Homes

Spending a half an hour working in the garden can be magic. It will relax you, tone your muscles, help make you happy, provide vitamin D from the sunlight — and you may even create something wonderful, just in half an hour. (This doesn’t count the time spent in the garden centre. Garden centres can […]

In spring salvias bloom red, blue, purple and yellow. They have enormous bushes, taller than I am, with spires of flowers and dozens of eastern spinebills and other birds sipping at the nectar. By midsummer there are great banks of rich purple flowers that keep giving a stunning show all summer long. At Christmas the […]

There’s a global financial crisis going on, and lots of us are staying home instead of heading out to pricey restaurants. But staying home doesn’t have to mean no socialising or sensational entertaining! We’ve got a couple of simple, easy, delicious and best of all – cheap! – recipes that will feed your friends for […]

You have just mortgaged your life and bought a house — with garden. Or you are paying rent on a house, and a garden comes with it … Or you have had a garden for years but “garden” is a bit of an exaggeration, as it’s mostly weeds, lawn that has to be mowed and […]

Midwinter is the time for feasts — not just around the table, with friends on long cold winter nights, but in the garden, too.. Summer’s harvests often have to be picked fast, before the fruit fly get into the apricots or the lettuces go to seed. Winter harvests are more gentle, and more generous too. […]

Question: How can I tell if my eggs are fresh? Are they ok to use if the shells have small cracks? Place an unbroken raw egg in a tall glass of water. If it’s fresh it will sink, if not, it will float. Refrigerating eggs in their cardboard cartons will help keep them fresh. You […]

Question: What’s the best way to cool a cake? Stand the cake for up to 15 minutes before turning it only a wire rack to cool further. Turn the cake, upside-down, onto a wire rack, and then turn the cake top-side up immediately using a second rack (unless directed otherwise), Some wire racks can mark […]

Lemon is one of the most magic scents in the garden. Much as I love roses — especially a cloud of rose perfume on a hot day — lemon scents are often stronger, as they come from the leaves, not the flowers. There are more leaves than blooms, so much more scent. This doesn’t mean […]

The first grapes I fell in love with grew next to a tiny cafe on the shore of Crete: a concrete floor, a goat standing on a chair on a table to reach the grapes over the fence, a small cup of too-sweet coffee and above us the glory of grapes, green leaves and bees […]

Once upon a time lavender was supposed to be the sexiest of scents. Sheets and underclothes were stored with lavender to keep the moths away, and we all know what happens among the sheets. And then Queen Victoria fell in love with lavender oil. She ordered that every room be polished with lavender and beeswax, […]