Keeping blackfly off Broad Beans
Broad beans in the kitchen garden. You can see the first beans are almost ready to pick. It’s the time of year to start planning those broad bean meals, as the first crops should be ready to harvest soon. …
Vegetables
My top tip for keeping cats, foxes and birds off your newly sown beds
Frequently I see people comment on social media about the difficulty of keeping cats, foxes and other creatures, off their newly sown beds. I thought I’d share my tip, which pretty much always works. Right: Parsnip seed These are newly …
Gardening with ME: plans for the kitchen garden this coming season
I’ve been mulling over what to grow in my veg beds this coming season. I decided to focus on the following categories: A) veg I love but cannot easily get hold of from our local supermarket,B) veg I love …
Garlic giveaway 2019
Update Thursday 5th September 2019 This offer has now been oversubscribed, so I can not take any more requests Garlic drying in the sun My garlic did really well this season. I’ve sorted through it, what I’m keeping to sow …
New veg beds – aka finally making a decision on the final layout of my kitchen garden
The kitchen garden? Not an inspiring photograph, is it? I mean, yes, you can see my slowly developing Forest Garden Border around the edges (the blueberries are nearly ready!), and some raised beds with garlic. But the lawn dominates. However, …
Garlic scapes
Updated: 28th May 2023 Garlic scapes grow on Hardneck Garlic, and occasionally on Softneck Garlic (usually if stressed). If you aren’t sure what type of garlic you are growing, you’ll know if it starts producing a scape, which develops around …
Gardening with ME: facing some hard facts
Helianthus ‘Velvet Queen’ It’s never easy when something is staring you in the face that you are doing your best to ignore. It doesn’t matter where you turn, it’s there telling you it’s time to face some hard facts. The …
Seed viability: 2015 update
Update 5th January 2019: please see the 2019 update to this post When I undertake my annual sorting through my seeds to see whether they are still viable (in date), I cross-check it against the Seed Viability spreadsheet that I …
Gardening with ME: French beans
The growing season of 2014 has been one of the best years I’ve had for some time in growing climbing French beans. I’ve often done well with dwarf French beans and this year was no exception, but climbers have been …
Reflections: Gardening Myths and Misconceptions
Gardening Myths and Misconceptions, by Charles Dowding The following is not so much a book review as some reflections from reading this book. I recommend you visit Helen over at Patient Gardener, who has written a very insightful review of this book. …