yardz

TEA TIME

A tea garden is a great asset to those that like herbal tea. Mint and lemon balm make delicious herb teas ( simply cover a sprig of leaves with hot water and leave to infuse for five minutes). Both these plants are thugs and can easily take over a garden but when confined to a container they are easy to keep under control.

Chamomile tea is made from the daisy-like flowers - choose 'flore plena' which has more petals and less bitter.

We've found a great window box thats just right for growing a tea garden. It's nickel-plated powder coated in a super green. It stands out thanks to its plain functional style.

www.radius-design.com

NEW LOOK OUTDOOR COOKING

Earthfire Ceramic Pizza Oven

Homemade pizza, cooked to perfection. Delicious.

A lazy afternoon in the garden. Good friends. And freshly cooked pizza, hot from the oven.
Few things are more enjoyable.

It’s made from a unique ceramic material that retains heat to create the perfect pizza
cooking temperature of over 350˚C. Using either seasoned wood or charcoal, it’s ready
to cook in just half an hour and gives 2 hours of cooking time before you need to refuel
(although surely everyone will be full by then!).

Handmade in South Africa, this pizza oven is exceptional quality and, with its glazed finish, oak
handles and zinc coated steel stand, you’ll love the way it looks as much as the way it cooks.

• Portable, outdoor pizza oven
• Unique ceramic material means the oven heats up fast to a high temperature
• Porous cooking surface ensures even, perfectly crispy bases
• Half hour warm up time and two hour cooking time
• Also suitable for baking bread, barbecuing and smoking food
• Supplied with zinc coated steel stand, easy to follow instructions, easy to make pizza recipes plus lots of handy tips

£249 not including delivery

THE AFRICAN IMBAWULA

The sophisticated way to barbecue

On the balcony or veranda, on board the yacht or at the beach. Wherever you go, take your Imbawula
with you (pronounced Im-bough-oola).

Handcrafted in Africa by local craftsmen, the Imbawula is made using a special kiln fired ceramic.
The unique design, handed down from generation to generation, creates an efficient barbecue which
uses less fuel, gives a hotter fire and is easier to clean.

To make your Imbawula even more practical, it’s supplied with a sturdy stand. The cooking
grill is stainless steel, which makes it easier to clean and longer lasting and we supply a
black iron wok to give you even more culinary options. The wok can be used for stir frying
or as a lid for roasting, smoking or keeping food warm.

This portable and versatile barbecue not only cooks to perfection, it also makes an attractive
centrepiece. Available in vibrant ‘Earth’ and rich ‘Ocean’, the glazed finish is simply beautiful.
As each is hand crafted, the colours will vary on each piece, making them individual works of art.

The Imbawula is a wonderfully sociable way to cook and entertain. Just make sure your friends
don’t sneak off with it; make them order their own!

• Handmade African portable barbecue
• Unique design creates a hotter fire using less fuel
• Supplied with sturdy zinc coated steel stand and stainless steel cooking grill
• Black iron wok can be used for stir frying or as a lid
• Available in a choice of two colours

£75 0ffer price not including delivery

MINI BARBS

The 'Mini Cube' from www.thedesignhouse.dk is powder coated or nickel galvanised with a cast iron grill.

This must be one of the best designed small bbqs. Perfect for table top cooking allowing diners to cook their own food and become really involved with the meal preparation.

COOL

The Lifestyle Stainless Steel Electric Cooler from www.keenbbq.co.uk  £259.99.

A stylish way to keep drinks cool when global warming finally strikes urban Britain.

HOT WOKING

The HOT WOK concept - a different way to cook outdoors. Its a nice alternative to grilling since the kitchen is moved outside and so everyone can participate in the food preparations.

With HOT WOK cooking you get the best from Asian style cooking with crispy vegetables and juicy tasty meat. The HOT WOK range consists of outdoor cooking units including gas burner tables and kitchens as well as a range of amazing burners, cooking pans and accessories.

www.hotwok.info

LET THE SUN SHINE

THE BCK SOLAR COOKER

The BCK Solar Cooker is foldable and portable container used for cooking food outdoors. It requires only water and sunlight. When set up, the cooker is conical in shape. The conical reflection shield reflects the sun into the centre of the cone, where a black cylindrical container collects the heat. After about 45 minutes, the temperature of the food is around 90 degrees Celcius........the size of the cooker is very small: 250mm in height and 130mm in diameter.

www.red-dot.sg

THE YAKIBOX

Yakiniku (literally: grill, meat)

A selection of meat and vegetables are thinly sliced and cooked quickly on a stone hotplate, then dipped into delicious, authentic sauces and eaten in small mouthfuls.

It is not like cooking on a bbq as the food is cooked on the stone hotplate and therefore is not in direct contact with the flame. The hotplate is placed in the centre of the table so all the diners can cook their own food and then dip in the sauces. Great for diner parties on balmy summer nights in the yard!

www.yakibox.com   £79.95

THE 5 BEST VEG FOR MICRO-GARDENS

These are 5 of the best 'easy to grow' vegetables suitable for the micro-garden. All meet the criteria of being easy to grow, highly productive, quick growing and happy to grow in containers. The varieties have been chosen because they mainly have been bred to meet this criteria and also give great returns in flavour.

1. PEA HALF PINT  www.thompson-morgan.com

  This 30-37cm high pea is compact and does not need staking. Ideal for container and windowbox growing. The peas are ready to pick in about 14 weeks and regular picking prolongs cropping. Sow now and make sure to water well in dry conditions.

2.COURGETTE BLACK FOREST F1 HYBRID  www.thompson-morgan.com

Unique climbing courgette that saves space and is great in containers. Produces tasty dark green fruit in abundance, as the catalogues say! Besides producing great fruit, the courgette has large bright yellow flowers that are both decorative and edible.

3. LETTUCE BABY LEAF SALAD   www.thompson-morgan.com

This is a spicy mix of spinach, mizuna and red mustard. Sow every 3-4 weeks to have continuous cropping through the summer. Much nicer to pick your own baby leaves than buy the supermarket chlorine treated bags. Make great windowbox plants - decorative and edible.

4. SPRING ONION WHITE LISBON  www.suttons.co.uk

White Lisbon is on old variety of spring/salad onion but it fits micro-gardening conditions. It is very quick growing producing white skinned and mild flavoured onions.

Sow at regular intervals to have continuous supplies through the summer.

5. DWARF BEAN SPEEDY  www.suttons.co.uk

Compact and high yielding. Crops just seven weeks from sowing. Harvest when beans are young for best flavour.

Just one of the many varieties of veg for small gardens in the Suttons 'Speedy' range.

LIVING SALADS

www.livingsalads.co.uk produce trays of baby salad leaves ready to be freshly harvested at home. You pick the leaves as and when you need them, so they are as fresh as they could possibly be.They are available from main supermarkets including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.

You could though easily grow your own baby leaf salad in small trays on a windowsill using a salad leaves seed mixture sown in a multipurpose compost. They should only take two to three weeks before harvesting. Try the Easy Salad Leaves seed collection from www.mr-fothergills.co.uk , these contain a mix of leaves including Mizuna, Mustard, Rocket and Salad Bowl Lettuce.

TALKING RHUBARB

Rhubarb is the new healthy eating craze. During the second world war it was part of the countrys' staple diet, providing a fair amount of the nations vitamin C. Eaten in pies, crumbles and fools it kept the homeguard happy. After the war its popularity waned and people lost the taste for its acidic flavour. Now its back on the menu at top eateries where delicate forced rhubarb is served in all manor of dishes. Rhubarb, though is very easy to grow and plants can be easily bought now from local garden shops or centres. The best varieties are Champagne with sweet tasting pink-tinged stems and Timperley Early which is also very flavoursome and great for forcing.

Forcing rhubarb is a way to provide an early crop of very delicate fruit. A rhubarb forcer, rather like a large clay chimney pot, is placed over a rhubarb plant in early spring before growth starts and a lid put on the top. The warmth created by the forcer starts the rhubarb into growth. Once growth is well established the top can be removed to encourage the stems to grow towards the light. Once the stems have been picked the forcer should be removed and the rhubarb plant given a good feed. Plants should only be forced every other year so you'll need two plants to give fruit every year.

Seakale is forced in a similar way. Buy seakale as root cuttings in spring and leave them to grow for a year before forcing them in the same way as rhubarb. seakale plants don't need a rest between forcings but atfer three years it is usually best to replace them.

Rhubarb is great for the microgarden as it has wonderful decorative leaves and stems, is cheap to buy and no problem to look after.