RHS Director of Horticulture picks tasty plants for Grow Your Owners

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

To celebrate the abundance of 'Grow Your Own' inspiration at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this year Jim Gardiner, RHS Director of Horticulture, has picked his favorite herb, fruit and vegetable plants, which offer great results, to share with gardeners.

Jim compiled his list of choice plants from thousands of RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) fruit, vegetables and herb cultivars. The RHS AGM is the highest accolade a plant can have. They are the best plants for gardeners to grow and have been selected by experts on their merits of taste, yields, resistance to pests and diseases and performance.

Speaking about his favorite herbs, fruit and vegetable cultivars, Jim said: “We're passionate about getting people growing food and enjoying the best results when gardening, which is why I've pulled together a list of some of my favorite 'Grow Your Own' plants that have performed incredibly well for me this year. They offer great results and taste wonderful. I hope the lists helps people with their plant selections and that they get fantastic results too.”

Herbs

Lemon verbena – Aloysia citrodora AGM

The leaves of this herb smell of lemon sherbets. They not only make a refreshing herbal tea, but can also be used to flavor cakes and puddings. Grow this delicious shrub either against a wall to give added protection in the winter or in a container that can be brought into a cold greenhouse.

Please do not confuse Lemon verbena with Lemon balm. The latter is Melissa officialis and they are not related. Lemon balm does make a great calming tea though and also should not be missing, in my opinion, in a garden.

Rosemary – Rosmarinus officialis 'Severn Sea' AGM

Rosemary 'Severn Sea' not only tastes good in cooking and can be used all year round, but also has an attractive arching habit with very dark blue flowers so looks great in the garden or in a container.

Purple sage – Salvia officialis 'Purpurascens' AGM

The attractive purple foliage of this culinary sage is milder in flavor than the standard sage so it combines well with vegetables and some cheese. In summer it produces very beautiful flue flowers with when combined with the leaves makes it a very attractive herb for a sunny well drained part of the garden.

As luck would have it I managed to acquire a pot of those when they were on give away to us journalists on the Press Day of the Hampton Court Palace Flower show and I just must get the growing and care instructions for it.

Vegetables

Sweet pepper 'Gypsy' AGM

This is a F1 hybrid. It crops early and is easy to grow. It grows well both in the open ground and in the greenhouse. The sweet full-flavored fruit ripen from pale green to attractive bright red.

I guess I must get hold of some seed of this in order to give it a try next year and report on the findings as to how it worked for me.

Chard Bright Lights AGM

This plant can be grown for 'salad leaves' or as full sized plants for both leaves and chards – just steam for a delicious taste. It produces a good, colorful mix, including reds, yellows and whites; very ornamental and decorative. This chard is a colorful and versatile addition to the kitchen garden or potager. It is easy to grow; likes a sunny location and light soil. Good for successional sowing for long cropping season.

Kohlrabi 'Kolibri' AGM

This is such an under-rated vegetable – and I can but agree. The can be sown and eaten in eight weeks. This variety produces small purple-skinned white-fleshed bulbs on the soil surface. All gardeners have to do is to wash and slice or grate on your salad; leaves and stems and be added to salads as well. No waste. Absolutely delicious little vegetable.

Runner Bean 'Wisley Magic' AGM

One of the best selling vegetables. It was part of the RHS Bicentenary Plant collection in 2004 and still performs brilliantly.

Fruit

Pear 'Buerre Superfin' AGM

Lives up to its name; buttery, very juicy flesh, sweet yet balanced with lots of lemony flavor. A very reliable cropper.

Apple 'Ellison's Orange' AGM

Wonderful flavor – taste of aniseed develops after picking, juicy flesh; easy to grow.

Raspberry 'Tulameen' AGM

Best raspberry in the RHS Raspberry trial; excellent flavor; disease free, but vigorous, with tall canes.

While these are Jim Gardiner/s choices other folks, including gardening experts, may have their own favorites and if you are an experienced gardener you may also have others that you would recommend.

© 2011

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The RHS Edible Garden

The RHS Edible Garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2011

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The RHS Edible Garden, designed by Jon Wheatley and Anita Foy (this would not be a Wheatley related to Kevin, the actor, and thus to the former owner of the big house at Nonsuch Park and one of the ancestors being an expert in gardening?), formed the centerpiece of the 2011 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

The Edible Garden showcased the very best of Grow Your Own, with a fantastic range and array of beautiful, mainly edible, plants and it was a true feast for the eye.

Artisan, rather than commercial, products, production and uses were the focus of this exhibit and it ranged from beer production, over fruit and nut orchard, cider orchard, fruit, flower and vegetable garden to “food for free” and basically everything in between including a tropic hothouse and giant vegetables.

The RHS Edible Garden, like so many other Grow Your Own gardens, small and large, at the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, has shown that a vegetable garden does not have to be hidden away and, like it used to be, vegetables can be grown alongside flowers for bedding and for cutting.

In days of old cut flowers always used to be grown in the cottage garden right alongside the vegetables or amongst them. Or was it the case of the vegetables being amongst the flowers?
Whichever way, vegetables and flowers and bedding plants, some of which can be most beneficial to vegetable growing, can live happily side-by-side and can even benefit each other.

At the same time you can use every available space without having to worry how that might look to the neighbors and the council. Nicely arranged and grown such beds, planters, or what-have-you, look good out back or in the front.

Arranging such planting is not rocket science though it might be a good idea not to have one overpower the other too much in height and bulk. All plants need a little breathing space even though with the deep soil method things can get packed very tightly.

© 2011

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Burgon & Ball 5-A-Day Garden

Burgon & Ball 5-A-Day Garden at 2011 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Burgon & Ball 5-A-Day Garden in the Small Garden category at the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, designed and constructed by Burgon & Ball – which also won a Gold medal in that category – is a great example of what can be done, as regards to food growing, in small spaces.

This incredible small garden crams enough planting into just 10 square meters of planting space to produce enough fruit and vegetables to proved a person with their recommended 5 portions a day, every day, for a whole year.

The plants are packed in to the planters cheek by jowl in a way that defies the traditional spacing suggestions more often than not found on seed packets. Nevertheless they thrive and crop as if they had the luxury of their own expansive personal space which, indeed, they have, though not in surface area.

The secret is the “deep bed methods” as espoused by the late self-sufficiency expert and guru John Seymour. Growing in very loose deep soil encourages roots to grow straight down rather than sideways, thereby enabling increased planting density, with the resulting harvests of up to fourfold of that which could be achieved by traditional planting methods.

The Burgon & Ball 5-A-Day Garden at the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show is set in a typical small courtyard, part of a large scale urban development, assessed by the kitchen back door. There is very limited space and lots of hard landscaping. The garden shows how, by using off the shelf, crop specific sized, Burgon & Ball Home Allotment® Planters, it is possible to replicate the conditions of the deep bed method and become self-sufficient in fruit & vegetables.

It is, obviously, also possible to recreate this garden using other planters, especially homemade ones, and reused and upcycled ones, such as builders' bags and such like.

Every single plant in the Burgon & Ball 5-A-Day Garden is edible in some format and all surfaces have been considered for a productive use – including the chamomile rooftop recliner and the wall of herbs in Home Allotment® Vertical Planters.

One of the highlights of the garden is the salad table – a stunning hand crafted table with integral planting trough packed with salad leaves and edible flowers for diners to pick and enjoy at their very freshest.

The Burgon & Ball 5-A-Day Garden also features rainwater harvesting, via copper drainpipes into and under-deck series of water butts, additional water butts to catch falling rain and an attractive copper rain chain channeling further water into one of the butts. You can make rain chains yourself and there are instructions that can be found, I am sure, on the Web.

Space under the stairs is utilized to house a pull-out potting bench and tool store plus a compost bin.

Burgon & Ball Home Allotment® Planters are available from all good garden centers with recommended retail prices from £9.95 to £27.95 and full information can be found on Burgon & Ball's website www.burgonandvall.com and also www.5adaygarden.co.uk.

As I have said earlier, it is obviously possible to create your own version of this garden – tailored to your own space – with a lot of DIY and reusing and repurposing this or that item of waste. If, on the other hand, you want to do it the direct route then there are the planters that you can buy, obviously.

© 2011

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Veg, vines & visuals at the RHS Edible Garden

The centrepiece of the Hampton Court Flower Show this year is the RHS Edible Garden. Created by the formidable team of Jon Wheatley and Anita Foy, who've had such success with these huge RHS displays in recent years, the garden brings together every aspect of growing your own. To round off the experience, the garden takes in drinking your own and also cutting your own flowers for the house.

Cabbage cultivars

Although new techniques and new ideas have taken hold in recent years, many gardeners rely on more traditional techniques – growing similar plants together and rotating them around the garden. But they can still look exciting. These brassicas make an attractive garden display, providing masses of food: purple curly kale at the back, then Brussels sprouts, more kales and other attractive cabbages complete the picture.

Crops for a shady spot

In the partial shade of a tall hedge of beans, both red and green lettuce, pak choi and other leafy salads that can take a little shade combine to create a very productive and yet attractive area. The key is choosing varieties that not only look good but which are also productive – like the runner bean 'Moonlight' which reliably produces beans in all conditions. Towards the back, where there's a little more light, the finely cut leaves of carrots add a contrasting texture.

Vines for all situations

The Romans grew grapes in southern Britain, and forty years ago before our climate changed there was a productive vineyard as far north as Sheffield. Now it's possible to grow good grapes for wine or for eating fresh all over the country. The older they get the better they look, as their stems become more gnarled. And to enhance the whole look of your row of vines, grow wildflowers alongside – just as they do in France and in California.

Luxurious lavender

Another Mediterranean crop that thrives in Britain is lavender. Popular for its fragrance, and increasingly for cooking, in recent years a vast range of new varieties has come on the market. If you plan to cut and dry more than just a few stems it pays to set aside a sunny area devoted entirely to lavender (unless you have a mature olive tree on hand). A few wild flowers can complete the picture or plant the spaces between the rows with spring bulbs.

Hard grafters

In recent years there's been a revolution in tomato growing as the old technique of grafting has been re-introduced. Driven by the fact that it's almost impossible to grow tomatoes in the same greenhouse soil for more than a year or two without disease wiping them out, the best fruiting varieties are grafted on to disease resistant roots. The result is early crops of the best varieties – on plants that never get diseased. Brilliant.

It's not just tomatoes that are grafted. Many greenhouse crops suffer from root diseases so grafting can also allow peppers, chilies, cucumbers and aubergines to be grown in greenhouse soil year after year. And there's more – even when grown in fresh soil they often perform better than non-grafted varieties. Some grafted varieties are also suited to growing outside in the open garden and here earliness is a valuable improvement.

Colour combinations

Harmonious colour grouping of crops and ornamentalsThe big idea in food growing in recent years has been growing them with ornamentals. And now that so many attractive forms of vegetables and herbs are being appreciated, plantings can look as good as they taste. Here purple-leaved fennel, purple perilla, silvery cardoons, lavender and the delicious lab lab beans are blended with garden pinks, achilleas and penstemons in a harmonious colour grouping.

Growing in harmony

A ribbon of ornamental sweet potato foliage threads through a tapestry of pinks and yellows, colour clashes calmed by the variety of foliage. Blue-green cabbages, fresh green French bean foliage and silvery cornflower leaves mingle with dahlias, antirrhinums, violas and a wide range of geraniums in various pink shades plus yellow daylilies and marigolds. As the food plants are harvested or the cornflowers are cut for the house their neighbours expand to fill the space.

It makes sense to grow cut flowers with other plants and integrating cut flowers with food plants and attractive perennials is a resourceful way of ensuring that when the cut flowers are cut there are no gaping holes in the border. Here lovely Gladiolus 'Debby Ann' is grown in clumps amongst penstemons, hostas, campanulas and even roses with the variegated foliage of hostas filling in underneath. When the gladioli are cut, the border will still look full.

Glasshouse exotics

In the greenhouse area of the RHS Edible Garden, the idea of edibles is stretched a little to include varieties that are more ornamental than productive. The red-leaved banana, Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' is grown for its stunning glassy rich red tinted foliage – it's one of the most dramatic plants in the garden but don't bank on any bananas. Alongside are coleus and Calamondin oranges, with fruits and fragrant flowers all year. The fruits are more like limes than oranges although they make good marmalade.

Source: RHS

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Impressions from the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A great number of interesting and outstanding show gardens were in evidence, yet again, also at this year's show.

The one that stood out most in the Small Gardens category was the Burgon & Ball “5-A-Day” garden and it rightly, as far as I am concerned, been awarded a gold medal in the Small Garden category.

Second place, in the same category, must go, in my list, jointly to “An Urban Harvest” and “The Potential Feast”.

As my priorities, as far as gardening is concerned, lie with food growing and wildlife it is obvious that I would chose first and foremost food gardens.

In joint third place on my list in this category are “Wild in the City”, a wildlife garden, and “A Precious Warning”, which is concerned with sustainability.

When it comes to the Conceptual Gardens my favorite must be the “Enduring Freedom?” one and this is, in reality, also the only one in that category that really spoke to me.

The “Enduring Freedom?” garden, and the question mark is absolutely spot on as to whether we are bringing an enduring freedom or any kind of proper freedom to Afghanistan, spoke to me especially due to my background as a troop – though we weren't called that then – and my political views and interests in the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

We claim that we want to bring freedom and democracy to those countries and that we care about human rights and all that when, in fact, it is all about petroleum in the end.

The “Enduring Freedom?” garden is a poignant reminder that not all is the way as we are being told by the powers-that-be.

I will go into some greater depth about some of those gardens in the next couple of days or so.

When it comes to growing edibles then the RHS “Edible Garden” certainly must be mentioned and will so also in some greater depth.



Slug Bell in plant bed at RHS Edible Garden

A couple of new or fairly new products and seeds have come to my attention also ate the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, such as the Slug Bell; FIG, the flexible garden cane connector from Marshalls; and Kew Garden Botanical “Urban Garden Collection” range of seeds from Thompson & Morgan, which are developed for containers with the urban gardener in mind.

As I have some of those products to hand right now as I was kindly given samples by the suppliers reviews are to follow soon.

Marshalls also kindly supplied me with a copy of the Joy Larkom book “Grow Your Own Vegetables” and I shall try to get a review of this done as soon as. 

It looks as if I have chosen the right two days for my visit to the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, going Monday, July, 4 (Press Day) and Tuesday, July 5, as on the later afternoon of Tuesday the good weather broke and rain arrived.

© 2011

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