Get growing!
Beginner’s guide to growing rocket
Rocket is delicious served simply with parmesan and black pepper, so why not give it a go? Sow the seeds thinly from April to September directly into fine soil or on your windowsill through the winter. Protect your outdoor rocket seeds from pests.
Seeds will germinate very quickly so water them each day and pick the young, tender leaves regularly to avoid the crop flowering and going to seed. For a continuous supply make a sowing every two weeks.
Rocket also grows well in pots. Sowing thinly into a good organic, peat free compost to produce young, tender leaves. Place pots on a windowsill or in a cool greenhouse. Direct sowing into the beds in a greenhouse will extend the growing season and offer the added protection from flea beetle attack.
Beginner’s guide to growing tomatoes
We all love the fresh taste of vine grown tomatoes and they couldn’t be easier to grow yourself. Sow tomato seeds from January until March at a temperature of 18-21ºC. Place four seeds into a 9cm pot containing an organic peat free, multi-purpose or seed compost. Keep the compost moist but not too wet.
When the seedlings have developed 2 leaves and reached a height of 3-5cm, they need potting on. Hold the seedling by a leaf, not the stem and gently tease out the roots and carefully transplant each seedling into a 10cm pot. Gently firm the compost around the seedling and water carefully. When they have reached 20-30cms they are ready to plant into their final growing position.
Acclimatise them gradually to cooler conditions by placing them outside for a few hours each day. Once all fear of frost has passed they can be planted outside at a spacing of 45cm apart. Alternatively they can be planted into larger pots of at least 25-30cm deep and placed in a greenhouse or outside in a spot that is sunny but sheltered from wind. Make sure that plants are well watered especially those in pots. Start to feed them each week with a liquid comfrey feed or an organic tomato feed once the plant has produced the first fruit truss. Enjoy!
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