Time to sow: Spring Onions!

Grow your own spring onions for a quick and easy way to freshen up your home cooking, with tips from our friends at BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. Packed with flavour, we’ve got the perfect recipe to use them in, from the BBC Good Food Show Summer 2022. 

This spring, make plans for your plot with spring onions. Perfect for salads, stir fries and much more, spring onions are an easy to grow, delicious crop to get growing, that take up a small space. 

Read below for garden know-how from BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. What’s more, find out more about a tasty casarecce pasta with tomato sauce recipe, using your spring onions, from the BBC Good Food Show Summer in 2022.

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Sowing peas

Sow your seeds straight into the ground in place that gets lots of sun and rich, well-drained soil. Clear any weeds, add a good fertiliser in advance. Before sowing, rake the soil to a fine texture.

Seeds can be sown in drills 20mm deep and 10cm apart.

You can also sow the seeds in trays and wait for seedlings to develop before planting out into the garden.

When the seedlings begin to show, thin them out up to 5cm apart. Make sure they’re well-watered and don’t let the soil dry out. 

For harvests of spring onions through the year, sow a batch of seeds every few weeks from spring to autumn.

Harvesting and storage

You should be ready to harvest your spring onions eight weeks after sowing. Before pulling up the bulbs, fork the soil around the plants to ease up the soil.

Once picked, eat your spring onions soon after being harvested for the best flavour.

Casarecce pasta with tomato sauce recipe

This recipe is from the BBC Good Food Show Summer 2022, as seen on the Italian Kitchen from Adam Bush, with a recipe from Olive Magazine. This recipe is vegan, and only takes 15 minutes to make.

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Serves 2

Ingredients
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 3 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 4-5 dashes hot sauce
  • 200g casarecce
  • a few basil leaves, torn
Method

Mix together the cherry tomatoes, spring onions, olive oil, vinegar and hot sauce in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil a large pan of salted water. Once boiling, add the casarecce and cook until al dente. Add 1-2 tbsp of the cooking water to your bowl of mixed ingredients before draining the pasta.

Drain the pasta and toss in with the sauce. Sprinkle over the torn basil and serve.

New year, new garden, new trends!

We’re through the garden gate into 2023, with a host of gardening trends blooming throughout the country. From house plants reaching dizzying heights of popularity, to the colour of the year ‘Viva Magenta’, read on for our full list of trends.

To get up close and personal with fresh garden inspiration, new plants, the latest gardening kit and more, join us in 2023.

Colour of the Year 2023

Hand-picked by Pantone, the colour of the year has been named as ‘Viva Magenta. 

Pantone describe the colour as ‘brave and fearless, and a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative.’

Discover a world of colour and scent in the stunning Floral Marquee,  bursting with award-winning nurseries and display.

Sustainable gardening

Whilst your garden might seem to already be very green, it can always be greener!

Discover ways you can make gardening more sustainable, like upcycling common items to make stylish features. What was a pallet, hessian bags, bits of pipe, and tin cans, could become a planter, grow bags, water features, and wildlife habitats.

Be inspired by the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine editorial team as they’re joined by experts to give tips and advice.

Grow your own food

Looking to go from soil to supper this year? Get brilliant advice from the National Allotment Society at the event.

Peat-free gardening

Learn about the latest peat-free compost from exhibitors who can offer face-to-face advice.

Indoor gardening

Foliage doesn’t just belong outside – bring nature indoors and be inspired by the Houseplant Hub.

Mindful gardening

Beautiful Borders returns with this year’s theme ‘My Garden Escape’ to give you space savvy ideas.

Gardening on a budget

Discover different ways you can let your garden bloom under a tighter budget, with advice from expert gardeners.

Fermented foods

Visit the BBC Good Food Summer Show (with free entry with your ticket!) and discover the latest foodie trends.

Feeling inspired? Find out what else is happening at BBC Gardeners’ World Live this June!