Winter pruning

If you can brave the cold weather and are prepared to forgo a nice warm duvet for a spot of outdoor hacky-choppy-action, now is the time to give your dormant apple trees a good prune before new season growth starts to emerge. The benefits from this are two-fold; to encourage and nurture a strong, disease free tree and more importantly, to ensure a healthy crop of apples from which to make cider in the autumn months.

Pruning is often considered a dark art; something that should be left to a professional arborist, but just think of it like giving your tree a splendid haircut*, only the type of haircut where you might consider loping off an ear and maybe a couple of fingers for good measure. We’re talking Sweeny Todd here, not Nicky Clarke.

Tools for the job:

You’ll need a pruning saw for any serious branch work, a pair of sharp pruners for smaller twigs and a pair of decent loppers for medium sized branches. When choosing the latter, go for a pair of cross cut loppers like these. Anvil loppers are super for crunching through dead wood but will leave living limbs mangled and at the mercy of diseases, and you really want to be making the cleanest cuts possible.

Points to remember:

• When pruning, you should be looking to sculpt the tree into a goblet shape – one that has a nice, open middle to allow sunlight in through the canopy to ripen and colour the fruit.

• Begin by removing any dead or diseased branches with your pruning saw. Don’t bother smearing any tree paint over the wounds to help with the healing process – as long as you cut is nice and flush against the leading branch it will bark over naturally without any man-made interference.

• Look for and remove any branches that cross each other and remove any over crowded spurs

• If your tree has reached the desired height, cut back any new growth at the ends of the branches by around 2/3rds. Leave young laterals to develop fruit buds.

• If you want to encourage a stumpy tree to grow taller, leave leaders and hack back any lateral branches.

Afterwards, (as any half decent barber will tell you), clean your equipment thoroughly and if required, smooth out any burrs on your pruner blades with a whetstone. Finally, clean off any resin residue with WD40 and a healthy squirt of elbow grease.

* I often talk to my trees whilst pruning, just like an intrusive hairdresser. “Would sir like a bit more off the sides? Where is sir going on holiday this year? Would sir like something for the weekend?”…That kind of stuff. 

We obtained our pruning tools from Homebase. Look see, here.
(Note: Homebase kindly provided the tools for review. Hand, ring and collection of twigs, models own)

 

The post Winter pruning appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2018/02/winter-pruning/

Talisker 10 Year Old whisky – the taste of Skye

Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.

This is the first verse of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, sung to the tune of popular Scottish folk number ‘Skye Boat Song’, about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie to the Isle of Skye following his defeat at Culloden. Skye was an island familiar to Stevenson from his own nautical travels around Scotland, although he wasn’t much impressed, once writing to his friend Fanny Sitwell “Pictures of Skye enclosed. They look well enough on paper, but in reality they are hatefully bleak and cold: they make my heart sick”* But the island did have at least one redeeming feature for the author: Talisker whisky, which he declared as his favourite among “The king o’ drinks.”

Talisker 10 year old

The Talisker distillery has been in operation since 1835 and is the oldest and most famous of the island’s whisky makers. Peering across the craggy coastline, the company makes much of its proximity to the sea, producing whiskies with names such as ‘Storm’ and ‘Neist Point’, and using the ocean landscape prominently in marketing and packaging.

We’re highlighting the distillery’s most familiar bottle, Talisker’s 10 year old single malt, a whisky that’s the ideal starting point for anyone looking to venture into smoked whisky territory.

Tasting notes

Sidle your nose up to the rim of your whisky tumbler and you’ll instantly notice that this is a peated whisky. But it’s not one to fear for peat virgins. The first sip is pleasantly sweet with a good grainy character giving it some richness. Before a lovely dry, spicy finish kicks in, the peat has wafted into the scene, steadily building an intensity with every sip so that by the time you’ve finished your first dram you’re fully immersed in the smoke-experience without any bother at all.

For drinkers who think this might still be too much smoke to start out on, Talisker Skye is a similar whisky with the peat turned down, while the aforementioned Talisker Storm pushes in the opposite direction, with an increased intensity of peat for your palette.

Visit the distillery

For anyone following in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie and Robert Louis Stevenson and finding themselves on Skye, then a tour of the distillery will provide you with a slice of the island’s history (and, of course, a taste of the whisky).

There are currently three tours available: the Talisker Classic Distillery Tour is a mere £10 and lasts for 45 minutes; Talisker Flight at £25 is 1 hour 30 minutes and finishes with “an informal tasting of several expressions of Talisker Single Malt”; and the Talisker Tasting Tour is a 2 hour in-depth tour with a tutored tasting of 5 expressions of Talisker, costing £40. Check the website for opening times.

Fascinating fact

Talisker gets its name from Talisker House, historical home of the Clan Macleod, although the distillery is situated some five miles away at Carbost, Loch Harport. The area is notable for the presence of two rare species of Zygaenidae moths, the Talisker burnet moth and what sounds like the hardest moth to spot, the transparent burnet moth.

Grab yourself a bottle of Talisker 10 at The Whisky Exchange

*From The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, ed. by Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew, vol ii [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995]

The post Talisker 10 Year Old whisky – the taste of Skye appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2018/02/talisker-10-year-old-whisky-review-skye/

The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve

The 25th of January is a highlight of the Scottish social calendar, a time when any Scot worthy of their tartan troosers will gather to celebrate the birthday of their most revered national poet, Robert Burns.

Burns Night supper celebrations follow a scripted order, passed down through generations of literature loving Scots – the main thrust of it being poetry recitals and the ceremonial stabbing of bags of offal, interspersed with various boozy toasts. The evenings celebrations inevitably end with a giant chaotic ceilidh, which may or may not include bagpiping.

As you’d expect, the prefered booze on this occasion is the single malt, which makes this the perfect occasion for us to introduce our latest regular…Whisky Wednesday!

Granted, today is Monday, but after we post this one, they’ll appear on Wednesday. Not every Wednesday though… sometimes we might forget or not be bothered. But anyway, kicking off the series is one of our favorites…

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The Glenlivet Founders Reserve

The lowdown
Situated on the northerly, wind-lashed edge of the Cairngorms, the Glenlivet Distillery has been cranking out single malts since its inception in 1824. Many whisky aficionados consider its output to have set the standard for Speyside-style whisky, and who are we to argue? Our pals over the pond are certainly partial to a glass of glen – it’s the number one selling brand in the USA.

Founder’s Reserve is Glenlivets unaged ‘entry level’ whisky.

Tasting notes
In classic Speyside style, this pale golden whisky has a creamy and fruity character which errs on the sweet side. Unplug the bottle and take a good old sniff – you’ll be greeted with delicate hints of candied orange. There’s a whiff of toffee apple in there too. On taste, it offers up sweet and fruity mouthfuls, with hints toffee and chocolates. Finish is long, smooth and toffee-tasting.

Visit the distillery
It’s remote. As Brand Ambassador Ian Logan puts it, “If you find us by accident, you’re lost”. Unfortunately, there is no public transport that runs past the distillery, so unless you relish a ten-hour hike over the Cairngorms from Aviemore train station, you’d better clamber into a car. The Glenlivet Distillery is located ten miles from Tomintoul, on the B9008. Punch this postcode into your satnav and hope for the best.

If you actually manage to locate the place, you might as well take a tour. Distillery tours come in a variety of guises, from a £10 1 1/2 hr tour, to a £60 extravaganza which includes a tutored tasting and a complimentary whisky gift. There’s also the option to bound gleefully amongst the rugged Speyside scenery. Pick up a map from the visitors centre and head out amongst the heather on one of three signposted routes. Stout shoes and midge repellent are advisable.

Fascinating fact
George Smith – the founding father of Glenlivet – started out as a moonshiner who, in 1824, turned legit after obtaining the first licence ever granted to legally distill whisky. This didn’t go down too well with his illicit booze making compadres, so poor old George had to spend the following years sporting a pair of pistols in his trousers to protect himself and his family from jealous, violent repercussions.

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Buy the booze
Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve
Price £28 for 700ml, 40% ABV
Buy here

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BONUS COCKTAIL RECIPE!
We prefer to imbibe our whisky neat to be honest, but if you fancy mixing it up, here’s a bonny recipe we’ve wrestled from Glenlivets whisky-based cocktail collection.

The Founder’s Reserve Auld Fashioned

Ingredients:
3 dashes bitters
3 oz. The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve
1 tsp. water
1 sugar cube
1 orange peel twist
1 maraschino cherry

Directions:
In a rocks glass, muddle the bitters and water into the sugar cube with a teaspoon or wooden muddler. Fill with ice cubes and add The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve. Garnish with an orange peel and maraschino cherry.

 

The post The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2018/01/glenlivet-founders-reserve/

How to grow mistletoe

If, like me*, you find the annual dismantling of the decorations a joyous occasion and can barely contain your glee at the sight of tinsel–flecked boxes of Christmas junk disappearing back into the attic for another year, just pause a moment before flinging out that wilting bunch of mistletoe. You probably paid a princely sum for that clump of greenery, right? With your cheeks rosy from Christmas cheer, your wallet probably flopped open all too easily and were only too pleased to fling your hard earned dosh in the direction of that gurning mistletoe merchant who saw you coming.

Mistletoe** grows on trees! Yes! Literally! And although it’s naturally spread by the seed-laden dung squitted out from the backsides of our avian chums, it’s possible to impregnate your own tree with very little faff. 

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on Lime trees, Poplar, and has a particular penchant for old apple trees. We’ve ogled many a magnificent bush on apple scrumping missions*** to some of the older Somerset orchards on our books, where mistletoe can be seen dangling amongst the bows like the unkempt barnet of Brian May.

Simply pluck the berries off the foliage of your mistletoe sprig and pummel them into a paste with your fists. Take said paste and smear it over the joints of your chosen tree as if you were basting a particularly knobbly chicken****. Try and smear your seed as high as you can, so your mistletoe commands maximum sunlight when it gets going. Some folks suggest cutting into the bark of the tree to create a flap under which to stuff your berry mush, but my mistletoe managed to germinated just by basting a particularly gnarly armpit of my old apple tree.  

But don’t pucker up just yet – mistletoe germination can be rather hit or miss, especially if you are using the underdeveloped berries from a plant that was entwined within a Christmas wreath. It’s still worth a punt though, and be aware that it can take up to five years for those distinctive white berries to develop. The plant pictured below is two years old. If the amount of mistletoe foliage is proportionate to the amount of passion conducted underneath, then we are currently looking at suggestive winks and warm handshakes, rather than lusty clinches. But hey, it’s a start..

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* Massive Christmas Grinch

** Mistletoe fact: Its name comes from the Anglo Saxon words Mistel (dung) and tan (stick). Or Chelsea FC circa: 2007, if your name is Jorge Valdano.

*** And when we say ‘scrumping’ we of course mean permitted visits to orchards to merrily gather apples in wicker baskets. Not stealthy twilight orchard raids involving sacks, balaclavas and the unmistakable screech from the wheels of a speeding Ford Focus. 

**** Or goose

 

The post How to grow mistletoe appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-grow-mistletoe/

What type of skip should I use for home renovation?

Whether you’ve bought an older property that you intend to renovate, or you’ve got big plans for the property you’re currently in, there are numerous challenges that face you. The first thing to do is make sure you know why you’re renovating and what you hope to get out of it after all the hard work.

Why renovate your house?

To extend your living space. Some people aren’t keen on leaving their home when they need more space, so it makes sense to simply extend what they already have. This involves taking out walls, extending roof spaces and building new spaces – it could also involve the transformation of unused areas such as cellars and garages.

For greater efficiency. Technology is always advancing, but your home is stood still once built. In as little as a decade your heating, electrics and insulation could be outdated. This is particularly a problem for homes which are now several decades old, using old wiring, pipes and windows. Renovating these aspects of your home can mean taking up floors, cutting out sections of walls and pulling out old items like radiators, boilers and windows to make room for new ones – all in the name of a more comfortable home with lower bills.

Sprucing up the exterior. While the inside of your home might be perfect, some people like to go one step further and update the exterior of their home. Often involving masonry work for the aesthetics of the structure itself, but it might also involve more practical adaptations, such as those related to access and guttering.

Repairs and restoration. Has your home been damaged recently? Or maybe it’s suffered decades of wear and tear? The repair and restoration of your interior is another reason to renovate. Update your decor throughout or just tackle damaged units, fixtures and fittings. The phrase “out with the old, in with the new” has never been more appropriate here.

Which skip is best for a house renovation?

When you’re renovating your home, it’s likely that you’ll be generating a lot of waste – whether it’s old furniture and fixtures or general construction rubble. You could pile it all in your car and make multiple trips to a local authority site, but this could double the amount of time spent on the renovations and it really isn’t ideal for any vehicle because of the mess and the heavy loads.

The easier way to take care of your waste is to use a skip hire service from a licensed waste carrier. But which skip is best for your house renovations? Let’s take a look at the best available options:

7 yard – A small, but robust skip, this is the ideal size for any small building or garden projects, including small home extensions which require the clearance of rubble and other materials.

12 yard – If you think you’re going to be undertaking a bigger renovation – or numerous projects around the house – a 12 yard skip will allow for general mixed waste in a much larger quantity.

Enclosed – Both 7 and 12 yard skips can come as enclosed units, something which you might want to consider if you want to avoid other people using your skip or to deter fly tippers dumping their waste.

Remember, once you’ve filled a skip you can always order another, so don’t let the skip overflow or, worse, attempt to get rid of additional waste by fly tipping! Organising skip hire has never been easier and it means you can concentrate on getting your house renovations completed.

The post What type of skip should I use for home renovation? appeared first on UK Home Improvement Blog.

from UK Home Improvement Blog http://www.ukhomeimprovement.co.uk/what-type-of-skip-should-i-use/

Win a set of Burgon and Ball Kneelo knee pads!

Poor old Nick’s knees have been taking a right old beating of late. If it’s not damage caused by crawling around after his one year old son in an attempt to stop inquisitive fingers delving into electrical sockets, his poor patellas have been hammered mercilessly by the endless crouching down required to clean up after his two incontinent greyhounds.

There’s no wonder his knees clack like castanets when he waddles down the allotment path, so this year I’ll be giving him the gift of knee protection, courtesy of Burgon and Ball. Kneelo knee pads incorporate memory foam technology and deliver optimal flexibility right where it counts, making them perfectly suited for gardening, DIY duties and other knee-bound household tasks. Quite simply, if you own a set of knees, you need a pair of these.

And it’s not just Nick who will be squealing with delight on Christmas morn , I’ve managed to grapple FIVE PAIRS of Kneelo pads off the folks at Burgon & Ball to give away to five lucky winners of this ridiculously easy-to-enter prize draw.

How to win

To stand with a chance of winning, simply log into Twitter, make sure you are following @thirstygardener and @burgonandball, and retweet our Burgon & Ball knee pad competition tweet with the hashtag #Ikneedthese

All names successfully completing the criteria above will go into into our ‘Santa sack-o-fun’, and the winners will be picked out randomly on Wednesday 13th December 2017.

Check the Ts&Cs below, stroke your kneecaps in anticipation and GET TWEETING!

Terms and conditions Entries must be submitted by midnight Tuesday 12th December 2017. The winner will be selected at random from all entries fulfilling the criteria as stated above. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The winner will be drawn at random from all entries received by the closing date. Should the Promoter be unable to contact the winners or should the winners be unable to accept the prizes, the Promoter reserves the right to award the prizes to an alternative winner, drawn in accordance with these terms and conditions. Two Thirsty Gardeners are responsible for the first part of the promotion, which is the publication and adjudication of the prize draw. All other facilities connected with the provision of the prize are the responsibility of Burgon & Ball

 

 

 

To see more Burgon & Ball products, go HERE

 

The post Win a set of Burgon and Ball Kneelo knee pads! appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/12/win-set-burgon-ball-kneelo-knee-pads/

Ding Dong! It’s our digging and swigging Christmas gift guide 2017

We know how Christmas gift buying works these days. You vow to get started early, making considered choices for all your friends and family, then realise you can’t be bothered with all that brain-sapping thought and ask Google Claus to do the work for you. So, for our loyal readers and those of you who have hit the search button on ‘Christmas + Gift + Booze + Garden’, here are some suggestions.

You’ll find a mix of things we’ve discovered throughout the year along with some superb treats from some of our digging and swigging chums.

And if this lot doesn’t fully satisfy you, then we’ll be adding some more in the run up to Christmas, so come back later and have another goosey-goosey- ganders.

Craft Metropolis Box of 12 Beers

Price £36
A trip to London is always a treat as it gives us the opportunity to sneak off to the pub and guzzle a load of the latest London beers. Which might be why we like Craft Metropolis beer boxes so much – they only contain beers sourced from the capital, meaning each selection contains otherwise hard-to-find beers, rather than the more common nationwide brews filling other boxes. Their Christmas dozen includes bottles and cans from personal favourites Kew Brewery, Signature Brew and Anspach & Hobday with an impressive range of styles to savour. Turn your living room into a great London boozer…

SAVE MONEY! Christmas bonus!
Because Craft Metropolis like us so much they’ve agreed to knock £4 off the price of their Christmas box. It’s £40 for most people. Click the link below and you’ll be able to get it for £36. Bargain!
Available from CraftMetropolis

Hepple Gin

Price £36.55
A few years ago we interviewed top chef Valentine Warner for this site, in which he revealed his plans for a new gin distillery in Northumberland. Hepple distillery is now up and running, producing one of the best new gins on the market. The local juniper shines like few other gins, showing off their complex bitter and fruity flavours, and the drink is lifted with a few refreshing flourishes of citrus. Hepple is also doing good things through a sustainable juniper propagation programme, so if you know a gin fan this is a product well worth investigating.

Available from The Whisky Exchange

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Membership

Price from £65
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society like whisky. They’ve assembled the world’s biggest collection of single barrel whiskies, containing some of the highest quality boozes you could wish for, and nurtured them in their vaults before popping them into bottles and sharing the goods with their members. Not many people get to taste these special treats, so the gift of membership opens up a whole world of taste exclusivity for you gleeful recipient (and if you don’t know what their whisky taste might be, they’ve even worked out a way to discover everyone’s taste profile).

Available from SMWS. Membership starts at £65, with other options available that include special gift-worthy extras (such as the membership and taster box for £95). 

It’s our digging and swigging home made booze book!

For the ultimate digging and swigging gift there’s always our book, Brew it Yourself. It’s rammed full with ace booze recipes – from beers, ciders and wines to more curious cocktails and infusions – many of them using home grown ingredients. And don’t just take our word for its goodness – take a look at the five star reviews on Amazon for authentic tales of boozy glee.

Available from Amazon

 

 

Somerset Cider Apple Poster

And whilst we’re on an undignified, egotistic roll of self promotion, allow us to recommend this splendid apple poster, designed by Nick’s very own gnarled mouse-hand. It’s a typographic apple, beautifully constructed using the names of Somerset cider varieties. Ideal for bathrooms, sheds, kitchens and outhouses and just the ticket for covering up unsightly stains on walls.

It costs a mere £10 (including postage) and you can buy it from our newly opened Etsy shop, right HERE.

 

Bosch EasyCut 12

Price £130

Here’s a sight for saw eyes – the ideal prezzie for folks who like to saw stuff up via the power of lithium-ion batteries. Use it like a cordless jigsaw for sawing sheets of wood, or wield it like a powerful mini-chainsaw and prune branches like a boss. Gift it for Christmas – its first task will be to dismember the sad, threadbare branches of a post-Christmas spruce.

Available from Amazon

Tamdhu 10 Year Old

Price £34.95

Whisky galore! We’re big fans of Tamdhu’s malty mashups here at Thirsty HQ – it’s difficult to choose our fave, but if we had our arms twisted (and faces pushed aggressively against the shed door) we’d like to find Tamdhu’s sherry casked 10 year old dangling in our festive stocking on Christmas morn. It’s everything you’d want from a Speyside – fresh oak and cinnamon on the nose and bursting with fruits and spices. Go grab a bottle, Christmas elves…

Bag one here…

Burgon and Ball planters

Price from £7.99

Houseplants are HOT SHIZZ at the moment, so go bag yourselves one of these handsome Burgon and Ball pots and get wrapping. Dangle the ropey one (pictured left) from a bathroom ceiling and lob in a nepenthes ventrata, (which we have been reliably informed will thrive in humid, steamy conditions) or cram a classic Aloe succulent into the terracotta pot (pictured right) and place it for all to see. For the purposes of producing suitably festive photographs, we stuffed ours with fairy lights.

Available from Burgon and Ball 

RHS Annual Membership

Nothing says ‘ I haven’t given much thought to your Christmas gift’ as a papery voucher stuffed into an envelope. However, watch initial disappointment evaporate from their face as they rip open a splendid RHS Membership. Offering up RHS garden entry, access to shows and expert plant advice, it’s a no-brainer gift for the hort lover in your life.

A one year gift membership costs £59 and includes six luxury postcards, two packets of seeds (EU only) and vouchers for a free RHS tote bag and £5 to spend at RHS Gardens.

Order here. Now.

Proper Job Christmas Jumper

Price £21.95
In recent years the Christmas jumper has gone from naff gift no-one wants to must have fashion accessory. The naffer the better. This year, with your generosity, your best beer drinking buddy can not only parade around in one of the cheesiest jumpers we’ve ever seen, they can also earn beer-nous creds courtesy of the ‘Proper Job’ logo emblazened within the festive graphics. It’s one of the greatest beers money can buy (we’ve featured it as a beer of the week), from Cornish brewing stars St Austell, which we’re certain will be accompanying many Christmas dinners.

Available from St Austell Brewery

 

The post Ding Dong! It’s our digging and swigging Christmas gift guide 2017 appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-gift-guide-booze-gardening-beer-whisky-club-rhs-tool-book-poster/