Organic Gardening Magazine

Features

Beat the glut! (Read online!)
Don’t dread those monster crops, work with them, says Joyce Russell. With the right strategies you can stay on top of the harvest and convert the surplus into stores to see you through the leaner months.

Live coverage
Green manures must be the most valuable resource most of us don’t use, says Helen Penrose. Plant nutrition, soil protection, pest and disease control… what more do they have to do to make us appreciate them?

Going green, going live
Given the less than eco-friendly track record of the big gardening shows, the emphasis on sustainable gardening by many exhibitors at Gardeners’ World Live was more than welcome, says John Walker.

Harvesting the hedge
Most of us don’t have the space for an orchard – but we all have garden boundaries, says Ann Somerset Miles, and cultivated as well as wild fruits will thrive there. Plant a hedge that’s good enough to eat!

A shed of one’s own
Every gardener needs a shed, says Dave Bevan, for sanctuary as well as for storage. With a stack of offcut timber and a little creativity, you can build one for under £20 – here’s how!

Just a bit of veg?
It’s easy for naysayers to put gardening down as ‘just a hobby’– but it’s not, says John Walker; your kitchen garden can be the heart of a move towards a more sustainable way of life.

Wild about figworts
You may not recognise the family name, but you’ll recognise its members, says Jenny Steel – foxgloves, verbascums, toadflaxes and veronicas are all loved by gardeners as well as by insects.

First lady
In 1939, she instigated the first comparison of organic and conventional methods. In 1943, she published The Living Soil, and in 1946 co-founded the Soil Association. Gaby Bartai unearths the life of Lady Eve Balfour.

Offers

Subscribe!
Reserve yd seed sowing feature? Here’s the perfect kit for new growers!

OG offers
Pot-grown fruit, pruning tools, patio bay trees and more… all at special OG prices.

Giveaways
Win an Aquastore Garden System – or a copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s new back to the land memoir Animal Vegetable Miracle.

 

Regulars

Autumn-planted onions on a page
Christina Maxfield tells you all you need to know – on just one page!

Letters
Your news, views and comments.

This month in your garden
Helen Penrose checks off jobs coming up in August.

August cut down to size
What to prune this month, with Paul Hending.

The permaculture plot
We need to respect and learn from our horticultural past – but trying to recreate it is no way to run a future, says Paul Jennings.

Gardener in the kitchen
Seasonal recipes from Anna Corbett.

Organic news
John Greenway and Kate Chancellor report.

Plot line
You’ve read the books and worn the T-shirt… now go see the allotment movie, says Mark Patterson.

Tom Petherick’s garden diary
August means apples... if you are thinking in terms of fresh produce for the longest possible time, your apple season should be starting now, says Tom.

Resources
What’s new in the organic marketplace?

Events
What’s on for gardeners?

Book reviews
The pick of the new titles.

Down the garden path
Mat Coward has the last word.

Next month
A look ahead to what’s coming up
in the October issue of OG, out 6 Septembe