The National Trust cares for thousands of orchards around the country and has walled kitchen gardens galore, replete with trees and bushes bearing luscious, ripe and juicy fruit. Anybody who has tasted fruit picked fresh from the plant will appreciate that the flavour surpasses anything found on the supermarket shelves. This is partly because much shop-bought fruit is harvested before fully ripe to allow time for storage and transportation. Picking ripe fruit from the garden ensures that the fruit has fully developed its sugary richness and flavour.
Many of the National Trust properties grow local and rare varieties that cannot be found in shops. As the Trust is a conservation charity it is important that it maintains as many of these varieties as possible, not only because they provide a vital gene bank for future generations but also because behind each fruit variety is usually a rich cultural heritage belonging to a specific local area. The reason some of those apples thrive in those areas is because they are suited to the climate and soil types of a region, so growing local varieties really is the best option. There are more than 2,000 varieties of apples in the UK, and if you taste some of the more unusual varieties such as the aniseed flavour of an Ellison’s Orange apple or the exciting tang of a D’Arcy Spice you will never want to settle for a shop-bought apple again.
Vines trained along the walled garden at Barrington Court, Somerset.
In the horticultural world, ‘top fruit’ refers to fruit grown on a tree. The four main types are apples, pears, plums and cherries.
You do not need an orchard to grow fruit trees; all of those four types come on rootstocks that restrict the size of the trees. The 30 Surrey and Sussex varieties of apple in the orchard at Polesden Lacey are all grown on M26 rootstocks as their height of about 2m (6½ft) makes the picking of fruit easier. When you buy trees from a plant centre or online, always check your chosen variety is available on the type of rootstock to suit your garden.
The sizes are as follows, although the height does vary slightly depending on variety.
M27 Very dwarfing – 1.2m (4ft)
M9 Dwarfing – 1.8m (6ft)
M26 Semi-dwarfing – 2.1m (7ft)
M106 Semi-vigorous – 2.5m (8¼ft)
MM111 Vigorous – 5m (16½ft)
M25 Very vigorous – 6m (19½ft)
These are usually grafted onto quince rootstocks to restrict their vigour and size.
Quince C – 3m (10ft)
Quince A – 4m (13ft)
Pixy – 2m (6½ft)
St Julien A – 2.5m (8¼ft)
Colt – 4m (13ft)
Gisela 5 – 2.5m (8¼ft)
Apple trees can become enormous unless they are grown on a rootstock that will control their size.
The beauty of fruit trees is that they can be trained into a range of different shapes. This provides the most spectacular ornamental quality in any garden. Because fruit trees respond so well to pruning, it means their size can be restricted too (subject to the correct rootstocks). Here are some of the most common shapes for fruit trees.
Fan The branches are splayed out in a fan shape, usually against a wall but they can be trained on wires. Fruit suitable includes apples, pears, cherries, plums, gooseberries, figs, peaches, redcurrants and grape vines.
Cordon The tree or bush is trained as a single stem or trunk with short side shoots. Apples and pears are usually grown as ‘oblique’ cordons, at an angle of about 45 degrees to slow down the vigour. It is a great way of getting a lot of trees in your garden as they can be spaced as closely as 40cm (16in) apart. Fruit suitable for oblique cordons includes apples, pears, plums. Vertical cordons include gooseberries, redcurrants and grapevines.
Espalier This is probably the most attractive method of growing fruit in a garden. It is based on a single central trunk with horizontal, parallel tiers of branches trained out along a system of wires. Suitable fruit includes apples, pears, sweet cherries, plums, gooseberries, grapevines and redcurrants.
Step-overs As the name suggests, these fruit trees are so low to the ground that you can literally step over them. They are a wonderful method of lining a pathway or creating informal divisions between areas of a kitchen garden. Fruit suitable includes apples (only on M27 or M9), pears (with low vigour), redcurrants and gooseberries. Take care, though, when stepping over a prickly gooseberry.
Above, left A fan-trained cherry tree at Tyntesfield, North Somerset. Above, right An espaliered tree grows against the wall at The Vyne, Hampshire.
Above, left Summer pruning a step-over apple tree. Above, right A cordon of pear trees at BuscotPark, Oxfordshire.
Spindle trees/pyramid trees These are shaped like Christmas trees. The theory is that pruning a tree narrower at the top and wider at the base enables the sunlight to reach the entire tree with minimal shading. Trees suitable include apples, pears, plums and cherries.
Bush trees This refers to the traditional tree or bush with a central stem holding aloft a goblet-shaped structure of four or five main branches. These open-centre trees allow the air to circulate around the canopy, reducing pest and disease problems. When the trunk is particularly long it is called a ‘standard’. Fruit suitable includes apples, pears, plums, cherries, gooseberries and redcurrants.
Apples are one of the UK’s most popular types of fruit and with such a wide variety to choose from, it is hardly surprising. They can be grown in containers if space is an issue and by careful selection of varieties and suitable storage conditions it is possible to have fruit from mid-July through to late winter.
Apple trees are usually pruned during the dormant season, which is late autumn through to late winter, although espaliers, cordons and step-overs can also be pruned in late summer. Pruning should be carried out every year to remove diseased and dying wood, retain the tree’s vigour and encourage new fruit buds to develop. It also removes congestion, allowing sunlight into the canopy.
When buying fruit trees it is important to check the pollination group. Although some are self-fertile, usually at least two trees that will flower at the same time are required, so that pollinating insects such as honey bees can pass the pollen from flower to flower. Fruit is ready for picking when it can be removed easily from the tree without tugging. Fallen fruit on the ground is the best indication a tree is ready for harvesting.
‘Bramley’s Seedling’
‘Cornish Gilliflower’
‘Discovery’
‘Pitmaston Pineapple’
‘Ribston Pippin’
‘Worcester Pearmain’
A Discovery apple tree at Hardwick Hall.
Pitmaston Pineapple apples growing in the Orchard at Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire.
The soft, melting flesh of a freshly picked pear is irresistible, and the aroma and sweetness is unsurpassed by any other fruit. Pears have a reputation for being tricky to grow and it is true that their flowers can be susceptible to spring frosts, but if planted in a sunny, sheltered position they are just as easy to grow as apples.
Prune pear trees during the winter periods, removing congested branches and spurring back some of the new growth. Both apples and pears benefit from having their clusters of fruit thinned out, leaving two or three fruits to ripen fully. Pears are usually picked when slightly underripe and left to mature in storage. Check them over often as they can quickly deteriorate.
‘Beth’
‘Beurre Hardy’
‘Catillac’
‘Conference’
‘Doyenne du Comice’
‘Louise Bonne of Jersey’
‘Onward’
Tip
Most mid- to late apples and pears will store if kept in a cool, frost-free location such as a cellar, garage or shed.
Above Left Espaliered pears growing in the garden at Bateman’s. Above right Close up of unripe ‘Beth’ pears growing against a stone wall at Barrington Court.
An espaliered Conference pear tree at Buscot Park.
The Victoria plum is a favourite variety with many people, but there are a whole range of other delicious varieties too. In addition there are the closely related golden and green types called gages and other family members that include damsons, bullaces, mirabelles and sloes. The plums and gages are delicious when eaten fresh, whereas the others are more suitable for cooking or making jams.
They usually ripen from July onwards, although damsons and bullaces can remain on the tree until autumn. They are usually grown as freestanding trees but are often seen as pyramids, cordons and fans.
Plums are easy to grow as they usually just look after themselves. They do not require much pruning – just the removal of a few crossing branches each year to reduce congestion. All stone fruit (including also cherries, apricots and peaches) should be pruned when in growth, avoiding winter, as they can be susceptible to the diseases bacterial canker and silver leaf.
‘Blue Tit’
‘Opal’
‘Victoria’
‘Cambridge Gage’
‘Oullins Golden Gage’
‘Merryweather Damson’
‘Shropshire Prune Damson’
‘Langley Bullace’
‘Gypsy’
Above, left The orchard at Tatton Park contains varieties of fruit which are known to have been grown in Cheshire during the Edwardian period, including apples, pears, gages and cherries. Above top right Espaliered plums growing at Knightshayes Court, Above below right The distinctive blue fruit of ‘Shropshire Prune’.
Kitchen Gardens by Tracey Parker, Assistant House Steward at Polesden Lacey
The kitchen garden represents a common feature of large country houses and estates from the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The vegetable gardens would have been surrounded by high brick walls which prevented theft, but more importantly provided shelter and warmth. These walled gardens were expected to supply the country-house owners with a continuous and varied supply of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers every day of the year. Gardeners were required to grow strawberries in winter and salads all year round in sufficient quantities to help the house cope with any number of unexpected house guests.
Perhaps the most extravagant era was that of the Edwardians, who ate well and frequently entertained on a lavish scale. As well as being tasty, the food had to look amazing and the dessert trays were filled with beautiful fancies, fruits and other delicacies. Virtually everything that happened in the great Edwardian houses was about displaying wealth and enhancing the social status of their owners, and the fruit and vegetable gardens of the day were no exception.
An example of how the wealthy owners of these houses dictated what was grown is shown at Polesden Lacey. The Edwardian society hostess Mrs Ronald Greville expected the very best food and wine to be served at her famous weekend house parties. When strawberries were to be served, Mrs Greville requested that they all be of equal size and shape and laid on a bed of strawberry leaves.
In order to achieve this constant supply of food all through the year, a sophisticated combination of forcing, retarding and storage was employed to extend the growing season. Forcing, which means encouraging the plant to develop far earlier in the season than it would do normally, was widely practised at this time. Hot walls were a method of forcing and the protection of the walls themselves brought fruit trees into production earlier. Pineapples, figs, peaches, grapes, soft fruit, pears and apples were all grown to perfection, polished, prepared and taken to the house to be served and discussed at the dinner table like a fine wine or cigar.
In former times cherries were grown only in orchards on large estates and required huge ladders to pick the fruit, but thanks to dwarfing rootstocks they can now be enjoyed in the smallest of gardens. There are basically two different types; sweet cherries and sour cherries, of which morello is the most commonly known.
Sweet and sour cherries have different growing habits, which affect how they are pruned. Sweet varieties produce fruiting spurs on older wood, while sour cherries bear fruit on growth produced the previous year. Like plums and peaches, cherries should only be pruned when in growth to avoid contamination and diseases. In the past, gardeners used to apply an anti-fungus paint over the wounds, but this is no longer done as it is believed the sealing of the wounds actually caused more disease problems than it prevented.
Many cherry trees are self-fertile, which means you only need one tree to produce fruit – ideal if you have a small garden. Cherries come in a range of attractive colours, too, including black, red, yellow and orange. They are ready to pick when they feel soft to the touch.
Sweet cherries
‘Merton Glory’
‘Lapins’
‘Stella’
‘Summer Sun’
‘Sunburst’
‘Sweetheart’
‘Morella’
‘Nabella’
Cherry trees in blossom in April in Bohetherick orchard, near Cotehele Quay, Cornwall.
Figs are far easier to grow than most people think. Varieties such as the popular Brown Turkey are fairly hardy and will regularly produce bumper crops of sweet, succulent fruits from mid- to late summer. Having a Mediterranean origin, they do require a sunny, sheltered site, and are most commonly grown as fans on south-facing walls. In warmer countries the embryonic fruits are formed and ripen in the same year, but summers are not long enough in the UK. Therefore, baby figs over-winter in the tips of the shoots and become the ripe fruit for the following year. For this reason figs may need protection with a fleece or bracken during winter.
For figs to produce heavy crops of fruit they need to be treated mean – they should have their roots restricted by being grown in pots or surrounded by patio slabs. If the roots grow unimpeded the trees tend to make a lot of leafy growth at the expense of fruit. Restricting the roots makes them produce fruit as a defence mechanism to ensure they reproduce and survive.
‘Brown Turkey’
‘Brunswick’
‘Panachée’
‘Rouge de Bordeax’
‘Violetta’
‘White Marseilles’
A fig tree trained against the kitchen garden wall at Barrington Court.
Fig trees trained along a warm south facing wall in the walled garden at Stourhead, Wiltshire.
Tip
A fig fan is a traditional method of protecting the tree over winter. The fig is first pruned, then a net is placed over the fan-shaped structure. You can then cut bracken and stuff it between the net and the plant to ensure that the frost does not damage the over-wintering baby figs.
Surprisingly, peaches and nectarines are relatively easy to grow in the UK if they are given a warm and sheltered position. The best way to site them is as a fan on a south-facing wall where they can bask in the sun all day long. There are also compact patio varieties that are grown in a pot, kept on a sunny patio during the summer and then placed in the greenhouse over winter. Homegrown, they can be deliciously juicy.
Peaches and nectarines are essentially the same fruit, the main difference being that the former have a slightly fuzzy skin, whereas the latter are smooth. They produce fruit on growth produced the previous year and like their close cousins plums, apricots and cherries, should be pruned only between spring and late summer. Winter pruning makes them susceptible to disease.
‘Bonanza’ (patio)
‘Duke of York’
‘Garden Lady’ (patio)
‘Peregrine’
‘Rochester’
‘Saturn’ (a flat ‘doughnut’ peach from China)
‘Fantasia’
‘Lord Napier’
‘Nectarella’
Peaches growing in the garden in July at Chastleton House.
Apricots
Growing apricots outdoors is a relatively modern phenomenon in the world of fruit-growing, as traditional varieties such as ‘Alfred’ and ‘Moorpark’ struggle to ripen outside. Modern varieties such as ‘Flavourcot’ and ‘Tomcot’ are much hardier and more likely to ripen in the fickle climate of the UK. They are still usually seen as fans on south-facing walls, but they can also be grown as freestanding trees.
Glasshouses by Tracey Parker, Assistant House Steward at Polesden Lacey
A development of the sixteenth-century orangery, glasshouses played a crucial role in the intensive production of fruit and vegetables. By the nineteenth century they were common in almost all kitchen gardens, enabling the gardeners to grow every conceivable type of fruit, vegetable and flower. Forcing houses, vineries, peach houses, pineapple pits, cold frames and pits were all used in the quest to produce out-of-season food for the grand houses and could be found in the walled kitchen gardens in varying numbers, depending on the size of garden and household. The glasshouses were nearly always placed along the south-facing wall of the gardens, mostly as a lean-to in order to take advantage of the full sun and the brick wall warmed by it.
At Cragside in Northumberland, during the late nineteenth century, Sir William Armstrong devised a system of growing fruit in his greenhouses that used turntables. These enabled the trees to be rotated during the day to make full use of the sun and ensure an even distribution of heat. Sir William also developed a layout of railway tracks in the greenhouse to enable the fruit trees to be transported outdoors when necessary. He achieved this by making the floor of the greenhouse out of timber with wheels placed underneath. These wheels ran on tracks which extended far outside the greenhouse to allow the platform with its load to travel into the open air. The system was set in motion by turning a wooden handle. Both of these inventions used hydraulic pressure.
The term ‘soft fruit’ refers to fruit grown on bushes, herbaceous plants and canes, as opposed to top fruit that is grown on trees. There are fruits to suit everybody’s taste, from sweet and succulent strawberries to aromatic raspberries and sharp blackcurrants. Growing soft fruit is easy – it can be grown in small areas and you do not need to worry about pollination groups and rootstocks. In the garden, you can pick the fruit at its peak of ripeness. Soft fruit does not last long once picked, and this is why homegrown tastes so much better than the punnets found on shop shelves.
Most soft fruits are perennial plants, so it is important to give thought to their final planting hole as they will occupy that position for several years. The majority require a free-draining soil in full sun, but there are some exceptions – for example, gooseberries and redcurrants will tolerate shade and north-facing walls, and cranberries like damp conditions.
Most top and soft fruit are suitable for growing in containers. Mini-orchards can be made by planting three or four trees in terracotta pots on a sunny patio, while strawberries can be grown in planters or even in hanging baskets. Use a good-quality, peat-free potting compost and make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom of the container, with crocks covering them to prevent them becoming clogged up with soil.
Plants in containers will need watering each day during summer, so it is a good idea to install a water butt nearby. Check plants regularly for pests and diseases and give them a liquid feed every couple of weeks once they start to flower and produce fruitlets.
Slightly tender plants such as figs and citrus fruits can be grown in pots and then in winter moved back into a greenhouse, conservatory or even shed for winter protection.
Above, left Terracotta pots provide an attractive container to grow fruit in at Ham House. Above, centre Picking redcurrants in the kitchen garden at Calke Abbey. Above, right Citrus fruits growing in the glasshouse at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire
Pineapple pits by Tracey Parker, Assistant House Steward at Polesden Lacey
By the eighteenth century Britain’s gardeners were growing pineapples, and as this required considerable skill to achieve it was a signifier of status. The pineapples took about two years to mature and needed a high heat of 21–27°C (70–80°F).
The pineapple pit was essentially a development of the hot bed, but set into the ground for greater insulation, lined with brick and roofed in glass. It was filled with waste tanners’ bark, which ferments to create a higher and more even temperature than manure. The pineapples were grown in pots plunged into the bark. The heat could then be augmented by heated flues or by fermenting horse manure laid outside the pit. With constant improvements in technology the later nineteenth century saw the introduction of hot water boilers which were used to heat the pits. In Georgian England the pineapple motif was used architecturally, especially on gate piers to depict a sign of wealth and welcome.
For the gardener, strawberries offer almost instant gratification; you can buy them from a garden centre in spring and by summer you can be gathering your first harvests of this delicious soft fruit.
There are two main types of strawberries: the traditional summer varieties that come into season in late spring and finish by mid-summer, and the perpetual strawberries that produce smaller crops throughout the season from summer right through to early autumn. The latter are excellent for extending the season so that you can enjoy strawberries from your garden for much longer.
In addition to these there are also the alpine types, which are more similar to the wild type of berry, with an incredible sweetness and aroma. They produce tiny berries, usually red but also yellow and white, and are often used as annual plants to edge pathways and the sides of vegetable beds. Strawberries are perennial plants that require full sun and a well-drained soil. They are usually grown in strawberry beds, but can also be cultivated in containers, planters and raised beds. Planting them in growing bags is another good option, but they will require regular watering.
If you are planting them directly in the soil, they should be given a distance of 45cm (18in) between each plant. Ensure that the crown is level with the surface of the soil – if it is too deep, the plants will rot. You will need to put netting over them to prevent birds pinching the berries before you harvest them and also lay straw beneath the berries to prevent them rotting on the ground. Alternatively, grow them through plastic mulch, which also suppresses weeds and retains moisture. Strawberries can be forced to crop about two weeks earlier by growing them under polythene cloches or placing them in the greenhouse.
‘Alice’
‘Cambridge Favourite’
‘Elsanta’
‘Florence’
‘Pegasus’
‘Pineberry’ (white berry with a hint of pineapple flavour)
‘Symphony’
‘Aromel’
‘Flamenco’
‘Mara des Bois’
‘Alexandria’
‘Mignonette’
Strawberries grown at Fenton House and Garden, London.
Tip
The strawberries at Polesden Lacey are grown in bags of peat-free compost, raised on wooden planks to save the backbreaking work of weeding around these low-growing perennials. There is a trickle irrigation system rigged up to the water butts to ensure they do not dry out. Raising them also means there is no need to place straw under them to prevent them rotting on the ground.
You could be forgiven for thinking that gooseberries are hard, hairy, acid fruits that make your eyes water just at the thought of eating one. If so, think again, because those gooseberries were the unripe fruits picked before they had developed their full flavour. A fully ripe gooseberry has one of the most delicious soft fruit flavours. They come in in a range of sizes and colours, ranging from the small, sweet, yellow Golden Drop to the huge red dessert variety London, which simply bursts in your mouth with amazing sweetness and flavour.
Gooseberries can be grown in sun or shade, as a bush, step-over, standard or a fan on a north-facing wall. There are many historic varieties to try, and a good number can be squeezed into a tiny space if they are grown as vertical cordons. Prune them in winter to encourage new growth, reinvigorate the plant and remove any diseased wood. They will need protection from birds with a net during summer and their roots will need watering regularly to prevent them suffering from American mildew. Some varieties, including Invicta, have some resistance to this disease.
The unusual white currant ‘White Versailles’ growing at Calke Abbey.
‘Captivator’
‘Careless’
‘Invicta’
‘Lancashire Lad’
‘Langley Gage’
‘Leveller’
‘Pax’
‘Whinham’s Industry’
All of these currants are basically the same plant, simply with different-coloured berries, and should be treated in the same way. Redcurrants are often overlooked in the kitchen garden as people think of the fruit as sharp and unpalatable. However, when cooked they can be made into delicious sauces and pies and of course they add that bit of acidity to summer pudding.These currants also contribute a fantastic ornamental quality to the kitchen garden, with their stunning long trusses of berries.
Currants have practically identical growth habit and requirements to a gooseberry. They can be grown as a bush, cordon, standard or step-over and because they tolerate shade, they can make an attractive feature as a fan on a north-facing wall. They should be pruned when dormant in winter but will also benefit from a summer prune to prevent the branches snapping and to allow the air to circulate, which will prevent the build-up of pests and diseases.
‘Jonkheer van Tets’
‘Junifer’
‘Red Lake’
‘Stanza’
‘Blanka’
‘White Versailles’
‘Gloire de Sablon’
These plants are as tough as old boots and will constantly reward you with a bumper crop of shiny, black and aromatic fruits each year. They are famed, of course, for blackcurrant cordial, but they can also make delicious additions to pies, preserves and jams when cooked.
This member of the currant family has a completely different growth habit to red, pink and white currants. They are nearly always grown as stool bushes, meaning they are planted deep in the soil to encourage lots of whippy, young shoots to emerge directly from the ground. These young shoots are the ones that will produce the fruit in subsequent years. This growth habit makes them unsuitable for growing as cordons, step-overs or any other trained form.
Pruning is carried out each year in winter, although they also benefit from a quick trim in summer too. Harvesting the berries can be a laborious process, as they need to be picked individually, with the older varieties ripening at the top of the bunch (or strig) first, and developing further down later in the season. Currants need netting in summer to prevent the birds harvesting the fruit before you do. When the shoots are laden with currants in summer they will probably need supporting with string and canes to prevent the branches snapping or collapsing on the ground.
‘Baldwin’
‘Ben Connan’
‘Ben Lomond’
‘Ben Sarek’
‘Big Ben’
‘Ebony’
Above, left Blackcurrants grow in abundance during the summer months. Above, right It is a good idea to grow blackcurrants under netting to prevent birds from stealing the fruit.
Both blueberries and cranberries require an acidic soil to grow successfully. If you have rhododendrons and camellias in your garden, then you can grow these delicious berries too. In really alkaline and chalky soil it is very difficult to cultivate them, but neutral soil can be made more acidic with the addition of sulphur chips or plenty of mulched bracken and pine needles.
Cranberries have a further requirement in that they require a damp, almost boggy soil. This can be achieved by planting them with a pond liner below them to help retain moisture. However, it is worth puncturing the liner with a fork first so that the water can slowly drain away and does not turn stagnant.
Blueberries are grown as bushes and should be pruned once a year in winter time. Birds love them, so it is a good idea to put a net over them well before the berries turn blue. Cranberries produce their fruit later in the year, often cropping around Christmas time – the reason why their sauce is an accompaniment to the Christmas turkey. Cranberries require minimal pruning, just occasionally trimming about a quarter of the old straggly growth. Do this in late winter after it has fruited and prior to it flowering. Mulch both blueberries and cranberries at their base with rotted pine needles each year to help suppress the weeds and more importantly to keep the soil acidic and moist.
Blueberries and cranberries will grow happily in an acidic soil.
‘Bluecrop’
‘Bluetta’
‘Jersey’
‘Patriot’
‘Spartan’
‘Top Hat’
‘Early Black’
‘Pilgrim’
The aroma of a bowl of freshly picked raspberries really does epitomise summer living. They are relatively easy to grow, and in fact almost too easy, as once they have been planted in the kitchen garden they tend to sucker everywhere. They are very hardy, and are happy growing in cooler climates of the UK such as Scotland. They like well-drained soil in full sun with plenty of organic matter in the soil. Ideally, they prefer it slightly acidic but will tolerate neural or moderate alkaline soil. Raspberries are usually grown in rows and require a support structure of sturdy posts with wires to train them on.
There are two types of raspberries – summer and autumn. It is important to know which type you have got as they have different fruiting habitats and getting them mixed up could result in removing all the potential fruit for the year. Summer-fruiting varieties produce fruit on canes that grew the previous year, whereas autumn types crop on growth made the same year. Autumn varieties are cut down to the ground each year in early spring, whereas summer types have their new canes tied in after fruiting and the old canes removed.
‘Glen Ample’
‘Malling Jewel’
‘Octavia’
‘Tulameen’
‘Allgold’
‘Autumn Bliss’
‘Joan J’
‘Polka’
Autumn-fruiting raspberries.
Yellow raspberries plants at Westbury Court Garden..
There are very few of us who have not gone blackberrying among the hedgerows and tasted the wild fruits of our late summer labours. Blackberries from the wild can vary enormously in flavour and size, so it is worth growing some of the named varieties as the flavour is better and more reliable.
Blackberries are vigorous, thorny plants, so allow them plenty of space in the garden. Give them a sheltered position as their canes can be brittle; they will tolerate partial shade, while some of their hybrid relatives prefer full sun. They are far more manageable if trained onto a system of wires, and in fact their canes can be trained in attractive, swirly patterns that make a beautiful ornamental feature in the kitchen garden. Some of the other hybrid bramble-type berries such as Japanese wineberries produce beautiful red stems that look stunning in winter when tied up to the wires.
Blackberries should be pruned after fruiting. If the thorns deter you, choose Oregon Thornless, which, as its name suggests, is prickle-free.
‘Fantasia’
‘Loch Ness’
‘Oregon Thornless’
‘Silvan’
Boysenberry
Japanese wineberry
Loganberry
Tayberry
Glossy fruit of blackberry ‘Black Satin’.
Loganberries are among the soft fruit grown at Calke Abbey.
Vineyards have enjoyed a huge revival over the last few decades in the south of England, showing that grapes can successfully be grown in our cool climate.
Wine grapes are easy to grow and fully hardy, but they do require a warm, sunny and long season to ripen fully. Their climbing habit makes them extremely versatile. They can be trained up trellises, pergolas and arches, or grown as fans on south-facing walls and fences. Other options are to grow them as standards or cordons, train them on posts and wires or even plant them in a container. Prune them each winter, reducing some of the old growth and either tying in new shoots or reducing young growth down to short spurs.
Dessert grapes are less hardy and should be grown in a greenhouse, where they need plenty of space to develop fully. Many National Trust kitchen gardens have indoor vineries where they can be seen in their full glory.
‘Bacchus’
‘Chardonnay’
‘Orion’
‘Phoenix’
‘Pinot Noir’
‘Rondo’
‘Black Hamburg’
‘Buckland Sweetwater’
‘Muscat of Alexandria’
Case study:
Ickworth vineyard, Suffolk
The only vineyard on National Trust land is in the walled garden at Ickworth in Suffolk, planted in 1995. The 1 hectare (2½ acre) site includes classic grape varieties such as Pinot Noir as well as less well-known varieties such as aromatic white Bacchus and Auxerrois and the red Rondo.
Roses were planted at the end of some of the rows to act as indicators for mildew; if the roses went down with this fungal disease, then the vines would also be susceptible. Lavender was also planted as a deterrent for wasps, although it would seem that this old wives’ tale did not have too much truth behind it as the harvest of Rondo grapes in 2000 was devastated by wasps.
Grapes by Tracey Parker, Assistant House Steward at Polesden Lacey
Vines were historically cultivated outside for the production of wine, but the increasingly popular demand for dessert grapes meant that glasshouses had to be adapted to enable their cultivation indoors. It was not important to keep them heated all year, but the temperature had to stay above 10°C (50°F) during April and May when the vines were just starting new growth.
Grapes were an integral part of Victorian table displays and were often grown in pots, which were placed on the table so the guests could pick their grapes straight from the vine. For storage, the grapes were initially cut from the vine in bunches with a long stem attached and each bunch was then placed in a narrow-necked glass bottle filled with water. The bottle was placed at an angle on a custom-made rack and the grapes could then be kept for months in a cool dark room. Later in the nineteenth century, specially designed ‘grape bottles’ were used, with flat sides and a hole at the top for replenishing the water.
The Vinery at Greenway in Devon, the holiday home of the much-loved author Agatha Christie and her family, was built in the early nineteenth century and was also used to house exotic plants. It has now been replanted following its restoration in 2005.
There is a genuine earthy pleasure about growing your own vegetables. Not only can you enjoy the usual delights of gardening, you get to eat the fruits (and veg) of your labour. It’s a double whammy. Growing your food will also appeal to your creative side. These days, vegetable plots are not just dull rows of cabbages, potatoes and leeks. Vegetables can be grown in among flower borders and in containers, and can be used to create elaborate patterns, shapes and textures. Many of them produce beautiful flower and seedheads as well as tasting good.
1. Healthy lifestyle Once you start growing your own vegetables, you will not need to visit the gym any more. Vigorous digging or pushing wheelbarrows laden with garden compost will keep you fitter and more toned than any gym subscription. In addition you will be outside, sucking in that healthy fresh air.
2. Cheap food You can supply yourself with enough food to eat throughout the year for just the cost of a few packets of seeds. Being realistic, it is unlikely you will be unable to avoid the shops completely, but you can certainly save yourself quite a lot on the household bills.
3. More choice Shops are certainly getting better at offering a wider choice of vegetables, but they still do not offer a huge range. Where are the exciting blue salad potatoes, or the purple carrots? Just flicking through the catalogues of some of the seed companies will show you how many exciting vegetables there are available. Growing your own ensures that you get a greater variety to eat.
4. Reduced air miles By growing your own vegetables in your back garden or down the road on an allotment, you are reducing your carbon footprint. The distance travelled from plot to plate becomes a matter of metres rather than air miles.
5. Fresh produce You cannot actually get fresher produce than by picking or digging it up from the garden or allotment, bringing it into the kitchen and cooking it. It is real fresh food that was still in growth until shortly before it went in the pot.
6. Untainted food Will eliminate concerns about the use of chemicals and fertilisers on commercial crops. By growing your own you will know exactly what has or has not been applied to your vegetables.
The thriving community kitchen garden ‘Grace and Flavour’ at Hatchlands Park, Surrey.
Throughout history, growing food and particularly vegetables has appealed to people from all walks of life, from the aristocrats with their penchant for growing the finest gourmet vegetables to impress their dinner guests to families and pensioners growing their vegetables down at the local allotment.
Almost every grand house in Britain during the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian period would have had a kitchen garden where produce was grown to feed the household and guests. Usually these were walled gardens which would have provided extra shelter from prevailing winds and created warm microclimates where vegetables could have been produced earlier in the season than if they had been grown in a field. The extra protection from the walls would have also extended the growing season well into autumn.
Recently, there has been a renewed interest in growing vegetables from people from every echelon of society, and it continues to be the largest growth area in the horticultural market. Not only do people enjoy ‘growing their own’, the historic walled kitchen gardens are still one of the most popular areas of a garden for visitors to historic properties.
Most people should be able to find some space to grow vegetables and enjoy the excitement of eating something they have cultivated themselves. If you do not have space in the garden you can grow vegetables such as radishes, carrots and lettuce leaves in window boxes. Alternatively, consider renting an allotment or getting involved with a community kitchen garden nearby. The growing of vegetables, as well as the eating of them, brings people together like nothing else.
There are many different styles of vegetable gardens, and modern-day urban living has encouraged people to become as creative as possible in finding growing spaces. Guerrilla gardening is now popular, with people growing vegetables in public spaces, waste land and basically any patch of soil they can find.
Almost all vegetables can be grown in containers – they will need more watering, but this means that crops can also be grown where there is no soil at all. Alternatively, raised beds can be built in urban areas and filled up with soil and compost, making instant gardens.
Rows of cabbages and runner beans in the kitchen vegetable garden at Sizergh Castle and Garden.
The raised beds are filled with crops at Trerice, Cornwall.
The compost heap is the engine room of the vegetable garden. Kitchen waste can be recycled and mixed in with shredded newspaper and wood chippings to produce good-quality garden compost that can be used to enrich soil and mulch vegetable beds or be placed around the base of fruit trees. Every garden should have a compost heap; without one, the garden is unsustainable and soil-improving products will need to be bought in. Compost bins can easily be made out of recycled wooden pallets.
It is always worth having at least two compost bins on the go. This is because one needs to be in the process of composting down, while the other is ready for using on the garden. If you have space for more than two, that is even better. Compost bins should be ‘turned’ every few weeks, which basically means digging over the compost, enabling the garden waste to come into contact with the air, which speeds up the process of decomposition.
To provide a free source of liquid plant food, plant up a comfrey bed. Harvest the leaves two or three times a year and steep them in water for a few days to create a rich and nutritious feed for your plants. It is a wonderful method of making your garden more sustainable. Nettle leaves can be used in a similar way, and will attract numerous insects into the garden too.
Be aware that comfrey can spread quickly, so it will need to be kept in check. Although the flowers are beautiful and will attract wildlife, if you are concerned about comfrey seeding everywhere then choose a non-flowering or sterile type such as ‘Bocking 14’ to prevent the plant from taking over the entire area.
1. Select three pallets of equal size. Measure the width and then knock in four posts to create a square of the same measurement.
2. Use long screws, nails, wire or even garden twine to attach the pallets to the posts, creating the back and two sides of the compost heap.
3. Fill up the compost bin with kitchen waste, lawn clippings and other organic material. You need to get the right balance: if there is too much nitrogen-based material such as grass clippings and kitchen waste the compost heap will go smelly and slimy. Add carbon-based material such as shredded newspaper and wood chippings too.
There are many other items that can and should be recycled in the modern vegetable garden, such as:
• Old CDs make brilliant bird scarers and can be hung from string above vegetable beds. The reflecting light should scare off birds and prevent them dining on your vegetables before you do.
• Plastic bottles can be cut in half and placed over seedlings. They act as mini-greenhouses, bringing them into growth quickly and preventing them from being damaged by frosts.
• Panes of glass from old greenhouses can be recycled to make cold frames.
• Pallets and old timber can be used to make raised beds, pergolas, tables and benches.
• Old bricks and patio slabs can be laid to make paths and raised beds.
• Old shoes, kettles, sinks and so forth make excellent containers for growing vegetables. Look for them in skips.
• Woodchip and recycled timber can be used for paths and raised beds respectively.
• Old rubber tyres can make containers for growing potatoes.
• Cardboard tubes from toilet rolls are good for growing seedlings in and are more environmentally friendly than plastic containers.
• Old dustbins and similar watertight containers will serve as water butts to harvest rainwater.
Tip
At Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, composting and recycling was taken to new levels. They had a ‘pee bale’, which consisted of a 3m- (10ft) long series of straw bales alongside the compost heaps in the walled garden. The workers relieved themselves on the bale – out of visitor hours, of course! This was mainly for the male gardeners, but women were encouraged to fill a plastic container in the bathroom and empty it onto the straw. The urine-soaked pee bales were then added to the compost heaps. This saved water on toilet flushes, and urine is a brilliant compost accelerant because of its high nitrogen content.
Historically, head gardeners would have been responsible for producing crops all year round to supply the household. Nowadays, individual householders love to try to cheat the seasons so that they can be eating certain crops earlier or later on in the year – and the seed manufacturers also come up with modifications, such as a new rhubarb called ‘Livingstone’ which crops in autumn rather than spring.
Rhubarb is a good example of a popular crop that can be ‘forced’ early in the year so that the succulent pink stems can be enjoyed early in spring. To do this, a traditional rhubarb terracotta container is placed over the dormant crown of the plant in mid-winter. The container needs to block out the light, as this encourages the growth upwards early in the season. Nowadays, most gardeners can make do simply with a plastic bucket or even an upturned dustbin. Sea kale can also be forced for an early crop.
Grand gardens would have had ‘frame yards’ where many crops could have been grown in cold frames for early harvests in spring. They would have also extended the season into autumn. These days gardeners use cold frames which can easily be made from a recycled window frame and recycled timber.
Supplying veggies in winter
By Kate Nicoll, Senior Gardener at Attingham Park Walled Garden
In the past the walled garden at Attingham Park in Shropshire would have had to supply vegetables all year round to provide sumptuous dinners for the wealthy owners of the house and their guests. Nowadays, the gardening team need to supply their restaurants and kitchens with fresh produce to feed their hungry visitors.
We grow anything and everything – celeriac and squash are top of the list in autumn, then leeks and parsnips keep us going for soup in the winter. We keep winter leaves such as claytonia going through the winter in our greenhouses. It means that during the winter the chefs can cook delicious meals such as venison casserole with root vegetables (celeriac, parsnip, swede) and garden herbs. The starter might be leek and potato soup, and to finish, perhaps apple cake from our Bramley’s Seedling and Newton Wonder apples.
Above, left Forced rhubarb in the garden at Knightshayes Court.
Above, right Green tomatoes grow at Clumber Park.
If you love the idea of growing lemon-flowered peas or round and prickly cucumbers then heritage or heirloom varieties are for you. There is a huge revival of interest in some of our historic garden varieties, which is good news since if gardeners stop growing them, they will be lost forever. Many enchanting and deliciously flavoured vegetables are to be had, and a number of National Trust gardens are now growing these heirloom varieties for historic interest and integrity.
Some, but not all, of the old varieties have less resistance to pests and diseases and this is why many gardeners have forsaken them in exchange for modern varieties. They also do not always crop for as long and will often have lower yields. Modern breeding and developments have created a whole new world of possibilities. You can even grow tomatoes and potatoes on the same plant (called tomtato), if you are stuck for space. Other benefits include self-blanching celery that avoids having to dig out lots of trenches, carrots that are resistant to carrot fly and sweeter-tasting sprouts.
Tip
Modern breeding has led to slightly sweeter-tasting sprouts such as the variety ‘Trafalgar’. Another alternative is Brassica Petit Posy, which is a cross between kale and Brussels sprouts, producing rosettes of loose, frilly-edged buttons that make very nutritious winter greens. The taste is more akin to spring greens than Brussels sprouts.
When you grow your own vegetables there will inevitably be periods of feast and famine at certain periods in the year. However, with careful planning you should be able to ensure that your crops are available when you want them. There will still be times when your garden is producing more than you can possibly eat, and this is when contingency plans for preserving your food are needed. This will allow you to enjoy the food later on in the year, particularly during winter when there is not much available to harvest.
It may sound obvious, but one way to avoid a glut is to grow only vegetables that you really like. If you do not particularly enjoy eating main crop potatoes then do not grow them, as they will take up a lot of space in the vegetable bed and you will end up throwing them away. Also, pick crops that are expensive in the shops but are relatively cheap to grow, such as mangetout or asparagus.
Freezing This invaluable method of storing vegetables is of course a major advantage we have over our predecessors – although in very grand houses they would have had ice houses. Some vegetables such as peas even taste better once they have been frozen as they tend to be sweeter.
Drying Crops such as chillies and most herbs benefit from being left out to dry and will then last for months or even years. Other crops such as onions and garlic should be left to dry out before being plaited together and left in a cool, rodent-free place such as a shed or garage.
The Mushroom House at Hanbury Hall.
Preserving and pickling Most vegetables can be transformed into delicious chutneys and relishes, while some such as onions and beetroot can simply be pickled in vinegar.
Storage Most vegetables will last for longer if stored in a cool, dark place. Potatoes should be kept out of the light and can be stored in paper sacks in cupboards.
Carrots can be kept for up to six months if kept in suitable conditions. One traditional method of storing them is to make a carrot clamp. Parsnips can be left in the ground over winter, but they can then be hard to dig out of the ground if there is a big freeze. If you live in a very cold area they can also be stored in a version of the carrot clamp.
1. Dig a hole about 30cm (12in) deep and cover the base of it with a thin layer of sharp sand.
2. Remove the soil from the carrots and trim off any foliage.
3. Stack the carrots on top of each other so that they are just below the top of the hole.
4. Cover with straw and then finally with another layer of soil. Remove the carrots as required.
Beans left to dry at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.
Back sheds by Kate Nicoll, Senior Gardener at Attingham Park Walled Garden
Attingham’s Walled Garden has a full set of ‘back sheds’ tucked in the shade of the North Wall. These are not a handy place for a sly cigarette, but a range of practical working spaces built in the early nineteenth century to perform very specific functions. There is a mushroom house, a fruit store and a root store – a dark and rather scary subterranean place lined with brick bays full of old sand. Now that we have most of the 0.8 hectare (2 acre) garden in full production this has really come into its own. During the summer it works as a brilliant walk-in fridge for storing leafy vegetables, salads and flowers for a day or so, but its true value is during the winter months. Once we have harvested our celeriac (500 or so), they are trimmed of leaves and roots and layered in sharp sand until required for the tea room soups. Safe from frost and slugs, they come out as good as new even as late as March the following year. The carrots, parsnips and swede work just as well, and given the hard frosts of rural Shropshire we are grateful to no longer have the task of prising a parsnip out of frozen ground.
While most people do not have access to a Georgian root store, a large storage box in a dark garage works just as well, with a sack of sharp sand from a builder’s merchant. Come spring you might even get the bonus of a few succulent celeriac leaves to add to a salad as the plants emerge from suspended animation.
For thousands of years, farmers and gardeners have known about the benefits of crop rotation. This basically means growing a different type of annual crop in a different area of the vegetable garden each year.
This has multiple benefits. First, it prevents a build-up of pests and diseases in the soil. It also means that certain crops will benefit by following others – for example the pea and bean family (legumes) fix nitrogen in the soil, and so are followed by the cabbage family (brassicas), which are nutrient hungry. Also, potatoes (and other root vegetables) break up the ground and are therefore followed by peas and beans as they like a deep root run. The onion family, pumpkin family, leaves and salads and stem and fruiting vegetables can be fitted in where there is space.
There are many variations and theories on the best way to practise crop rotation, but it is simple to do. Most people rotate three or four beds. A typical three-bed plan could work like this:
Dig in plenty of manure or compost. Leave the nitrogen-rich roots in the soil to rot down for the brassicas.
Dig in leafmould or compost and lime the soil if it’s acid to protect against clubroot. Mulch in autumn ready for root crops.
Dig in plenty of compost. You could sow green manure ready for the legumes next year.
Bed A Brassicas plus salads
Bed B Root crops plus stem and fruiting vegetables
Bed C Legumes plus onion family
Bed A Root crops plus stem and fruiting vegetables
Bed B Legumes plus onion family
Bed C Brassicas plus salads
Bed A Legumes plus onion family
Bed B Brassicas plus salads
Bed C Root crops plus stem and fruiting vegetables
The community allotment at Felbrigg Hall.
Peas and beans can be expensive to buy, particularly mangetout and sugar snaps, yet they are easy to grow and produce a bumper crop of tasty pods throughout most of summer. They belong to the legume family, meaning that during the growing season they fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and leave it in the soil for future crops to benefit from as part of the crop rotation system. They need a sunny, sheltered position, and plenty of goodness and moisture in the soil. If the soil is badly depleted of nutrients, a compost trench can be created to improve the growing conditions.
1. During winter, dig out a trench at least 30cm (12in) deep where the beans are going to be sown later in the year if it is not too wet or freezing.
2. Put a layer of kitchen waste in the bottom of the trench and then cover it with a layer of soil.
3. Add another layer of kitchen waste and again cover it with soil. Repeat this process throughout the winter months.
4. When the trench is full, cover it with a final layer of soil. Do not worry if the ground is slightly raised as it will gradually sink.
Above, left Beans are grown on supports at Wordsworth House and Garden. Above, right A healthy crop of runner beans.
Peas and beans are climbing plants and require structures to scramble up. Peas will need twiggy sticks placed next to the seedlings to encourage them to climb, while the taller runner and French beans require taller structures such as netting or bamboo wigwams. It is best to get the structure in place before planting or sowing as it could otherwise damage the roots.
1. Select bamboo canes or hazel rods that are approximately 2m (6½ft) high and push them into the ground in a circle at 15cm (6in) intervals.
2. Gather the tops of the canes into the centre and tie them tightly together, using garden twine.
3. When the risk of frosts is over, place two seeds in the ground at 3cm (1½in) deep at the base of each cane or plant two seedlings. Water them in.
4. As the plants start to grow, twist or tie them around the canes to encourage them to grow upwards.
New technology
By Kate Nicoll, Senior Gardener at Attingham Park Walled Garden, Shropshire
‘While plastic does not have pride of place in the walled kitchen garden at Attingham it does have its uses at certain times of the year. We struggle with mice in our glasshouses. Despite the efforts of our feral cat (and her frequent litters of kittens) we still lose many young seedlings to the mice and voles in the early spring. Last year we trapped 60 just in the melon house! But a humble clear plastic underbed storage box keeps the mice out perfectly. We turn the box upside down with the seed trays lined up on the upturned lid and then place the box over the top every evening, lifting it off in the morning to drain off the condensation and increase light levels. So far the mice have not managed to gnaw through the tough plastic (unlike netting which they seem to see as a challenge), and the extra warmth brings the young seedlings on a treat! Such tactics do not work outside in the garden for direct-sown seeds of course, so we resort to garlic powder for our peas, buying it in bulk from an Asian supermarket and rolling the pea seeds in it before sowing in a drill. Staking the row straight away with twiggy hazel pea sticks deters the pigeons which are the next foe likely to move in on the crop.’
Often referred to as brassicas, the cabbage family are the backbone of the vegetable garden, providing a wide range of delicious healthy veg. They require a heavy, rich soil to help them produce their leafy growth and are usually planted after the pea and bean family in crop rotation, which means they benefit from the additional nitrogen fix that legumes leave behind.
Kale and winter cabbages are particularly valuable in the vegetable garden as they provide much-needed crops in winter and early spring when there is a traditional harvest famine. For simplicity they are normally all grown together in the same bed. They can make attractive features in the plot, providing beautiful shades of foliage from the kale and the red, white and green of cabbages, with red and green sprouts providing additional structure and height during winter. Cauliflowers also can look beautiful with their fluffy-looking texture and a range of colours including orange, purple and yellow. This family is one of the toughest of the vegetable groups and can tolerate poorer growing conditions.
Growing cabbages can be confusing for new gardeners as there are spring, summer, autumn and winter types, named after the time they are harvested. The method for growing all types is basically the same, the time of sowing being the only main difference. Remember to dig over the soil and add plenty of organic matter before planting out any of the cabbage family, particularly if the soil is sandy and low in nutrients. Brassicas can be prone to pigeon damage, particularly during winter, and will need to be covered with a net.
One of the main pests of the cabbage family is the cabbage root fly. At Polesden Lacey, a collar made from recycled roofing felt is placed at the base of each of plant to prevent the adults from laying their eggs near the plant, which avoids having to resort to chemical control. A fine-meshed net is placed over the cabbages to prevent attacks from the cabbage white butterfly.
Clubroot is a fungal disease in the soil that causes the root to swell up and distort. The disease does not do well in alkaline conditions, so if you have problems with clubroot, applying lime to the soil should partially correct the problem.
As well as being good to eat, cabbages provide coolour and texture in the garden.
Above, left Dig in plenty of manure prior to planting cabbages – they are hungry plants. Above, right Beautiful deep purple cabbages.
Brassicas in the kitchen bed at Quebec House, Kent.
Vegetables such as radishes, turnips, swedes, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and beetroot are grown for their edible delights that lie beneath the surface of the soil rather than above it. Carrots and parsnips like a fairly light but fertile soil and recently manured plots should be avoided. Their seed can go stale quickly, so it is worth buying new seed each year. Sow carrots, radishes, turnips and beetroot regularly from spring to late summer to harvest quick-growing young vegetables. Carrots will really struggle to grow on stony or compacted soil as their tap root cannot penetrate the ground properly. However there are modern small, round carrots called ‘Parmex’ that taste sweet and delicious, and will quite happily grow on thin soil.
Parsnips require a long growing season so are best sown in early spring. The beauty of these vegetables is that they then remain in the ground for most of the year, including winter, providing food when there are not many other crops available. Parsnips generally taste sweeter if they have been left in the ground to get hit by the frosts.
Potatoes are probably the nation’s most popular vegetable – they are easy to grow and can be used in so many dishes. However, if you are short of space in the kitchen garden, consider carefully whether you want to grow them as they do take up a lot of space, particularly main crops.
At Polesden Lacey we grow only early potatoes or special varieties such as ‘Pink Fir Apple’ with its quirky, knobbly texture. We avoid most main crop potatoes as we are limited for space, they are cheap to buy from local vegetable growers, and it is harder to tell the difference in flavour once they have been cooked and added to a dish. Early potatoes have a more distinctive and identifiable flavour which is picked up from the minerals of the soil in Polesden Lacey’s kitchen garden.
Beetroot foliage has a wonderful ornamental quality, and can be eaten fresh in salad.
New potatoes freshly harvested from the ground taste delicious.
To get potatoes off to a flying start early in the year, gardeners have traditionally ‘chitted’ the potatoes for a few weeks prior to planting. This involves placing the tubers with their ‘rose end’ facing upwards in a frost-free place to encourage tiny shoots (called chits) to grow towards the light. This saves valuable growing time before the potatoes are buried out in the cool, early spring soil. However, the benefits of chitting are now controversial in the kitchen gardening world. Some experts claim it causes premature ageing, meaning that it can reduce the potential yield as the potato goes over quickly. Chitting some, but not all, is probably the safest way to guarantee a good crop over the longest period – although it will probably be the weather rather than the chitting that affects the earliness and success of the crop.
At Polesden Lacey we are affected by blight, a fungal disease that can quickly wipe out the potato and tomato crops in a matter of days. To overcome this we cut down the foliage on the potato plants as soon as symptoms start to appear. This prevents the disease from spreading down into the tubers. We also grow blight-resistant varieties such as ‘Sarpo’ alongside some of the older varieties to ensure we can always supply the restaurant. Tomato plants are only now grown in the greenhouse, as this prevents the blight spores travelling on the wind and affecting the plants.
One of the main problems when growing carrots is the dreaded carrot fly. The fly lays its eggs near the base of the plant, and later in the year the maggots hatch and infest the roots.
Gardeners’ tips on how to avoid carrot fly
• ‘We erect a 70cm (27in) vertical barrier of fine mesh around the carrots to create a fence, as carrot fly does not fly far from the ground.’
• ‘Carrot fly is attracted by the scent released from bruised foliage, so harvest and thin out carrots on an evening with no wind when the scent of the carrots will not travel.’
• ‘At Greenway we use modern varieties such as ‘Fly Away’ and ‘Resistafly’ that have resistance to this pest.’
• ‘We grow onions between the rows of carrots. The smell of the carrots deter the onion fly, and the smell of the onion confuses the carrot fly. Perfect.’
The allium family includes chives and the stunning ornamental alliums with impressive purple flower heads as well as shallots, garlic, elephant garlic, spring onions, leeks and of course the familiar everyday onion. This group of vegetables is a must for anybody interested in cooking.
Most onions and shallots are grown from sets, which are basically small, immature bulbs which are left to expand (and divide in the case of shallots) during the season and then harvested in mid- to late summer. Garlic is usually grown from cloves and left to form large bulbs. Leeks, one of the essential winter crops, are grown from seed and can be left in the ground throughout the colder months when there is not much else left to harvest.
Elephant garlic is now a very popular vegetable with chefs as it imparts a less overpowering garlic flavour to many dishes. It is actually a swollen stem rather than a bulb but is grown in a similar way to garlic cloves. Onions prefer a well-drained soil in plenty of sun.
Above, top Ornamenal alliums make a great visual impact in your vegetable garden. Above A superb onion harvest.
Sow leek seeds early in spring as they need a long growing season. Plant out seedlings when they are about 15cm (6in) long and the thickness of a pencil.
1. Make holes with a thick dibber, 15cm (6in) deep and at spacings 15cm (6in) apart, keeping 30cm (12in) between the rows.
2. Trim the roots of the seedlings with scissors and place them in the holes so just the tips of the leaves are showing.
3. Do not firm the soil back around the plant – just water the plants in, allowing the soil to gently crumble back around the stems.
By Patrick Kelly, Garden and Countryside Manager for Ham House, Surrey
In about February each year the garden team travel to a local common to cut birch to use as plant supports around the seventeenth-century garden. Not only do they look authentic in our historic setting, we are also making a contribution to the heathland management of the common. Birch will rapidly encroach on the heathland unless kept in check, and this is a major task for the Surrey Wildlife Trust who manage the common.
We use stems of different sizes, from small shoots up to small trees of a height of about 3m (10ft), and weave domed baskets around individual plants such as the peonies in the south terrace border and rectangular cradles around the blocks of plants in the cut-flower border.
To use this technique, you need to know the eventual height of the plant that you will be supporting and begin the process while it is still relatively small. Make sure the birch support structure finishes well below the eventual height of the plant so it will not overshadow the floral display. Choose a stem with a lot of twigs branching off it to give good options when weaving, clear the twigs away from the base of the stem and push it into the ground, making sure it is far enough into the ground to be sturdy. Depending on the size of the structure, use enough stems to create the basic form.
Do not leave the weaving process too long after cutting the birch, as the more sap that is left in the stem, the more pliable and workable it will be. To get a right-angle in the structure, use a pair of secateurs to nick the side of the stem facing into the structure and very carefully bend over. Wrap twigs together (do not try to do it with too big a bunch of them at once), then pull tight to draw the structure together. Fill gaps with smaller stems to add support or to prevent pigeons getting inside the structure with plants such as peas and brassicas in the vegetable garden – leave a few loose twigs to make the pigeons think twice about getting too close.
To make wigwams, we use sturdy stems of approximately 7.5cm (3in) diameter and 2.4–3m (8–10ft) length. When we harvest the birch we aim for straight-growing stems with good branching for weaving. The stems are laid on the ground and all cut to the same length. Using a crowbar, we make a pilot hole about 45cm (18in) deep in a square based on the width of the bed. The stems are then pushed as deep as possible into the earth and angled towards what would be the centre of the square, positioning the stems so that good weaving branches face in the right direction at this point. The four main stems are then tied at the top, after checking the apex is in the centre of the square. We then weave the branches in the same way as with the other plant supports.
The centre of a wigwam can be congested, so you may need to cut out any excess branching you have here. Fill any natural gaps at the base with thinner stems and weave them into the main structure. Plant seedlings or seed around the base of the stems. The dimensions of the wigwam can of course be changed to make a smaller version than the ones at the Ham House garden.
This group of plants includes gourds, pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers, courgettes and marrows – hungry feeders that require a deep, rich soil to enable them to swell up. Add plenty of organic matter such as well-rotted manure or garden compost to the soil before planting. Some National Trust gardens grow their pumpkins and squashes on top of the compost heap, as the plants thrive in those conditions.
If you have room for just one type of plant from this group, then make it the courgette. Just one or two plants will provide you with enough food to feed a large family and plenty to spare. They are delicious fried with melted mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil, or they can even be dried out and made into crisps. Even their flowers can be fried up as delicious fritters. Do not forget to harvest them regularly, though, otherwise they swell up to the size of marrows and will then stop producing fruit.
Pumpkins, squashes and gourds love a sunny, sheltered spot where they can spread out their trailing habit. At Polesden Lacey, the head gardener during the Edwardian period would regularly enter the vegetables into local competitions, including those for the largest pumpkin. Here are the current kitchen gardener’s tips on how to produce a huge pumpkin.
1. Choose a seed type that produces large pumpkins such as ‘Atlantic Giant’ or ‘Hundredweight’. Many varieties only produce small fruits.
2. Start growing the pumpkin seed early in the year. For successful germination, place the seed on its side to prevent it rotting.
3. As the plant develops, remove most of the flowers to leave just one or two on the plant.
4. Feed the plant regularly with a high-potash feed such as tomato feed.
5. Place the pumpkin on a patio slab or weed-suppressing membrane to prevent it rotting on the ground.
Harvesting a glut of courgettes.
A young squash begins to take form.
Lettuces are probably the most common type of salad vegetable, and these days they are just as useful for ornamental purposes as they are for culinary pleasures, as they come in such an incredible array of colours, textures and leaf shapes. Often they will be found adorning the edges of potagers and kitchen gardens and being used to create elaborate colour patterns. The Romans introduced them to Britain (although the original ones would have been fairly bitter by modern standards), and they are just as popular as they were 2,000 years ago.
There are numerous different types, including loose balls of soft leaves known as butterhead lettuces; firm leaves with a solid heart such as ‘Iceberg’, called crispheads; and upright, long crisp leaves with a tender heart, called cos or romaine lettuce.
Cut-and-come-again salad leaves are popular now and can be bought in packets of mixed seed. They include chicory, coriander, chard, dandelion, endive, komatsuma, cress, leaf celery, lettuce, mizuna, mustard, pak choi, parsley, radicchio, rocket, sorrel and spinach. They provide a whole range of flavours and textures depending on the seed mix, including ones that are hot and spicy, oriental, mild, crunchy and refreshing. As their name suggests, they can be regularly cut with scissors close to the base of the plant and allowed to resprout, meaning harvesting can take place about every fortnight.
To add a touch of the Mediterranean to the vegetable garden, tomatoes, chillies, peppers and aubergines are easy to grow and add an extra range of ingredients for the kitchen. Some of these need to be grown in a greenhouse, but most will thrive in warm sunny spots in the garden or on the patio during summer.
Using modern varieties makes growing celery much easier. In the past, gardeners would have spent days digging trenches for blanching the stems of their celery. Nowadays, by using varieties such as ‘Lathom Self Blanching’, long, stringless sticks of crisp celery are grown without the need for earthing up in trenches. Another benefit is that unlike some of the old varieties, this celery does not tend to bolt, meaning it can be sown early or grown under cloches to produce an early crop.
Above, left Homegrown green chillies can add a kick to your cooking. Above, right Lettuces growing at Trengwainton Garden, Cornwall, make a lovely feature in the garden.
People’s food preferences change over the years, and as society becomes more diverse and there is more variety of seed available in catalogues, gardeners are becoming more adventurous not just with their taste buds but with the type of crops they grow.
Jerusalem artichokes are closely related to sunflowers and bear beautiful large flower heads that can stand 3m (10ft) tall. They produce tubers underground which are harvested from late summer through to winter. Globe artichokes also produce attractive flower heads, but these are purple and thistle-like; it is the central ‘choke’ of the flower head that is eaten. Asparagus are grown for their succulent spears that emerge from the ground in spring and are harvested when they are about 20cm (8in) long. They are a perennial crop and should not be harvested for the first couple of years. Rhubarb and sea kale are also springtime treats, grown for their edible stems.
Sweetcorn is wind-pollinated and therefore seedlings should always be planted in a grid pattern instead of single rows, enabling pollen to blow across the plants. Growing squashes and beans among them is a modern, sustainable way of planting known as the ‘three sisters method’, the name originating from the Iroquois people of North America, who believed these three vegetables were inseparable sisters. This method saves space as three crops are planted in a single bed. The squashes sprawl on the ground and their large leaves smother out competing weeds, while the beans use the upright stems of the sweetcorn to scramble up. The beans also help to prevent the corn from flopping on to the ground and the roots from the beans fix nitrogen from the air, reducing the amount of fertiliser needed in the soil the following year.
Above, left Globe artichokes can create quite a striking display in the vegetable garden.
Above, right A summer harvest of sweetcorn and runner beans at Bateman’s.
Traditional knot gardens have always used tightly-clipped low box hedging, but sadly Buxus sempervivens is prone to box blight which is a fungal disease that can cause bare patches and dieback. Gardeners are now using evergreen plants that look similar and respond just as well to close clipping. They include:
Berberis × stenophylla ‘Corallina Compacta’
Berberis × stenophylla ‘Nana’
Berberis thunbergii ‘Atropurpurea Nana’
Euonymus japonicus ‘Microphyllus Albovariegatus’
Hebe cupressoides ‘Boughton Dome’
Ilex crenata ‘Convexa’
Lavandula angustifolia cultivars
Lonicera nitida
Osmanthus delavayi
Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golf Ball’
Rosmarinus officinalis
Santolina chamaecyparissus
Taxus baccata ‘Semperaurea’
A potager is a term used to describe an informal style of vegetable garden. The word originates from the French word for soup, a ‘potage’ implying that it is a mix or concoction of lots of different types of vegetables, and sometimes non-edible plants too. There are no hard and fast rules, but basically there is usually plenty of colour and an emphasis on the kitchen garden being just as ornamental as it is edible and practical.
You could try planting:
Box plants or step-over apple to line the edge of paths or vegetable beds.
Colourful vegetables such as squashes and pumpkins, rainbow chard, rhubarb and lots of foliage for textures such as lettuce, kale and cut-and-come-again plants. A few upright structural plants such as sea kale, globe artichokes and Jerusalem artichokes.
The potager at Snowshill Manor and Garden, Gloucestershire.
Lettuces planted around a topiary swan in the potager at Woolbeding House.
While herbs are generally grown for their medicinal or culinary uses, they do have ornamental qualities too. Many are evergreen, such as bay, rosemary and hyssop, offering all-year-round interest and structure in the garden.
Herbs must be some of the easiest plants to grow as most thrive in poor, arid soil conditions. Picture a traditional Mediterranean scene where many wild herbs thrive, basking in the heat in impoverished, rocky soil on a sun-drenched mountainside – those are the conditions that most of these plants love. Lavish too much care and attention on them, give them a fertile soil and lots of water and they will quickly perish. They are the perfect group of plants to grow if you have little time to spend gardening.
A wide array of herbs growing in the walled garden at Hughenden, Buckinghamshire.
Plant herbs in well-drained soil in full sun. If you have a heavy clay soil, add grit or grow them in raised beds. The herbs can be planted through gravel or grit, which will prevent the leaves from being splashed when it rains.
Alternatively, lay recycled pallets on the ground and bolt them together to form a pathway or seating area. Fill the gaps between the slats with a gritty compost, and use them as planting pockets for herbs. As you walk among the herbs, your footfall will bruise the leaves and release their intoxicating fragrances.
Grow herbs near the back door so that it is easy to dash outside and grab a few sprigs to chuck in the pot when required. Some herbs can be grown in pots on a kitchen windowsill, so that there are always some fragrant leaves close to hand.
Herbs need very little maintenance or watering. Most of the herbaceous herbs, such as mint and chives, benefit from being cut back hard, almost to ground level, a few times in the growing season. This will reinvigorate them and encourage new healthy growing shoots. It is usually this younger, fresh growth that has the best flavour. Avoid doing this with some of the shrubby plants, such as bay, rosemary or lavender, although they will benefit from a lighter trim after flowering.
One of the best things about growing herbs is that they can be easily dried and stored for use in the kitchen all year round. Harvest leaves or stems on a warm day to capture the very best of their aromatic oils. Store them in a dry, airy place such as a garage or in the allotment shed. Once the leaves are dry and crispy they can be cut up and stored in airtight jars. Alternatively, fresh herbs can be chopped up and stored in the freezer. This method helps to preserve their natural leaf colour, making them look fresher on the plate.
Above, left The Herb Garden in the west walled garden at Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion. Above, right Rosemary grows in the foreground of the herb garden at Quebec House.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) A popular annual herb, usually with green foliage, although the purple-leafed variety is favoured too. The leaves are frequently used for flavouring Italian dishes. Bring inside before autumn frosts to extend the growing season.
Bay (Laurus nobilis) The aromatic leaves are often added to casseroles, stews and other meat dishes to improve flavour. This shrub is often grown as a standard in pots.
Borage (Borago officinalis) An annual herb that has a mild cucumber flavour. The attractive blue, star-shaped flowers are often frozen in ice cubes and served in Pimms. It is a prolific self-seeder and once established in the garden can be hard to eradicate.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) The fleshy stems impart a mild onion flavour to dishes such as potato salad and stir-fries. The purple flower heads are attractive in the garden.
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) Add a taste of Asia by putting the leaves of this hot and spicy herb in your dishes. It is an annual and the leaves can be picked from early summer onwards.
Dill (Anethum graveolens) This culinary annual produces umbels of delicate yellow-green flowers that attract beneficial insects. Closely related to carrots and celery, it has attractive, feathery foliage, and the flavours are a good partner to fish and potatoes.
Borage; Fennel; Dill flower head and sweet pea ‘Cupani’ in the kitchen garden at Ham House.
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) Closely related to Florence fennel of which the swollen stem is eaten, herbal fennel is a hardy perennial with feathery foliage. Its aniseed flavour is a perfect accompaniment to fish and seafood.
Lavender (Lavandula officinalis) This low-growing shrub has attractive silvery foliage and blue flower spikes from mid- to late summer. It is not commonly used for flavouring food, but very popular for distilling into an essential oil for capturing its beautiful scent.
Marjoram (Origanum majorana) Commonly found growing wild on chalk grassland, this tender perennial should be treated like an annual and sown each year. It has attractive pink-purple flowers that bees love. It is popular in Italian dishes, especially pasta.
Mint (Mentha spicata) There are several different flavours of mint including apple, spearmint and chocolate. Mint is a vigorous herbaceous perennial. Restrict its roots by growing it in a pot, otherwise it will swamp nearby plants.
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) This hardy biennial is related to carrot and celery. Parsley has a versatile flavour that can be used to accompany pasta sauces, egg dishes, omelettes, poultry stuffing, soups and stews.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) A popular herb in many dishes, rosemary is particularly good with lamb. It is an evergreen shrub which provides structure and an attractive foliage display during winter.
Sage (Salvia officinalis) There are many different sages, including a bi-coloured form and a purple form. It is a sub-shrub that can be harvested all year round. It is very versatile, particularly for meat dishes, but is most well known for sage and onion stuffing.
Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) This perennial has both Russian and French forms. The French form is considered to have the best flavour, but the Russian is a more vigorous and larger plant.
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) A low-growing evergreen shrub with an aromatic flavour that is used in stews and roast meals. Prostrate forms can be grown en masse to create attractive thyme lawns.
From left to right Lavender produces a wonderful scent; Mint is a vigorous plant best grown on its own in a bed to prevent it swamping other plants; Sage leaves can be dried and and used to flavour food such as poultry dishes.
Historic National Trust herb gardens
Acorn Bank, Cumbria (the largest collection of medicinal and culinary plants)
Buckland Abbey, Devon
Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, Yorkshire
Lytes Cary Manor, Somerset
Sissinghurst Castle, Kent
Woolbeding Gardens, West Sussex
Herbal history by Tracey Parker, Assistant House Steward at Polesden Lacey, Surrey
In Britain the Romans were the first to grow imported plants, particularly herbs for medicinal and culinary purposes. It was not until the medieval period that the monasteries became the main practitioners and chroniclers of gardening knowledge and, more importantly, herbal lore and medicine.
Very little documentary evidence remains about the content and design of these monastic gardens but they are likely to have consisted of a walled courtyard built around a central focal point such as an arbour or a well. Herbs such as parsley, sage, thyme, camomile and saffron, together with wild flowers, would have been grown here for medicinal and cooking purposes. Vegetables such as turnips, leeks, lettuce and garlic would also have been grown and used to feed the monks.
Although these gardens were largely for practical purposes for the monastic community, as opposed to creative display, colour was also very important and would have been provided by flowers such as lilies and roses, representing ecclesiastical symbols.
