Flowers...you can eat...yeah!

I know that it is incredibly girly of me but I love the idea of eating flowers. I went to Saf, the vegetarian, organic, generally virtuous restaurant a few weeks ago for lunch (food was great, service was not but that's another story) and had, among other things, the 'greens and flowers' salad which made me even more excited about my nasturtium seedlings growing in the garden. I planted them from seed and they've been completely hassle free. The vivid orange flowers can be used in salads or added to vinaigrettes and they have a distinct spicy/peppery flavour as well as looking beautiful. They don't even need to be in the garden but can be grown in medium to large containers. A pack of seeds cost about a quid so in keeping with the current spirit of thrift and grow-your-own I would recommend adding this to your next list of things-to-do....

Recycle now....

Phase 1 of my recycling drive has finally kicked off with the arrival of a home composting bin and kitchen waste caddy. The most thrilling, yes thrilling, part of this arrival is that they together cost me £8, inlcuding delivery! When I decided I wanted to start composting in our small garden I looked into purchasing a composting bin and kitchen caddy from Ethical Superstore. The bin was going to cost around £45 and the caddy around £5. Before I actually ordered it though I, luckily, came across the Recycle Now website. After entering my postcode into the Composting section of the site I found that I could purchase a composting bin for £8 including delivery, plus a free kitchen caddy. I think it is great that councils are encouraging home composting, I just think they should spread the word a bit more. The difference between spending £50 and £8 is huge for most people and if we were all more aware of schemes like this we might take advantage of them.

Not only does composting reduce waste that eventually goes to landfills but home composting for a year can also save global warming gas emissions equivalent to the CO2 produced by a kettle used for an entire year or a washing machine for three months.

This 'It's easy to make your own compost' booklet is quite a useful source of information with a handy, simplified list of what you should and should not put in the composting bin.