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Tag: pickle
Just how do you choose which tomatoes to grow?
For me, the one thing I associate with Instagram is all those photos of the most amazing and crazy-coloured tomatoes. Some of them are just beautiful, so it’s easy to imagine just how many of those varieties are grown simply because of how they look. Obviously, though there are other ways to think about what… Read more
Stop! You don’t have to sow seeds yet.
We’re having some fun with a serious topic today. Looking at social media feeds just now makes it look like everyone is sowing all of their seeds in January and that it’s the done thing. A real pressure for any newer gardeners out there. So today I want to chat about why you might choose… Read more
Why planting onion seeds is better than planting sets
Are you thinking about planting onions in your garden this year? Good choice – they’re an absolute staple in so many meals in our house and last year I discovered just how easy they are to grow. Last year, however, I grew using something called sets. This year I’m growing from seeds. So let me… Read more
Making mini polytunnels to protect your winter veggies
So maybe you are just tired of your plants getting trashed by frost and ice during the winter months? Or maybe you are trying to steal an extra few weeks of growing from mother nature. Either way, we’ve been doing a wee experiment in the garden that might be what you’re looking for. To be… Read more
What do gardeners do all winter?
At least 3 times this month, someone has said to me, “You must be glad now it’s winter and you don’t have to tend the garden all the time.” Which if it wasn’t so funny would be infuriating. OK maybe infuriating is a bit strong a term but you know, it’s quite annoying because gardening… Read more
Growing Dahlias: a simple guide
I love dahlias. There I said it and I don’t care that they are supposedly unfashionable cause they are gorgeous and every garden should have them. Ok so now the confession is out of the way, let’s talk about growing dahlias and I’ll tell you how I became a firm dahlia lover. So much so… Read more
Adding flowers for winter interest
A trip to the garden centre this weekend has done us the world of good. The weather has just been horrendous for ages and the garden is a wet mess, and if that’s not bad enough, it’s time to lift the dahlias for over-winter storage which means there are going to be some big bare… Read more
Making winter growing easier in my greenhouse
For most of the year, I love my greenhouse. It’s set up perfectly the way I want it and it works outstandingly. Don’t believe me, just pop along to any of our youtube videos and see just how much produce my one small greenhouse produces over spring, summer and autumn. Seriously I can’t complain. However,… Read more
One way to beat frosts and freezes in the garden
The excitement of winter growing for harvest is in full swing now that we have little plants to actually plant out into the garden – and yes I know some of you guys find that idea terrifying… but stick with us. As well as planting out, I’m testing out some different things so you guys… Read more
Shakshuka from our homegrown veg
Quite often the recipes we use involve a bit of a tweak to accommodate whatever veg is fresh from the garden, and we have a few go-to recipes that are very easy to tweak. One of these is our version of shakshuka. So if you’ve not heard of shakshuka before, basically it’s one pot delight… Read more
Busting the myth about pruning your peppers
We started this experiment way back last year, in September but it was a whopper that took a full season afterwards and we have only just now, been able to give you the results. For those of you who haven’t been following along with us on our journey, let me give you the back story.… Read more
Making wooden garden planters for our flowers
Sometimes it absolutely astounds me just how expensive ready-made garden beds and planters are, especially given that making your own is way easier than people think. You guys have already seen us make our huge raised beds, but this week we’ve gone smaller and made a couple of long wooden planters for our front garden.… Read more
Carrot salad with ginger, honey and lemon dressing
It’s been mad hot this last few weeks and the idea of being in a hot kitchen cooking or even sitting eating hot food might not be so appealing, but then again not everyone gets excited at the idea of salad for lunch so we thought we’d share one of our favourite and quick to… Read more
The big pepper growing experiment: will I change how I do things?
This year we’ve had two experiments going in the garden, the first one being the tomatoes that are growing outdoors and the second the peppers in the greenhouse. The pepper experiment is actually a bit more complicated and has a few variables so if you haven’t been following along, let me explain. Last September when… Read more
Quick and easy recipe: Garden Salad Pasta
This week we shared a quick video on Instagram of something we call garden salad pasta. It’s basically a really quick dinner involving homegrown food like tomatoes, basil and garlic. It’s so easy that you don’t even need to measure anything and the only thing you cook is the pasta.It goes like this. Ingredients How… Read more
Seeds I’m sowing in July
There will be lots of sowing going on over the next month, so I’m starting today with some of my salad crops and of course, MORE DWARF GREEN BEANS. I’m determined to get some beans. If you don’t know the bean story, let me explain. I showed mine nice and early in the greenhouse hoping… Read more
Plant those suckers: free tomato plants using the side shoots
I’ve thrown caution to the wind folks… I had this carefully thought out plan to grow tomatoes outdoors in my garden this year. In Scotland… yes you read that correctly…outdoor tomatoes in Scotland. However, I’ve just torn up my plan and gone a bit mad. I’m currently growing three dwarf tomato plants that grow as… Read more
Why are my tomato plants so much bigger than yours?
At this time of year, one of the most common questions I get asked online is “why are your tomatoes so big?” Or “why are your tomatoes bigger than mine?”. I hear “oh my god your tomatoes are huge mine are tiny”. So in order to help you to relax and not get stressed about… Read more
Seeking out the perfect Gin & Tonic: homemade tonic
As our blog readers are well aware, life at Ar Bruadair is such a hardship. Dave G tells us all the time how hard our lives are and how he’s so glad he isn’t like us 🙂 So we decided that in honour of World Gin Day… we’d tell you about some of the hard… Read more