Going nuts in May

May can be a bit of a growler, and this year it has been a perfect storm of grumpiness. So far it has been the coldest, windiest and wettest May for a number of years. The weather is so unpredictable that one day it is shirtsleeves, factor 30 and a sun hat and the next […]

In the land of plenty

At last salad rationing has come to an end and there are rewards for hard labour. Each spring is different, but by the end of May we have stopped anticipating and started eating! The first new potatoes with fresh mint, slim, sweet carrots with feathery chervil, finger courgettes and baby fennel with a drizzle of […]

‘Wife, into thy garden’

In the 16th century every good country huswife  would consult her copy of Thomas Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie  for advice on the work to be performed in the garden each month. So for November: If Garden require it, now trench it ye may,One trench not a yard from another go lay,Which being well filled, […]

Vegetable Garden

The potatoes are in sacks under the bench in the shed, the garlic neatly platted and hanging above, soon to be joined by the onions which are drying in the polytunnel. There are boxes and boxes of jam and chutney and both freezers are full to bursting point. Autumn has definitely arrived, complete with the […]