BBC Essex gardening presenter Ken Crowther answers all your gardening questions and queries. This week he is joined by Mick Lavelle, senior lecturer in horticulture at Writtle University College.
An easy way to create instant summer colour is by using hanging baskets and troughs. Garden centres and nurseries have plenty on display but it’s easy to create your own. Phostrogen Slow Release Plant Food and Moisture Control is an ideal solution for busy gardeners as Tom Cole, Senior Horticultural Lecturer at Writtle University College told Ken Crowther.
If you got your first early seed potatoes planted in February they should be showing their heads come June. These early varieties produced a heavy yield of short, oval tubers with firm and waxy white flesh. Thompson and Morgan’s vegetable man Colin Randall spoke to Ken Crowther.
This month on the Kings Seeds plot Andrew Tokely has been working extra hard. Due to the dry conditions he’s been knocking the plots down by hand. The first plot is netted to protect from pigeons and has been planted with brassicas as Andrew explained to Ken Crowther.
There’s a lot of enthusiasm for growing spuds which is partly down to gardeners being encouraged to grow them not just in the ground but in bags and containers on patios and balconies as Thompson & Morgan’s veg man Colin Randall told Ken Crowther.