Why Alex Smith thinks YouTube is one of the world’s greatest achievements

Ahowcasing four bowls filled with different natural materials on a table outside in daylight. The bowls are arranged neatly, with a scale placed in the center of the image, creating a balanced and organized display of the materials."

Image courtesy of Alex Smith

Alex Smith, the voice behind @AlexGrowsFood YouTube Channel and website, has been shortlisted for Gardening Video of the Year Award 2024 at this year’s Garden Media Guild Awards ceremony. As one of this year’s sponsors, we were keen to find out more about Alex and his journey to this coveted shortlist! Here’s what he had to say…

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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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