I love mustard. And one of the things that I can’t wait to make this year (as well as ketchup) is my very own mustard. There are just so many potential variations! Lemon juice or vinegar? Whole grain or smooth? But before all of that comes the mustard seed, my fastest growing crop to date. […]
Read MoreLast year I decided to try to grow peas and beans in recycled shopper bags. It didn’t really work. The bags didn’t hold their shape and so the bean and peas couldn’t scramble up the supporting canes properly. My harvest was pretty minute but what I did get was utterly delicious. So with that in […]
Read MoreHave you ever started something and thought, halfway through, what a bad idea it was (by which time you were too advanced to go back?). This year I decided to plant some winter greens. I’ve got so little space in my tiny urban garden that I usually only grow soft fruits and summer vegetables but […]
Read MoreAmazingly, some of the pineberries that I planted in my hanging bag are coming back to life. Better still, they’re actually starting to fruit! It’s important to cover the plants with straw or glass over the winter to protect them, as they’re rather fragile and delicate. I failed to do so, being occupied with the […]
Read MoreIt finally happened. I was so thrilled by my Brown Turkey fig tree as it produced so many overwintering figs, you know, over winter. And as we’re having such a warm snap at the moment, I thought I’d pop it outside so that it could enjoy some of this lovely bright sunshine. So I popped […]
Read MoreOne thing I’ve always been prone to do is put things off. I wait happily for harvest from my main plants, thinking that I’ll have nothing until then. And to a certain extent, that’s true because I have so little space in my tiny urban allotment garden. But this year I’ve decided to really try […]
Read MoreMy side return is, by definition, narrow. And the raised beds that I have there (filled with garlic and rhubarb) are currently performing very nicely. I have eight varieties of garlic in there, and three of rhubarb. The side return is technically south facing but it’s so narrow that the sun hits it for about […]
Read MoreWarbled (badly) to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive”At first I was afraid, I was petrifiedBrought home from RHS Wisley (that plant shop outside)And then I spent all winter long, feeling sorry for myselfIn the cloche I’d hide, feeling safer there insideI took my time, I will surviveFor a while there I looked […]
Read MoreI have a certain fondness for gooseberries, something that I think is shown by the fact that I’ve squeezed five bushes (two green hinnomakis, two red hinnomakis and a trusty old invicta) into my tiny space. They’re marvelous things, gooseberries, useful for everything from a liquor to liven up fizz through to pies. They’re one […]
Read MoreLast week I was in a rush to take the GarlicBaby to the local aquarium. I was putting the babyseat into the taxi when I turned my ankle on an uneven bit of pavement and broke my foot. Apparently I have a Lisfranc injury, which is pretty appallingly bad when you consider that it happened […]
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London to Land Girl 