How to prevent veg from splitting
Some vegetable plants are prone to splitting – particularly root veg like carrots and beetroot, as well as fruits like tomatoes and some brassicas, including cauliflower and cabbage. The main…
Author: Rocket Gardens
Strip tomato leaves for a better crop
Once you’ve got a few trusses of green tomatoes on your plants, it’s a good idea to strip off some of the excess foliage. This will help the plants to…
Struggling to grow tomatoes outdoors? Diary of a Rocket Gardener
So, this year is the first year in a long time that I’ve not had a greenhouse (it is falling apart and I really need to dismantle it safely ahead…
Excellent Follow On Crops for Pots…
If you’ve already harvested spring onions, lettuces, beetroot and even potatoes from pots and containers, then there is still time to plant up again for a quick second flurry of…
Quick Growers for Summer Planting
To make the most of the summer, pop some quick growing veg plants in the ground or in pots in the next week or two. Some, like wild rocket and…
Check for eggs (& caterpillars) regularly
Absolutely the best way to avoid caterpillars from chomping through your brassica crops is to regularly check for eggs over the next few weeks. Even if they are growing under…
How to feed plants over summer
As we come into the full swing of harvesting season, with tomatoes forming, beans and peas cropping, sweetcorn cobs developing and so on, it’s time to start feeding plants regularly….
Harvesting Onions (and Shallots)
If you planted onion plugs in spring, you may find that they are ready for harvesting in July. Here are a few tips to help you get them ready for…
Courgettes & Squash – Male Flowers Come First
When Courgette, Squash, Pumpkins and Cucumbers start to flower, they normally produce male only flowers for a week or so… The male flowers, which you will recognise as there is…
When to harvest baby sweetcorn
One question we get at this time of year is about growing and harvesting baby sweetcorn and whether or not they can be treated the same as regular sweetcorn. In…
Some Compost is Better than others… Diary of a Rocket Gardener
I’ve had an interesting time this season, watching some plants absolutely thrive (salads, brassicas, leeks, parsnips, beetroot – they are all looking super!) and then watching other plants struggle to…
Slow-growing? It’s not just you…
You may be finding that your veg has been growing slowly, or even barely growing at all, this summer…. especially the heat-loving crops like sweetcorn, squash, courgettes, beans, tomatoes and…