Natural soap made with an Elderflower Infusion I’m really pleased to introduce you to Jan Berry, who is not only the author of 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health & Home but is coming out with her second book on August 8th. Simple & Natural Soap Making is currently available for pre-order and it will hit the book shelves after that. I’ve had a sneak peek and have only positive things to say — it’s truly a useful and beautiful guide. Jan’s been kind enough to share a
New Rosemary Plants for Free If you have an established rosemary plant, you can use it to propagate dozens of new plants for practically nothing. Propagating is essentially cloning the parent plant and the way that happens is by encouraging pieces of the stem to form their own roots. Rosemary is one of those herbs that roots fairly easily so if you try this method, you should have loads of new plants within a couple of months. Watch the video below to see the process and what a plant I
Earlies, Second Earlies, and Main Crop Know when your potatoes are ready to be dug up and enjoyed One of the easiest edibles to start off with as a beginner gardener is the humble potato. They’re relatively low-maintenance, can help cultivate the soil, and will also suppress any weeds that try to compete with them. They’re also very fun to dig up and eat! But when are potatoes ready to harvest? The answer lies in which type you’ve planted. The vast majority available will fit into the categories of ‘First
A month travelling through Portugal I don’t take a lot of time off — my work hours are up to 12 hours per day and I work over the weekends most of the time too. So when we do go on holiday we go big. Last year we spent five weeks in Washington State and right now we’re at the beginning of a month in Portugal. I’m writing this to you from a traditional Portuguese apartment, the bedroom window open to a small inner courtyard. Leaving the garden just as
Lemon Eucalyptus as a Natural Insect Repellent? If you like to spend as much time as possible outside gardening, camping, and exploring then we’ll have something in common. Two things actually — a love of the outdoors and the constant annoyance of biting insects. They can sometimes make that time outdoors unbearable. I live on the Isle of Man and this part of the world we suffer from summertime Midgies. They’re so small that they can fly through the fine mesh of a beekeeping veil. I tried that once and
