Gardeners World episode 16 2012: Monty Don is busy at Longmeadow, sowing late summer salads, harvesting blackcurrants and advising us on how to feed our flowers to maximise longevity.
Gardeners’ World has something for those that are interested in the Olympics, something for those coming to London and something for those who are happy staying at home. Rachel de Thame gets a preview of the gardens in the Olympic Park and meets those who have battled the elements to make sure they are at the peak of perfection.
Carol Klein discovers London’s wild side, exploring a community garden in the centre of the city that provides a haven for both flora and fauna. Joe Swift walks the paths of power. On an exclusive visit to the historic garden at 10 Downing Street, he learns of the changes made by successive Prime Ministers.
Gardeners World episode 16 2012
Sowing late summer salads
It’s so easy to grow your own salad leaves, even those exotic ones you see in the supermarket. Salad leaves are cut-and-come-again crops, as you constantly cut immature leaves, more re-grow. The most common crop is lettuce, but there are a host of other salad leaves: chicory, endive, sorrel, spinach, mizuna, mibuna, rocket and mustard.
Grow salad leaves in full sun, making sure the soil is well-drained. They are particularly well suited to growing in containers, growbags or even in salad bowls. Just make sure whatever you use has drainage holes. You can also sow salad leaves in the garden.
Sow indoors from February. Sow outdoors from mid-spring to late summer, putting individual types of salad seed in rows, thinly at 1cm (½in) deep. Alternatively one of the easiest ways of sowing salad leaves is to simply sprinkle a mixture of seed (most garden centres will sell packets of salad leaf mixes) lightly on the top of soil surface, then cover with about 1cm (½in) of compost.
