Steve Ott
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Plum Salad with Maple Syrup Crunch
A pretty and tasty summer salad, great served as a light lunch. SERVES 4 Preparation time: 25 minutes FOR THE MAPLE-NUT CLUSTERS 75g (3oz) sliced almonds 50g (2oz) hazelnuts, roughly chopped 50g (2oz) pumpkin seeds 3 tbsp maple syrup 1…
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Hibiscus and honey poached plums
Sweet plums have a delicate floral flavour which is enhanced by gentle cooking. Lucy Burton shares her recipe for hibiscus poached fruits July brings with it a sweet abundance of stone-fruits. The crates of glossy cherries, apricots, peaches and plums…
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Grilled Fennel
This is a great side dish to serve alongside barbecued fish. • 2-3 fennel bulbs • 1 lemon, juice of • 50g (2oz) Parmigiano cheese 1. Trim the stalks off the fennel, then slice. 2. Brush each side with olive…
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Lettuce & Spinach Soup
by Gaby Bartai My verdict on lettuce in soup: yes, but it needs company. Lettuce on its own produces altogether too mild a flavour, but to my taste, an all-spinach soup is just too green for its own good. Half and…
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Bats in the night
The Bat Conservation Trust is looking for volunteers willing to get up early or go out late… The Bat Conservation Trust is looking for volunteers willing to get up early or go out late; its Sunrise/Sunset Survey needs people to…
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Digging into the issues
John’s writing aims to make us think about how our gardening affects the world around us… Environmental gardening writer John Walker has just released a second collection of his thought-provoking ‘Digging Deep’ articles, which originally appeared in Organic Gardening magazine…
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Serious concerns for UK soil
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has just released a damning report on UK soil health. The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has just released a damning report on UK soil health. “Some of the most productive agricultural…
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Wildlife figures out – and down
The number of people who never see a hedgehog in their garden now stands at 25%, up 11% since 2014. New data reveals that only 25% of people are seeing hedgehogs in their gardens at least once a month, 13%…
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Glyphosate licence extended for just 18 months
Garden Organic is hailing ‘a victory in the ongoing battle to ban toxic chemicals’ in the long-running dispute over the safety of the herbicide glyphosate, used in the weedkiller Roundup. After three attempts this year to relicense it for a…
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Migrant moths threaten Brassica crops.
Population surges of diamondback moths happen periodically, but the last time such high numbers were recorded was in 1996. Scientists are warning that brassica crops could be devastated by record numbers of moths arriving from mainland Europe. Tens of millions…
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New dual-cropper impresses industry awards
Thompson & Morgan has launched Egg & Chips, a dual-cropping aubergine/potato. First it was the TomTato; now Thompson & Morgan has launched Egg & Chips, a dual-cropping aubergine/potato. An aubergine plant grafted on to a heavy-cropping potato variety offers gardeners…
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Spot the Bee!
London bees with number-plates this summer. If you see a London bee with a number-plate this summer, don’t start questioning your sanity: biologists at Queen Mary University of London are tagging bees as part of The London Pollinator Project, which…
