Everyone loves the smell and the taste of strawberries. But when a small bowlful can cost the earth, isn’t it time you grew your own? The flavour of these home-grown fruit far outweighs anything you can buy in the supermarket and even if you only pick a handful of fruit for the first year, you […]
When you are growing plenty of plants to eat it can be particularly disheartening to find that other creatures are helping themselves to your hard grown crops. Now I don’t mind sharing the odd fruit or veg in the garden, I can hardly complain if a hungry creature needs to feed its offspring, but I […]
If there’s one way to get children interested in gardening its to give them their own growing projects. Kids either need to grow something that will give them fast and obvious results, like salads and potatoes, or a project that creates something that inspires them. Children love to grow giant sunflowers with their big smiley […]
If there’s one herb that conjures up summer for me it has to be basil. Its intense fragrance and flavors creates an instant Mediterranean feel to the garden, the greenhouse and to summer meals. Basil is a tender annual that has exacting needs. Although it can be sown from seed early in the season, it […]
A bean feast is more than a sumptuous spread of leguminous vegetables, it is a celebration of self sufficiency and the ‘raison d’etre’ to which most gardeners will cite for their ‘grow their own’ activities. And so in recognition of the title of this monthly section and in celebration of the humble bean, this very […]
All greenhouse owners have experienced it at one time or another, munched on plants, missing leaves, and more. There are more than just bugs in my greenhouse. Over the years I’ve seen a whole menagerie of creatures setting up home in my greenhouse. For years I had a huge warty toad that helped despatch slugs […]
