What do you use for bean poles? I always use hazel as it is strong and the poles usually last for a couple of seasons.  Another plus is that I get them for free!   Now is the right time to go and cut some poles.  There are plenty of hazel trees around the county [...]

I love an early spud.  A variety that has been successful for me on the allotment before is Winston.  I purchased a bag of said seed potatoes at the weekend for about £3 and they are currently sitting in a cool, light position (the kitchen) chitting merrily away.  Although many gardeners suggest that chitting is [...]

Well with the allotment under a thick blanket of snow today, there was little point in trying to attempt working on any of the jobs on my list. So I decided to use my time reading about gardening instead. They say mental exercise is good at burning calories, although I suspect grazing on chocolate offsets [...]

I spent much of my weekend pruning fruit. On Saturday I joined other Master Gardeners on a Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop at Morley St. Botolph, near Attleborough in South Norfolk. The course was organised by the East of England apples and Orchards Project (EEAOP), a charity that works to protect East Anglia’s orchards and local [...]

Although I’ve not actually made it to the allotment this week (not a good omen considering that we are still in January), I did manage to fit in some gardening. I decided to tidy up our potted herbs around the back door. Well, the one potted parsley that is sitting on the step, sheltered among [...]