Hooray, the clocks have gone forward, the days are brighter, & the weather is getting warmer. I’m super excited about planting up the veggie patch so this month I’ve been sowing seeds & making plans to attract more wildlife to our garden too…
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What are your ‘lockdown lessons’? Do you have some fab food hacks or top kitchen tips? I was so chuffed when my own grow-your-own veggie patch project was highlighted by FoodSavvy earlier this week so here’s my lockdown allotment story…
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After growing our own fruit & veg in our garden for the 1st time in 2020, this year I’m making plans for a kitchen garden that’ll (hopefully) provide all the fresh produce we’ll need. Here’s my monthly veggie plot update for February (with lots of snow!)
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After a long summer relaxing at home and in the garden there will no doubt be a few maintenance tasks that need doing. Some can be added to your spring cleaning list, but others would be good tackle now to keep you safe & happy over the winter months…
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If you’ve got a glut of tomatoes all ripening at once (yes, this is me!) here’s a delicious recipe to turn them into an autumnal spiced chutney. I’m already excited to open up a pot this winter to enjoy with my Christmas cheeseboard!
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Ever since I began growing my own fruit and vegetables in my garden, I’ve been so much more aware of the seasonality of produce. Here’s why you should eat seasonal veg and a brunch quiche recipe to use up those fresh new potatoes…
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The original pallet bar project been repurposed – and for good reason. I’ve decided growing veg is more important than having an alfresco G&T, so I’ve given over my much-loved pallet bar to create a nursery space for my seedlings. Here’s how…
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Ever wanted to have a gorgeous garden full of foliage and beautiful blooms that takes no time at all to maintain? That’s my plan and it’s exactly what I’m blogging about today! Read on to find out some handy tips to create a low-maintenance garden with plants and veg that take no effort to grow…
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Spring is fast approaching and if your garden seems to be lacking lustre now is the perfect time to get started on those outdoor projects you’ve had in mind for some time…
Read MoreEven though I don’t fancy going out in the cold to dig my plot at the moment, I’m certainly starting to feel a buzz of excitement about getting stuck into tackling my new garden next spring. This is the perfect time of year to draw up some designs and start dreaming about what could be […]
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Today’s blog post is a glimpse inside Kirstie Allsopp’s garden. I’ve been lucky enough to get some behind-the-hedge photos from Victoria Summerley, the author of The Secret Gardeners. If you missed my earlier blog posts, I’ve also shared a peek inside Prue Leith’s plot and Cath Kidston’s garden. Plus I’ve got two copies of the book to […]
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Britain’s creatives reveal their private garden sanctuaries in newly released book The Secret Gardeners. This beautifully presented book is packed full of stunning photographs, and gives us an insight into how famous folk live. I’ve already blogged about GBBO judge Prue Leith’s garden last week, and today I’m giving you a peek into designer Cath […]
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Ever wanted to nose around the gardens of the stars? Have you wondered what Sting’s back garden looked like? Or wished you could peep into Richard Branson’s Or poke around in Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall’s veggie patch? Well, the good news is that ‘The Secret Gardeners’ by Victoria Summerley does just that. And more good news – […]
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Whilst the idea of growing your own vegetables sounds fun and is a great money-saving idea, many people think they just wouldn’t have enough time to tend to their veggie patch. Sure, it can mean spending a lot of time in the garden, but don’t give up – when the sun is shining and the breeze keeping you cool, there’s […]
Read MoreIt’s a common misconception that fruit can only be grown in ‘warmer’ climates. Okay for some fruits this is true but there are so many fruits that you can actually grow yourself in your own garden, even in the British weather! With Spring finally upon us, now is the perfect time to start thinking about […]
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The attraction of growing your own vegetables appeals to many people. Whether you’re a trendy hipster with a passion for subsistence living or you have a family allotment that the kids enjoy, there is a gardener in all of us. Just starting out? Don’t worry – you don’t need to be a green-thumbed garden wizard to grow these […]
Read MoreBelieve it or not, winter is almost over! It’s nearly time for those lighter evenings and sunny mornings and I actually cannot wait. This does mean that the long awaited (by children mainly) Easter holidays are creeping up on us, and we can almost hear the cry of ‘I’m bored’ in the background. There are […]
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Today’s blog post is all about fresh herbal tea, and I’ve shared a recipe for my all-time favourite tea below. I’ve been inspired to create this blog post for two reasons. Firstly I got a brand new teapot this week and I’ve been dying to try it out. It’s a fabulous retro design and I […]
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I spent most of yesterday working in the garden. After a week away, followed by a week of poor weather (when I didn’t really fancy working outdoors) the veggie patch had started to look quite neglected. Weeds were sprouting, the runner beans were looking a little too long, and three courgettes had turned into marrows! When the bright sunshine […]
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Oh what a lovely weekend this is proving to be. The weather has been glorious and yesterday I spent the whole day in the garden with my husband. We listened to the radio as we tended to our plants and had a thorough weeding session to bring the veggie patch back up to scratch, followed by […]
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On the last day of April I wrote about my mini greenhouse makeover and today I wanted to share with you the progress of our plants. You may remember that we used an old piece of industrial venting that we found in a skip to make a DIY strawberry planter. We lined it with cardboard, filled […]
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Sunshine, bumble bees and watering cans. Yes, I spent all of last weekend in the garden, tending my veggie patch and chilling out with my husband. But I wasn’t relaxing all weekend, oh no. We were working hard and it took all weekend to complete our project, but boy was it worth it!I took delivery […]
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I suck at growing beetroot. And carrots don’t like to be planted in December. These are the things that I learnt from my veggie patch this Winter. In fact, I failed at growing potatoes too so I think we can all agree that I should stick to summer crops and leave the hardy veg growing to […]
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I have been amazed by just how fast courgettes grow. One day there’s just an inkling of a flower and the next day there’s a full-grown courgette! Within a week, it’ll be a marrow – yikes! So we’ve been cooking with the courgettes that we’ve grown ourselves in our new veggie patch and I wanted to […]
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We’ve been working on our garden all summer: we’ve put up a fence and painted it, moved my caravan workshop, laid a patio, built raised beds for a veggie patch, installed a greenhouse and planted a herb garden. And now, I want to enclose the garden and make it into the extra ‘outdoor room’ I’d […]
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Now that the plants are starting to grow in our new garden, I’m beginning to lose track of what’s what. This happens particularly often with the herbs in my raised planted, because I’m not very well trained in recognising herb leaves. Okay, I know what the difference between basil, chives, parsley and rosemary but all […]
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I now declare this veggie patch… open! It’s planted up with runner beans, peas, squash, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, chillis, lettuce and herbs, plus a gooseberry bush and blackberry plant in the side border and fruit trees in the corner of the garden. At the moment it looks really neat and tidy – the way I’d […]
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Last week, I mentioned that we’d finished off the raised beds for the veggie patch and were in the process of completing the gravel path. The side border hadn’t been finished off so I today wanted to share some photos of the side raised bed ‘before and after’ and let you know that I’ve finally planted some herbs […]
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This week I have been out and about in the Suffolk countryside getting inspiration for my own garden and veggie patch, and where better to start than at Jimmy’s Farm just outside Ipswich. Hubby and I took a stroll around the farm on a sunny day and I took a few snaps as a visual […]
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Earlier in the week I shared photos of the paths we’d been digging around the veggie patch and told you how we intended to create raised beds around the remaining mounds of soil that we’d taken out of the path. I know this might not be the obvious way round to create raised beds but […]
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