Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden Magazine - UK's No.1 for growing your own fruit and vegetables. KG also offers great monthly give-aways, special gardening offers, recipes, growing tips and much more.

Welcome • Growing some sunshine

SAFFRON BUNS WITH CARDAMOM FILLING • Saffransbullar med kardemummafyllning

TOP JOBS FOR JANUARY • STEPHANIE HAFFERTY OUTLINES THE ESSENTIAL TASKS FOR YOUR VEG PATCH AND PROTECTED CROPS

UNDER COVER

WHAT’S NEW? • ALL THE LATEST NEWS, PRODUCTS & FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF KITCHEN GARDENING

HAVE YOUR SAY • SEND US WITH YOUR LETTERS AND TIPS: KG.ED@KELSEY.CO.UK

Kitchen Garden

QUESTION TIME • GOT A FRUIT OR VEG PROBLEM? ASK KG FOR HELP

FORCING RHUBARB • Martin Fish explains how to bring forward those first sweet stems of spring

PERENNIAL KALE: AN OLD STAPLE FOR TODAY’S GARDENER • Rob Smith explores the heritage of perennial kales - once found in many cottage gardens - and explains why these resilient, long-lived brassicas still deserve a place in 2026’s productive plots

OUR TOP PLOTTER! • Back in the summer we launched a competition to find our Top Plotters, with the top three winning some great prizes and all being featured in Kitchen Garden magazine this year. Here we meet our 2026 winner!

FIRE STARTERS • Spice up your gardening life! Benedict Vanheems invites us to delve into the sometimes masochistic world of chillies. The secret to success? Start now for a hotter, heavier harvest

FOOLPROOF CHILLIES FOR BEGINNERS

STEP BY STEP: HOW TO START GROWING

STORING THE CROP • Chillies are astonishingly versatile. Here are a few ways to enjoy and preserve your crop…

FROM BLANK CANVAS TO BEAUTIFUL KITCHEN GARDEN • When Matt Orme arrived at his first gardening job in 2022, with no qualifications and no experience, he discovered the previous gardener was leaving in two weeks. Three years on, he has transformed a hotel kitchen garden with an instinctive, nature-led philosophy – pollinators first, plates second

LIVING WITH WEEDS • Dr Anton Rosenfeld, from sustainable gardening charity Garden Organic, shows you how to manage weeds in different areas of your garden - and some of their benefits

The PERMACULTURE KITCHEN GARDEN • In this new series Stephanie Hafferty explores simple, practical ways to build a healthier, more productive garden through the year

GET TO KNOW WHAT YOU GROW • Understanding plant families and Latin names can make you a more confident, more observant kitchen gardener. John Mason and the ACS Garden Distance Education team explain how taxonomy helps you identify plants more accurately – and choose the right ones for your plot

SAFFRON GROW YOUR OWN GOLD

STEP BY STEP

HERB OF THE MONTH BAY Laurus nobilis • An evergreen essential for the productive garden

HEATED PROPAGATORS PUT TO THE TEST • Rachel Graham compared three heated propagators to see how design, heat and humidity affect early sowing in the depths of winter

WHEN TO TURN OFF THE HEAT - AND WHEN TO REMOVE THE LIDS

WINTER GREENS ON YOUR WINDOWSILL • Even in the darkest months, Becky Searle shows how easy it is to grow nutrient-packed microgreens at home - delivering fresh flavour, antioxidants and a welcome burst of green when the garden is resting

GIVEAWAYS • TO ENTER OUR GIVEAWAYS SEE PAGE 65 OR VISIT THE KG WEBSITE

GARDEN STORE PLUS SUBSCRIBER SAVERS • Are you a subscriber to Kitchen Garden magazine? Then visit www.mudketeers.co.uk for details of how you can take advantage of the exclusive subscriber-only deals on these pages!

The WINTER CHOP! • David Patch demystifies the pruning of apple and pear trees

THE GARDEN THAT GREW A COMMUNITY • Friendships, food, and fresh air lie at...