Why Melanie Taylor has more than 50 roses in her garden

Melanie, wearing a pink coat and glasses, stands surrounded by plants with red petals and white flowers in a colourful garden.

Image courtesy of Melanie Taylor

Melanie Taylor of Hazelwood Plantscapes has just been shortlisted for a Garden Media Guild Award sponsored by T&M – The Alan Titchmarsh New Talent of the Year Award 2024. 

Following a change in career from the tech sector, Melanie has spent the last two years retraining in horticulture and garden design. Here’s what she had to say about her love of gardening and the inspiration behind her career change…

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The ultimate guide to preserving fresh produce

Collection of preserved vegetables and fruits

Everything you need to know to preserve fresh produce for your freezer and pantry
Image: Shutterstock

What better way to deal with a glut, eat healthy food, and be more self-sufficient than by preserving your seasonal harvests? Here we take a look at five different ways to make the most of your fruit and vegetable plants by preserving the surplus for future use. 

From freezing to pickling, and drying to bottling, we give you the basics of each method. We’ve also asked some of our favourite bloggers to share their handy hints – preserving is easy, fun and guaranteed to make winter meals way more tasty.

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Cucumber pickle recipe

 

Mini cucumbers burlap

Cucumber pickle recipe

Elizabeth McMahon from Ayrshire has sent in this cucumber pickle, which is great for using up a glut of cucumbers. Elizabeth says "It is very easy to make and delicious served with cold chicken any cold meat and salad - any left over juice can be used as a dressing for your salad. Also the cider vinegar is good for arthritic problems."

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Put cucumber, onions, peppers and garlic into a bowl layered with salt. Cover and put into the fridge for 2 hours. Drain and wash out salt well.
  • Put sugar, spices and vinegar into a pan and slowly bring to the boil. Boil for 5 mins. Add vegetables and slowly bring to boiling point, but do not boil. Pot and cover.

Notes

Find helpful cucumber growing tips & variety advice at our dedicated cucumber hub page.
Lead image: Cucumber 'Diva' from Thompson & Morgan
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

T&M achieves third place in RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2024

T&M is thrilled to announce that its entry has achieved third place in the Plant of the Year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024: 

Mangave Mad about Mangave® ‘Praying Hands’ PBR

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New T&M Variety Shortlisted For Plant Of The Year Award 2024 At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

T&M is proud to announce that one of its new plant varieties has been shortlisted for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year 2024 award and will be judged at the event.

T&M’s new introductions for 2024 include show-stopping, high-performing and breeding breakthrough varieties to inspire gardeners everywhere to grow something new.

Plant of the Year is a much sought-after award that recognises innovation, appeal, excellence and impact in plant breeding. T&M is proud that its plant introduction has been shortlisted this year, with the finalists and winner announced on Sunday 19th May.

The T&M team wishes the best of luck to its fellow shortlisted companies.

 

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