-
Super Simple Bean Salad with Mint & Thyme dressing
If you’ve ever grown climbing beans, then you’ll know that once they start producing, there’s no stopping them! So what do you do with all those beans? Well one thing you can make with the young tender beans is this delicious, quick and easy (5-10 minutes) bean salad. You don’t have to grow your own, it works just as well with shop bought beans. Why not give it a go! It makes a tasty accompaniment to a main meal. You can also eat it on its own, especially if you add a few chopped nuts, or some cheese (feta’s good) for extra protein. And some pasta or grains. It also…
-
Beans – French, Runner & Borlotti
Growing beans in a pot Beans were the second crop I ever grew, after tomatoes. I only had the tiniest little veg area, so I grew some runner beans in Grans old dolly tub. I really don’t know what she’d have made of that! Now that we’ve moved house and created a kitchen garden, with six raised vegetable beds. I grow tulips in Granny’s old dolly tub, I even managed to find a matching one at the local auction house. Space to grow more beans Now having so much more space, I grow three types of climbing beans, French, Borlotti, and the good old ‘Runner’. I grow two varieties of…
-
Tomatoes – My first crop
Tomatoes were the first edible plants I grew, which I’m sure is true of many gardeners. I’ve grown them from seed for more than 20 years now and February wouldn’t feel the same without the excitement of starting the tomatoes. Losing my dad as a teenager meant I lost all of his gardening knowledge, built up over so many generations. I still feel sad for all the gardening chats we would have had, as us gardeners do like to talk about our hobby. By the time I got into my mid-twenties, the gardening bug had got a hold of me. I knew so little and was desperate to learn more.…
-
Rare White Sparrow
Although our beautiful little white sparrow is not albino, as he has dark eyes not pink. He is still a rare sight, as he has complete leucism (a hypopigmentary congenital disorder), meaning there is no pigment in his feathers. It is much more common to have partial leucism, which causes patches of white, known as ‘pied’ affect. White sparrow accepted into the flock The wonderful thing is, that the rest of the flock have accepted him, which is not always the case. Plentiful Sparrows in our Garden! Living in this part of North Wales, it is hard to imagine that house sparrow numbers are sadly plummeting countrywide. We are lucky…
-
Time to bring the chillies in!
When we lived at our last house, we had no greenhouse, but we were desperate to grow chillies. We decided to have a go at growing them on the window sill. There was however a slight issue. The plants looked really healthy and were growing well, we just couldn’t understand why all these flowers weren’t producing fruit. Then it dawned on us, there were no insects in the house to pollinate them! We got one of my makeup brushes, and did a gentle dust on each flower. Eureka, fruit appeared! Keeping Chilli plants over winter All the guides talk about discarding the plants at the end of the season, and…
-
Wildlife Finds the Pond
I’ve been dreaming of a pond since I was a little girl. After my first pond dipping trip with an inspirational teacher. Reinforced in later years by watching Geoff Hamilton on Gardeners World. He was a great advocate of wildlife in your garden, and there’s no better way to encourage it, than a pond! Like Geoff I want to garden organically, especially the food production. This means tolerating imperfections and some damage to your plants. If you completely wipe out the undesirable wildlife, slugs, greenfly etc. then the desirable ones will have nothing to eat. The idea is to encourage the maximum diversity of wildlife, this way you create a…
-
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 3 – Smaller Gardens & Shopping!
After arriving very early at the RHS Chelsea flower show, we headed straight to the show gardens. We then had a quick coffee break before exploring the great pavilion. Now after a rather long leisurely lunchbreak (feet had to recover), we’re ready for the rest. And my goodness there is still such a lot to see! As the main food area is by the band stand, we strolled down Serpentine Walk and took in the ‘Container Gardens’ another new for Chelsea. I think most of us know the benefits of containers, they bring in colour, then can be moved out of the way once it fades. Also ideal for growing…
-
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 2 – The Great Pavilion
I can hardly believe that I am finally at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! After all these years watching it on the TV. I arrived early and went straight to the show gardens featured in part 1. But I’ve had my coffee break now and I’m ready for The Great Pavilion! The Great Pavilion Nothing can prepare you for the immense size of the pavilion. Even the open top London bus (upper-deck planted with tree ferns), just got lost. I even found a Chelsea pensioner looking a bit lost. He told me, he usually knows his way around with no problems until, “they put all this here”. He was trying…
-
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 1 – The Show Gardens
Well here we go, I’ve finally got myself to the RHS Chelsea flower show! And what a momentous year to go, with the 2020 show not able to go ahead due to a world wide pandemic. Even this years show has been affected, having to be moved from its usual slot in May, to September. Although a virtual show was held back in the spring to lift our spirits and allow the exhibitors chance to show what they had prepared. But it’s back! 28 months on from the last one. And here I am about to tick it off my bucket list. I’m well prepared with my most comfortable footwear…
-
Dorothy Clive Garden
Creation of the Garden The origin of the Dorothy Clive Garden has a heart-warming story behind it. About a husbands love for his ailing wife. Colonel Harry Clive’s wife Dorothy, had failing health due to Parkinson’s disease. As a result she couldn’t venture far from the house, but did like to have a regular walk. To make her walks more interesting than just a stroll around the lawn, he decided to develop the overgrown gravel pit, into woodland walks. Sadly Dorothy died just a couple of years after the work started, but apparently she was involved in some of the planting and did get pleasure from the newly created woodland…
