Coffee Roasting: A Guide to Roasting Coffee Beans

Having enjoyed freshly-brewed coffee for many years, I thought I would have a go at roasting my own beans. There are several ways to this including simply baking on a tray in a hot oven. However, I wanted a method that was a bit more predictable and repeatable so plumped for a slightly more ‘high tech’...

Spotted: Garden Carpet Moth

Garden Carpet moth spotted on the cucumber plants in the polytunnel. Very common in the UK but has a preference for garde...

Comfrey Tea - How to make your own liquid fertilizer

Comfrey is an essential plant to have in the vegetable garden if you have room. It needs to be controlled or it will spread everywhere. I was given a small piece of root (Russian Comfrey) by a friend a few years back which I planted out in autumn about 10-15 cm deep and just waited; the following year...

The Garden - Planning and making a start

The existing garden was simple and functional but with too much car parking space, a lack of privacy off the main highway, not enough colour (e.g. flowers) and no greenhouse or kitchen garden. There was a small patio area, where we had enjoyed a glass of wine with the previous owners while discussing...

The Garden - Beginnings

We moved into the house and garden in November 2001. The garden measured 18 metres long by 10 metres wide and was south-facing. The original garden for this house was approximately twice this size but more about this later.This photo is from the original sales brochure and taken from the south boundary...

The 'Aviary'

About a year ago (early 2019) I knitted a thrush from this lovely book:Knitted Birds by Nicky FijalkowskaThis year he has been joined by several friends, also from the book and there are some more to come. The hoopoe is a bit exotic but they have been seen in Herefordshire.So far then - thrush,...