July book club: The giving garden

Nothing beats growing your own, whether that's on a patio., in a window box or even just a pot, this month inside The Simple Things we give you some tips on how to turn the tiniest of spaces into big harvests, but if you need a little more inspiration here are our top five books on how to get the most from your garden/trolley/tub etc

Teeny Tiny Gardening Emma Hardy

If you can't go out, go up, Emma Hardy shows you how to make herbs, vegetables and salad leaves thrive in pots on balconies and doorsteps, no garden needed.  The book retails at £14.99 but readers of The Simple Things can get a discount call 01256 302699 quote GLR 8BN to purchase a copy at the special price of £12.99 including free P&P!

Good Companions Josie Jeffery

The ancient practice of companion planting is a simple, eco-friendly method of combining species that help each other out. Revived by American back‑to-the-land activist Bolton Hall in the early 20th century and taken up by the Good Lifers of the 1960s and 1970s, it’s perfect for busy modern gardeners too. Good Companions: The Mix & Match Guide to Companion Planting explains the history and benefits of the technique, and offers top combining tips, such as dandelions and fruit trees, or clover and cabbage. Flipbook pages help you to mix and match your chosen plant, whether tomato, peach or plum, with the best partners to nourish its roots, deter pests and enhance flavour – all totally chemical-free. Keen gardeners and novices alike will find much to learn and use in Jeffery’s highly readable guide.

The Speedy Vegetable GardenMark Diacono & Lia Leendertz

Time is of the essence with this bright little book, which promises crops within weeks, days and even hours. The Speedy Vegetable Garden offers tips on how to sow, nurture and harvest 50 quick grows, such as the herb cilantro, which takes 14 days, or fennel, edible after ten. It also offers alternative varieties of traditional slow-growing plants, such as dwarf French beans, which take 60 days, or early potatoes, ready in 75. Perfect for the busy urban gardener, plants can be grown in pots and on windowsills for quick, healthy sustenance.

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION James Wong

Superfoods are big business, but ironically they can also be tricky to find. With his new book, James Wong shows how simple it is to grow unusual greens, veg and herbs at home. He’s also keen to point out that many of these crops are easier to grow than what he dubs ‘wartime ration book’ allotment crops. He shows how to grow a quirky selection, including cucamelons, Tasmanian mountain pepper, quinoa and red strawberry popcorn. Each ingredient comes with how to grow, harvest and eat them. And, most importantly, a great set of recipes is included too.

Gifts from the Garden Debora Robertson The garden can provide an infinite source of inspiration, and in her book, Debora Robertson takes herbs, flowers, fruit, vegetables and nuts to make special and unusual gifts to give away. You can learn how to make decorated stationery, herbal face wash and even marigold cheese, with flowers and ingredients that you have grown yourself. All the instructions and recipes in the book are beautifully laid out, with great photography and lots of extra tips and suggestions. Plus there are ideas for taking things from your garden and using them as embellishments for when you are wrapping the gifts you’ve made.

Lolly stick plant labels

If you tried Monday's strawberry lolly recipe, you'll probably have a little pile of used lolly sticks by now. In the spirit of upcycling, we'll be trying out this cute DIY idea from Lil Blue Boo, and turning ours into plant labels.

Blogger Ashley's used transfer paper to achieve a typewriter effect for the lettering (and provided a free printout if you'd like to do the same), but we'll be going for a stencil and permanent marker for a similar old-school vibe.

The story of the first Foodie Bugle

Silvana De Soissons shares the journey of The Foodie Bugle from top website to print magazine.

In creating the very first print edition of The Foodie Bugle I decided to contact a number of food and drink writers, bloggers, producers, artists and farmers whom we had featured in the last two years, since the website at www.thefoodiebugle.com was created.

Many readers had contacted me in the past to say they wanted a print edition of all the features, reviews, articles, photos, interviews and essays we publish online, and so I decided to kick-start a collaborative project to bring this idea to light.

I was amazed at what a generous and kind community existed out there, really talented people offering their work to be part of this new venture. From photographers like Alyson Fennell, Lisa Barber, Tif Hunter, Pascale Cumberbatch, Sarah Maingot and Jason Ingram, to illustrators like Anna Koska, Beatrice Caillat and Annabel Lee, we were able to publish a really wide range of original and unique food and drink photographs and art work. This made all our articles about food and drink producers, writers, retailers and growers come to life and grab the attention, all printed in Britain, on organic, uncoated paper to make the magazine feel tactile and earthy.

Elisabeth Luard, an award winning food writer, unbeknownst to many of her readers, is also a very accomplished watercolour painter. About a year ago I went to visit her at her beautiful farmhouse in deepest, wildest West Wales, and she showed me the collection of paintings she had made for her new book, “A Cook’s Year in a Welsh Farmhouse”. From wildflowers to berries, produce from her vegetable garden, foraged mushrooms and fresh ingredients sourced from local markets and towns, Elisabeth spends a little time painting Mother Nature and all her bounty almost every day. She then uploads the images onto her Twitter stream and chats about her finds with her followers.

I thought it would be really interesting for our readers to enjoy her paintings on paper, and so I approached her to find out if she would allow me. She accepted, and so we went ahead. The results were really lovely, and many readers have commented on how pleased they were to see the paintings. Several readers have bought two copies: one to keep and one to tear out all the artwork and glue it to the wall.

You can purchase a copy of The Foodie Bugle from the website here: http://thefoodiebugle.com/shop    Follow us on Twitter: @TheFoodieBugle

Want a chance to win a copy of the first ever The Foodie Bugle? Tell us in which year The Foodie Bugle was created in the comments below and we'll pick a winner at random!

Top tips for growing tomatoes not seen in Issue 8

We all know how disappointing the British summer can be. Ideally we'd all have greenhouses or poly tunnels, but if you have neither don't despair. Last year I grew one single cherry tomato plant in a pot on a sunny windowsill - it turned into a vast plant and produced more fruit than I believed possible. All I did was water regularly and feed it. The poor tomato suffers more than most outside in the rain, and is more likely to get tomato blight and an array of other viruses, most of which end up killing the plants.

There are a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting a decent crop.

1. Be prepared to cosset them a little, feeding regularly and keeping them sheltered from cold wind.

2. Grow those varieties that suit your location. If they have to be outside choose cherry types such as Gardener's Delight, Sungold and Black Krim, all of which will ripen outside given some sun.

3. Try growing cherry tomato variety 'Tumbling Tom' in a hanging basket with basil for company. These will tolerate outside conditions in the summer, and are either red or yellow fruits.

4. Grow several varieties - that way you'll soon learn which grow best in your garden or which you prefer to eat. And you're more likely to produce a crop from a variety of different plants.

5. Be prepared to ripen fruit indoors on a sunny windowsill. Put them in a paper bag with a banana and this will help to ripen them. But any green tomatoes do make great chutney.

Wordless Wednesdays: a generous handful...

The Selby meets Annie Novak the urban farmer

Three stories up in the air, the power of an idea & fresh food are growing…

You have probably heard of Todd Selby, the brains and photographer behind the revolutionary project The Selby, which offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces. Perhaps less familiar however, is Eagle Street rooftop farm, a 6,000 square foot green roof organic vegetable farm located atop a warehouse in Brooklyn.

At Eagle Street, Annie Novak and Ben Flanner supply locals with an onsite market during New York City’s growing season, as well as running a range of farm-based educational and volunteer programs. Head farmer Annie grows everything from rare types of kale to radishes, and also keeps hens and bees on the rooftop.

Eagle Street farm is America’s first commercial rooftop farm, the project is a figurehead of the potential for refitting green spaces back into our cities, and The Selby really captures the beauty and spirit of the place, a simple and Eden-like getaway high above the concrete jungle that is New York – look at these pictures and try not to smile!

To see more of the views of Eagle street taken by Todd, don’t forget to visit The Selby, and if you would like more information about the farm visit Eagle Street’s website.

Upcycling in the garden

We're a little in awe of Grow and Resist's creative approach to garden upcycling.

As you well know, we at The Simple Things love a bit of upcycling. If you're lacking in inspiration, check out Grow and Resist, where there's a stellar example of how to re-use and re-purpose in the garden.

The usual suspects (crates, bottles and dresser drawers) make an appearance, but so do old wind chimes, a vintage bread baking pan and even a rusty stove.

Click over to Grow and Resist to nose around out the whole garden, and get inspired!

Edible flowers at The Edible Flower Shop

Until now, we'd mainly dismissed edible flowers as a very pretty but rather unnecessary addition to a dish.

When we stumbled upon The Edible Flower shop and started reading all about green fingered owner Rachael's discovery of the delights of edible flowers, we started to wonder if we'd been a little hasty.

Rachael started planting edible flowers in her tiny garden, reasoning that with such a small space she might as well grow something beautiful and useful. Have upsized to an allotment, she was able branch out a little and found that there were a whole load of herbs and vegetables which produced delicious flowers, too.

Click over to The Edible Flower Shop to find out more about edible flowers and how to get started growing your own.

October Gardening tips from Rural Mums

The allotmenteers at Rural Mums share their tips for gardening jobs to do in October.

Autumn may have well and truly set in, but there's still plenty to do in the garden. Rural Mums - an online community of countryside-dwelling mums and dads - includes a top team of growers dedicated to sharing their seasonal gardening tips.

Their most recent post is a round-up of things to do in your garden in October. There's also a collection of helpful posts to guide you though a year in your garden, whether you're after a beautiful floral display or something that'll provide you with veggies for the table!