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Tag: hotbin compost
Drainage for your pots & containers
This time of year is a great time to talk about rain, lots of rain, coming snow and the fact that your pots and containers need drainage. Oh boy, do they ever at this time of year! This is one of my very short tips & tricks for winter that I had mentioned on youtube… Read more
Making the most of your 6 by 8 foot greenhouse
Last week she was bare, this week she is all gussied up in her finery. So how do you make a small greenhouse work for all seasons? Read more
Eye spy mince pies!
Its December, and for me that means only one thing – its finally mince pie season! But Kate, I hear you cry, mince pies have been in the shops since July – don’t get me started on the ridiculously early appearance of Christmas food, suffice to say that for me part of the joy of… Read more
Tattie scones – a traditional Scottish treat for St Andrew’s Day
Happy St Andrew’s day folks! St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and 30th November is his day, St Andrew’s day. In all honesty, we don’t actually do anything to celebrate it, it’s just another day and a heck of a lot of Scots probably couldn’t even tell you when St Andrew’s day is… Read more
More sweet treats to comfort you on a cold night: honeycomb cinder toffee
Growing up, we called this honeycomb but I’ve heard it called cinder toffee, hokey pokey, puff candy and even sponge toffee. No matter what you call it, this is a bomb of sugary delight and fabulous on a cold night, in front of the fire with a cuppa. You know the orange, toffee-like centre of… Read more
Butternut squash soup… an autumn warmer or còsagach recipe
Last year we introduced you to our winter fun known as Hygge. It the association of all things warming and comforting to get you through the dark nights, happy with what you have and the time spent with loved ones. Well as we were telling you all about this, a local newspaper here in Scotland… Read more
Halloween here isn’t about pumpkins… apple spiced muffin recipe
I’ve been involved in a bit of a Facebook rant recently about Halloween and the fact that Scottish kids celebrate this as the American version (trick or treat) rather than holding onto the traditional Scottish celebrations I knew as a kid. It’s just one of those things, the world is becoming smaller with the advent… Read more
What to do with a glut of tomatoes… make passata of course
As always with a veg garden, there are times when you have such a glut of produce that you are trying to find ways to use things up rather than give it all away or worse, waste it. So today, with the crazy amount of tomatoes we’ve grown, we are making lots and lots of… Read more
Growing tomatoes in the cold climate of Scotland. Yup it is possible.
Everything you need to know to grow huge crops of tomatoes, yes even in Scotland Read more
Slow cooker ham with a ginger crunch top
We realised today that we hadn’t shared this recipe with you guys and were astounded. It’s so easy to do and gives you not only a fantastic dinner but options for sandwiches and leftover meals too. The ham is cooked in the slow cooker so there is almost no work for you to do, switch… Read more
Focaccia bread with rosemary
Every so often now I catch myself making a comment about just about any yeast-based dough recipes and saying, “ach I can do that”. I say catch myself because as regular readers here will know, there was a time when making bread seemed like some sort of magical, dark art to me. You can actually read more… Read more
Make your own peanut butter. It’s quick, really easy and doesn’t have lots of nasty additives.
I have developed a bit of a thing for peanut butter this year, ok if I’m being absolutely honest, I’m a bit obsessed. I eat it on toast, on bagels, straight from the jar when Kate can’t see me… but it took me a bit to realise that there is sooooo much more in some… Read more
Garden glut – we made fresh pesto
Everyone has one of those lists that they want to tick off, you know the ones I mean, the ones where you list all the things you want to do before you’re 30, 40, 50 etc. So when the garden gave me a massive glut of basil, it was a chance to tick off another… Read more
Honey roasted seeds – pumpkin, sunflower and linseed
I’ve been really enjoying little packets of flavoured seeds as a snack recently. A friend at work turned me onto them and they’ve become a go-to snack, however, all those little packets add up in cost and wasteful packaging so we thought we’d have a go at our own. Turned out they were delicious and… Read more
A gardening journal – the most essential piece of gardening kit for newbies
Well after some beautiful, sunny days recently, normal service has been resumed and the skies have opened and its now chucking it down. The rain is coming down so hard that it’s bouncing off the patio and going straight back up again. It doesn’t seem to be deterring the garden birds, but I, however, have decided… Read more
Buying plugs and plants online, look out for bad packaging
Buying plants online can be both convenient and cost-effective, especially if you don’t have a greenhouse to grow your own seedlings through spring but there are some things to think about if you take this route. The growing season in Scotland is generally a lot shorter than elsewhere in the UK, when Monty Donn and… Read more
Getting rid of the shoogly net frames on the raised beds
Over the last 4 or 5 years, we’ve tried a succession of nets over the raised beds to stop local cats and foxes from digging in them. Our original attempt was using some pipes we bought from a local DIY store and we tied it together with string. To be fair, they pretty much worked, mostly. They were… Read more
Encouraging birds to visit your garden
Over the past five years or so, bird song and seeing birds in the garden has become part of the joy of having a garden. Although we didn’t realise it at first, it wasn’t until we noticed that we were seeing fewer birds that we acknowledged how much we enjoyed them. We used to have a huge… Read more