So having sowed some more carrots to spread the harvest a little and divided up the last of my shadier raised beds, it occurred to me that I should fill the gaps and plant the last of the square foot plots I’ve marked out. I have chosen two of my favourite winter vegetables, parsnips and […]
Read MoreThe only nice thing about having our poor little urban garden decimated by our builders was that I was able to start again, planting a completely toddler-friendly garden from scratch without feeling bad about rooting up existing plants (because the builders had killed them all). But one of the problems with that is that it […]
Read MoreI am a massive Pintrest fan (LoveAndGarlic if you must know…) but when it comes to gardening, it fails me miserably. A search for “small gardens” invariably shows up a load of results that are all larger than the footprint of my whole house. Such is the problem with not living in America, land of Pintrest […]
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 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 MoreOnce the first flurry of joyous seed sowing starts, I find that things quickly settle down to a comfortable rhythm of sowing and potting on. So it was with a big smile on my face that I proceeded to move the first of my tiny sprouts into small pots on the weekend. I think that […]
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 […]
Read MoreBring on the spring, that’s what I say. This past weekend was gloriously…well, grey. But on Friday afternoon the sun shone strongly and the cold, crisp air inspired me to get out into the garden with a sponge to clean up the greenhouse. I find that boring chores are much more likely to get done […]
Read MoreFirst it was my poor Brown Turkey fig tree, getting completely confused because I brought it into my warm dining room. Now it’s my poor garlic. Stupid weather. There’s a lot of pity in me for my poor garden. My garlic, dutifully planted on the shortest day of last year so that it could have […]
Read More
London to Land Girl 