best magazine around (The Kitchen Garden)

Name: floddy

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	The Kitchen Garden
Date:	29.06.02 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: knowlegable

Disadvantages: not frequent enough

What a magazine, when we first ventured into growing some three years ago, we were complete novices and had plenty of disasters along the way, after trawling through the usual display of glossy magazines i happened upon the kitchen garden and what a complete change.

This monthly magazine first inspired me on to wind breaks, (living where we do this is necessary) and found that the information given covered was very informative, so much so that we are now planting willow, as explained in the article, this suits our climate and can be used not only for a windbreak but as a living stucture, which can be moulded into whatever you like, also it can be used as a fuel and for selling onto crafts, which makes it both economical and efficient, as our willow is in very early stages i can not comment on survival in our extreme wind!! but it is still in the ground which says something.

Secondly the range of fruit and vegetables covered is extensive and covers every growing medium available, from tradition use of innes compounds to the more modern hydroponics and coir, which inspires the reader to try other methods of growing from the norm. I found that coir can work out cheaper for small uses such as seedling and potting on, but for planters or larger areas this can pose an expense problem compared with the more conventional grow bags and compounds available at your local garden centre, it also drains much more quickly leaving watering a major problem when you are not in attendence on your plants! having said that peat based compost can get waterlogged.

Contrary to most gardening magazines, this is neither pretencous or repetetive, and there are light hearted articles from dad and lad and the weather man, it does not cover water features and fancy gardens, but takes you out into the real world with feature length articles from all over the british isles and sometimes beyond, from the country estate to someone's retrieved allottment.

I h
ave personally tried their recommendations for module growing with major success (until put outside when they are blown to bits windbreaks again!!) and have been influenced by the greenhouse/polytunnel debate which is a major consideration when thinking of the expense of purchasing such items, also covered are gardening products such as wormeries, lawn mowers, strimmers etc, the last issue was devoted to composting in every which way you can think of.

I eagerly await this magazine dropping on my doormat and my only complaint is it is not frequent enough, there is also a very informative web site if you wish to visit.

Summary: