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Nome's First Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Yes, I finally managed to produce some psb this year! My homegrown seedlings last summer, if you remember, died of... ahem... drought, and I bought some new ones from Homebase later in the year and...
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The Evil Weevil
I've had a tubful of strawberry plants in the garden for three years now which has done very well. Early this spring, however, I noticed they were looking pretty unhealthy, so I thought I'd repot them,...
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Vanishing Onions and Other Worries...
You may remember we gave winter onions, shallots and garlic a try for the first time this year, planting at the start of November with the hope of a bigger harvest with less white rot come midsummer. I...
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Hail Devastation
It all started fairly normally. Rain. It's April, after all. More rain. A little hail. I checked on the plants, laid out on the shed roof - I like to give them as much daylight as I can to keep them...
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Rain, Rain, Go Away
Come on now, this is getting silly. I know we're in a drought situation (whatever that actually means) but we still need sunshine too, and the man on the telly said only winter rain could help us so...
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Wild Garlic
As foraging goes, wild garlic has got to be one of the most desirable finds out there; it's plentiful, it's versatile, it's easy to recognise, it's garlicky... I particularly like the garlicky part......
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It's National Vegetarian Week...
I'm not a vegetarian, and despite my fussiness about the meat I eat, I don't aspire to be one. I believe we humans are meant to eat meat and animal products - that it is an important part of healthy...
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There goes May...
I've been pretty busy these last two weeks and neglecting my poor blog again, but with June (and some sunshine!) here now it's got to be time for at least a little update on things in the garden.The...
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Beautiful Bees
Just a few quick pictures taken this morning of bees enjoying my sage flowers. They looooves them sage flowers. Good to see the first tomatoes forming this morning, too, and the mangetout ready to eat...
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Beautiful Bees - part two!
I couldn't resist - the bees were loving the sunshine and the phacelia at the allotment today and I took loads more pictures. We did also get some work done; the leeks are now planted out (better...
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L'atelier des Chefs - a cookery class!
I spent an enjoyable evening yesterday at a cookery class at L'atelier des Chefs, a small cookery school near Oxford Circus (with a new second school just opened near St Paul's). I had bought a gift...
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Allotment update. Gah!
I'm finally starting to face up to the fact this is a bad, bad year for growing. Between torrential rain and scorching sun, and thanks to weeds thriving through the mild winter, we still haven't...
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Great Garlic
My garlic harvests to date have always been rather pathetic - small bulbs and few of them. But this time round I tried overwintering my garlic - planting it last autumn and harvesting, well, now, and I...
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Six Strategies to Cope With Persistent Rainfall
At the beginning of the season I wrote about strategies for coping with drought and hosepipe bans. Hmm. Now, after two record-breakingly wet months, and amidst what is likely to become a third, I think...
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The Solution to World Hunger
Well, not exactly. But some interesting statistics came to my attention recently which really show how badly we're doing at looking after the world.Let me start by introducing you to the Dervaes...
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Perfect Paella
There's no cuisine quite as summery as Spanish food, packed with spice and summer vegetables such as peppers, green beans and tomatoes, and in my recent - and ongoing - efforts to feel summery no...
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New Potatoes
As well as my usual maincrop of Kestrel potatoes on the allotment, I'm growing spuds in sacks in the garden this year for the first time. I started the first ones - three 'Foremost' earlies - in late...
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Amazing Green Tomato Chilli!
*Sigh* My blog has been neglected for nearly a month now! Well who wants to read about this growing season? I certainly have little motivation to write about it. And after a summer-so-far of rotting...
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Figs
When you start growing food, one of the first pieces of advice you get is to grow those foods you eat a lot, and those that represent the best value; things that are expensive to buy in the shops....
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