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Jersey Royal blues
A classic example of how corporate capitalism ruins everything it touches is the Jersey Royal potato (Solanum tuberosum ‘International Kidney‘). These early spuds from the largest and southernmost Channel Island …
Oranges are not the only oranges
The Citrus genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the Rutaceae family produces a range of fruits that it is hard to imagine life without. It is a very rare …
Parsley rage goes merry in time
In spring I usually grow a few herbs in pots and this year I am growing from seed three essential herbs that had run their course and needed replacing: mint …
Stoned again
Eating seasonally is very obviously the best way to consume food. Flavour and nutrition are maximised, carbon footprint is minimised and consumption is aligned in harmony with the year’s natural …
Celery, necessarily
In the dark depths of winter around the equinox there are still plenty of fresh foods in season for those who don’t go along with the globalised production schedules and …
Papaver palaver
Last summer a friend gave me some seeds from the clusters of Papaver cambricum, Welsh poppy/pabi Cymraeg, growing in her garden (formerly Meconopsis cambrica, the hardy perennial was renamed in …
The nut case
Nuts are briefly in demand during mid-winter, but for the rest of the time they’re largely ignored by most people – apart from grievously over-salted peanuts sold as pub snacks …
An African far from home
I have never been able to understand why more people don’t keep houseplants. They purify and detoxify air, they oxygenate, they recycle carbon dioxide, they humidify, they eliminate odours and …
A bite at the cherry
High summer is the peak fruiting time for the sweet cherry, Prunus avium, and although like most foods these days they’re not cheap (approximately £10 per kg/£5 per lb), I …
Sometimes I don’t feel like writing
Achieving biodiversity is not difficult. For instance, there are 40 different plant species thriving in my back garden of only 48 square metres (510 square feet). In one way or …