice 'We have the most amazing supplier in Italy whose life's passion is preserving rare chicory varieties,' says Hutchings. This one in particular looks rather splendid. While growing it will be green, but once the frost hits in autumn it turns pink. 'It has the benefit of coming into its most beautiful stage of being at the point where everything else is dying. It's absolutely stunning and guaranteed to wow when it hits the dinner table,' says Cotterill. Sow from April to July, 1cm deep, and keep moist. Harvest from December to February. It's a perennial, so roots left in the ground when it's harvested will regrow. Enjoy fresh in salads if you like the bitter taste of chicory. 'Or you can griddle it with sea salt and olive oil,' suggests Hutchings. 'They also make fantastic cooking leaves, so putting it in something like a risotto helps to remove the bitterness as well.' Dahlia Bishop's Children You probably already grow dahlias in your garden, but do you eat them? It might be time to give them a try. After all, they were originally imported from their native Mexico not as an ornamental plant but as a root vegetable. 'When we planted them and they grew these spectacular flowers, everyone forgot what was going on below,' says Hutchings. There's no need to buy tubers. 'Dahlias are easy and cheap to grow from seed,' she says. Sow from February to April, germinate at 20–30C on the surface of damp peat-free compost and just cover to a depth of around 5mm. Grow on in cooler, well-lit conditions for 10–15 days before planting out after all risk of frost, 30cm apart. 'When you dig it up you can take off some of the large tubers to eat. They are like a new potato but more fragrant,' says Hutchings, 'and you would approach cooking them in the same way.' Over winter the rest of the cluster of tubers and replant in spring. Then you've got a perennial root crop. 'They make a fantastic rosti,' says Cotterill. 'You don't have to peel them, they're very thin-skinned. Just rub off the worst of the soil.' Edible Beef & Onion Tree A tree with leaves which, when they are tender and fairly young, taste exactly like beef and onion crisps. 'Honestly, you would not believe it. It's quite extraordinary,' says Cotterill. Otherwise known as the Chinese Mahogany tree, this deciduous, often multi-stemmed variety has pretty, salmon-red leaves that turn green in summer, and white flowers. Sow at any time of the year in a propagator or warm place. If planted in the ground, the tree can reach a height of 8 to 12 metres in 10 to 20 years. 'It's very satisfying growing things like trees from seed,' says Hutchings. 'It's a pretty tree as well. It has its place in an ornamental garden too.' Enjoy the leaves from April to June, eaten raw in salads or cooked in stir-fries. They can also be dried and used as a seasoning. 'They are widely eaten across Asia,' says Cotterill. Carrot Manpukuji Another viral superstar, these giant carrots are fit for a giant bunny. Originating from Japan, they grow up to 1.5 metres in length under the right conditions. Developed 400 years ago in Japan's Edo period, the Manpukuji nearly became extinct in recent times but was saved by heirloom seed enthusiasts. Sow from April to July in open ground or in a deep container such as a bin. 'Like a normal carrot, they like a 50/50 mix of compost and sand; that's important if you're to get the length,' says Hutchings. Thin seedlings to 2–4cm apart, then to 10cm (5cm for baby carrots) to prevent crowding and deter carrot fly. Harvest from August to November. 'They remain sweet and tender even at large sizes,' says Hutchings. 'We love them salt-baked. Or you can chop them up and use them like a normal carrot. One will feed the whole family. The great thing about root vegetables is that you can leave them in the ground until you're ready to harvest them, so you can be eating your own carrots all winter.' Hyacinth Bean Ruby Moon More commonly grown as an ornamental plant, this perennial climbing plant is also known as Lablab. It produces fragrant flowers much like a bean, followed by striking vivid purple pods. Sow from March to May, 1.5mm deep, and grow in full sun. Plants hate to be root-bound so be prompt with potting up. It is also a voracious climber that will need propping up. 'The ultimate 'edimental' to grow in your borders, they're a fantastic choice if you've got something like an arch that you want to cover,' says Hutchings. Harvest from July to October. The beans can be slow to swell inside the pods, so harvest when you can feel the swollen bean inside. 'You have to cook them as they have a certain amount of oxalic acid in them. Treat them like runner beans,' says Hutchings. 'They can be used as a drying bean as well and are superb when cooked in curries.'
