The Benefits of Wood Ash

If you have a wood fire then the benefits are many. Not only do they smell great, keep your toes warm and mean that you have more than the average number of visitors (in Winter at least). You can also use the ash on the vegetable plot. At this time of year when I’m busy […]

Joining the Pineberry Bandwagon

Shall I hop on the Pineberry bandwagon? I’m considering it. Not because they look so darn cool and… they are kind of inside out Strawberries, and… they taste of Pineapple not Strawberry. But because they’re something new to grow that I haven’t grown before. I’m a sucker for a new thing. Any new thing (horticulturally […]

My Local Unmanned Farm Shop

This is the till at my local farm shop. It’s unmanned. It’s in a warehouse in the middle of a field with a greenhouse next to it. Inside the shop there are rows of produce, some scales, a calculator and a secure moneybox where you insert your cash. If you have an account you use […]

Banana Cake

I was going to bake Lemon cake today but I ran out of Lemons (essential ingredient in Lemon cake) so I made Banana cake instead. Bananas – now I have lots of those! I used the very simple recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook which includes lots of ginger, cinnamon and melted butter. The boys […]

Early Sowings

I started sowing a few seeds today, in-between the over-Wintering Lettuce in the coldframe. Just a few, then if they don’t work out it’s not the end of the world. I sowed a little Cauliflower (Gipsy), Carrot (Early Nantes 2) and some pointy Cabbage (Pyramid). All early varieties. I’ve found in the past that the […]

Cool Seed Potato Display

I went to my local garden centre to see what seed Potatoes they had and found they had done this really cool Potato display. They could have easily just chucked the Potatoes in boxes and left it at that but someone had really gone to town with the display. Not only could you buy in […]

Blueberry Pie

Not exactly cake but baking at least. I decided to use up the Blueberries from the freezer since there is precious little in the garden right now. A pie seemed the sensible option and a good excuse to get my pie dish out. I made the pastry in the usual basic pie crust way – […]

Botanical Illustration

I would absolutely love, love, love to be able to paint my fruit and vegetables like this. This is a painting by Susan Hillier, a very successful botanical illustrator who has worked for British Rail and holds exhibitions of her work regularly. I’m not sure I’ll ever be that good but I’d like to have […]

Which Onion Sets to Buy?

It’s about this time of year that I start to think about buying Onion sets. I must admit in previous years I have tended to buy what they were selling at the garden centre. But after growing a variety called Snowball last year I was very disappointed by its yield. I put it down to […]

Late Afternoon Winter Walk

My little one had been snuggled up in his warm cot all afternoon and so I took him out for a quick walk just before the dark drew in yesterday for some fresh air. The sun was going down quickly and we had to run to see the horses in the fields before the light […]