ready...steady...

Newsletter

handy PestBooklet, findenclosed

new

GROW!

set to put a spring

in your step

Stop slugs & bugs

our Pest Expert tells you how

Patch Patrolwith BBC Radio 2’s

Terry Walton

order by phone 0845 402 5300 post or online www.harrodhorticultural.com

Achieve a garden of plenty this season by taking advantage of these great value offers onhandy products. Just quote promotional code ELNEWS when you order! Hurry though, offers

only valid until 31/07/11 or whilst stocks last.

Spring OffersOnly £3.00

Usually £6.00 GNE-063

Fine Insect-Mesh Pack (2m W x 5m L)17g Insulating Fleece Pack

(2m W x 10m L)

Only £6.25Usually £12.50 GNE-036

Only £7.50Usually £15.00 GNE-001

Heavy-Duty Anti-Bird Mesh

Netting Pack (4m W x 5m L)

HALFPRICE

HALFPRICE HALF

PRICE

Only £3.48Usually £6.95 GDN-911

Reusable Growbag (100cm x 40cm x 23cm H)Flexible Soft-Tie

(3.5mm dia x 8m roll)

Only £4.46Usually £5.95 GPL-037

Only £5.21Usually £6.95 GPC-186

Slug & Snail Copper Tape(4m roll)

HALFPRICE

25%OFF 25%

OFF

Welcome to our first Harrod

Horticultural Newsletter!

Full of helpful sowing and

growing tips, expert advice,

special offers and other news straight

from my Kitchen Garden.

It’s time to put those colder months behind you, so

stop shivering and start gardening! It’s the best

way to shake off those winter doldrums and

welcome in the warmer weather. No matter what

the scale of your kitchen gardening empire,

whether you have a full sized allotment or a

modest collection of patio pots, it’s always possible

to maximise your enjoyment and harvests through

some simple steps.

Compost is the lifeblood of the productive garden,

promising excellent results, and our Master

Composter, Martin Fiddes, offers some wise words

to help you get started on the road to productive

plenty. Whilst our Pest Expert, Julian Ives, shares

his know-how on how to halt any infestation of

common persistent pests in the garden such as

slugs and carrot root fly. My biggest tip is to keep

some Insect-Mesh Netting or Fleece handy to

protect your newly sown seeds or crops from birds

and other uninvited guests – so take advantage of

our fantastic spring offers over the page and you’re

sure to be feasting on a home-grown bounty in just

a few months’ time.

Happy gardening!

Stephanie Harrod

Great valuekit

3 planters and 15 ORGANIC seed

potatoes (Colleen, Maris Peer &

Charlotte) - just £13.9o GPL-176

K

ITCHEN

G

A R D E N

We’re arriving veryquickly at the timeof year we can start plantingpotatoes. Whether you choose togrow in open soil or planters, thepotato puzzler on many gardener’sminds is: to chit, or not to chit?

ChitterChatter

Chit - time! says Terry WaltonBBC Radio 2’s Allotment DoctorWhen I receive my seed potatoes they arestored in egg trays in a cool, light placewith their eyes looking skyward sothose sturdy young shoots can emergeprior to planting. The benefit of chittingfor me is two-fold: firstly, I can weed outany tubers that may not be sound beforeplanting and having already started to sprout they willgain a couple of weeks growth over those not chitted.Secondly, those unchitted tubers, if planted, have to startfrom scratch and will take longer to emerge from the soiland hence provide a later crop. I have chitted for overhalf a century with a great deal of success and I wouldtake a lot of convincing to change my stance.

It’s all chatter argues StephanieIf you plan carefully and get your tubers delivered afteryou’ve done the hard ground work, you can put thespuds straight in the soil! They’ll soon catch up with theirchitted counterparts and later varieties won’t thank youfor keeping them hanging around before planting. Furtherproblems can be caused by not storing your tubers in thecorrect conditions, as you could end up with long, paleweedy chits – a waste of the valuable energy storedinside the potato. Me? I’ll be rubbing off any shootswhich do emerge – said to give you fewer but largerpotatoes – and saying ‘no’ to potato chitting. You wantthose spuds in peak condition when they hit the soil, notrunning on half empty!

Let us know what you think,share your thoughts with uson Twitter…

Fruit Cages: Our FREEQUOTATIONSERVICEensures thereis a cage forevery garden! As we’ve been designingand manufacturing for55+ years, we know thatpretty much anything ispossible when it comes totailoring our cages to anygarden – uneven ground,slopes, angled boundaries,the lot. So don’t rule outany of our cage kits justbecause you think yourgarden is challenged,challenge us instead!

FREEASSEMBLY TIPS DVD

Customer Review

a soft fruit saviour!Talk to any gardener about bird damage and you will hear avariety of solutions to the problem but in reality there are onlytwo proven and reliable methods of preventing damage bybirds – netting and fruit cages – which should be present as

fruits develop. Don’t delay! If you’re thinking about moving your plans up a notch,we’ve a cage kit to suit all gardens and pockets. There’s those with a lower height fortemporary protection, aluminium and steel walk-in cages in many standard sizes or weeven have a bespoke design service to tailor cages to individual garden shapes and sizes.

Birds

WANTED

“When I researched Fruit Cages, fellow gardenerskept recommending Harrod Horticultural. ThisSuperior Steel Cage is sturdy, of the highestquality and is sure to pay itself back over theyears with continuous high crop yields”. Mark Diacono, Head Gardener at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Garden

A repeat purchase“I have purchased over the lastfew years two fruit cages fromHarrod Horticultural. The qualityis outstanding, and deliveryprompt. At last I can grow thefruit I want without the pigeonstaking half the crop.”

Get the ball movingby requesting, fillingin and sending backa quotation form.Call our Fruit Cage

Experts on 0845 218 5301 or download a formfrom our website.

We’ll provide youwith a FREE ofcharge, noobligation quote andwhen you’vereturned your formwe can start to workon making your

vision a reality! Our Design Team will createa CAD drawing of how your bespoke cagecould look and work in your garden.

Frameworkcomplete, our in-house nettingspecialists hand pickand cut-to-size thenetting of your

choice for the roof and side of your cage. We evensupply all the required fixings to make assemblythat much more seamless for you. The onlydilemma you have is in choosing what netting typeyou want from our extensive range!

Once you’ve given usthe green light, allsystems are go! Allthe square steelsection bars aregalvanised and thenpowder coatedtextured black for an

attractive finish at our factory in Lowestoft, Suffolk.To our knowledge we’re the only manufacturers inthe UK who use a superior strength squaregalvanised steel section, that’s why we canguarantee your cage frame for 10 years!

A Bespoke Steel Cage is born

1 2

34

Voila! Assembly is made easywith illustrated instructions and

a Free Tips DVD. Nothing rivals the long lasting strength, quality and premiumappearance of our cages in the garden. Butdon’t just take our word for it, see what othergardeners have to say!

5

When it comes to our fruit cages, nothing compares toseeing them in action. The following gardens are allprotected with high quality cages from our extensiverange so why not visit them first hand?*

Seeing is believing!

1. RHS Harlow Carr, Yorkshire: Superior Steel Cage

2. RHS Wisley, Surrey: Aluminium, Superior & Decorative Steel Cages

3. Garden Organic, Ryton, Warwickshire: Aluminium & Superior Steel Cages

4. Blackmoor Nurseries, Hampshire: Superior Steel Cage

5. Victoriana Nurseries, Kent: Aluminium Cage

6. Holt Hall, Norfolk: Superior Steel & Decorative Fruit Cage

7. Lightbounds, Staffordshire: Superior Steel Fruit Cage

8. The Bishop’s Garden, Norfolk: Superior Steel Fruit Cages

9. Woottens of Wenhaston, Suffolk: Superior Steel Fruit Cage

Bishop’s Garden

RHS Wisley

Holt Hall

Victoriana Nurseries

6

1

7

254

Go online and view ourinspirational Fruit & Vegetable

Cage video clips. Complete withcommentary, they show just

how simple it is to assemble our cages and how they could

work in your garden.

Find out even more

3

*Please call any of these gardens before travelling to ensure the cages remain available for viewing.RHS Harlow Carr 01423 565418 • RHS Wisley 0845 260 9000 • Garden Organic, Ryton 02476 303517Blackmoor Nurseries 01420 473576 • Victoriana Nurseries 01233 740529 • Holt Hall 01263 713117Lightbounds 01889 567123 • Bishop’s Garden 01603 880853 • Woottens 01502 478258

89

Despite theharsh wintersome slugsand snailswill havesurvived!For anygardener atrisk of staring down the barrel of aslimy invasion, you need to protectyour new plants early on. If soiltemperatures are getting above 5°C,apply slug killing nematodes, such asNemaslug (1), by watering them intoyour compost. For larger pots andcontainers, put adhesive copper tapearound the rims, this is sure to shockthose malignant mollusks into aretreat. For ground level control tryour organic Advanced Slug Killerproduct (2). These iron based pelletsare safe around all plants, childrenand pets, yet they kill slugs andsnails naturally.

Start the growing season as you mean to goon by giving plants a health kick! Healthyplants make all the difference for asuccessful growing season in the gardenand you can reduce pest and disease levels

by ensuring tip-top plant hygiene along witha combination of good growing conditions

and early detection of garden marauders.

Slugs & snails

WANTED

PESTCONTROL

Like slugs,vine weevillarvaeoverwintertoo by hidingaway in pots andcontainers soit is important to kill them before theyeat the roots of plants and thendevelop into adults. The best method iswith Vine Weevil Killer nematodes (3),simply water these microscopic wormsinto the compost or soil from Marchonwards. There is also a new naturalally in the battle against many pestsincluding vine weevil larvae, new MightyMite (4)! This tiny little predatory mitefights well above its size; feeding on vineweevil larvae, fungus fly larvae, motheggs and other larvae or small pupae itfinds in the compost or soil. Apply it inseed trays, pots and containers to helpkeep these pests under control.

Vine weevils

WANTEDAs the springdevelops,start to thinkabout what isflying aroundand get tothe root ofany problems!To miss the 1st generation of flies suchas Carrot root fly and Cabbage root fly,make sure early crops are covered withFleece or Insect Mesh Netting orpurchase an Anti-Carrot Fly Screen;made from ultra fine insect mesh, it’sthe ideal protection for crops in raisedbeds or the open ground. If you thinkyou are too late and some flies havegot through, try putting a Carrot RootFly Trap up and applying the Grow YourOwn nematode treatment (5) to thesoil. It searches out and kills the rootfly larvae as well as controllingnumerous other pests includingcaterpillars, onion fly and gooseberrysaw fly.

Root flies

WANTED

OUR FAVOURITE PEST FIGHTING FIVE

Nemaslug Slug Killer40m2 pack GPC-265 £9.95

Advanced Slug Killer250g GPC-149 £3.95

Vine WeevilKiller12m2 pack GPC-275 £8.95

Mighty Mitetube contains 500 mites GPC-034 £9.95

Grow Your OwnNematodes60m2 packGPC-029 £4.95

POSTAGE & PACKING IS JUST £2 .00 FOR THESE PEST CONTROL PRODUCTS!

Don’t give those garden criminals anywhere to hide, they sure won’t return the favour! Firstthings first, remove weeds and old plant debris, especially in greenhouses, otherwise whitefly, aphid and otherpersistent pests will spread like wildfire from weeds to your new precious plants and crops.

HYGIENE

with JulianFor FREE pest advice email

julian@harrod.uk.com

1

2

3

4

5

KITCHEN

G

A R D E N

Sowing & growing advicewith Courtney,Stephanie’s Trainee Kitchen Gardener

Spring has sprung – andhasn’t it been the longest wait?At last things in the kitchen gardenare really starting to move andeverything demands attention: lawnsneed to be prepared, soil warmedand seed sowing continues like it’sgoing out of fashion! Here are a fewtasks we’ll be doing in Stephanie’sKitchen Garden this spring. Don’tforget you can visit our website tofind out more about our organicgrowing project. If you leave youremail address we can send monthlyupdates direct to your inbox.

Sow busy! With the help of propagators, I’vestarted to sow greenhouse cropssuch as tomatoes, aubergines andpeppers. By the end of April, thegreenhouse should be bulging at theseams with young plants itching tobe planted out into their permanentpositions. I’ll have to make sure torein them in with a few hardening offsessions inour TimberCold Framefirst tograduallyaccustomthem totheir coolerconditions.

A warmreception While agreenhouseoffers morereliableresults, ifsimply likeme youjust don’thave the space, I find certainvarieties of tender crops canbe grown successfully outsidesuch as carrots and cabbages.I recommend choosing a warm,sheltered position and making useof cloches, fleece and polythene tohelp early sowings. For best results,I always warm the soil beforehandby a week or two ahead of sowingwith some fleece, which also helpskeep the soil weed-free and moist.This also comes in handy whenprotecting young veg againstplummeting night-timetemperatures and pests, which areon wing in mid-spring.

The lawn ultimatum Spring is the time to lavish someattention on your lawn and I’ll bedoing just that. Armed with ascarifier and lawn rake, I’ll be givingthe lawn a good going over toremove the moss, thatch and any

other organic matter which preventsthe grass from growing. Once

cleared, bare orpatchy areas can besown with grass seedto fill the gaps –although I thinknetting these offmay be a goodoption to avoidbirds making themost of seeds!Come summer I’ll

be the envy of my friends with myreward of a healthyemerald sward.

Pesky pigeonsWhilst on the subjectof birds, pigeons are one of themain garden pests of themoment, they will ravage crops,especially brassicas, which theywill strip to bare stems, even thespiciest of mustards will be‘strimmed’ down to the ground.Use vegetable cages, fleece, netting– anything to provide a barrier.

Sowing & Propagation Tips DVDSet in the beautiful surroundings of Stephanie’s KitchenGarden, we show you just how simple and satisfying it is tosuccessfully germinate and grow your own vegetables. Full ofhorticultural expertise, unique tips and practical explanations -it’s compulsive viewing for novices and experienced gardenersalike. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! DVD-100 £4.95

Read monthly updates atharrodhorticultural.com

FOR ONLY

£4.95

Plan yourgardengrowingwith us onlineAn easy and fun way to plan your kitchen garden,whatever its shape and size. Get clear and reliableinformation and tutorials with our fantastic newgarden planner and maximise your growingsuccess. It’s only a click away so give it a trytoday! Find it on our homepage.

N E W S F L A S HCome visit us at Chelsea!The ultimate event in the gardening year!

24-28th May RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London.We’re delighted to be part of this prestigious

show for the 8th year running. Visit ourintriguing exhibit at 47 Pavilion Way and takeadvantage of our exclusive show offers and

expert advice. Among our favourite coreproducts will be the launch of our

NEW ROSE ARCH RANGE.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle!

Now that the gardening season is here again, I’m sure many of youare interested in getting your bins and heaps leaping into action oncemore. If you dutifully collected lots of organic matter during your autumntidy you may now be rewarded to find that it has broken down somewhatduring the winter. What great mulch this will make for now, or perhaps, likeme, you’re keen to add some new material to transform it into sweet-smelling, nutrient rich compost?

To do this just put together the same equal blend of organic green andbrown materials to make your compost. Included in the green sector aregrass cuttings (including thatch), fruit and vegetable peelings and tea bags.Whilst, on the brown team you’ll find newspaper (scrunch it up), twigs andwoody prunings, cardboard, leaves and shredded paper. I’d recommendshredding or chopping your organic matter to expedite decomposition. Assoon as the first strong rays of spring’s sunlight emerges, the chemistry ofcomposting begins because the bacteria involved in the decompositionprocess work better in warm temperatures.

You’ll need to carefully tend to your bin as the degrading material insidewill need turning and aerating – and you may even want to invest in a long-probed compost thermometer to check the core temperature is hotenough. This heat – temperatures of 35°C are commonplace – is enough tokill off any weed seeds and most roots which have crept into the bin. Goodquality compost will be yours in as little as two weeks to a month, given theright type of bin and perfect conditions. I give my pile a healthy sprinklingof water to ensure moist conditions.

And it’s that easy to get your bin back in shape this spring! Bycomposting at home you’ve produced a wonderful soil enhancer andfertiliser practically for free!

Martin’s‘Compost Corner’

To an ‘old’ allotmenteer like merecycling is a way of life and a skip is agreat source of money saving especially asother people’s rubbish often make forhandy objects to use on the plot. Oldwindow frames can be transformed intogreat cold frames and, for the moreresourceful, can be fashioned into agreenhouse using old timber to boot. Thoseold buckets and containers can soon bedrilled with holes to make a home formany a vegetable to be grown in.Discarded bricks form great path edgingand soon the skip may be empty and inplace on the plot! Whilst those polystyrenecups, dispensed in their thousands fromcoffee machines up and down the land, aresoon washed, a couple of holes burned inthe base and there you have a snug homefor many a plant.

Terry Waltonshows you how

You can hear more from Terry onBBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine’s show.