One of the things Yorkshire is famed for is rhubarb growing, and the 'Rhubarb Triangle' - an area between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield - has recently been recreated in miniature at Harlow Carr. English rhubarb production has been centred on West Yorkshire since the late 19 th century and the... Read more..

Visitors to Harlow Carr will notice lots of activity in the kitchen garden over the coming weeks – veg growing is moving to a temporary site elsewhere in the garden, so that work can start on our new Learning Centre. Gardeners are currently busy lifting perennial veg plants, taking cuttings, etc, and... Read more..

The great kitchen garden move means that all the remaining veg needs to be harvested or replanted/moved – that’s quite a lot. There are some gorgeous leeks, kales, leafbeets, and parsnips, all of which would normally crop over the winter. Jerusalem artichokes usually would stay in the ground and be harvested... Read more..

Despite the current ‘challenging' weather, work is progressing apace in the new productive area, and we have discovered one of the muddiest garden tasks ever. Yes, lugging turf pieces to build the stacks for 2 days on the trot was truly dirty and very hard work. Add the slippery thawing frost on... Read more..

The snow has gone at last, thank goodness, so work continues apace on the raised bed building in the new productive area. Once beds are drilled and screwed together, the fun bit of lining them up on the ground to fit the design begins - not always as straightforward as it sounds, especially on a site... Read more..

Very busy times in the garden now and the warm and dry weather has meant great progress in the new kitchen garden. Most of the soil preparation is complete, to the relief of all the gardeners involved (some were beginning to get overload - see picture), with the mushroom compost, manure, composted bark... Read more..

People who know me and my gardening habits seem a bit surprised, but I have finally boarded the grow-your-own bus. Until now I have always resented putting aside any of my limited border space for fruit or veg, in favour of all the perennials, shrubs and bulbs I love, but the remorseless media onslaught... Read more..

Hedgehogs, woolly bears, tiny mice and a sinouous snake. These are all types of gourd or cucurbit that we are growing at Wisley this summer. Growing your own veg is very popular right now, and there are people nationwide (including Wisley) wondering what to do with a glut of courgettes right now. Courgettes... Read more..

Here you can see my summer squash (patty pan 'Sunburst) trained up a bamboo 'tee-pee' structure together with runner bean 'Saint George'. The runners won the race to the top (no surprise there) but the squash are making a sure and steady progress. I first became aware of vertically... Read more..

Fancy learning some Norwegian? Here's a great expression for you... 'TING TAR TID' (tid - pronounced 'tee') Remember those tiny seedlings and all that bare earth? I was fortunate to spend 7 days away working at the Chelsea Flower Show and when I came back the whole thing had just... Read more..