Beautiful blackcurrants, deep rosy red fleshed apples, delicious patio tomatoes, and a ginger rosemary cocktail that will blow you away - all on offer at Hampton Court this week in the Edible Eden Garden, designed by Chris Smith of Pennard Plants... Edible Eden combines a formal vegetable area, unusual edibles in the forest garden and … Continue reading Fruity New Ideas in the Edible Eden Garden at RHS Hampton Court
In 2013, in a North Lincolnshire kitchen, pea farmer Ben Branson began experimenting with a copper still after reading about the non-alcoholic remedies distilled by apothecaries in the 1600s. Ben's family have been farming for 300 years and their peas are picked by hand by Ben and his team. His kitchen experimentation led to the … Continue reading In Praise of the Humble Pea: The Seedlip Garden
I have a confession to make... well two really. The first is that I never manage to get my garlic in before Christmas and yet still usually get a decent crop, although I'm sure yields would be higher if I planted earlier. The second that we have a bad case of white rot in our garden (and, I suspect, … Continue reading Planting Garlic in Containers and Oyster Mushroom Update
It's not been the easiest time in my life, but the past 5 years have been the making of me - mentally and physically. I've been a full-time mum for 7 years, having left the teaching profession to focus on being with the kids in their formative years. I've loved being at home, but have also had to deal with illness, … Continue reading Grow your way to happiness…
These days I spend much of my time in private and community gardens (and sometimes even my own) working with plants and I've learnt a great deal over the past few years about where garden plants will thrive, how they will combine with their fellows and when they will steal the limelight. But my knowledge … Continue reading Exploring wild flowers: 5 coastal plants with interesting edible histories
Ten years ago I went on the allotment waiting list. Local sites are heavily oversubscribed and I was expecting a substantial wait. Five years later, with one small child and another on the way I decided to come off the list as allotmenteering seemed unfeasible in the blur of family life. Instead we worked on … Continue reading Allotment Beginnings
To sow or not to sow? It has been a real labour of love overwintering last year's chillies in the spare room. It's the first time I've tried to grow chillies perennially and it's been mostly trial and error. First they had a bad case of fungus gnats, then greenfly. The room was filled with … Continue reading Old chillies v new chillies: how do you grow yours?