Growing fruit and veg is a wonderful way to reduce your food bill, but with a bit of imagination, you can cut your shopping bill even further. At this time of year, you may well only have herbs to play with, particularly if it’s your first year of gardening, but that doesn’t mean you’re limited … Continue reading
Getting a windowbox set up is easy. You need: A container. This could be a traditional windowbox or you could opt for something a bit quirkier. I like to match the plant to the container, for example growing camomile in a vintage teapot; strawberries in large; stemmed glass bowls; salad in a salad bowl; or mint in … Continue reading
As summer turns into autumn, this makes a delicious seasonal alternative to G&T that apparently costs a mere £1.30 per glass to make. OK, it’s not quite as cheap as the elderflower champagne we made earlier this year: sugar + lemon + 500 elderflower heads + boiling water = 40 litres of elderflower champagne (enough for a … Continue reading
One of the joys of sunny days is that they call you out into the garden even when you’ve got proper grown-up things to do (which is why gardening and freelance writing work so well together, because you can garden by day and write stuff to pay the bills by night). I decided to … Continue reading
Another great link courtesy of HomeGrownEdible, explaining how to preserve herbs by making mint jelly (which seems different from mint sauce based on the recipe, given that the standard mint sauce recipe is just mint, sugar and vinegar), herb butters and horseradish sauce. Useful if your herb garden runneth over, and the presentation idea … Continue reading
After posting my Grow Your Own Cocktails piece, I was sent a link to this fab Mojito kit that contains all you need to grow and make fresh Mojitos (oh, for a cachaca plant). Better yet, the lovely PR has sorted out a 10% discount on anything from the website, which also includes jam making … Continue reading
Few things are nicer than sitting in the garden on a sunny day, sipping a cocktail. One of those few things is sipping a cocktail that contains ingredients you’ve grown yourself. Not only does it work out far cheaper than buying herbs for home made cocktails – mint, in particular, is so prolific that all … Continue reading
