Stonehouse Gardening Club were treated last week to an engaging and very informative talk on Hedgehogs and Your Garden by Annie Parfitt who has founded the local Help a Hedgehog Hospitals in three local towns. Hedgehogs are in serious decline in the UK with perhaps only 1.5m now – down from around 16m in the…
Windowsill Gardening: Alleviate your self isolation boredom
Ideas for gardening with kids and growing food at home with limited space.
Creating A Winter Garden
A winter garden can easily enough be a showplace, a treat for all the senses.
Radicchio with Gorgonzola: Franca’s pasta sauce
We have a fine crop of Treviso radicchio now ready for eating in the garden, and we will get to enjoy them all winter. Some people like to mix tender radicchio leaves with things like lambs lettuce to their salad in the spring and summer. In autumn and winter however, I love the vegetable lightly…
Kasaundi recipe for Aubergines Harvested in the Autumn
Kasaundi is a kind of aubergine preserve. It is cooked in a fairly large quantity, and sometimes eaten as a side dish, sometimes as a starter, and can be kept unrefrigerated in a jar.
Simple and yummy: an October celeriac recipe
Middle of October and we have celeriac forming beautifully in our little Stonehouse kitchen garden. I’m delighted, as I more or less shoved them into heavy clay, but in a nice sunny and sheltered spot. People have asked me what I do with the celeriac. Well, I have a very simple and utterly delicious recipe…
Himalayan Green Fig sabji á la Stonehouse
With the chill set in already, this October is not going to see a second crop of ripe figs in Stonehouse. My young tree is full of small green fruit which I want to pick, so that the tree endures the winter with a better reserve of energy than if it keeps trying (and failing)…
Tips from Highnam Court: Use masses of blooms for greatest impact
It quite an experience to visit the gracious gardens of Highnam Court. The landscape was suffused with intense colour. Here are 3 things we learnt from our visit.
How to have variety and interest in the garden
How to use foliage for great visual impact, and how to get variety and interest in a garden.
Learning about Lawns
The club’s resident guru, Austen Perkins gave a talk about managing lawns. Starting with, “Grow the grass and you’ll smother the moss,” Austen gave us some advice: Feed the grass in spring and don’t mow too close. When the grass is long, set the blades for a higher cut and then mow again lower after…
