The Veg Grower Podcast Richard

Join Richard in this weeks podcasts where the on going battle with slugs and snails continues but Richard thinks he has found out why. Richard has also been sowing some flower plants and is joined by Lee Connolly for national children's gardening week.







Where are all these slugs and snails coming from?







In most years Richard never has a problem with slugs and snails. This year however Richard has noticed a huge increase in the amount of slugs and snails at home. The wet winter and spring has of course made the slugs and snail population worse but Richard noticed that the allotment isn't suffering.







So what's changed?







In this segment Richard shares with you what action he has now taken.







Sowing flowers.







You probably thinking Richard doesn't grow flowers! And you would be correct. However Richard does grow edibles and some flowers can be edible and some can be beneficial to his edible crops.







This week Richard has been growing some flowers that full into this category such as









Nasturtiams







Sunflower's







Marigolds







Dahlias









There's many more that can also be sown too.







Chef Scott Recipe Of The Week.







This week chef Scott shares a delicious Pasta with broad bean, pancetta and parmesan. Which sounds delicious but also uses broad beans that have just came into season.







National Children's Gardening Week.







And finally Richard is joined by Lee Connolly of the Skinny Jean Gardener where we are talking about National children's gardening week.







Lee has offered a discount code for his book from his website using discount code veggrower







If you have enjoyed this podcast then please rate and review on your podcast provider. If you would like to help support this podcast then please consider becoming a supporting member by clicking the button below to find out more.

Join Richard in this weeks podcast where Richard shares why he is not doing No Mow May. A couple of methods of easy irrigation and its time to sow some winter veg.







Allotment update: NO No Mow May.







Down on the allotment Richard has had to make a repair to his lawnmower. A belt change was all that was needed after his lawnmower seemed to not work very well.







This has lead Richard to share his thoughts on why he is not doing No Mow May this year. No Mow May is a month where gardeners don't mow their grass areas in order to encourage wild flowers to grow and help our wildlife.







In The Vegetable Garden: Easy Irrigation







Irrigation is a time consuming part of growing your own food, but its a necessary task that helps our plants thrive.







Because of this Richard has started to experiment with 2 methods that might help with irrigation







Method one is an autopot system. The system is the 2 pot system which uses gravity to keep pots well irrigated and should lead to plenty of good growth and good veg.







If you are interested in this autopot system then Richard has got a discount code for you use the code AUTO10RVG when buying from Autopot.co.uk







Method two is an ancient method using a terracotta pot called an olla. This olla is submerged in the ground and slowly trickles water to the soil. It should be interesting to see how well this system works.







In The Shed: Sowing Winter Veg.







Winter might seem a long time away, but if we want to eat in winter there's some veg we need to sow now. These seeds include, winter squash, many brassicas and of course Parsnips







This week Richard has been sowing lots of these seeds in order to keep growing and eating in the winter months.







Chef Scott's Recipe Of The Week: Sweetcorn, Feta And Bean Salad.







This week Chef Scott shares with us this delicious Sweetcorn, feta and black bean salad. Which not only sounds delicious but also is on the back of this months seed of the month.







The seed of the month is in collaboration with Premier seeds direct. A fantastic supplier for plants seeds but also have given us a discount code VEGPOD10







And finally.







We hope you have enjoyed this podcast. If you have then please rate and review on your podcast provider.







If you want to support this podcast then please consider becoming a member of our supporters club. Fond out more on the button below.

Join Richard in this weeks podcast where Richard has taken a trip to BBC gardeners world spring fair. An annual event at Beulieu motor museum in the new forest. Richard also shares the seed of the month a sweetcorn variety from premier seeds and he has been planting seed on the allotment.







Gardeners world spring fair 2024.







On Friday Richard headed to Beulieu motor museum, house and gardens for the annual BBC gardeners world spring fair. We have been attending this event for a few years and we always enjoy the show.







Richard takes us through the kitchen garden at Beulieu as well as visits a couple of show gardens and finishes off with a bit of shopping.







Always a thoroughly enjoyable event but if you went let us know your experience.







Seed of the month: Sweetcorn Rising Sun.







Each month we have a seed of the month in collaboration with Premier seeds direct. Premier seeds direct are a fantastic supplier of all your garden seed needs.







This month we have a sweetcorn variety Rising Sun which is an early sweet variety of sweetcorn. Easy to grow and Richard considers sweetcorn to be a staple in any kitchen garden or allotment.







Don't forget to use discount code vegpod10 for a further discount on already low prices at Premier seeds direct.







Down the allotment.







Down on the allotment Richard has been getting lots of plants in the ground. This year has been a tricky year and there's been a lot of worry about it being too cold or wet to get plants in the ground. Richard decided to get a few in the ground now and see how it works out but it seems to have worked well.







Listen to the podcast to find out more.







Support this podcast.







If you have enjoyed this podcast, then please leave a rating and review on your podcast provider, but if you would like to support this podcast and keep the website running then please consider becoming a supporting member. Details on the button below.

This week on the veg grower podcast, Richard has been busy potting on young plants, sowing parsnips and tending to his Rhubarb.







Potting on







We start this week in the greenhouse, where Richard is potting on lots of young plants into bigger and bigger pots. Richard like to wait for the compost to have plenty of roots before potting up. That way the root ball comes out easily and the compost doesn't get wasted.







Potting up is essential for encouraging growth in our young plants. Given the roots more space to stretch out and search for moisture and nutrients.







Richard usually uses a large collection of plastic pots which get re used over and over again. However he is also using some biodegradable pots including some from wool pots.







Support this podcast.















Sowing parsnips.







This week Richard has sown some parsnips. Parsnips of course being a fantastic tasty winter veg.







But getting parsnips seeds to germinate can be tricky!!!







Richard believes this to be due to the soil temperature. Parsnip seed germinates in soil above 12c. There's an old wives tail about how to test if the soil is warm enough but the best way to test is with a soil thermometer.







Chef Scott's recipe of the week.







This week chef Scott has a delicious Asparagus hummus recipe for you to try. A great way to make a healthy tasty dip from your asparagus harvests.







Rhubarb check up.







Inspired by the asparagus recipe Richard heads over to his asparagus and rhubarb to make a few pickings. Rhubarb is in plentiful supply currently but flower spikes have appeared.







Flower spikes on Rhubarb is usually a sign of stress. Given the weather its not surprising and its easy to rectify.

Join Richard in this weeks episode of the veg grower podcast. This week Richard feels like its all coming together as he is is looking at making more space in his greenhouse by using cold frames. He plants out some cabbages and cauliflowers. Also the grass paths have had their first cut at the allotment. Chef Scott shares an rhubarb BBQ sauce recipe too.







Making room in the greenhouse.







Like many of us Richard has lots of seedlings in his greenhouse and on his windowsills. But at this time of year a greenhouse also needs to be used for the growing of food.







Richard now turns to his cold frames as a way of making more room in greenhouses and to harden off his plants.







Join the supporters club







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For just £5 a month you get access to extra behind the scenes podcast as well as a monthly pack sent to your door. This pack contains our mini newspaper and a collection of seeds to sow in that very month.







Click below to find out more.











Its all coming together.







One thing we have to do to grow our own food is plant plants!







This week Richard has planted out his summer cabbages and cauliflowers, two of the hardest vegetables to grow.







Richard talks you through his process of preparing the ground and planting out the plants and how to protect from pigeons.







Chef Scott's recipe of the week







This week Chef Scott has a delicious BBQ sauce using rhubarb for you to try. BBQ season is just around the corner and there's plenty of Rhubarb being harvested.







The first cut.







And finally we end with the first cut of the grass paths on the allotment. But the grass clippings don't get wasted, they can be used to make compost or for mulching the brassicas planted out earlier.