We're thinking of attaching something to the back of our house to extend the living area, and can't decide whether to install a conservatory or a single-storey extension.  So here are some thoughts about conservatories, seen in the Daily Telegraph this week:

1 Use 
List the ways you'd like to use your conservatory as they will all affect the final design.  Do you want to entertain, relax, garden, propagate or all these?  Is it to be an all-year-round room?  
These affect the design, construction, layout and proportions, not to mention where the conservatory would be best sited.

2 Design
You want to end up with a well-proportioned conservatory and it's important to provide an effortless link between 'inside' and 'outside'.  
This is the stage to choose what you're going to put inside the conservatory and the layout of those items.  Consider the views from the conservatory and areas best for light.  
Traditionally it was thought that the style of conservatory should echo the style of your home but now it's considered that a contemporary design  often makes minimal impact and so is preferred.

3  Aspect

A south-facing aspect may seem the obvious choice, but the sun's rays become magnified and can burn plants through glass.  Also, air becomes hot and dry, and environment that no person or plant enjoys, so blinds will be an essential addition.


4  Glazing
A conservatory relies on its glass to operate to capacity.  Solar-controlled glass can help minimise the temperature of the room and control glare.  
In a north-facing conservatory, low-emissivity (low-E) glass will reduce heat loss.  
Architecturally speaking, lanterns and coloured glass can create interest, but best to try and avoid fussy effects or, for example, replicating the details of your property's windows.  
Keep things simple as a conservatory is essentially a glasshouse in its own right, not an extension of your house.  
Aim to ensure complete transparency whilst looking out.  Neutral glass won't reflect furniture, to allow a clear view, and a wonderful link to the landscape beyond.

5  Ventilation
To ensure a comfortable atmosphere it's important to have a well-designed ventilation system, although with British weather it's unlikely that air-conditioning will be really necessary.  
Roof vents are essential in releasing a build-up of hot air.  Low-level air can be drawn in through doors or low vents, with hot air rising naturally to be released through roof venting to provide cooler atmosphere.  There are manual or automatic systems, the latter of which are very useful for busy people - or for keen gardeners.  But beware, if they malfunction and stick the rain may get in or your plants may fry!


6  Temperature

The temperature at which you heat your conservatory is perhaps the most crucial decision in terms of how you will use it.  

Your choice is not just about people - temperature dictates the plants that you grow.  Heating a conservatory year-round to the same temperature as your house (59F-70F/15C-21C), will limit your plants to the tropical spectrum.

Unheated conservatories are ideal for overwintering citrus and borderline-hardy plants, especially if you cover them with fleece.

Even if you don't heat your conservatory it should be usable for about nine months of the year, providing you dress suitably for it.  We used to have our lunch in the conservatory nearly every day of the year, donning fleeces in the winter months to enjoy our soup, bread and cheese.

7 Planning regulations

Generally, most conservatories are within permitted development rights, so long as certain size and height conditions are met.  

If you life in a conservation area, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, national park or a World heritage Site there are further conditions.  

Visit the planning portal (planningportal.gov.uk) for the full list of conditions or check with your local authority.

Many specialist conservatory designers and manufacturers will deal not only with design, manufacture and installation but also any planning permissions.

Some very interesting points are raised here, now I'm off to do the same investigation re having a brick extension.  I understand that even if planning permission is not needed for an extension, that building regulations are necessary. 

Something not covered here is the relative cost of a conservatory compared with a brick-built extension - and how much value, if any is added to the property.

According to the moneysavingexpert forum (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=317959)the cost of building a single storey extension is about £1,000 per square metre.  So for our proposed 4m x 2.5m extension that should work out at about £10,000, plus extras such as planning and building regs.

A timely explanation ...

For tired-looking borders in the garden here's an explanation of the difference between manure, fertilizer and mulch.  Do we need all three and when to apply which of these?*

Mulching is the name given to the process of adding a layer to the surface of soil over plant roots, or even over the entire surface of soil over plant roots, or even over the entire surface of beds and borders.  This does one or more of the following - conserve moisture, feed plant roots, improve soil texture or suppress weed growth


The noun 'mulch' most often refers to something organic.  Organic mulches are a mixed, potentially confusing bunch: animal manure is generally high in nitrogen, and unless completely rotted should not come into contact with plant roots or stems.  Leaf mould and composted bark have a low nutrient level and low pH.  

They are useful for mulching woodlanders and lime-haters.  Unlike mushroom compost (second-hand animal manure, thus with lower nitrogen levels and laced with variable amounts of high pH chalk), which should be kept away from them.

Coarse bark chippings, if applied thickly enough (at least 4"/10cm), are long-lasting, suppress weeds and retain moisture well, but can deplete the soil of nitrogen as they slowly rot down (nitrogen that can, of course, be topped up using a fertiliser - read on).  And home-made compost can be rich in nutrients but is extremely variable (depending on what goes in the bin), and is seldom perfectly seed-free.  Gravel and weed-smothering black membranes are, technically speaking, inorganic mulches.

Spring is a big feeding/mulching time in the garden, just as plant growth starts, and some diligent gardeners feed their shrubs and roses again, halfway through the summer.  Most of us, I think, tend to use a combination of mulches/soil-improvers and fertilizers (both organic and inorganic) and, increasingly, slow-release inorganic ones.

Fertilisers contain essential nutrients (and minerals), in various ratios for specific purposes in order to bolster plant growth.  Most gardeners are now familiar with the fact that nitrogen encourages leaf growth, potash boosts flower production, while phosphates encourage root development and strength.  Fertiliser packets reliable carry information about nitrogen, potassium and phosphate (NPK) content that we need to know.

So-called 'balanced' fertilisers (such as traditional organic, blood fish and bone or inorganic Growmore), are those that contain more or less equal quantities of all three nutrients.

Finally, soluble and liquid fertilisers and foliar feeds are useful, being quickly absorbed by plants under stress.

One mulch I find very useful is leaf mould

*From Helen Yemm in the Saturday Telegraph, 15 February 2014, Helen's always a valuable source of information.

Free food

The first in an occasional series on ideas for eating ‘for free’, as they now say:

Just Wild About Woodlice

From a 1885 book Why not eat insects? By Vincent M Holt

‘Woodlice sauce is equal, if not distinctly superior to shrimp’ wrote the Victorian Naturalist Vincent M Holt. ‘Put into a saucepan a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, a teaspoonful of flour, a small glass of water, a little milk, some pepper and salt.  Place it on the stove, heat and stir.  As soon as the sauce is thick, take it off and put in the (boiled) wood-lice. This is an excellent sauce for fish.’

A young friend came to stay for the weekend and made us some soda bread one morning! yum yum!  So will find a recipe on here to try one day when we run out of bread - and actually have an oven, which we don't at present.

Here's one recipe from the ever helpful BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishsodabread_67445):

Ingredients

• 170g/6oz self-raising wholemeal flour
• 170g/6oz plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 290ml/½ pint buttermilk (or could use yoghurt)

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6.
2. Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir.
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to form a soft dough. (Depending upon the absorbency of the flour, you may need to add a little milk if the dough seems too stiff but it should not be too wet or sticky.)
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.
   Watch technique1:58 mins
5. Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet.
6. Cut a cross on the top and bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
   
   
   
   
   And here's one with accompanying home-made beans on toast from Tom Kerridge: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10260001/Tom-Kerridges-proper-baked-beans-on-soda-bread-toast-recipe.html
   
   

...and while I'm at it, here's a good recipe for scones, for those days when there's no bread in the house:

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz self raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 55g/2oz butter
• 25g/1oz caster sugar
• 150ml/5fl oz milk
• 1 free-range egg, beaten, to glaze (alternatively use a little milk)

Preparation method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter.
3. Stir in the sugar and then the milk to get a soft dough.
4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to a round 2cm/¾in thick. Use a 5cm/2in cutter to stamp out rounds and place on a baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough and stamp out more scones to use it all up.
5. Brush the tops of the scones with the beaten egg. Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve with butter and good jam and maybe some clotted cream

Tea Bread

ha ha!

Now that we're definitely moving I'm sorting out cupboards, especially in the kitchen.  I've come across the bottom of lots of packets of shreddies, shredded wheat and all bran, the bits which no-one wants to eat. 

No-one seems to like to eat the bits at the bottom of the packets, probably because, although they're perfectly alright, they tend to go soggy when the milk's added.  So am going make a fruit loaf with them.

Here's my take on the classic All-Bran tea bread recipe:

5oz cereal (mine was mixture of shredded wheat, shreddies and all bran)

5oz raisins or sultanans

10 fl oz tea, milk or orange juice

2 oz sugar

6 oz SR flour

2 eggs

1. Soak cereal in tea/milk/juice for a couple of hours.  
2. Add dried fruit, sugar and eggs.  Stir in flour.
3. Cook about an hour at about 190C.
4. Eat: sliced, and spread with lots of butter.

stuffed peppers

Autumn is when peppers are at their best, and we have lots of tomatoes, courgettes and apples from the garden, so here are a few ideas.

Stuffed Peppers
from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stuffedpeppers_82902

4 red peppers
4+ tbsp olive oil 
5 oz peas
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
5 oz breadcrumbe
1 egg
s&p

1. Preheat oven to 180/350/4
2. Cut around stalk and remove tops of peppers.  Remove any seeds.
3. Heat oil and saute peas, onion and garlic.
4. Soak bread in water for a few minutes.
5. Add breadcrumbs and egg to pea mixture.
6. Stuff the empty peppers with mixture and replace their tops.
7. Place on baking tray and season and drizzle with oil.
8. Cook about 20 - 30 minutes until soft and cooked through.

The downsides of this recipe were: the mixture was rather crumbly and there was too much pepper to eat.  

My variation of this would be to add another egg to the mixture and use fewer breadcrumbs.  Then cut the peppers lengthwise, lay on a dish, heap on the mixture and possibly cook with a little grated cheese on top.

And some other ideas:

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/526229/baked-stuffed-peppers

http://sortedfood.com/#!/stuffedpeppers/

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4404/easy-stuffed-peppers

Far from a nuisance, fallen autumn leaves should be treasured as a future soil improver.  Make the most of this seasonal dividend

Dealing with fallen leaves is synonymous with autumn.  Most gardeners who are lucky enough to have deciduous trees will be well versed with in the practice of collecting them, although many may not make the most of this valuable resource.
Leaf litter is a source of free organic matter - and should be used to replenish the garden - either left where they lie, where appropriate, or collected and made into leaf-mould.
If we take our cue from nature and look to deciduous forests, leaf litter there provides a blanket that enriches soil as it breaks down.  The eventual result is crumbly dark humus.

Leave (haha!) or remove?
In a garden, the needs of other plants and fauna must be considered when deciding whether to collect or leave in situ.  Fallen leaves will provide a habitat for overwintering animals - such as hedgehogs - but also for slugs; and if leaves are left on lawns they may kill the sward beneath.
Mediterranean plants such as lavenders do not appreciate the humidity leaf litter provides, and it can lead to fungal problems.
When it comes to making leaf-mould, all leaves are not equal.  Oak, beech and hornbeam work best.  Thicker leaves such as plane and horse chestnut take longer to decay, so shred first.  Evergreen laurels and holly do not make good leaf-mould.  And lastly, pine needles, though slow to rot, once decayed are an ideal mulch for acid loving-plants.

Leaves best collected

• Leaves that have fallen onto evergreens such as conifers, evergreen azealeas and silver-leaved plants should be removed promptly before they cause foliage underneath to decay.
• Those that fallin to plants which suffer from winter wet, such as yuccas.
• Those on gravel gardens, paths, drives  and drains.
• Those on lawns (and in/on ornamental grasses).
• Ponds and water features will rapidly become clogged if leaves are not removed.

Tools for the job

• Rakes: on a lawn this can be a light plastic or a metal spring-tine rake.  Thin spring-tine rakes are great for getting in between plants in beds.
• Leaf blowers now come in various guises, they can even be connected to a solar-powered battery which are lightweight and quieter, in addition to the environmental benefit.
• Use two flat boards held in either hand to scoop up large piles of leaves.  Leaf vacuums can be used to suck up piles of leaves.
• On a larger scale, a mower can be used to collect leaves with the added benefit of shredding at the same time, which speeds up the decomposition process.

Using fallen leaves

Once gathered, leaves can be added to the compost heap to counterbalance a mass of green material such as grass-clippings, or kept separate and converted into precious leaf-mould.

Leaf-mould is a great soil improver, either mixed in or as a surface mulch.  It will help break down heavy clay; aid sandy soils to retain moisture; and increase worm and micro-organism activity in both situations.  The natural place to apply leaf-mould is around trees, shrubs and woodland bulbs.  It is also useful in aiding drainage in potting-compost mixes.

Making leaf-mould

Depending on the scale and space available, the easiest way to make leaf-mould is to collect leaves into a bin bag, loosely tie the top and then pierce holes in the sides.  The leaves need to be moist, so add a little water if necessary.  These can then be stacked out of the way for 12 - 18 months, in which time the leaves will break down.  On a larger scale, a cage can be created using chicken wire and the leaves placed in this.  Shredded leaves will break down more quickly, so it can be worth going over piles with a mower first.

When to leave in place
An alternative to removing leaves from areas of rougher grass is to use a mower without a collection hood to finely chop up the leaves directly back into the grass.  Similarly, in orchards it is fine for fallen leaves to rot down into the grass during winter.
In woodland plantings, shade beds or at the backs of borders, the easiest method is to let any fallen leaves decompose directly onto the bed (after all, we're not looking for work!).

From the that invaluable mine of information, the Royal Horticultural Society (http://www.rhs.org.uk/).
The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK's leading gardening charity dedicated to advancing horticulture and promoting good gardening.  Our goal is to help people share a passion for plants, to encourage excellence in horticulture and inspire all those with an interest in gardening.

Another use for leaf mould:  to 'lighten' for soils such as John Innes No 3, loam-based compost which is recommended for permanently container-grown shrubs, perennials and lilies which, without some sort of organic addition can become rock-like.  When two years old or more, leaf mould can be sieved and used, 50/50 with sand, to make fine potting compost for seeds and cuttings.