Morris & Co. - Gardening Gloves Kit

After spending so much time indoors over the winter – we’re happy to be welcoming in the spring here at The Amazing Blog and we have to confess to a small gardening habit. We think that there’s nothing better than reconnecting with the earth and getting ‘down and dirty’ ready to plant our spring vegetables and bulbs.  

In fact, it couldn’t be better timing for us to receive Morris & Co Gardening Gloves Kit sent to us by Heathcote & Ivory from their new range here. Our regular readers may remember that we’re big fans of Heathcote & Ivory products, or if you are new to us, you can find all our posts about them here.

Morris & Co. Gardening Gloves Kit is a perfect gift set for any gardener. It features a pair of lightweight fabric adjustable gloves and Shea Butter Hand Cream. We found the gloves extremely practical for gardening either in or outdoors. They certainly take their gardener’s handcare to the next level, the cream has a dreamy combination for fragrances with honeysuckle, rose and jasmine. All enriched with shea butter, pink clay, vitamin E, jojoba, evening primrose and macadamia oils. This product has a thick and creamy texture and is sure to turn the roughest skin into the soft, smooth and velvety hands. If you or anyone you know would like this Gardening Gloves Kit for only £25.00, see here.

James Wong's Homegrown Revolution

Gardening is something my mum's always been interested in; when I was a little girl she would spend two Sundays a month looking after her plants and our neighbours' too. I've never been too fussed about plants and gardening - the only thing I know for sure about the subject is that sunflowers are my favourite plant and that if I could, I'd love to grow strawberries in my imaginary backyard. When I came across with James Wong's Homegrown Revolution, I decided to give the whole gardening world a go; as I was sure it wasn't as boring as I pictured it in my head. The popularity of "growing your own" has never been higher, but strangely the actual production seems to be stuck in time; with spuds, swedes and sprouts as the classic choices. None of the gardening books or allotment starter kits suggest growing much that isn't available in the same quality and at a far cheaper price in the supermarkets. James Wong suggests us to grow and fill our gardens with exciting things, such as fruit and veg that cost a fortune in the shops but that we can grow easily and in our unpredictable English climate.

James Wong has spent the last two years growing 120 edibles in his own garden, without the help of greenhouses or propagators. The experiment took place during two of the poorest summers and harshest winters on record, yet most of the crops were far easier to grow and gave much higher yields than traditional fare. All the edibles tested in the book have been double-tested personally by James and can be grown in any garden with great success.

James Wong's Homegrown Revolution features instructions on planting, care, harvesting and eating. It also contains Jame's 10 Commandments for the maximum yield with the minimum work recipe ideas for many of the fruit and veg featured. At The Amazing Blog we've enjoyed very much James Wong's book - gardening lovers will love it and people like me who don't really mind about it will find it interesting for sure.

James Wong's Homegrown Revolution is published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and it retails at £20, the ebook at £10.99.

Green Fingers

The sunshine this week has left everyone with a distinct summer feeling; evenings spent in beer gardens, picnics in the park and afternoon BBQs suddenly no longer seem like a distant dream. And as always, at the beginning of a sunshine spell we all want to spend as much time outside as possible. So in the name of outdoor pursuits, The Amazing Blog has decided to delve further into the world of gardening, something we previously knew little about.

Thanks to My Garden School, however, that's about to change. The world's first online gardening school, My Garden School offers four-week long courses, with video tutorials delivered weekly and course notes and asignments that are assessed by your personal tutors. Pupils also get to chat to both their tutors and fellow classmates online in 'virtual classroom', thus being given the opportunity to discuss and ask any questions they might have.

My Garden School boasts the creme de le creme of gardeners; all the tutors are leading garden experts - they have all written gardening books, have their own horticultural businesses and some are editors of gardening magazines, thus you can be assured that you really will be learning from the very best in the business.

The courses cover all aspects of gardening, from landscape design to growing vegetables and herbs and garden photography; so whatever skill you're after, it's guaranteed you'll learn it with this fabulous online course. They have recently signed Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins for a course on Gardening For Kids, so the whole family can get involved. We'll certainly be giving it a go here at The Amazing Blog - why don't you join in too and find your inner green fingers?!