Gardener’s guide to gluts: 10 things to do with courgettes (zucchini)

September 2, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

This summer I have become a woman possessed. What started out as casually bringing a few courgettes along on playdates as a novel hostess gift culminated last week in me landing a rather shocked friend with a massive amazon box full of marrows and courgettes. It was so heavy I couldn’t even carry it, I […]

Summer recipe: courgette and mint soup

August 24, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

I grew up in Portugal and there, we believe that soup is important. It’s practically a sixth food group all of its own. In winter here in the UK I’ve brainwashed Mr Land and the children into believing that a hot bowl of soup before dinner every day is the norm. In truth, it’s so […]

Accumulation of courgettes

August 6, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

I’ve been growing courgettes for years but it was only last year that I realised I was doing it all wrong. We were staying at the glorious Pig hotel in the New Forest and wandering around their lovely kitchen garden when I spotted some monster prickly leaves. Intrigued by their similarity to courgettes, I moved […]

Recipe: Healthy lemony basil pesto pasta with courgette and broccoli

July 13, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

This is a really easy and tasty seasonal dish using home grown basil from the garden that I often make when I”m short of time. We are ardent carnivores but tend to eat vegetarian food during the week and this dish is absolutely delicious. We eat unholy amounts of garlic and so that sauce packs […]

Come on courgettes!

May 19, 2017.Reading time 1 minute.

By far, the biggest lesson I’ve learned this year whilst starting to grow as much edible food as possible, is that growing from seed is best. It’s cheaper, more reliable and more satisfying than growing from plugs. I know I keep on banging on about this but I’ve been so very disappointed by the quality […]

It’s all a bit of a squash in here

July 4, 2014.Reading time 3 minutes.

Oh, puns. They prompted Caligula to roast a comedian alive and Bierce to sneer at them as a “form of wit to which wise men stoop and fools aspire.” But my love of them, established early at the knee of my maternal grandfather, lives on. Puns and cracker jokes. I just can’t get enough, and […]

When you can’t grow out, grow up! Or, vertical gardening.

June 5, 2014.Reading time 3 minutes.

When you’re as limited in space as I am, sometimes up is the only way to grow. Vertical gardening, vertical planters or “green walls” have all become very popular over the last five or six years, as urban dwellers seek to grow food regardless of the size of their plot. From planters made of old […]