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Tag: chutney
What can I grow in my greenhouse over winter?
Growing in a greenhouse over winter must be the most common subject in the comments of any of our social media. Although I’m not sure it’s always phrased well, I think people actually mean what is what seeds can they sow that will germinate and grow to the point where you can harvest them and… Read more
Planting garlic
If you want the best garlic harvest, there are a few key factors you need to consider. Choose the Right Garlic Varieties Begin your garlic-growing journey by selecting the most suitable garlic varieties for your region. Two main types of garlic are commonly grown in British gardens: hardneck and softneck. Hardneck varieties, such as ‘Lautrec… Read more
Overwintering your peppers
Today’s video is possibly one of the most asked for over the past few years. In the UK, because of our milder climate, we cut down and basically bin our hot weather crops like tomatoes and peppers. Meaning that we have to start fresh every year by sowing new seeds and bringing on baby plants.… Read more
It’s autumn how did that happen?
It only seemed like minutes ago when I was getting excited at peppers ripening and courgettes swelling and now it’s autumn. Already. Although to be fair, as I write this it’s still lovely and sunny and relatively warm in the garden. OK, not summer warm but still t-shirt wearing weather. The lovely sunshine is almost… Read more
The composting adventure and our new bin
It feels like forever ago when we first posted a blog about our switch over to the more compact hotbin system. We’d had a standard palet bay for ages and didn’t really think composting was anything people were interested in, but when we started trying out one of the new hot composter bins it turned… Read more
An August pepper update from the greenhouse
I’m going to blow the suspense by making the intro to this paragraph the conclusion you are all waiting on. The new variety of peppers I’m growing, “King of the North” is a romping success. There I said it. So you may not want to join us in the greenhouse this week as we talk… Read more
Super Simplified: plant fertiliser, what to buy for what purpose
Fertiliser is a massive topic and if you want to you can really get in-depth and detailed. For most hobby gardeners like us, however, you really don’t need that level of detail. A simple overview is enough to get you going. That’s not to say though that you can’t delve further should you choose to,… Read more
End of July in the garden and the work never stops
I feel like every week I comment that we are busy in the garden, but in all honesty, we are always busy because there are always jobs needing done. It may not always be the glamour of the greenhouse or of sowing new crops but it needs done. This has been one of those weeks,… Read more
Shade in the greenhouse
Shading the greenhouse is commonplace in warmer sunnier climes, but as I’ve said. It’s not something I’ve ever even thought about, because, well… I’ve never seen sunlight strong enough to cause my plants any problems. However, this year the weather has been all over the place. So you may not be surprised to hear that… Read more
Eat, Sow, Grow: July in our vegetable garden
July is awesome. Not just cause it’s party month (my birthday and our wedding anniversary) but because July is usually the month of abundance in the vegetable garden with beetroot, courgettes, peas, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and loads more. This year has been a tad more exciting than others because we’re growing a… Read more
Gardener’s question time: I brought in some allotmenteers to answer your questions
This week I’ve been working on something special. A few weeks ago I asked if you had any questions you wanted to send in and I’d do my best to get you some answers. Well you asked loads of brilliant questions and to be fair, my knowledge and experience only goes so far and I… Read more
Homemade composting: getting usable compost from the hotbin
So in this week’s video, we are answering some questions that came in about our compost process. We posted some funny wee videos on social media recently, just for a bit of fun but unexpectedly they generated a whole heap of questions about my composting process. So I thought I’d have a go at explaining… Read more
Out enjoying the sunshine
Been a bit exciting this week as well as a wee bit nervous. We’ve been having some lovely weather and things in Scotland are starting to open up again, so yesterday we had a fun day out in Edinburgh. Luckily I’d managed to get this week’s video update for the garden recorded and edited in… Read more
Slugs be gone – the battle for my sunflowers – will slug rings make a difference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rniKSLQHQTc I think the battle with slugs and snails is universal just now. Gardeners everywhere are trying to keep tender new plants from being eaten. I know I’ve seen so many folks online devastated at the damage being done to newly planted sunflowers, us included. It’s infuriating, I’d taken all that time and made such… Read more
We’re building a bean frame, which is harder than you think when you are of diminutive stature
In this week’s garden adventures, it’s time to check on the Kelvedon Wonder peas and see how they are going and it’s time to plant out our Cobra green beans. Both these sets of plants are sharing a bed because they are both vertical growers, generally needing a structure to climb on, but did you… Read more
Poorly courgettes, happy tomatoes, and bushy peppers – today in my greenhouse
Well after the recent scare with the tomatoes looking a bit poorly, I thought it was time for a greenhouse check-in… and it’s all looking good. And, thankfully, there’s a wee bit more space in there just now thanks to the turn in the weather and the much more summer-esk days. The sunflowers are all… Read more
It’s May and it’s all change
We’ve been doing the monthly garden updates for a while now, a few years in fact, but it’s really struck me this month, just what a difference there is between this year and last, in terms of May. May is the month that we usually see the garden burst to life. it’s the month of… Read more
We’re planting out – last frost date has passed
The weather this spring has been so crazy with extended cold snaps, snow and so much rain that the garden is really looking a bit drab and is definitely the spring buzz I was hoping for. I won’t lie, it’s all starting to get to me and I desperately want to go out there, with… Read more
We got power and heating in the greenhouse
It has been a long time coming (9 years) but this spring we have heating in the greenhouse helping us get a head start on this year’s veg. Not just veg but mostly veg. And of course, just to be very clear, you absolutely don’t need heating or power in your greenhouse. This is very… Read more