D.T. Brown Blog

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

Few vegetables divide gardeners quite like carrots. When they go right, nothing beats them. When they go wrong, you’re left holding a twisted, multi-legged curiosity that looks nothing like the photo on the seed packet. The good news? Most growing problems can be avoided by following a few simple rules.

Onions and shallots are incredibly versatile vegetables for home cooking that are simple to grow and store well too. Discover how to grow onion and shallot sets with D.T. Brown today.

There’s fast food - and then there’s five minutes from plot to plate food. Nothing compares to the crunch, flavour, and freshness of salad leaves picked moments before they’re eaten. Once you’ve tasted home-grown lettuce, those limp, slimy supermarket bags lose their appeal for good.

Rhubarb will grow in almost any soil, provided it doesn’t become waterlogged in winter, but best results will be obtained on fertile soils, so dig in plenty of well-rotted organic matter, like farmyard manure or garden compost. Just before planting, rake in a dressing of balanced fertiliser, such as growmore, to help plants establish.

The English word cabbage is believed to derive from the French “caboche,” a colloquial term for “head”. The wild cabbage, Brassica oleracea, was a native of western coastal Europe.

The great British stand-by, potatoes are hugely versatile and are a staple ingredient of many meals in one form or another - boiled, mashed, chipped, roasted or baked. Freshly dug and lightly boiled with mint; or cooled and eaten with salads; or mashed with mustard or horseradish they just can't be beaten.

Whether you’ve just planted your latest crop and have a few sets left over, or you’re thinking of buying more than you need while a great offer lasts, you’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to go out of your way to use up all your onion sets immediately.