Last week I attended Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC in Birmingham. The event runs alongside the BBC Good Food Show: gardening and food, what a great combination for an interesting day out!
No Dig Talk – BBC Gardeners’ World Live
I am speaking today about No Dig Allotment at the Let Talk Allotments stage at BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC.
I’m here until Saturday. If you’re attending the show do come and say hello!
There are some fantastic show gardens, will share photos this evening.
Aminopyralid: we need to stop this!
Aminopyralid contamination of home gardens and allotments is back. Every day I am hearing of new cases of carefully nurtured crops maimed and wiped out by this dreadful chemical. I’m not an alarmist sort of person but this is totally avoidable and – what makes it even worse – this is not the first time that aminopyralid has been responsible for widespread contamination of our plots.
What is this chemical, how is it spreading and what can we do?
My Blog has been shortlisted for Best Organic Blog!
I’m very excited that this blog has is a finalist for Best Organic Blog at the Soil Association BOOM Awards 2019. You can imagine the happy dances I am doing!
Bring On Summer Spinach and Czar Bean Pate
Over wintered and some spring sown spinach is bolting in the garden – it’s the time of year for spinach to flower – so we have an abundance of it to use. Yesterday I made two quite different dishes featuring spinach for the lunch for our compost course at Homeacres: rich chocolatey spinach brownies and a spinach pate, with a rich depth of flavours.
back garden/blog/homesteading/no dig gardening/organic/permaculture/polytunnel/preparing the soil/spring/summer
No Dig Polytunnel May Transformation
May: such a magical month in the garden. The growth is incredible and each day the garden reveals new delights! When the first strawberries ripen we know summer is on its way.
You Tube video and Bealtaine Cottage
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of visiting Colette O’Neill’s gorgeous gardens at Bealtaine Cottage.
blog/Garden visits/magazines/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/no hungry gap/permaculture/The Creative Kitchen
Three delicious versatile veg to sow now for winter feasts!
Sow delicious easy to grow and store vegetables for a taste of something homegrown throughout the winter and into spring. Here are a few of my favourites. What do you like to grow for winter recipes?
Win Toby’s Garden Festival VIP Ticket and No Dig Goody Bag
We have a winner! Congratulations to Rachel!
Thank you to all who have entered.
Books Give-away!
To celebrate two years since the publication of No Dig Organic Home and Garden , I’m running a little competition on my Instagram account. Win a copy of NDOHG and The Creative Kitchen.
Coming up! Talks and workshops in 2019
No dig gardening, Small Scale Homesteading and other talks and workshops booked so far this year.
allotment/autumn/back garden/blog/Bruton/featured/gardening/homesteading/nature/no dig gardening/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/no hungry gap/organic/permaculture/polytunnel/recipes/seasonal cooking/spring/summer/The Creative Kitchen/winter
Kale – Root to Shoot: leaves, flowers, sprouts and more!
Kale, a nutrient dense vegetable high in vitamins, is well known for its many health benefits. Easy to grow and winter hardy in the UK, it’s a fantastic plant for the hungry home gardener. Kale’s delicious leaves make a tasty addition to all kinds of meals cooked and raw, but did you know that you can also eat other parts of this cruciferous vegetable and that growing it benefits wildlife too?!
allotment/blog/Bruton/Homeacres/mulching/no dig gardening/No Dig Home/no hungry gap/organic/permaculture/preparing the soil/spring/workshops and courses
How to sow no dig parsnips, carrots and other root veg
It’s spring and I am thinking of winter vegetables! Root vegetables are surprisingly easy to grow using no dig methods. Yesterday I sowed parsnips, carrots, radish, Hamburg parsley and scorzonera into a recently applied mulch of compost on top of my heavy clay allotment soil.
back garden/blog/Books/exploring/featured/Garden visits/homesteading/kitchen garden/organic/permaculture/polytunnel/preparing the soil/propagation/real life/spring/The Creative Kitchen
Weeding for the Queen… and other gardening news!
The Queen visited “my” work kitchen garden yesterday, so I spent time on Wednesday making sure it was all weeded and spruced up. Ok, so perhaps the purpose of her visit to Bruton wasn’t to gaze upon my herbs and veggies but it’s not every day that one of the most famous people in the world pops down my high street!
It was thirsty work, so I enjoyed a refreshing cup of tea sitting in the sunshine on the wide timbers of the raised beds.
The Queen was in Bruton to open a new music building at The Kings School, a public (ie: private and very expensive for my international readers) and celebrate 500 years since the school received its Royal Charter. HRH also took time to visit Hauser and Wirth Somerset – where I run the kitchen garden for Roth Bar and Grill – and local race horse owner, Paul Nicholls’ stables.
blog/front garden/gardening/kitchen garden/magazines/No Dig Home/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/permaculture/polytunnel/spring/winter
Back home
I had a great time on holidays, but it’s nice being home again too, especially now that spring is in the air!
allotment/back garden/blog/Books/Bruton/featured/gardening/homesteading/kitchen garden/magazines/no dig gardening/permaculture/real life/The Creative Kitchen/writing
New Year news!
New allotment plans, magazine articles, writing a new book and other plans for 2019.
Vegan “Bubble and Squeak” salad recipe – ideal for using up leftovers
This gorgeous, vegetable-filled salad is ideal for winter meals, a great way of using leftover vegetables from a roast dinner – just like “bubble and squeak”. A tasty way to make the most of a Thanksgiving, Christmas or other roast dinner leftovers! This recipe includes an oil free version, too.
allotment/autumn/back garden/blog/Bruton/front garden/gardening/Homeacres/homesteading/kitchen garden/no dig gardening/no hungry gap/organic/permaculture/polytunnel/preparing the soil/propagation/The Creative Kitchen
November in my No Dig Garden
It has been a busy time since my last blog post and how the garden has changed! The weather has been typically British, from unseasonably warm to icy cold (for Somerset) and back again. Mornings are misty, deciduous trees almost entirely without leaves now and anything frost tender has died.
The polytunnel has frozen a few times now, I love the patterns on the frozen polythene, although it is still reaching 30˚C in there some days. I have electronic thermometers in the greenhouse and polytunnel and it’s so interesting to see the extremes of temperatures undercover, compared with outside in the garden.
back garden/blog/No Dig Home/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/recipes/seasonal cooking/The Creative Kitchen
How to make nasturtium salt & other nasturtium recipes
In my garden a bright jungle of colourful nasturtiums are rejoicing in the surprisingly warm sunshine-y October weather. After a summer of taking their prolific spiciness for granted, I’m keen to preserve what I can before the weather turns colder….
Changes….
Today I am updating the blog theme and carrying out various kinds of maintenance.