Articles written by Emma Cooper

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About me - Emma Cooper

I'm a keen kitchen gardener in Oxfordshire, UK. I garden organically and love making my own compost.

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Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) True gardening stories: Oops!: 2 of 63
Even before we started work on our new garden, I began growing vegetables in pots on the patio. Given my concerns for the environment, a worm composter seemed the ideal addition. I ordered one with stacking layers, as that seemed the simplest design to manage.On the day that the worm bin and worms arrived, I was very excited.... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) The importance of recycling and composting in the garden: 1 of 9
The are three reasons why it's important to recycle and compost in the garden. The first reason is that it's the best thing for the garden. If you have a kitchen garden, and harvest vegetables and herbs for the dinner table, then you're constantly removing fertility from the garden when you pull up your crops. Even if you hav... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) How to start gardening early in the year: 1 of 8
One of the main problems with gardening in a temperate climate is that the gardeners tends to be all warmed up long before the garden. Whilst the garden is still sleeping through the winter chill, the gardener is cozy inside - reading gardening books and thumbing through seed catalogs, hatching new plans for the garden this s... More..
Food & Drink > Coffee How to reuse your coffee grounds in the garden: 3 of 17
Keen gardeners and coffee aficionados everywhere take note coffee grounds are good for the garden.Gardeners who compost are always on the look out for materials to feed the heap. Coffee grounds are a nitrogen-rich material with a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 20:1. When you know that the ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio of a comp... More..
Home & Garden > Vegetables & Herbs Perennial fruits and vegetables: Backyard gardens that keep giving back: 1 of 5
Botanically-speaking a perennial plant is one that keeps growing from year to year, unlike annuals or biennials that complete their lifecycle in one or two years and then die. In kitchen garden terms, a perennial is a plant that is allowed to keep growing. Many familiar kitchen garden plants are treated as annuals' for simpli... More..
Home & Garden > Houseplants Free houseplants from your kitchen groceries: 1 of 4
For many gardeners, growing plants from seeds and cuttings becomes something of an obsession. Not only do you have the joy of nurturing tiny plants, but there's the challenge aspect of it all - can I get this to grow in my garden? And as most of us have to garden on a budget, it becomes natural to view the grocery store as a ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Environmental Awareness How to be a locavore: 5 of 16
The latest news from the White House is that the First Family are becoming locavores - eating local food that has been grown right in the grounds of the White House in their new kitchen garden. Michelle Obama has broken the ground for the new vegetable plot, with the help of local school children. Whilst they have some things... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) Gardening and manure: 2 of 5
Animal manure has been used as a soil improver (particularly in vegetable gardens) for as long as people have been gardening. Using animal manure has huge advantages - it adds organic matter and fertility to the soil, improving soil structure so that water is more available to plants and excess water drains away quickly. A go... More..
Home & Garden > Landscaping Ten favorite plants: 4 of 9
As a kitchen gardener, my favorite plants are the ones that grow well for me and in my garden and provide something tasty to eat - the ones I look forward to growing all year.Many of my favorites grow during the winter months, when just having something growing in the kitchen garden is a satisfaction in itself.First on the li... More..
Food & Drink > Fruit & Vegetable Recipes Recipes: Creative potato recipes: 16 of 33
Potato rosti is an delicious, easy-to-make and versatile recipe.To make a rosti, you first need to peel one large potato per person. Chop each potato into large chunks and then boil the chunks in salted water for 5 minutes or so - so that they've started to soften up, but are not cooked through. Drain the potatoes and leave t... More..