no dig gardening, seasonal cooking, permaculture, preserving, foraging, storing, crafting, home life
As summer mellows into autumn, the allotment and garden is full of ripening vegetables and fruit.
I am here surrounded by piles of baking recipe books and have written a very long shopping list, in preparation for the annual cake baking marathon later this week for our open day at Homeacres. All kinds of cakes, including vegan and gluten free, and there’s Charles gorgeous no dig garden to explore too.
The best laid plans do not always come to fruition! Gardening is a great leveller. Whether you are growing on an allotment, in a window box or own a huge private estate, nature always has the upper hand – and that is exactly as it should be.
Like much of the country, Bruton has been very hot and dry for weeks and weeks. Frustratingly all of the recent rains have missed my small town.
It’s that time of year again, the days of delighting in the first few courgettes have transformed into a bewilderment of abundance. As fast as I pick them, more are growing – it’s wonderful.
The vegetable gardens are filling up with gorgeous summer abundance, almost every day it seems we are welcoming back another seasonal delight.
The hedgerows are filled with creamy elderflowers. It’s time to forage! Choose elderflower heads that are in full blossom and at their most fragrant to make delicious drinks, skin care and preserves.
I’ve been busy in the kitchen making elderflower champagne, liqueur, vinegar, sugar, oil and dried elderflowers too. Here are the recipes.
I’ve been hearing good things about the physic garden at Cowbridge for some time but have never visited, so when I heard that there was a food fair there, I just had to make the trip over the Severn Bridge to the Vale of Glamorgan.
May is always a busy month for gardeners and it feels even more so this year here – is that the same for you?
We celebrated the first day of May by flying from Bristol to Aberdeen, to visit Beechgrove Gardens.
This fragrant, spicy versatile cleaning vinegar smells fantastic and cleans powerfully.
Every year I mulch my no dig allotment with an inch or two of composted manure or homemade compost, but this year I am trying something different!
March has felt much colder, wetter and darker than usual. Occasional bursts of golden sunshine and hints of the warmth that will (surely it must?!) be here soon have brightened an otherwise most peculiar month.
Every Monday I pour my morning coffee and plan my week. Last week was so busy with talks, writing, a course day on Saturday; there was little time for gardening at home, so I scheduled Sunday as a whole day of gardening at home.
Usually the end of February and early March heralds a dramatic increase of activity in the greenhouse – but the unusually cold weather means last week was more about snowing than sowing!
It feels strange to be writing about heat loving plants like aubergines as Britain is gripped by unseasonally cold weather. Kitchen gardening is about always thinking ahead, anticipating and planning for what is to come, so I have been happy thinking about warm summer days as I wrap myself up in layers of thermals and woollens!
I absolutely love growing aubergines. Incredibly versatile for so many different recipes, I love all of the different colours and shapes, how some are seriously spiky and of course the delicious taste.
I am really looking forward to getting into to the swing of spring sowing, but as this morning’s weather demonstrated in no uncertain terms, it is still very much winter!
I’ve been working away for a week or so on Charles’ speaking tour. We had a fantastic time meeting keen gardeners across northern England and parts of Scotland, sharing ideas and enthusiasm for no dig methods. Some people were local to the talks, others had driven for several hours to hear Charles speak. It was wonderful exploring some spectacular locations and beautiful wild countryside.