In my garden, right next to the cottage I have a large rosemary bush. Every year I harvest that rosemary to dry it and preserve it for later use and give some of it to my friends. I learned some basic things about when and how to do harvest rosemary without killing the plant, and what to avoid in Read more » Harvesting Rosemary
Pruning rosemary plants and bushes are necessary at least once a year to make sure the plant is kept healthy, lives longer, and is formed in a nice shape. If you don’t prune rosemary regularly, the plant will eventually get woody, will produce fewer leaves and flowers. In this article, I will give you some Read more » How to Prune Rosemary
Rosemary propagation from cuttings is an affordable and easy way of obtaining new plants. Instead of buying the new plant, just take cuttings from the old one, the mother plant, and transplant it in your garden. In this article, I am explaining how to root your rosemary cuttings in a simple way without using any rooting powder. Read more » How to Grow Rosemary from Cuttings
Dry stone walls, (also called dry-stack walls) is a method of constructing the wall without using any mortar to hold the stones together. I am building them on my land to clear the ground and landscaping, as preparation for planting as well as a windbreak and erosion prevention structure. This is a traditional building method Read more » Dry Stone Walling
If you are wondering how to make inexpensive, homemade, and easy to apply rooting solutions, as effective as a rooting hormone, here is an article with photos that will show you how to prepare a homemade plant root stimulator for your cuttings. With this rooting liquid, your cuttings will develop their roots faster, healthier, and Read more » Homemade Rooting Hormone
Spraying fruit trees in winter with dormant oil spray is an essential part of fruit tree care, for insect and fungus management. The mixture of white oil and copper fungicide is applied during the dormant season (winter), preferably late winter, up until a couple of days before buds open, to prevent pests and disease in Read more » Dormant Oil Sprays On Fruit Trees
If you are growing young fig trees in the windy area here is some info about what to do to avoid damage from the high winds. It is possible to have successful figs growing in windy conditions but you have to take some steps to protect the trees from high winds. In this article, I will tell you about Read more » Growing Fig Trees in Windy Areas
In my mum’s garden, we have a couple of orange trees that are more than 20 years old. Every year we harvest them and usually, my mum makes great homemade orange marmalade (jam). I learned some important things about when and how to do harvest oranges to avoid mistakes. If you have an orange tree or Read more » Harvesting Oranges
Fertilizing fig trees is a vital part of growing healthy trees and should be done at least twice a year, or whenever you notice your tree needs an additional feed. Fig trees are usually fertilized in late winter or early spring and again in late summer. Your trees will be prone to diseases and will produce fewer Read more » How to Fertilize a Fig Tree in The Ground
Pruning fig trees is an essential part of looking after the tree. It should be done at least once a year, in the dormant season (winter) but it is recommended by experts to prune the tree twice a year, the second time in summer. If you don’t prune them regularly, the trees will not develop a Read more » Pruning Fig Trees
Once your almond nuts are harvested, hulled, and properly dried, it is time now to find the best storage option to keep almonds fresh and safe to consume. You can choose to store either shelled or unshelled almonds. That means that you will now need to decide should you remove the shells or should you Read more » Storing Almonds
I have only eight almond trees that I planted a few years ago. At present they are four years old trees that don’t produce yet a lot of almonds nuts to harvest. That’s why I pick them manually. In the last few years since I have them, I learned some important things about when and Read more » Harvesting Almond Trees
How to plant an almond tree is a question that I struggled with just a few years ago. Before I inherited this piece of land I never planted any trees. However, I made some research, and by doing it several times since I am now confident that the best way to plant the almond tree is as I described Read more » How to Plant an Almond Tree
Turn dried figs into a gorgeous DIY garland that is decorative and easy to make. Here is how to do it at home – Easy! Photos & video I keep all my dried figs stored in the cotton bag. However, if I want to display them in an attractive and decorative way, I just turn Read more » How to Make a Dried Figs Garland
Are you wondering how and where to store dried figs at home, for freshness? In this article, I will show you how to store them the right and safe way to ensure your dried figs last a long time. Depending on how much of the figs you dehydrated, you can choose a few options to store. From my experience, Read more » How to Store Dried Figs
This almond stuffed dried figs, coated in dark chocolate is cheap and easy to make snack or dessert that takes little time to prepare and uses just a few ingredients. I use my own sun-dried figs which I planted and grew myself from cuttings, but if you don’t have your own dried figs, you can Read more » Dried Figs Stuffed With Almonds, Coated In Dark Chocolate
Once your sage is harvested and dried, the next thing to do is to store it the right way until you are ready to use it. Depending on how much of the sage you dried, you can choose several options to store. From my experience, the best option is to choose an air-tight container that Read more » How to Store Dried Sage
Pruning lavender plants and bushes are essential at least once a year to make sure the plant is healthy and it lives longer. If you don’t prune lavender regularly, the plants will get woody and will produce fewer flowers. In this article, I will show you when and how to prune a lavender, how often Read more » How to Prune Lavender
I have about 30 mature lavender plants in my garden which I grew from cuttings, and every year I harvest and dry its flowers, buds, and stems. At the same time, I also prune my lavender. As I live in a climate with long, dry summers and mild winters, my lavender is ready for harvest Read more » How to Dry Lavender
Are you wondering what to do with dry lavender stems, flowers, and buds? A couple of years ago, I planted about 30 lavender plants which I grew from cuttings. And now, every year I harvest a lot of lavender which I learn how to dry, prune, and store for a variety of use. I keep Read more » How To Use Dried Lavender
Storing Dried Lavender the right way Once you prune, harvest and dry your lavender, the next thing to do is to store it properly until you are ready to use it. Depending on how much of the lavender you have, you can choose several options to store. The best option is to choose an air-tight Read more » How to Store Dried Lavender
Lavender propagation from cuttings is a cheap and easy way of obtaining new plants. Instead of buying the new plant, just take cuttings from the old one (at the same time when pruning your plants) and transplant it in your garden. In this article, I am explaining how to root your lavender cuttings in a straightforward Read more » How To Propagate Lavender From Cuttings
I’m lucky enough to be able to go outside my front door and be in the fields and hills of the countryside in a few minutes. In this article, I just want to share with you some things and experiences about wild fennel, one of the most common herbs that grow on the island where Read more » Wild Fennel
In this tutorial, I will show you how to harvest basil seeds from plants and how to save seeds to be ready for seeding in the next seeding season. Step by step guide Step 1 – Cut basil flowers, the top bits of the basil plant, (as in the above photo), place it on the Read more » How to Save Basil Seeds
Fig propagation from cuttings is an economical way of obtaining new fig trees. As opposed to buying the new plant in the nursery, you can successfully transplant the old one from your or friend’s garden. In this article, I am explaining how to root your fig cuttings in a cheap and straightforward way. Instead of Read more » How To Start A Fig Tree From A Cutting
Sun dried figs I have several large fig trees that every year produces a lot of fresh fruits. I also have some baby ones, including three-year-old fig trees, that just started to fruit this summer. As I am living in a fairly dry and warm climate, every summer I select some of the fruits to dry them in the sun at Read more » How to Dry Figs
Drying wild sage leaves and flowers and foraging them in the fields is something which I regularly do in the springs. I collect as much as I can leaves and flowers of this lovely and aromatic herb and later on when dried, I use the dry flowers and leaves for cooking and making tea. Here Read more » How to Dry Sage
When I started with gardening pretty soon I realised that grass and wild shrubs will be something I would need to sort out. At the beginning I did not even consider to get any grass trimmer and was hoping that I can manage the garden with simple grass sickle, a simple grass cutting hand tool Read more » How to Use a Petrol Grass Trimmer
Living in the dry climate of the Mediterranean is giving me a great opportunity to grow my own immortelle plants. Immortelle is also known as Dwarf Everlast or Helichrysum italicum (Latin). Sometimes it is also called Curry plant but to be honest, I am not sure if this is exactly the same species as one I am now growing Read more » Immortelle (Dwarf Everlast)
As this piece of land was completely wild when I inherited it, there were numerous wild sage plants dotted around the area. I decided to keep most of them while some of the plans I replanted in the spaces that are more suitable. In the hilly, dry and rocky areas in the Mediterranean, where I am Read more » Sage
My rosemary mini garden: Last year I planted 10 rosemary plants that I grew from cuttings along the side of my cottage. They are now already fully grown plants with lovely purple flowers. Rosemary: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Rosemary As this herb is a native to the Mediterranean region it took them only one year to Read more » Rosemary
Planting a potted fig tree in the ground is a fairly straightforward process and anyone should be able to do it successfully. Before I inherited this piece of land I never planted any trees ever. However, by doing it numerous times since, in the meantime I found out that the best way to plant the potted Read more » How to Plant a Potted Fig Tree in the Ground
I have a pretty large apricot tree in my mum’s garden that every year produces a lot of fresh fruits. As I am living in a fairly dry and warm climate, last year I decided to try to select some of the fruits to dry them in the sun at home on my terrace. My guess Read more » How to Dry Apricots in the Sun
My piece of land, two year ago, before I started cultivating it
Drying Figs in my patio garden
My piece of land, two year ago, before I started cultivating it