Judith

We all depend on the survival of bees (and other pollinators) Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend entirely on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity. What can I do to help? To celebrate World...

It's October - still lots to harvest in the garden - and lots to plant NOW for enjoying next year. Optimism keeps the winter blues away! Overwintering Organic Garlic Garlic comes from the mountainous regions of Central Asia and has adapted to extreme changes in temperature including very cold nights. As a result, garlic performs best when subjected to a...

It does seem a little early to be talking about Christmas, but if you want to have new potatoes for Christmas dinner this is what you do: What to plant You need cold treated seed – the cold breaks the dormancy cycle and spurs the potato into growth again. By using your own homegrown seed potatoes, or those from an...

We have a winner of our GDPR Competition!  Congratulations to John Kinsella in Cork who is now the proud owner of a Sneeboer Titanium hand tool set. Many thanks to all of you who took the trouble to enter and sign up for our newsletter - your support is really appreciated.

Fruit Hill Farm Sprouting and Microgreen Seed List.  All organic seeds! Please note that some seeds are best only grown as microgreens and are marked (*suitable for microgreens only) accordingly. Alfalfa  -  Alfalfa is one of the most popular seeds for sprouting. Alfalfa sprouts are crisp, their taste fresh and light - almost like crisp lettuce.  Very delicate sprout. Beetroot  *- ...

Bacstaí  or boxty is a quick and easy Irish potato pancake.  Also called grated cakes or farls. To make these you willl need - 50g plain flour 4 large potatoes, peeled and grated onto a tea towel and the liquid squeezed out 1 egg, beaten Salt and pepper Oil for frying How to: Put grated squeezed potatoes, flour,  egg, salt...

There are two types of people in the world – those that like sprouts and those that see sprouts as the vegetable that spoils Christmas.  This is probably all down to cooking so perhaps I should have started by saying there are two types of cooks in the world – those that respect the sprout and those that boil it...

Paint – Look beyond the colour The properties that we desire in paint - such as durability, dispersion, resistance to fungus and vibrant colour - are unfortunately generally achieved by the use of man-made chemical additives.  The constituents of most paints may include formaldehyde, heavy metals and volatile organic compounds - or VOCs for short (those VOCs are partially responsibe...

Livos wood care products will colour, enhance and care for all your wood items in a natural and sustainable way.  The base of most LIVOS products is the oil of linseed - one of the oldest cultivated plants.  You could say that linseed is woods best friend! Linseed Oil Flowers of Linseed (or Flax). When used as a wood finish...

Lovely Knockvicar in Boyle, Co Roscommon. There are some fantastic gardens that are open to the public in Ireland and, if you are planning some trips this Summer, you may want to consider including a visit to some of the gardens listed here - this is by no means a definitive list as there are just so many to...