Tag Archives: Seasonal Garden Ideas

How to grow kitchen herbs

Herbs

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How to grow your own herbs for the kitchen

Whilst doing all the testing for our next cookbook, I have come to realise just how expensive fresh herbs can be. They don’t last long in the fridge either and often go to waste if I forget to freeze any leftovers.

So, this year I am
determined to grow
my own.

It will be wonderful to step out of the kitchen door to the subtle scent of sage, mint and rosemary, and be able to clip a few leaves off to add to salads, soups and stews.

Here are some tips on how to sow your own seeds. Something I haven’t done for a long while!

Grow kitchen herbs

Grow kitchen herbs

Pot Herbs for the Kitchen

Fresh herbs give a great lift to many foods – so grow your own in pots sited near the kitchen for ease of picking. And why not choose some colourful, fun containers to plant in?

Sow seeds in March, or buy small herb plants in April or May, pot up at once and start picking leaves as soon as the plants have grown slightly. A sunny position is best. The job will take about an hour.

What you need

Plants Seed packets or small plants of parsley, thyme, marjoram (oregano), sage, mint and rosemary.

Equipment Six small plastic pots for potting up seedlings bought at the garden centre. Seed tray, modular cell system or jiffy pots for sowing seeds, if using. Five containers such as the enamel kettles. Soil-based potting compost and proprietary seed compost if using. Broken crocks for drainage. Trowel.

Instructions

1 Fill the seed tray or modular cell system with seed compost and sow your seeds according to the instructions on the packets, or sow in jiffy pots according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Keep on a kitchen windowsill while the seeds germinate, then move them outside when all danger of frost is past.

2 When the seedlings are large enough to handle, pot them on into the plastic pots using potting compost and lining with broken crocks for drainage.

3 Or, line the plastic pots with broken crocks and fill with potting compost, into which you have mixed some sharp sand (if using). Then plant your garden centre seedlings, place into the containers and set out in an attractive arrangement. In general, allow one herb per container, but if the container is big enough, put several in together – here rosemary, parsley and mint have been put in the central container.

4 Place the young herb plants outside only when all danger of frost is past. If you’re uncertain, place them outside on sunny days and bring them in at night until the weather warms up enough for them to be left outside permanently.

5 Pick and use the leaves regularly. All these herbs can grow quite large and, by the end of summer, may well have outgrown their containers unless you keep them under control.

Notes Most herbs do best in full sun. They don’t require rich soil, but they must not be allowed to get waterlogged, so good drainage is essential. Rosemary, sage, thyme and marjoram are tough, shrubby plants and can be kept going for years if put into the ground or grown in large enough pots. Mint and parsley are herbaceous and will die down in winter, but reappear again in spring.

Aftercare Regular picking is needed, and watering with care.

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Seasonal Garden IdeasThis project is taken from
Seasonal Garden Ideas 
a collection of lovely, easy
projects for any garden.

Now available online
for just £3.99  

PLUS FREE P&P!
(Feb/March 2013 orders).

Plant now for a gorgeous spring display

Plant now for a gorgeous spring display

I would adore to live in a chocolate-box thatched cottage, or an imposing Victorian townhouse, but the reality is actually a 1980s red brick square.

We live in a lovely village and our house is very practical for a busy family, but what it’s not is pretty.

So my mission is to try and soften its
appearance with a gorgeous garden.

As time and money are not in abundance at the moment I need to start small.

Seasonal Garden IdeasWith this project from our
Seasonal Garden Ideas book, the
patch of lifeless soil underneath
the living room window can be
transformed into a fiery riot of
colour (fingers crossed!)

Click here simple step-by-step instructions.

Seasonal Garden Ideas is available for just £3.99 – it is an ideal low-cost Christmas Gift for family and friends.

 

Spring Beauty in a Basket

Spring Beauty in a Basket

Brighten up your patio or garden in spring with a hanging basket full of colour

Sp[ring Beauty in a BasketPosition it where it can be seen easily and where it can catch the sun.

  • Avoid a windy area where the basket could swing too much.
  • Plant in early spring for flowering in March and April.
  • Planting should take an hour or two.

What you need

Plants
Four to six pots of Narcissus ‘Hawera’ with the leaves just showing.
Four to six pots of pansies (Viola).
Three or four pots of grape hyacinths (Muscari).
One plant of Senecio cineraria ‘Silver Dust’.

Equipment
Hanging basket with chains and hook – if you can’t find a blue one, buy an ordinary brown one and paint it with a non-toxic proprietary wood paint.
Hanging-basket liner (plastic, felt, hessian or moulded paper).
Potting compost. Trowel.

1 Line the basket with the liner, pricking small holes through if necessary. Half-fill with compost.

2 Plant the senecio first, at the back of the basket. Firm in then top up with more compost.

3 Plant the narcissi next, spreading them around the centre of the basket and to the sides. Again, firm in and top up with compost. Plant the grape hyacinths in the same way, placing them in front of the narcissi.

4 Finally, plant the pansies, setting them at intervals around the front of the basket. Firm in, then top up with compost to within 4cm (1½in) of the rim of the basket. Water thoroughly.

5 Hang the basket securely from the branch of a tree, or in any position in the garden that gets a reasonable amount of sun.

Tip If the narcissi start to droop – or are suffering in the wind – support them with thin canes and soft string.

Notes When the flowering display is over, and the leaves of the narcissi have turned brown, transplant the pansies and senecio to a sunny spot in the garden – or to a pot. Dry off and clean the bulbs and keep in a dry, dark place until autumn, when they can be potted up again.

Aftercare Keep the basket well watered. Deadhead the flowers as they wither.

Project taken from Seasonal Garden Ideas.

 

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Tips for a pretty garden display

After such a bizarre winter, we already have crocuses peeping though the turf in our front garden.

It is so lovely to see signs of spring already, but I must admit at this time of year I get impatient for REAL spring.

I want to be out in the garden having a good tidy up and making everything pretty once more. It looks so barren and untidy at the moment – especially as we are partway through laying a new patio.

This little project from our Seasonal Garden Ideas book will inject some spring colour into any dejected looking garden. Or even brighten up a window box.

Give it a try and cheer up
everyone in your street.

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink hanging basket

Make a pretty basket of pink hyacinths special by adding hoops of pussy willow twigs with the soft grey catkins just bursting out – a lovely display that should last for several weeks.

Pussy willow twigs are available in early spring, either in hedgerows or from florists. Pot-grown hyacinths can be found in garden centres from January through to May or even later.

Planting up a basket takes about an hour.

Plants required
Ten to twelve pink Dutch hyacinths just coming into flower.
Six to eight pussy willow twigs each about 45cm (18in) long.

Equipment required
Rustic-weave basket.
Hanging-basket liner (plastic, hessian, felt or moulded paper).
Bulb compost to fill.
Several handfuls of moss to tuck around the base of the hyacinths.
Trowel.

1 Place the liner you have chosen in the bottom of the basket, pricking holes through for drainage if needed. Fill the basket two-thirds full with bulb compost.

2 Carefully remove each hyacinth, one at a time, from their pots and plant in the basket, adding more compost and setting each one to the same depth as it was in its pot. Place them as close together as you can, so the heavy flowerheads will support each other, and firm in well.

3 Tuck moss loosely around the base of the hyacinths to cover the soil completely. Water lightly.

4 Wedge the bottom end of a pussy willow twig into the basket weave then bend it over to form a hoop. Tuck the tip of the twig securely into the basket, then repeat with the other twigs all round the basket, overlapping the twigs slightly as you go.

5 Position your basket in a sunny spot for best display. The furry grey catkins will eventually turn bright yellow as they open.

Tips
Take great care not to knock the pussy willow catkins off the twigs as you handle them – they are quite fragile. If the hyacinth stems start bending over, insert thin bamboo canes into the compost and tie the stems to them as discreetly as possible with soft string. Bring under shelter if heavy rain is threatened.

Note
Reuse your rustic basket for a summer display by planting with nasturtiums or begonias.

Aftercare
By its very nature this is a temporary display. When the hyacinth flowers have withered, stop watering and allow the foliage to turn brown. Then remove the bulbs from the basket, clean them carefully and store in a dry, dark place until autumn, when you can plant them out in the garden. Discard the pussy willow twigs when the catkins have flowered.

Project taken from Seasonal Garden Ideas

And of course, don’t forget it’s Shrove Tuesday tomorrow.

Try this amazing recipe for Spinach Pancakes
(and follow with some plain ones sprinkled
with lemon and sugar!)

Let us know what your favourite pancakes are.

It’s nearly garden centre time again!

Apparently, Charlie Dimmock and Ronseal are launching an Urban Gardens Week this year, 11-18 April, to encourage novices to have a go and make their outdoor space beautiful!

Herbs a' Plenty, a project from Seasonal Garden Ideas

Herbs a' Plenty, a project from Seasonal Garden Ideas

Not sure about that – beautiful would be good, edible is more likely. I’m thinking of herbs this year – and they’ll make the garden (mine is very small) smell great, too.

I love basil and usually have a pot on the go from the supermarket – some keep growing and last for ages, others, well, don’t! Basil’s great with tomatoes however you have them – soup, sauces, added to stews or vegetable bakes, grilled or raw.

A cheese sandwich with some lovely fresh bread and maybe one of the goat’s cheeses you can get these days, plus sliced tomatoes and some torn basil is hard to beat. Flat-leafed parsley is another favourite, and chives, and a woody bush or two that’ll keep going for a few years – thyme maybe. And some mint – but that’s definitely going in a pot or it’ll take over. Could have some fresh mint tea to go with the sarny. Always assuming successful planting, of course.

I’m opting for plants rather than seeds to give myself a fighting chance, and then we just need a lovely sunny day and lunch outside is sorted – well, we can all dream!

Happy gardening.

Marion
The Dairy Diary Team

 

Fancy winning a copy of Seasonal Garden Ideas?

Win a copy of Seasonal Garden ideasTo enter simply complete the form on our website www.dairydiary.co.uk/competitions.html and don’t forget to “Like’ the page for an extra chance to win!

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Competition | Win Seasonal Garden Ideas

Win a copy of Seasonal Garden Ideas

Win a copy of Seasonal Garden ideasDip into Seasonal Garden Ideas at any time and you will find an inspiring selection of projects, each perfect for a morning or afternoon in your garden.

A double-page planting calendar helps you to easily identify suitable projects from each of the four seasons. When you turn to a project you will be delighted with how the information is clearly laid out to make the task so straightforward.

Each of the 77 projects is illustrated with a beautiful colour photograph.Seasonal Garden Ideas is a truly inspirational book that will delight both novice and experienced gardeners alike.

To enter simply complete the form on our website www.dairydiary.co.uk/competitions.html and don’t forget to “Like’ the page for an extra chance to win!

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