D.T. Brown Blog

Celery can need a little care, although the newer self-blanching varieties make life easier. The soil must be moisture retentive and never dry out. As a result it is often better to grow in a trench filled with organic matter. The plants must never receive a check to growth, care is needed when transplanting, hardening off and in watering properly.

Onions are one of the most versatile vegetables and are quite easy to grow. Many people grow bulbing onions from sets - immature bulbs - although seed is a good and straightforward starting point; shallots are usually grown from sets although hybid seed is now available.

A stalwart winter vegetable which has many uses. Thinnings make excellent salad vegetables. Young plants are raised in a seed bed and then transplanted to their final growing positions, possibly where you have already taken an earlier crop of something. For really bumper crops, improve the growing area by digging in plenty of compost or well-rotted manure in the autumn.

Modern varieties will give good results in our climate and Sweet Corn is another one of those vegetables that tastes so much better picked and cooked immediately. Sweet Corn must be grown in a sunny spot sheltered from strong wind. As the plants are wind pollinated they should be grown in blocks with the plants 18in (45cm) apart. SowingSow at 65-70°F (18-21°C). The plants hate root disturbance so sow indoors from late March to early May in peat pots; set the seeds one inch (2.5cm) deep. In ...

An easy crop to grow and to judge by our sales, one of the nation’s favourite vegetables! The roots are best picked when young and cooked fresh. Pickling is another option. If roots are stored in winter you can have beetroot almost all year round. The young leaves of Burpees Golden are good in leafy salads. For best results you should sow little and often and harvest the roots when young and tender.

Both sweet and chilly peppers have increased in popularity over recent years. Both are grown in a similar way to tomatoes; chillies are easier to grow. They produce a better crop when grown in a greenhouse or frame. SowingSow at 65-70°F (18-21°C). For greenhouse cultivation sow from mid-February to early April. For outdoor cultivation sow in late March. GrowingTransfer plants to 9in (23cm) pots of good compost in late April (heated greenhouse) or mid-May (unheated greenhouse); or plant 18in (...

All these crops are closely related - often confusingly so, and are grown in the same way. They need a sunny position, a moisture-retentive soil and somewhere out of cold winds.

The best cucumbers are those grown indoors - and of course, they crop earlier. However, they do need a fair bit of care and attention, which makes outdoor growing an easier proposition. Different varieties are required for either indoor or outside culture. Wherever possible, select all-female, F1 varieties for indoor use as these don't, under good growing conditions, produce male flowers - just the cucumber-producing female flowers.