A Year in the Edible Garden

A Year in the Edible Garden is a new, special edition from Gardens Illustrated for gardener-cooks. From herb expert Jekka McVicar’s essential culinary herbs to grow and eat, to the most flavourful vegetables from the Great Dixter kitchen garden and the best British apple cultivars, the team at Gardens Illustrated has cherry picked the best ideas about what to grow to eat. Jojo Tulloh’s seasonal picking and eating ideas provide month-by-month inspiration, and also included are a practical year-round sowing and growing guide, and suggestions for the best new kitchen garden kit. Whether you are a novice or experienced gardener-cook, or simply someone who would like to grow a little more of what you eat, I hope you will find A Year in the Edible Garden an invaluable addition to your outdoor…

James Alexander-Sinclair is one of the UK’s foremost garden designers Louise Allen runs Garden and Wood with her partner Piers Newth Peter Bauwens is a nurseryman who co-owns De Nieuwe Tuin nursery in Belgium Caroline Beck is a cut flower grower in County Durham Tom Coward is head gardener at Gravetye Manor in East Sussex Charles Dowding is an organic grower and the guru of no-dig gardening Jason Ingram is a photographer and winner of the Garden Media Guild Photographer of the Year 2019 Jodie Jones is a former deputy editor of Gardens Illustrated Lia Leendertz is the author of the seasonal guides: Almanac Jekka McVicar has been growing herbs for more than 30 years and runs a herb farm near Bristol Andrew Montgomery is an awardwinning photographer and regular…

March In the garden Some years ago a friend brought me several packets of vegetable seeds back from India. There were pusa navbahar (cluster beans), two types of brinjal (aubergine), dudhi (bottle gourds), palak (spinach), pusa sawani (okra), chilli and white radish – enough for an entire allotment’s worth of Indian vegetables. The seeds were beautifully packaged; the plant names spelled out in black, in old-fashioned typefaces and illustrated with drawings of vegetables. Too beautiful to use, they sit in the letter rack on my desk, now long out of date. Though no seeds germinated, the idea of an Indian allotment stayed with me. This year I plan to do it. First came the thought of a windowsill packed with bright-red, orange, yellow and purple chilli peppers. Then came the…

Herbs quite simply transform a meal into a feast – they not only make the food look and taste appealing, they also stimulate the digestion and are one of the essential ingredients that make a meal come alive. Furthermore, they look beautiful in the garden or in containers and, as many of the culinary herbs are from the Lamiaceae family, including thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, mint and basil, they are very attractive to bees and butterflies. Of all the herbs I grow, the one I believe is most synonymous with summer is basil (including Greek and Thai basil, described on page 16). It conjures up thoughts of the Mediterranean, sitting outside on a warm evening and sharing a meal with the family, be it pizza, where the basil can be…

All vegetables produce flowers, even though most people with a vegetable garden have never seen them. When we look at vegetables as flowering plants, there are roughly two types. Most vegetables produce flowers in order to form an edible product. Peas, beans and pumpkins are examples. So when you cut these flowers, you don’t get the food. The second group will only produce flowers if you leave them alone. So, if you leave the last of your radishes, a few side shoots of your broccoli or a few leeks in your garden, you will get a second ‘crop’ in their flowering stage. However, while all vegetables produce flowers, not all of them are suitable for cutting. The following are suggestions of those that do work well and can create stunning…

Choose your sowing method Direct sowing If you are sowing seeds for vegetables that have tap roots, such as carrots, parsnips and turnips, or simply don’t want the hassle of replanting your seeds from trays, direct sowing is best into weed-free, relatively fine soil. If planting in rows, draw your trowel or tool edge along the soil to create a shallow channel. Sow seed thinly according to the seed packet instruction, then draw the soil back over the seeds and gently water. Alternatively, if your seeds are of a reasonable size to handle individually, you can use a dibber or pencil to create small holes and space your seeds out accordingly, evenly dispersing them over your prepared area. Label at both ends of the row to avoid confusion when spring…