For city dwellers, the thought of eating home-grown vegetables and enjoying a well-organised, tidy garden seem but a remote dream…
Even in the plant world, savages can be tamed
Women: barbecuing is surprisingly easy, as long as you have a bottle of gin and a competitive man to hand.
Last year, my boss told me that our company was introducing a dress-down Friday policy. ‘What a great idea,’ I thought. So I waited patiently until Friday, then I went up to my boss and gave him a dressing down. I said ‘you’re mean, bad at your job and socially awkward.’
I never know how to feel about traditional medicine. On the one hand, it makes sense that if you knew a lot about the properties of different plants and herbs, you would be able to identify which ones would help to cure various ailments. On the other hand, I was once given a prescription by an African witch doctor to cure an ‘evil spirit’ in me by giving away a red chicken and some salt. Even the most tenuous scientific principles would struggle to explain that one.
In winter, I wear bigger boots to keep warm. Then the mud and snow sticks to them. Suddenly, when I look behind me, I’m not sure whether I’m looking at my own footprints or if I’m being trailed by the Abominable Snowman.
If you have a balcony, here are our tips for the top five vegetables to start your urban organic allotment.
With GYO (grow-your-own) becoming a trendy new acronym, those of us in Generation X increasingly find ourselves arguing with our parents about whether it’s really worth it.
Imagine this: you’ve been sentenced to spend forty years sitting in an airless room, facing the same direction and clicking certain small buttons over and over again in a set order. You have nothing but a hard, bare table and an uncomfortable chair. If you don’t click enough buttons you’ll be disciplined.
There are some facts about vegetables that we were taught when we were children, so we just presume they are true, however, even the world of vegetables is full of myth and misconception...
There's nothing worse than lying awake at night being unable to sleep. You can try counting sheep but does that ever really work?
Dandelions in your lawn can be a nightmare. They're very hard to get rid of and they spread like crazy.
If you love your food hot and spicy, why not grow your own chili peppers? Not only will you have a crop of delicious hot chilis for your cooking, but you'll also have a great looking plant.
If you want an interesting ongoing project then why not plant a pineapple! It's definitely going to require patience as it can take years for you to get fruit, but a pineapple makes an interesting and unusual house plant anyway, the fruit is just a bonus!
Hasn't it been hot lately? Gardening in the sun can be lovely but it can also be exhausting. You must remember to put on your sun cream, and don't overdo it; you don't want heat stroke!
Mashed and served with your Sunday roast, or cut into cubes and added to a hearty stew, turnips are a delicious and nutritious root vegetable that grows fast.
For something a little different to add to your salads, chicory could be a good choice.
Fennel, with its' aniseed flavour is an interesting vegetable. You can eat the bulb and the leaves, perfect for adding some extra flavour to a salad or other dishes.
You can't beat the taste of home grown carrots. They're sweeter and more delicious than any you'll buy in the supermarket, and the good thing is that they're not difficult to grow.
Too many courgettes? Our friend Kate on what to do when there are more courgettes than kids in the kitchen.