Self-Sufficiency
Canning and Preserving: The Basics Done Safely
Why acidity decides whether a jar is safe, and how to handle beans and squash the right way.
Gartenkern Magazine
Notes from the garden.
What's new, what's growing, what we're learning. Updates, guides and stories for people who take their garden seriously.
From the magazine
200 postsSelf-Sufficiency
Make Your Own Juice and Syrup: A Year in Bottles
From elderflowers in May to the apple press in October: how to bottle the summer and enjoy it all year long.
Garden Practice
Sharpen and Care for Your Garden Tools: Angle, Resin and Rust
The right angle on the whetstone, plus resin and rust as the hidden blade killers: how to keep your garden tools sharp for years.
Self-Sufficiency
Saving Your Own Seed: Open Pollinated Instead of F1
Why F1 seed segregates, how to spot open pollinated varieties, and how to ferment and store your own seed.
Natural Garden
Helping Hedgehogs Without the Common Mistakes: Robot Mowers and Slug Pellets Are the Real Danger
It isn't the missing hedgehog house that kills hedgehogs, but robot mowers, slug pellets and open shafts. Here is how to really help in autumn.
Natural Garden
How to Mount and Clean Nest Boxes the Right Way
Entrance hole size down to the millimetre, an easterly aspect, and the autumn clean-out: this is how your nest box actually gets occupied come spring.
Natural GardenContains advertising
Plant a bird-friendly hedge from native shrubs
How to plant a layered wild hedge from native shrubs this autumn, giving birds nesting sites, cover and food all year round.
Natural Garden
Feeding and Supporting Birds All Year Round
From the bird-feeder debate to a living pantry: how to support birds all year with clean food, water, and native berry shrubs.
Natural Garden
Helping Bumblebees Thrive in Your Garden: Cold Flight, Deep Blooms and the Spring Gap
Why bumblebees are already flying in March, which blooms carry them through the spring gap, and how to build a home for them all year.