Simply the Bao-Best! The African Chef at the 20th West Dean Chilli Fiesta

We profile Malcolm Riley the African Chef ahead of his appearance at the 20th West Dean Chilli Fiesta. A true chilli lover and champion of sustainability…not to mention he whips up a pretty mean marmalade. Continue reading →

Mark Diacono has the builders in

So, after all the planning processes and architect’s meetings, it looks like the creation of the Otter Farm Kitchen Garden School will begin this summer. It’s hard to imagine diggers, cranes, be-hatted builders and daily deliveries will soon be busying over this space, but hopefully they will. A mobile home, much noise and considerable dust … Continue reading →

Echi-thump

Echium wildpretii One of the great advantages of gardening in Britain is the opportunity to grow an enormous range of plants. For this we owe a great debt to the plant hunters, who have furbished our gardens with treasures gathered, often under considerable duress, from around the world. We may not have the opportunity to … Continue reading →

Potty Time by Harriet Rycroft

Have you taken a leaf out of West Dean’s book and your garden is tickety-boo? Plants firmly pruned, spare pots washed and stacked? Paths swept and seeds sown in a timely manner? Not many of us reach those standards. I’m quite fussy at workplaces, but I’m a bit slapdash about my own garden and it’s … Continue reading →

Wintersweet by Jane Perrone

Back in December I was absolutely convinced that my wintersweet (Chimonanthus), a shrub renowned for both its headily-scented winter flowers, and taking its own sweet time to getting around to flowering, was finally about to do the business this year. I tweeted: “After a careful search and google I can confirm there seems to be … Continue reading →