Fancy growing salads on your window-sill that are choc full of flavour and ready to eat in only about seven days? Me too, so I’ve been growing micro greens, those tiny leaves that you see in fancy restaurants. They’re not a full salad, but little, tasty leaves to scatter over whatever food you fancy for […]
What to do at the allotment in May
This month I’m coaxing the more tender plants, like chillies, basil and tomatoes, along on the window-sill at home, the slightly tougher or more advanced ones, like french beans, have been upgraded to the cold frame by the back door, whilst some vegetable seeds are already in place at the allotment. We’re well into May […]
Growing leeks & making soup
On the days when it still feels like winter there’s nothing nicer than home-made soup using vegetables from the allotment It’s thin pickings at the allotment these days, with just four leeks left, my plan is to definitely grow a lot more of them this year. I bought this lot as tiny plants, but this […]
Beginner gardening, lets talk soil.
Soil may not be one of the most exciting aspects of a garden, but if you’re new to gardening or want to know how to be better at it, this is probably the most important bit of the whole puzzle, get your soil sussed and everything else falls into place. Soil matters because we […]
How to water your allotment in super quick time
Harvesting is probably my favourite thing to do at the allotment, but a task that can use up loads of time, and feel more like a chore, is watering the allotment. It’s essential to keep things growing well, but you’ll be pleased to know that few plants need watering every day. Vegetables have a […]
What to do in your garden in June
I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend. One of the nicest things about this time of year are the long days, June has the most hours of daylight up to the summer solstice on the 21st of June. All that daylight, combined with rain and sunshine, encourages everything to grow so quickly that it can easily […]
Inspiration for your vegetable garden from a beautiful French Potager
We had a trip to France earlier this month and visited a couple of favourite gardens, both had inspiring Potagers. I love the idea of a vegetable garden looking great as well as being practical and productive. Prieure Notre-Dame d’Orsan, originally established as a monastery in 1107, was made into a garden and the buildings converted into […]
One mans trash ….. the glories of making your own compost.
It’s International Compost Awareness Week ( 5-11 May ) this probably won’t fill you with excitement , even if you’re a very keen gardener, but just give me a couple of minutes to convince you to join in the glories of compost making. The compost bin is the engine room of the garden, just about whatever […]
Easy guide to growing vegetables in containers.
It’s really useful to grow vegetables in plant pots or window boxes, even if you have a garden you may not have enough room for vegetables. There are other good reasons: containers can be moved into the sunniest spot, and most vegetables love sunshine, have the ones you use regularly, like salad, near the backdoor, they look […]