Search - Articles

Our first barbecue of the season was Sunday 3 May, so much pottering about in the garden sunshine. It's all happening out there now. Last week there were 13 newts in the pond, we couldn't move for holly blues and then the swifts were back. It

that need doing, before those little green shoots in the border suddenly crack on and need attention. It is amazing how forgiving a garden can be: if you dig foundations and make a mess now, the grass will recover and the plants will bounce back by summer

there, chattering loudly in the apple tree, was old black and white, cocking its head first one way, then the other.I was really chuffed. Not about having the bird in the garden, but about the boy correctly identifying it. I congratulated him on his

soggy mess.One advantage of the rainfall has been the success of the biological control I applied to some areas of my kitchen garden. Nematodes are added to water and applied to the soil in spring. They thrive in warm, moist soil and when they come

- I am getting a little absent minded, due to my hectic schedule, and I'm prone to forgetting things. Last week I left a cabbage in my car all weekend (and that did get a bit smelly!).So I'll forget the kitchen waste until I have a plot closer to home

zigzagging about in the gloom.A stream of small and medium-sized moths are attracted to the kitchen lights. A few come indoors to bat gently against the lights, but most seem to pass or settle on the nearby herbage. I wonder if my amphibious friend is taking

built himself from plants and hard landscape materials that he has begged and borrowed.I am not a manic vegetable grower (my wife is in charge of our kitchen gardening) but there is a very strong vegetable presence at the show. Tucked away down the end

in there.The garden spiders, Aranaeus diadematus, are starting to get very large and obvious, especially those round the compost bins. We compost everything we can, including kitchen waste, so clouds of fruit flies emerge every time I lift off the lid. Even

I'm just back from a weekend visiting an old friend in Banwell, near Weston-Super-Mare. Always envious of his rambling house and large walled garden, we got to talking over garden wildlife and the troubles of traipsing fox dung through the kitchen

tastes amazing, fills the kitchen with mouthwatering aromas, and is particularly good with lamb. Sage, thyme and oregano all help with digestion, while winter savory's spicy, peppery flavour is great in stews - and it's said to prevent flatulence