How useful do you find Gardening Magazines ? I started buying them earlier this year and it’s taken a few months to pick out the most relevant. These are the 3 I’ve bought most often . (All UK titles).
The June 2009 editions are now out so I thought I’d highlight any helpful articles.
It’s a light month for articles dedicated solely to tomatoes. This month’s star turns are salad leaves, beans and peas, strawberries and other fruit.
The tomato related advice for June is mostly around:
- Pinching/cutting out side shoots
- Feeding and watering
- Controlling temperatures especially in a greenhouse where hot days can push temperatures up
A couple of general articles caught my attention:
‘Wet, wet wet !’ on the topic of watering in Grow It. Watering definitely being on the tomato growers list of things to worry about. The article includes a tip on cutting the base off a plastic drinks bottle, sinking the bottle into the ground and watering through it to get down to the roots. All of which was timely enough to send me out to the recycling box to retrieve the bottles put out for this weeks’collection.
Recycling my recycling!
And then when I went allotment visiting yesterday I saw this very tip, in action, with tomato plants. Here’s the photo!
The other was ‘GYO in the North’ in Grow Your Own on the differences in timing and approach to the growing season depending if you’re in the South or the North of the UK. Regional climatic differences are a frequent topic for US gardening websites and blogs but not so much for the UK. This article highlights the differences that exist even in our much smaller country. It’s something that’s cropped up here in the comments section when Hoylandswain referred to starting his plants later due to being in the North but how they seem to catch up regardless. (See comments 28th April.)
Let me know if I’ve missed anything tomato related that you’ve come across in any other of Junes’ publications.
PS. These are 3 free packets of seeds that came with various magazines.
- All Green Bush Courgettes (sow by 2011)
- Broccoli raab ’60 days’ (sow by 2012)
- Spinach F1 Bella (sow by 2011)
I’m sticking to tomatoes! So if you would like me to put one of the three packets in the post to you then send me an email saying which packet and they’ll be on their way!
