GARDENS
Kew the questions
As kitchen gardener at London’s world-famous Royal Botanic Gardens, Hélèna Dove often gets asked questions as she goes about her work. Here she addresses the most common of her visitors’ growing pains
Florence fennel
Pinching out tomato sideshoots
Dwarf French beans
Thinning developing fruits on an apple tree
1 How do I deal with slugs?
Nearly all the vegetables in the Kew kitchen garden are started off in modules or pots, so are relatively mature when planted into final positions. This deters slugs as they prefer new, lush growth. We mulch annually, with a fairly rough compost. The woody elements are a rough surface for the slugs to move over. When it's very wet, meaning an attack of slugs is likely, we use a Nemaslug [pest control] and whenever I see one, it's disposed of into the compost heap. At home, a beer trap is an excellent solution, as is a pond, which will encourage frogs, who love slugs for lunch.
2 Why does my Florence fennel bolt in summer?
Florence fennel will always go to seed when the day length reaches 13 hours -July in the UK. It's best to sow it in March to harvest in June, or in late August for an October-January harvest, in a mild winter.