https://pinewoodpages.com/Notes from a small garden and the pine woods behind it.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/late-tomatoes/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/late-tomatoes/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 19:30:00 +0000The last of the tomatoes came in this week. The cherry ones kept going long after the big ones gave up. Next year they get the sunny corner by the fence again, and fewer plants, more space between them.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/pine-needle-mulch/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/pine-needle-mulch/Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:30:00 +0000Tried pine needles as mulch around the strawberries. They stay loose, let the rain through and the slugs seem to dislike them. No sign of the soil turning sour so far, which is the usual warning, and from what I read it's mostly a myth for needles that are already brown.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/blackcurrant-jam/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/blackcurrant-jam/Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:30:00 +0000The blackcurrant bush finally earned its place this year. About 1,5 kg off one bush, which is a lot of stalks to pick off.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/woodpecker/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/woodpecker/Sun, 07 Jun 2026 19:30:00 +0000There's a great spotted woodpecker that has been working on the dead pine near the clearing. You hear it long before you see it. Today it let me get within about fifteen metres before it moved round to the other side of the trunk, which they always do, as if that makes them invisible.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/seed-potatoes/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/seed-potatoes/Sat, 28 Mar 2026 19:30:00 +0000The seed potatoes are sitting in egg boxes on the kitchen windowsill, chitting. Short green shoots after two weeks, which is what you want: sturdy and dark, not long and pale.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/pine-needle-tea/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/pine-needle-tea/Sun, 15 Feb 2026 19:30:00 +0000Someone at work mentioned pine needle tea and said it was full of vitamin C. I tried it. Fresh young needles from a pine I know well (not yew, not anything I'm unsure of), chopped, steeped in hot but not boiling water for ten minutes.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/snow-on-the-pines/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/snow-on-the-pines/Sun, 11 Jan 2026 19:30:00 +0000First proper snow of the winter. Went out before breakfast while it was still falling. The woods are completely different in snow, quieter, and you can see exactly who has been along the path before you: a fox, something small with a lot of feet, and one person in very large boots.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/mushroom-season/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/mushroom-season/Sun, 26 Oct 2025 19:30:00 +0000The woods are full of mushrooms after the rain last week. I don't pick them. I know just enough to know I don't know enough, and the guide book makes it very clear how small the differences can be.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/green-tomato-chutney/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/green-tomato-chutney/Sun, 14 Sep 2025 19:30:00 +0000The tomatoes that won't ripen before the cold get turned into chutney. This is roughly what I did, from memory and a recipe card with most of the measurements smudged.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/too-many-courgettes/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/too-many-courgettes/Thu, 21 Aug 2025 19:30:00 +0000Every year someone warns you that two courgette plants is plenty, and every year you plant four anyway. I planted four.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/first-strawberries/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/first-strawberries/Tue, 03 Jun 2025 19:30:00 +0000Six strawberries. Small, uneven, one with a slug bite. Best thing I have eaten all year.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/long-loop/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/long-loop/Sun, 18 May 2025 19:30:00 +0000Found a longer walk this morning. Instead of turning back at the clearing I followed the forestry track up the ridge and came down on the far side by the old quarry. About an hour at an easy pace, maybe a bit more if you stop as often as I do.https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/raised-bed/https://pinewoodpages.com/notes/raised-bed/Sat, 12 Apr 2025 19:30:00 +0000Three springs of saying I would, and this weekend it happened. The bed is made from the old pine planks that were stacked behind the shed since we moved in. Some were too far gone, but there was enough for a frame about 2,4 m by 1,2 m and three boards high.