Community questions

Cherry Tree Garden Centre, near Fritton in Norfolk has been a great resourse of MATERIAL. As it is part of the QD family don't expect the staff to know anything about growing however they have a large stock of seed potatos in at the moment, herb gardens and their usual varieties of vegtable seeds - pay attention to these as they are often varieties you won't find in the average supermarket!!! We...

Been a busy week and weekend at the Secret Garden and its Secret Bees ! so have decided to split the blog into garden first, and bees second. The whole plot needed some serious work , and so Sunday was spent weeding and harvesting and generally tidying up. We had been to Tatton on the Sat and so were very keen to get our plot up to show standards :) Firstly, we harvested two rows of spuds, and...

Harvest time at the allotment!

A small sample of what we have gathered today.     

Today I made the first steps towards setting up my not for profit organisation. I have emailed a few companies for funding and asked the local council if they would like to help out. I have also put out a few feelers to see if I can build up a group of volunteers and land owners/growers. What is The Kirklees Garden? The Kirklees Garden is an idea of mine which I am hoping to make into a not for...

There’s no way of dressing them up.  Unlike summer salads or the frilly colourful display of brassicas, root vegetables are not pretty.  Lumpen, solid and often misshapen, they may not be the belle of the ball they can be the saviour of the day.  Parsnips, swedes, turnips, carrots, beetroot and more, these mostly sweet or starchy stalwarts can be the basis of tasty soups and...

Ever wondered if you can sow and grow your entire Christmas dinner?   If I, or for that matter you, want next year’s Christmas lunch to be a grow-your-own festive feast from the garden, landshare or allotment, here’s my guide to growing it all from scratch, with key dates for getting the stuff in, and out, of the ground. Brussel Sprouts Sow in March / April.  Plant...

My beloved arrived back from his holidays to the old home country with a huge bag of sloes.  Not sure what Aer Lingus made of his cargo, but their arrival saw us spend last evening ploughing and pricking our way through the haul to make sloe gin.  So with Bob Dylan's Theme Radio Hour on the radio and holiday travel tales to tell, we settled down to transfer the dark purple...

It's nearly Halloween, pumpkin time and the shops are briefly full of them. Why not grow your own from scratch? It's a rewarding experience for the novice gardener, a good community project and great for kids. Better still, home grown pumpkins last throughout the winter providing an invaluable tasty food store, which can be made into a variety of soups, chips, stews, curries and Halloween...

Finally after variable summer weather conditions and the like, my allotment squash patch (including my first attempt at growing a big Atlantic Giant pumpkin) is ready for storage and much eating and decorating potential ...

Last swallows of summer As the second clutch of swallow chicks prepare to fly the nest, and after a summer worrying there’s not enough then too much rain, of chasing rabbits and slaying slugs, now’s the time of plenty. And, just like Christmas, no matter how much I plan for it, I'm suddenly surrounded by masses of food, packages of many and varied sizes and a ‘to do’ list...