From Bloody Butchers and Cream Sausage (tomatoes), from Lazy Housewife (French beans) to Bull’s Blood (beetroot) – the quirky names of the Heritage or Heirloom varieties of vegetable seed are fascinating. A Heritage vegetable, alternatively known as an Heirloom vegetable, is an old cultivar of a plant that was historically grown by gardeners and farmers […]
EXCITING NEW SHOW CLASSES FOR EVERYONE If you missed the Rye Flower and Veg show last year, then you missed a treat. With hundreds of entries the Community Centre was awash with a marvellous selection of locally grown fruit, vegetables and home baking, not to mention a great display of handicrafts and photography. The show […]
I love this time of year. The frosty mornings, the stunning sunsets/rises, the garden planning, the ground cleared ready for planting, the leaves hopefully swept up, few weeds as yet and the veggie seeds arriving in the post. This year I’ve reduced the size of the annual planting area in the kitchen garden by introducing […]
Spring is finally here….. I am writing this on the 1st day of March, a bright, sunny, uplifting sort of day. The 1st of March is recognised as the meteorological start of spring which is fine by me. Those of you who prefer the astrological spring can wait until March the 20th. There are even […]
“There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogues”. – Hal Borland What better way to spend a wet December day than planning for next year’s planting. It gives a real feeling of hope and a spring to look forward […]
For some reason my husband calls all flowers Nasturtiums. Maybe this is because Nasturtium is a good word to say (which it is), or because he thinks he’s being funny (which he isn’t) or because he doesn’t know the names of flowers well and this “joke” gives him an excuse not to learn. Naturally this […]
There’s been some rather impressive autumn hedgerows in our lovely part of the country this year. Bushes and brambles laden with berries and wild rosehips whilst fruit trees were drooping at the knees with Quince, Apples and Pears. Maybe this was due to the warm, if somewhat dry, summer we have just experienced. Whatever the […]