There’s nothing I like better than a freshly picked French or runner bean, picked small before the stringiness develops, and the idea of them dripping from an archway has proved too good to resist. Never mind your standard bean pole row or conical frame, nor your traditional rose archway. How about a bean archway? Well [...]

Yalding Organic Gardens has been saved by a local company called The Old Dairy. You can find out more about what they have planned at www.marofoods.co.uk/44001.html. As a result the main website organising the campaign to save the gardens has changed their name to www.yaldingorganicgardens.info. Here you can find out more about how Garden Organic [...]

The Congelow Trust have confirmed that a new operator for the Yalding site has now been appointed; though they are not yet able to say who. They expect to be able to issue a press release shortly. I will pass on any news I get. Thanks to the Save Yalding Organic Garden campaign for keeping [...]

You can see CAT and Compost Lover on Gardeners World on www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer for the next few days. If you’ve never been to CAT the video clip represents a great opportunity to see what its like. There’s also some footage about coppicing, soil testing and of course compost. Also go to www.cat.org.uk and click on the [...]

Copies of The Organic Garden are now out of stock at the Collins warehouse and there might not be a reprint until April 2009 so if you’re thinking of getting a copy don’t leave it too long, especially if you want a hardback. Once its gone from the shops its gone for good. The next [...]

Last week I spend an incredible four days at the Centre for Alternative Technology learning how to split and turn wood using hand tools. OK its unashamedly rustic but its so exhilarating taking a log and within a few hours turning it into a thing, a useful thing. I’m going to put some pictures up [...]

The Save Yalding Organic Gardens campaign has now set up a discussion forum for all those interested in the Yalding debate.
http://yaldingorganicgardens.info/smf/index.php

Compost Lover will be making a rare appearance on TV this friday. He pops up loving compost as part of the BBC Gardeners World Green Gardening special at the Centre for Alternative Technology. The programme, which was originally scheduled for next friday will now be aired at 8pm on BBC2 this friday the 11th April. [...]

More encouraging news from the Save Yalding Organic Gardens campaign this morning! They have released the following statement from the Congelow Trust.
“…Over the past month, the Congelow Trust has been working hard; to find a new operator for the site of Yalding Organic Gardens. The intention has been to secure a future for the gardens, [...]

A month after the announcement that Yalding Organic Gardens would not be open for business this year the campaign to save them is stepping up its on-line presence. Organisers John and Margaret Tate sent out an email this morning inviting more people to promote their e-mail list at www.saveyaldingorganicgardens.co.uk. The move comes amidst a growing sense [...]

Hey check this out. I love it when this happens. Last year I had butterflies and ladybirds in the house, this year an amazing hoverfly. Pretty sure its a hoverfly. There are many different types of hoverfly and they all eat pests. Provide lots of open flowers, especially Umbelliferae like fennel to attract them. This [...]

As some of you know I’m building a low carbon kitchen garden, using local materials from the garden or from within a small radius of my home. The idea is to show that you can transform a wasteland into a productive growing space that will reduce food miles without increasing CO2 emissions during the construction [...]