Chard

Chard in the raised bed: why it gives you more the more you harvest

Mrs Schneider harvested her chard once in mid-June. Then she left it alone, thinking it needed time to recover. By July it was fifty centimetres tall. She thought she had done something wrong. She hadn't — she'd just stopped harvesting.

The garden in July: what to sow now — and what's already on the plate

July is the loudest time in the raised bed: the first courgettes, cucumbers and tomatoes, and at the same time your last chance to sow for autumn. What still goes in now, what comes out, and the one trick that keeps freed-up gaps from sitting empty.

What goes into the bed in June — and what's already too late

June isn't the final sprint, it's a second start. What you can still plant, what you sow directly, and which crop to skip because that ship has sailed.

The raised bed in the first heatwave: when shade helps — and when it hurts

The first 30-degree week arrives earlier every year than you'd think. What in the raised bed really needs shade, what the sun can handle, and why a shade net is sometimes the wrong move.

My raised bed only gets 3 hours of sun — what's actually worth growing?

Behind the shed, under a walnut tree, against a north wall — not every raised bed has guaranteed sunshine. 10 varieties that deliver anyway. And three you can skip.

Five plants that always work in a garden bed

If you don't want your first bed year to break your spirit, plant these five. They forgive beginner mistakes, they grow fast, and you actually eat them.