Watermelon
How to Grow Watermelons in the UK A home-grown watermelon is a satisfying summer challenge for a warm greenhouse or polytunnel. Give an early, small-fruited variety a protected start, room for its vines and enough time to ripen fully. Warmth helps, but careful watering, pollination and choosing the right picking moment decide the result. Tender […]
Pumpkin
How to Grow Pumpkins in the UK Pumpkins provide colourful autumn fruit for cooking, carving or showing. Give your chosen variety room, steady moisture and a frost-free season. Careful harvesting and curing help a mature crop store well. Tender annual crop Warm indoor start Allow plenty of spreading room Harvest before frost Cure sound fruit […]
Squash (Summer)
How to Grow Summer Squash in the UK Summer squash brings a different shape to the vegetable patch: small scalloped patty pans, curved crooknecks and other tender fruits picked while young. The growing routine is much like a courgette’s, with warmth, generous spacing and regular watering followed by frequent harvests. These are fresh summer vegetables […]
Squash (Winter)
How to Grow Winter Squash in the UK Winter squash grows through summer for mature autumn fruit. Butternuts, blue-skinned squashes and orange kuri types offer different flavours and keeping qualities. Choose one suited to your space and local season. Tender annual crop Warm spring start Summer growing, autumn harvest Keep fruit until mature Store according […]
Courgette
How to Grow Courgettes in the UK A healthy courgette plant can turn a small patch into a steady summer supply, provided you give it room, water and frequent attention at picking time. The best results usually come from a few well spaced plants rather than a crowded row. Sow in spring, wait for frost […]
Cucumber
How to Grow Cucumbers in the UK Home grown cucumbers reward steady warmth, moisture and a little training. The first decision is where the plant will grow: choose a greenhouse variety for protected conditions or a suitable outdoor variety for a sunny sheltered bed. That choice also determines how you handle flowers, so keep the […]
Gourd
How to Grow Ornamental Gourds in the UK Ornamental gourds turn a summer of vigorous vines into an autumn collection of curious shapes and colours. This guide focuses on decorative gourds, chiefly small fruited Cucurbita pepo, with bottle gourds explained separately. These are display crops, not ingredients: keep ornamental fruit clearly labelled and out of […]
Luffa
How to Grow Luffa in the UK A natural luffa sponge is the fibrous inside of a mature fruit, grown on a vigorous climbing vine. Smooth luffa, Luffa aegyptiaca, is commonly sold as Luffa cylindrica for this purpose. It needs a long warm season, so a greenhouse or polytunnel gives UK gardeners the best chance […]
Marrow
How to Grow Marrows in the UK A marrow plant needs a generous patch of sunny ground, but its fast growing fruits can repay that space through summer and early autumn. Choose a compact bush variety for a smaller plot, keep the roots well watered and pick useful kitchen sized fruits before they become unwieldy. […]
Melon
How to Grow Melons in the UK Dessert melons need warmth, pollination and even watering to ripen well. Choose an early Cucumis melo variety suited to British conditions and grow it under protection. This guide covers cantaloupes, Charentais and other dessert melons; watermelon is a different crop. Tender annual fruit crop Greenhouse or polytunnel preferred […]
