A gateway to composting in small spaces — With our population growing worldwide, and the ongoing increase in the number of people living in urban areas, finding sustainable ways to use our green waste is becoming an increasingly widespread challenge. The good news is that there are a range of different ways we can reduce our green waste…

Enjoy a diversity and abundance of fresh garden produce — When fresh produce is grown in a commercial setting, they are often grown as monocultures, meaning that one specific type of fruit or vegetable is grown alone in straight rows while striving for a uniform and aesthetically perfect crop. However, this approach can be distinctly unsatisfying in the home garden…

Supercharge your cooking with home-grown herbs — One of the mainstays of Mediterranean cooking, basil is a highly versatile herb that has a range of culinary uses in many different cuisines. For the freshest herbs with the shortest distance from the plant to the cooking pot, growing your own makes all the difference. …

A summer stroll along the Cape Peninsula’s western coastline — With Cape Town’s city centre under the iconic shadow of the peaks of Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak, and Lion’s Head, few realise that these are just the start of the rugged Cape Peninsula mountain chain. With its fynbos clad sandstone and granite slopes, the mountains of Table Mountain National Park…

Enjoy the classic summer desert of home grown strawberries and cream — After a short trip to visit family in the UK, I am back in South Africa and the summer berry season is in full swing in the Cape. …

And other summer nature notes from South Africa’s Cape Peninsula — “There’s a snake… in the air vent! It’s a boomslang!” Three generations of the same family, from grandmother to grandson, were standing terrified in the street outside their home. This was the moment that I knew my lunchtime walk might be a little unusual. Summer is in full swing in…

Exploring an ancient woodland in Dorset, England — I recently took the long journey back from my home in Cape Town to visit family in England. It was my first English autumn in many years, which I spent in rural Dorset. It was a fleeting trip, leaving the howling southeaster winds of early summer in the Cape for…

Hello darkness my old friend — It is early evening in our corner of Cape Town’s southern Peninsula, in South Africa at the southwestern tip of the African continent before reaching the Atlantic Ocean beyond. I am busy writing, while the kettle is perched outside on my camping stove in the garden. …

A versatile harvest from your own backyard — As the warmth of summer reaches full swing, there are few things that epitomise home grown produce more than enjoying delicious tomatoes harvested fresh from the vine. Having been conditioned to the relative uniformity of supermarket produce, often few of us realise the extraordinary diversity of tomato varieties that are…