The Polytunnel conundrum solved by The Polytunnel Handbook
Oh the power of words. Jackie who writes the inspirational blog Chestnuts Farm mentioned in a comment on my blog. “Perhaps Fiona should get a polytunnel for her birthday.” With a whir and a click I thought YES! Lynn Keddie had also suggested that it would be a good move. Our garden gave us plentiful supplies of Kale last winter but wouldn’t it be good to grow baby carrots and winter peas. The greenhouse is always chock a block with delicate plants. This would give us freedom. Last Christmas I bought Eliot Coleman’s book...
read moreAn infestation of mice
We have mice in the chicken run, mice in the garden, mice in the larder, the kitchen, the bedrooms. In fact there are mice everywhere. Looking ultra cute and messing up our cottage big time. Something had to be done. I tackled the larder first. Trapped one within minutes and no more came. Just one mouse had created havoc in there. QD had a great deal on Tala Le Parfait style jars so I invested in loads of them. Now nothing in our larder is contained in a box or a bag. It looks pretty too. “Catching mice is easy peasy.” I thought as I...
read moreHow to grow the best potatoes
Up until this year we’ve always been a bit disappointed with our home grown spuds – flavour is always good but the harvests have been poor. We thought that we were giving them the correct TLC but clearly we were going very wrong somewhere. Having been laid up for the past year I had time to research in depth the ways to give potatoes the best possible chance. And I’m delighted to report that I’ve grown fabulous spuds this year. Each plant giving on average 2-3 kilos. We have 40 plants in the kitchen garden borders (not counting the...
read moreCabbage whitefly: can it be controlled with nettle tea?
I’ve just discovered that cabbage white fly is attacking our Sunderland kale. This is my first year growing this variety and it had been romping along – growing quite tall and bushy. Last week I noticed that the strong green leaves were yellowing and by yesterday they were looking very grim. When I touched them yesterday clouds of tiny white mothlike creatures flew into the air. Apparently these creatures are cabbage whitefly. They only attack members of the brassica family. I noticed a few on the Tuscan Kale last autumn but had...
read moreHardy gerbera and ranunculus woes
I was so pleased to discover that there is a new strain of hardy gerbera plants available. These are hardy up to -5 degrees. The great thing about gerberas is that the flowers last for ages in water – that’s why you see them in so many restaurant dining rooms. If the plants are potted up and moved into the greenhouse in the autumn, they will flower on and off all winter. They appeared to be an ideal plant to grow for a flower seller, so I invested in some plantlets, potted them on in ordinary compost and within three weeks had lost the...
read moreBeetroot crisps recipe: a way to cope with and enjoy a beetroot glut
Vegetable crisps are surprisingly delicious. I was first introduced to them at a party in the 90’s, when a bowl of these were passed round and scoffed. They must have been Tyrrell’s as this was the first company to manufacture them in the UK. Last year I dehydrated beetroot slices for the winter and discovered that I had made tasty, healthy crisps. They didn’t last very long once we’d tasted them – we guzzled the winter stores within a week. This year I’m going to increase our vegetable crisp repertoire and try...
read moreThe potpourri project: Making my first batch of Cherhez’s Old English Rose Potpourri
“I bet your house smells wonderful.” The lady in Holland and Barrett exclaimed as she put my essential oils in a bag. “I’m making potpourri and our cottage is beginning to smell great.” The Holland and Barrett essential oils are very good quality and the scent lasts well. We use them for making essential oil recipes that I found in The Fragrant Mind by Valerie Ann Worwood. I will be using some of these recipes in my potpourris and scented bags as we have found that they are extremely powerful. It’s taken ages...
read moreDIY plumbing
I’ve nearly finished the planting in the newly made over garden but the long hot summer has wrecked the grass. With Lynn Keddie – the photographer – arriving in a few weeks time I’ve been repairing and reseeding the lawn. If it doesn’t rain the lawn has to be watered twice a day. So I invested in a Hozelock Aquastorm 17 oscillating sprinkler. At its best it will water a giant 200 sqm. The water pressure from our outdoor tap is not very good and when I set the sprinkler in action it barely covered a measly 4 square meters....
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