Author Archives: james

Crackin’ stones, Gromit

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

Our Ooni pizza oven sees quite a bit of use, mostly for garlic bread, pizzas and calzone, but we’ve even used it to cook an entire meal once when there was a twelve-hour power cut when we had friends staying … Continue reading →

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A new beekeeping toy

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

Recently I had the opportunity to buy a second-hand but barely-used electric 20-frame extractor. As it was being offered a fair bit cheaper than the 12-frame model I was contemplating, it seemed like a no-brainer. The only minor issue was … Continue reading →

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Bumble bees, at this time of year?!

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

End of the first week of January and as I was walking out of the veggie plot I could hear a loud buzzing sound. Took me a while to locate it, but eventually I found this. I’ve no idea what … Continue reading →

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Looks like the polycrub works then

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

I’ve not even got it finished yet (yeah, I know), but some of last year’s peppers are still looking healthy despite multiple frosts, which is certainly not the case in the polytunnel and even the ones in the greenhouses are … Continue reading →

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Decking out, paving in!

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

The path to one of our external doors is decking which is now starting to degrade quite badly so I have decided to replace it with paving slabs. And by chance I was offered these reclaimed ones for very little … Continue reading →

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New toy for the greenhouse

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

It’s a Spider Farmer SF2000 Evo grow light. Hopefully it will help get my peppers off to a better start this year. We shall see. As well as looking at this one I also considered similar products by Mars Hydro … Continue reading →

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How strong is my cider vinegar?

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Because if you’re going to sell it, you need to know that it’s at least 5% acetic acid. Titration is the way forward and whilst it used to be possible to use a wine titration kit (which is actually intended … Continue reading →

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“Early” Christmas new potatoes

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

I posted recently about my attempts to grow new potatoes for Christmas. Well, sadly, due to my inattention, that didn’t quite go to plan. I failed to move the plants into the greenhouse before the first frost, which killed the … Continue reading →

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DIY Peppadew peppers

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

I love Peppadew peppers and for a few years now I’ve been trying to produce my own. It’s not possible to buy their seeds, but the common belief on the interwebs is that they’re actually Malawi Piquante peppers which are … Continue reading →

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James and the giant Butternut Squash

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

We didn’t get many butternut squashes this year. Probably in part because I didn’t do much watering of the vegetable plot. Which is ironic in the light of the previous posting. If I had watered the plot we might not … Continue reading →

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