We love to grow fruit and veg. After converting our garden to a kitchen garden many years ago, we also look on a local allotment plot in 2010.

Spicy Sungold Tomato Ketchup

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I love home-made ketchup, and it’s even more satisfying making it from home-grown tomatoes. In the past, I’ve made several batches of ketchup with red tomatoes and a couple of batches with green ones but this is the first batch I’ve made with beautiful orange sungold tomatoes, a variety we’ve been growing for the last ... Read more »

Chilli Growing Tips from Edible Ornamentals

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Serendipity and silver linings. That’s how Edible Ornamentals came into being.   Joanna Plumb, who runs the business with her husband Shawn, told us the story. Many years ago, her parents (who were commercial cucumber farmers) were approached by a national DIY store to grow 3000 chilli plants for their shops. Unfortunately, the DIY company ... Read more »

Wild Garlic Mashed Potato

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I’ve blogged about wild garlic aka ramsons aka allium ursinum aka bear’s garlic before. A wild relative of chive with a strong garlic flavour, it’s native across Europe and Asia. The ursine botanical name and nickname come from the brown bear’s love of the pungent bulbs, though there are no such bears in my favourite ... Read more »

Seedlings

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There’s something magical about seedlings. After a cold winter – one that is reluctant to give up it’s hold, pushing snow and biting winds into April – even the smallest signs of spring are warmly welcomed. Pete’s been sowing seeds in our heated propagator but has moved two trays of seedlings onto the bathroom windowsill ... Read more »

Tools For Self Reliance Cymru

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Tools For Self Reliance Cymru collect old and unwanted hand tools, mostly those used by gardeners, and their volunteers clean, repair and sharpen them. They send their refurbished tool kits to grass roots community groups in Africa. As they explain, "Tools mean work, and the chance to shape their future, just as important to a ... Read more »

Easy Redcurrant & Port Jelly

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It’s not been a great year for growing, with plants confused by a very early faux-summer followed by months of endless rain and cold. But we did enjoy harvesting summer fruit from our allotment plot in mid July, bringing home tubs of redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries. I’m not a huge fan of redcurrants but ... Read more »

July’s Harvest: Yellow Mange Tout

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This year hasn’t been a great one in the garden or allotment but we did have a few small harvests in July. Alongside some summer berries (more of which to come soon) we harvested some yellow mange tout from the back garden. Not as vivid in colour as the seed catalogue promised (the variety is ... Read more »

Riverford Organic Field Kitchen & Farm Tour

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The welcome at the Riverford Organic Farms Field Kitchen is warm.   Guests are shown to their spot at large communal tables serried beneath a vast curving roof. Huge windows let in plenty of light during our June lunch-time visit. The menu is no-choice, served family style at a fixed time, so there’s a real ... Read more »

Allotment Helpers and Purple Sprouting Broccoli

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It’s that time of the year when we are rushing to catch up with work we really ought to have done over the autumn or winter. That means some quick heavier digging and turning over, letting the weather break down the clods a bit and then working it over more finely in preparation for sowing ... Read more »