You know the old saying ‘when life gives you lemons….make lemonade‘ well when nature hands you a series of Mill’s periods* resulting in a surge of tomato blight you make a plethora of Green tomato chutney. Ingredients: 2.5kg green tomatoes (if a few red/orange ones go in so much the better) 500g onions (2-3 large…
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Plant of the Month – August – Dahlia
There are so many things to say about Dahlia selecting and growing. It’s not just the luscious gorgeous-ness of the flower nor the vibrancy of available colours nor the elegant detail of the flower shapes and sizes not even it’s excellence as a cutting material or indeed how it holds it’s own in a mixed…
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Monthly MUST do’s – August
There are many many wonderful blogs and articles and books about what to do by season and I reccomend you read one on a regular basis until you get into the swing of your own plots vagaries. In my gardening life I find I try to do too much on a regular basis, organised chaos…
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Recipe : Gooseberry & lemon Curd
As you will have guessed by now I am an avid Gooseberry devorer always on the lookout for new ways of preparing them. This summer a new addition to the ‘book’ has emerged in the form of a delicious and very moreish curd. Many of us know and love a lemon curd and of late…
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Plant of the Month – July – Helenium
I am a recent convert to Helenium I must admit but since finding them am an avid fan. They are one of those wonderful daisy shapes that looks good coming into, in flower and in the final demise. It also comes in a good many options in the yellow/orange/red spectrum. Named for Helen of Troy…
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Plant of the Month – June – Salvia
I wouldn’t have said I was an enthusiast before I started writing this but it turns out I am rather fond of the Salvia family. Oddly I don’t much like the common or garden sage grown by many to eat, too perfumed for me, although I suspect I wouldn’t fault it in a bit of…
Continue ReadingRecipe: set point
Set point for jams and curds is such an arbitrary thing for the home cook, at least it is for me!. Even with my sugar thermometer it is never exact. I use more successfully the cold plate/fridge method my mother taught me. As you start place 2 saucers in the feezer. Once you hit the…
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Plant of the Month – May – Iris
Plant of the month in May will always be an Iris for me, closely followed I will admit by a Peony. The only way to describe it is that I got into Irises by accident which you can read about in more depth here But once in it’s very hard to let them go. The…
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Planting for a superb Spring
Winter drags on and even when the Snowdrops kick of the growing season there are still a good few weeks of often miserable weather lurking around the corner. The arrival of each flush of flowers in these months is most welcome and if planned well you can suddenly find yourself with a burst of rich…
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SGD Spring Conference – Way out West
Way out west it was too, all the way over in South Kensington on the west of London town. The best of spring days, with the sun out and the skies blue as could be. Trees coming into blossom and plenty of cheery visitors, despite Wednesdays terrible attacks in Westminster. We’re Londoners, even when we’re…
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