November 2, 2009
Today’s best kept food secret: nasturtium flowers. Many people know the leaves as great in salads. But the flowers are even better: a honey-sweet burst of scented flavour that ends with a fiery, radish tang.

Today’s best kept food secret: nasturtium flowers. Many people know the leaves as great in salads. But the flowers are even better: a honey-sweet burst of scented flavour that ends with a fiery, radish tang.

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Beanfence: a new project. One nice new bare fence, a flowerbed with soil rich from disuse, and five Scarlet Emperor runnerbean seedlings, grown from beans. Watch them climb!

Beanfence: a new project. One nice new bare fence, a flowerbed with soil rich from disuse, and five Scarlet Emperor runnerbean seedlings, grown from beans. Watch them climb!

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October 23, 2009
A small red pepper that has been growing all winter

A small red pepper that has been growing all winter

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October 21, 2009

Timelapse photos: the growth of Curcubit mound over the past few weeks

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September 13, 2009
I call this “Curcurbit Mound”. Hidden beneath the lucerne mulch is not a body but a couple of bags of potting compost. On top, guarded by a row of bright-yellow sentry marigolds, is a miniature pumpkin seedling and a few crystal apple cucumber seedlings.

I call this “Curcurbit Mound”. Hidden beneath the lucerne mulch is not a body but a couple of bags of potting compost. On top, guarded by a row of bright-yellow sentry marigolds, is a miniature pumpkin seedling and a few crystal apple cucumber seedlings.

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March 6, 2009
Bright red harvest. I will fry it all up tomorrow with garlic and olive oil, and scatter on some fresh basil and lemon thyme I am growing.

Bright red harvest. I will fry it all up tomorrow with garlic and olive oil, and scatter on some fresh basil and lemon thyme I am growing.

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Mystery plant - the ferret seems to find it interesting, but I have no clue what it is. It doesn’t look like anything else I’ve planted. It started growing in the pot with the sunflower in, so I just let it grow as the sunflower died.

Mystery plant - the ferret seems to find it interesting, but I have no clue what it is. It doesn’t look like anything else I’ve planted. It started growing in the pot with the sunflower in, so I just let it grow as the sunflower died.

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February 15, 2009
The first Turkish Orange aubergine harvested - it doesn’t seem to be quite ripe, as it’s very hard - but some animal has already nibbled a hole near the top.

The first Turkish Orange aubergine harvested - it doesn’t seem to be quite ripe, as it’s very hard - but some animal has already nibbled a hole near the top.

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January 25, 2009

Drip feed spikes

Given the heatwave, it seemed a good time to try some irrigation gadgets. I bought this tomatoes hanging basket from a market, and it is desperately struggling with the heat and dries out all the time. So I’ve put a gel-spike device in it. It wasn’t very impressive: all the gel started glooping out without even having to pierce the bottle as directed. It doesn’t look like it will last long.

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The other thing - and cheaper - is these adjustable spike nozzles that attach to regular water bottles. I will do a few experiments with them, trying out the different settings. I’m not very convinced they will be that accurate or consistent, but so long as they work a bit, it should help.

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Ancient herbs

The Pocket Encylopaedia of Herbs contains a lot of fascinating historical information about once commonly-used herbs that are now rare or even unknown today.



I had earlier managed to grow some Salad Burnet, which is supposed to taste like cucumber but doesn’t seem particularly noticeable when I add it to salads. I’ve been struggling to grow various other herbs, such as Lemon Basil which germinates well, then the seedlings die. Also Lemon Balm/Melissa, which never managed to germinate until now.



Then today in a hardware and garden centre, I discovered Lemon Savoury which is in the book, but I’ve never seen before. I also bought some Sage, as I cannot get it to germinate (likewise Meadowsweet and Evening Primrose just will not seem to germinate). I planted them next to the Salad Burnet, in the space where a Borage plant once grew. L-R savoury, sage, salad burnet.



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