Mwillis

LATEST ARTICLES ( 1426 )

• Broad Beans and Cloche-cleaning

  

  The weather last weekend was amazingly good for the end of March. Our temperature reached 20C, and we had many hours of sunshine. Good gardening weather! Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2014 GARDENING, HOME

• Boosting the Borders

  

  As the observant ones amongst you will have noticed, over the last couple of years Mark's Veg Plot has moved a tad closer to Mark's Flower Plot. Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2014

• Shoots + Leaves = Eats!

  

  Do you remember that book called "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynn Truss? (surprisingly not a book about gardening but about English grammar, punctuation etc).... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2014

• The Beginnings of a Salad

  

  I'm thinking ahead to the "Salad Days" of summer, and sowing seeds for lots of different salad plants. So far I have got 16 Lettuce plants started, each in its... Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2014 GARDENING, HOME

• Pot Roast Pheasant

  

  Earlier I posted about harvesting Purple Sprouting Broccoli and herbs. In this post I want to write about using them, so I'm going to describe as dish called... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2014

• Harvest Monday - 31 March 2014

  

  My harvest this past week has been a small one again, because the emphasis here has been on sowing and planting, not harvesting. Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2014

• Some New Arrivals

  

  Yay! The first of this year's Asparagus is up. You'll have to look very carefully, but you might be able to see three spears of it in this photo:Here's a... Read more

  Posted on 30 March 2014

• New Cloches

  

  A short while ago I bought a batch of cloches from Greenfingers.com. They are actually made by Botanico, and are therefore widely available. Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2014

• The Value of Spares

  

  Whenever I sow seeds I always sow a few more than I think I'll need, because you never know when a casualty may be incurred. Take this row of healthy-looking... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2014

• Buds and Blooms

  

  After lying dormant for so long during the Winter, the plants in the garden always seem to be in a hurry when Spring finally arrives. You almost feel as if you... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2014

• Planting Potatoes

  

  I have now planted the first of my potatoes, the First Early ones. This batch was two each of "Sharpe's Express", "Leontine", "Marilyn" and "Red Duke of York". Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2014

• Experiments with Middle Eastern Ingredients

  

  Inspired by the work of Yotam Ottolenghi, I have become a bit more adventurous in the use of Middle Eastern ingredients. The other day, while visiting our... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2014

• Harvest Monday - 24th March 2014

  

  After a couple of weeks with no harvest to report, this week I do have something - and something very special, in my opinion: the first of this year's Purple... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2014

• Sowing Tomatoes

  

  I got my tomato seeds sown on Friday. I sowed 27 pots of them, using the tall thin plastic pots from "Elmlea" cream-susbstitute which we have saved up over the... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2014

• Transplanting the Sweet Peas

  

  I have moved the first batch of Sweet Peas into their final homes now. I had 16 plants, so I distributed them evenly into two large plastic flowerpots filled... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2014

• Birthday Gifts

  

  As many of you know, it was my birthday this week. In this post I want to show off some of my prezzies:This first pic is of the card Jane made for me - it is a... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2014

• Harvesting the First PSB

  

  Hooray! The moment has come to harvest my first Purple Sprouting Broccoli of the year. This is always an enjoyable moment for me, having waited so long for it. Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2014

• Markets: a Difference of Approach

  

  Last weekend Jane and I were over in France visiting our daughter Fiona and her family. Whenever we go we make a point of visiting their local market, in... Read more

  Posted on 19 March 2014

• Visiting Family

  

  We have just returned from a long weekend in France, visiting our daughter Fiona and her husband Juan - and their little baby, our third grand-daughter! Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2014

• Ophiopogon

  

  I'm currently "on" grasses, and grass-like plants, so when I saw this the other day on sale at my local Garden Centre, I couldn't resist buying it:It's... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2014