The Veg Grower Podcast

Early June has brought that classic mix of heavy rain, strong winds and sudden sunshine — and the garden has certainly felt it. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing how the weather has shaped everything from seed sowing to weeding, plus an exciting update from the beehive as the colony continues to grow.

Kitchen Garden Update: Wild Weather and Big Sowing Sessions

The kitchen garden has taken a real battering from the weather this week, but the plants are still powering on. Inside the shed, I’ve been making the most of the rain by sowing cucumbers, sweetcorn, kale, cabbage and beans in plug trays. Out in the Veggie Pod, more spring onions, radish and carrots have gone in — ideal quick crops for this time of year. There’s also been another round of cutting back the invasive climber along the fence line, which has taken full advantage of the warm, wet conditions.

Allotment Update: Growth Spurts, Weeds and Potato Progress

Down on the allotment, everything has that early‑summer energy. The rain has made weeding incredibly satisfying, and the beds are looking much tidier for it. My early potatoes are still recovering from the May frost, while the main crop is thriving with strong, healthy foliage. The beans are climbing well, the boundary weeds are putting up their usual fight, and I’ve even planted some forgotten seed potatoes for a late experiment. It’s one of those weeks where the plot feels full of potential.

Recipe of the Week: Chard and New Potatoes

This week’s recipe is a simple early‑summer dish using chard and new potatoes fresh from the garden. Soft potatoes, sweet onions, garlic and colourful chard, finished with butter and lemon — a quick, fresh plate that tastes like summer. You’ll find the full recipe on the podcast page.

From the Podding Shed: Successional Sowing Explained

There’s exciting progress in the beehive this week as I add the colony’s first super, giving them space to expand and store surplus honey. I’m also diving into successional sowing — how often to sow different crops, what you can still sow right now in the UK, and how this simple habit keeps food coming all summer long. If you want steady harvests and fewer gluts, this is the segment to listen to.

Early summer has truly arrived, and with it comes one of my favourite celebrations in the gardening calendar—Tomato Fortnight. As I shared in this week’s Veg Grower Podcast, the allotment and kitchen garden are bursting with activity, from staking tomatoes to sowing French beans, harvesting peas, and even spotting new life on my citrus tree.

Tomato Fortnight: Why I Grow So Many Varieties

Down on the allotment, the heat has been intense, but the tomatoes are thriving. I grow around eight different varieties, each chosen for a specific purpose—beefsteaks for sandwiches, salad tomatoes for everyday use, cherries for hanging baskets, and plum tomatoes for passata. As I said in the episode: “There are so many different varieties, hundreds and hundreds of varieties… that is why I grow so many different varieties of tomatoes.”

Between home and the allotment, that adds up to around 30 plants—and honestly, I could still grow more.

Greenhouse vs. Outdoor Tomatoes

Greenhouse tomatoes crop earlier but lack the depth of flavour of outdoor-grown fruit. Outdoors, I rely on blight‑resistant varieties like Crimson Crush and Crimson Blush to help avoid devastation from late‑season blight. “Any tomatoes growing outside, unless they are blight resistant, are susceptible… it can literally rot your crop within a week.”

Watering & Feeding

Consistent watering is key to avoiding split fruit and blossom end rot. I mulch heavily with straw to lock in moisture and feed weekly with seaweed until flowering, then switch to tomato feed.

Sweetcorn, Squash & Straw Bale Growing

The allotment beds are now fully planted. Sweetcorn has gone in as a block, not rows, to ensure good wind pollination. Squash and courgettes are thriving in the straw bales, settling in nicely after the recent cold snap.

Interestingly, my maincrop potatoes have overtaken the first earlies due to that cold spell: “The cold snap… just set those first earlies back a little bit.”

Catching Rainwater in a Dry Year

Back home, I’ve been racing to put out buckets and containers ahead of the forecast rain. “It has been a very dry year so far… I want to catch as much rainwater as I can.”

With 16 water butts running low, every drop counts.

Seed of the Month: French Beans

June’s seed of the month is one of my absolute favourites—French climbing beans. They’re fast, productive, and perfect for filling gaps as spring crops finish.

Sowing is simple:

Sow direct 2 cm deep or

Start in modules for quick germination (7–14 days)

Beans aren’t hungry plants, but they do need something to climb. I use hazel-stick frames, drilling holes with a soil auger to get the sticks firmly into the ground. “They simply curl their way up around the stick… I find it fascinating.”

I also grow Borlotto for both fresh pods and dried beans—beautiful, versatile, and easy to store.

Kitchen Harvests & Courgette Fritters

Harvests are rolling in: lettuce, radish, spring onions, peas, strawberries, raspberries, and the first courgettes of the year.

To celebrate the courgette glut, this week’s recipe is Early Summer Courgette & Mint Fritters with Lemon Yoghurt—crisp, fresh, and perfect for lunch. “These fritters are crisp on the outside, soft in the middle… lifted beautifully by fresh mint.”

Bee Update: A Calm, Growing Colony

My weekly apiary visit brought brilliant news: “The bees have incredibly settled in… we’re now up to eight frames of bees.”

Even better—I finally spotted the queen. Supers will be going on soon, meaning honey isn’t far away.

Book of the Month: Home Brewing by Kevin Forbes

May’s unexpected Book of the Month was Home Brewing by Kevin Forbes. With elderflowers in full swing, I used it to make cordial and even started elderflower wine. “This book made it sound very, very easy.”

For June, I’ll be diving into The Victorian Kitchen Garden by Jennifer Davies.

This week’s bank holiday brought record‑breaking heat, and like many gardeners, I’ve spent most of my time simply trying to keep plants alive. Between fast‑drying soil, thirsty young crops, and a greenhouse that felt more like an oven, it’s been a week of adapting, improvising, and learning a few new tricks to keep everything going.

In the Kitchen Garden

It’s been a scorching bank holiday, and most of my time has gone into simply keeping plants alive. Watering has been the big job this week, especially with young plants and pots drying out so quickly.

The greenhouse has been a challenge too — my auto‑pots are brilliant, but even they struggled as the tank water evaporated in the heat. I’ve opened the window permanently and really should fit an auto‑vent.

A small win: using the Ryobi stick pump with a hosepipe has cut watering time from an hour to about 20 minutes. That’s been a lifesaver.

We’ve planted out beans, rosemary and sage, and harvested peas, rhubarb, and our first strawberries.

On the Allotment

Watering is harder here, with troughs several plots away, but the straw mulch continues to make a huge difference.

A reminder from this week: not everything needs watering daily. Newly planted crops, yes. Established plants, no — a deep weekly soak is often enough.

I’ve been working early mornings to beat the heat and planted out more beans using hazel supports. The soil is rock‑hard, so I used a drill and auger to get the canes in.

Recipe of the Week

New potatoes with garden greens and herb oil — simple, seasonal, and full of flavour. Full recipe is on the website.

Bee Update

My first hive inspection went well. More bees, new comb, nectar, and larvae — all signs the queen is laying, even though I didn’t spot her. A good start for the colony.

Chelsea Flower Show & A New Direction

A brief visit to Chelsea left me inspired. The gardens were stunning, and it got me thinking: why shouldn’t a vegetable garden look beautiful too?

After also visiting Amberley Museum, I’ve settled on a more rustic kitchen garden style — hazel supports, herbs edging the beds, fan‑trained fruit trees, and reducing visible plastic where possible. It’s a long‑term project, but it finally feels like the right direction.

If you want the full story, including all the details and thoughts behind these changes, have a listen to this week’s episode.

This week’s episode of The Veg Grower Podcast is a real mix of surprises, setbacks, and exciting new beginnings. From unexpected frost damage on the allotment to big changes in the kitchen garden — and the moment Richard finally becomes a beekeeper — there’s plenty to dive into. If you want the full story, the sounds, and the emotions behind it all, make sure you give the episode a listen.

Down on the Allotment

Richard kicks off the week with a weather surprise — a mid‑May frost that caught many growers off guard. As he said, “This week we have had some frosts… temperatures have certainly dipped overnight.” Potatoes blackened, cucumbers wiped out, and a few tomatoes took a hit. It’s a lesson in not planting tender crops too early, even when the forecast looks safe.

But it’s not all doom and gloom — Richard shares how he’s bouncing back and what he’ll do differently next year.

Weeding, Asparagus & Garlic Watch

With planting paused, Richard focused on weed control — essential at this time of year when everything grows at full speed. He also harvested rhubarb and asparagus, though the spears have been thinner than usual.

On the garlic front, the straw mulch continues to help reduce leek rust, though a few spots have appeared. As he explains in the podcast, removing affected leaves now gives the bulbs the best chance to finish strong.

In the Kitchen Garden

Back home, the sheltered kitchen garden escaped most of the frost damage. Richard has been sorting through his many pots — and discovered that around 75% of his fruit bushes and trees didn’t survive winter.

He talks through what happened, what he’s replacing, and why he’s switching to matching pots and decorative stone mulch.

Seeds Still Going In

There’s still time to sow plenty, so this week included:

Cucumbers

Nasturtiums

Sunflowers

Carrots

Beetroot

Spring onions

Richard shares why he’s sowing these now and how they fit into his late‑spring plan.

Recipe of the Week

This week’s kitchen segment features a creamy spring onion and potato soup — simple, seasonal, and perfect if you’re harvesting early potatoes. Listen for the full method and tips.

Beekeeping Begins

The big moment has arrived — Richard is officially a beekeeper. He collected his nuc on Saturday, transported it safely, and transferred the frames into his hive. As he described, “Within another couple of hours, the bees seem to have settled in.”

He also shares the full story of getting stung, settling the bees, and how he found the perfect field site.

This week has been one of those classic early‑May weeks where everything seems to need doing at once. I’ve been sowing our Seed of the Month, tackling slugs and snails in the kitchen garden, trying to stay on top of the allotment before inspections begin, and finishing our April Book of the Month: RHS Can I Grow Potatoes in Pots? by Sally Nex. There’s plenty to share, so let’s get into it.

From the Kitchen Garden

This week in the kitchen garden we’ve been sowing our Seed of the Month: Winter Cabbage. I’m a little later than planned, but May and June are still perfect months to get these hardy brassicas started. Winter cabbages are one of my favourite crops because they stand strong through the cold months and give you that wonderful feeling of harvesting fresh veg when everything else has slowed down. There’s nothing quite like cutting a crisp cabbage on Christmas Day.

Somvarities I recommend are:

Winter cabbage Tudra F1

Savoy vertus 2

Savoy Di Verona

I sow mine in root trainers filled with a good quality seed compost, making a hole about a centimetre deep and dropping in one seed per cell. They don’t need heat at this time of year — just a cool, bright spot in the shed. Once the roots show at the bottom, they’re ready for potting on. I’ll be planting mine out in the bed where my first early potatoes have been growing, once those are harvested in June.

Alongside the cabbages, the kitchen garden has been full of activity. Lots of plants have gone into the ground, but the slugs and snails have been causing havoc, especially on my squash and sweetcorn. Thankfully there’s still time to sow replacements, and I even picked up a couple of courgette plants from the garden centre — different varieties to what I usually grow, but I’m always happy to experiment.

To help manage the slug problem, I’ve been using an upturned clay pot as a trap. The slugs hide inside during the day, making them easy to collect and feed to the chickens. It’s simple, effective, and nothing goes to waste. Some of my brassicas, especially the purple sprouting broccoli and kale, are still in flower and taking up a lot of space, but I’m determined to save more of my own seed this year, so I’m letting them finish their cycle before clearing the beds.

Down on the Allotment

It’s been incredibly busy on the allotment. We’re only a third of the way through the year, but everything seems to have hit at once. I’ll admit I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed — a combination of dry weather, lots of planting, and the knowledge that allotment inspections are just around the corner.

To stay on top of things, I sit down every Thursday evening and write a list of weekend tasks, sorted by priority:

Top priority: jobs that will cause damage if ignored — watering, planting out, anything urgent.

Medium priority: tidying, mowing, weeding, keeping the plot looking cared for.

Low priority: fun projects like cutting comfrey for compost or mulch.

This week I’ve been planting out cucumbers, which are now climbing up hazel sticks harvested from my own tree. They look great once they’re in, even if the sticks are a bit of a battle to get into the ground.

I’ve also been cutting back comfrey. It’s a brilliant plant for compost, mulch, and homemade plant feed, though it does have a habit of popping up everywhere. The leaves make a great mulch for tomatoes and cucumbers, adding potassium and helping retain moisture.

The allotment is looking good overall. Potatoes are up, asparagus and rhubarb are coming thick and fast, and the garlic is looking excellent with no sign of leek rust. Even the elephant garlic is starting to form flower heads — which I’ll snap off and use in the kitchen.

Recipe of the Week — Broad Bean Smash

This week’s recipe is a simple but delicious Broad Bean Smash, perfect for early‑season broad beans that have overwintered beautifully.

You’ll find the full recipe on the Veg Grower Podcast website.