Herb drying gift set

A fantastic gift idea for anyone who grows their own herbs (Or indeed wants to start)!
Reduced from £16.00 to £10.00 this boxed set includes a great antique look herb dryer to hang in your kitchen or potting shed, 3 x plant markers, 3 x packet of seeds (Rosemary, Thyme, Lavender) & 3 x explanation cards on how to dry herbs at the end of the growing season.

A herb dryer ensures that you always have home grown herbs to hand, even in the winter months!

This lovely gift set can be found in our 'Autumn offers' section @www.urbanedenboutique.co.uk 

A perfect autumn day

We had a lovely impromptu stop off today as we were driving home from Harrogate, at Ripley Castle, the sun was shinning & as we passed the sign we quickly ducked in for a cup of tea, we ended up wandering round the gardens, I have never been before & I was so impressed, it was a perfect autumn day which helps, the sun was shining and all of the warm autumnal colours were coming through on the trees, some of their oak trees are one thousand years old, the ancient woodland truly is magnificent.
The only problem was I didn't have the camera with me as the visit was unplanned but I did take some shots with my phone of the fantastic old greenhouses and the walled kitchen gardens, which were all so beautifully kept.

Entrance to the walled Gardens.























Im sure it all looks stunning in the summer time too as the grounds boast some of the largest herbaceous borders in Britain and with 700 years of the Ingilby family being in residence it all has a fascinating history too.

Electrics to green houses!!

Fantastic green houses.























We will be back, there was so much to see, including a dear park & a lakeside walk which we didn't have time to enjoy, to read all about the family history click HERE

Lots of new gardening goodies!

I have had a great day organising & photographing some new products for the boutique, I do not want to say the C word just yet so lets just call it the winter solstice for now, but we are getting ready for it none the less!!

We have some fantastic new products which are all eco friendly, & great gift ideas for the gardener in your life! Here are some examples below, also lots to come including lovely local hand made soaps.

Fab huge reel of twine with a pair of 1930's vintage scissors, this will look just as good on the kitchen dresser as it does in the potting shed & can be found in our 'Vintage' section HERE

Made in the UK

I have also just unpacked some lovely eco friendly hand care products for gardeners too, as one must keep the tools of the trade in good nick!

Start off with a hand scrub, both of our hand scrubs are designed to rub into dry hands to get the ingrained dirt off, then rinse.

The pump action scrub is very handy and ideal to leave by the kitchen sink, it is 200ml and has natural citrus oil & polymer scrub beads & can be found in the 'Potting Shed' section HERE

Made in the UK

Another of our hand scrubs is this large 500ml tub of orange bead hand scrub, perfect for the potting shed to scrub up before you get the kitchen in a mess (note to Col)! this fab scrub can be found in the 'Potting Shed' section HERE

Made in the UK

To use after the hand scrub we also have hack wax for the hands & barrier cream to protect & restore which can both be found HERE

Watch this space for more lovely gift ideas.......

Enamoured with enamel!

New to the boutique, these wonderfully individual vintage enamel items, there is a fine line with vintage enamel, it always looks at its best used & worn but you have to be careful that any bowls or jugs haven't gone into holes on the bottom, we always keep our eyes peeled for the good quality vintage items, and just love the look of these finds (with no holes)!
 We are really pleased with the large vintage enamel bowl & bucket & think they would be fab used as an extra large ice bucket filled with bottled beer for a party, just as handy though for harvesting all those fantastic autumn fruits! They can both be found HERE !

Another favourite is this old enamel jug, the colour is so unusual, it is a real pillar box red and will look fantastic in a kitchen filled with contrasting flowers.

Just add rain!

I was sat this morning flicking through a lovely book about 'seed bombs' whilst I had my first cuppa of the day, it is a beautifully presented & illustrated book on how to make 'seed bombs', with a little background on the writer Josie Jeffrey, who has a great approach to nature, and urban life.

 Seed bombs are getting more & more popular & you can either make your own from scratch or buy kits with everything you need, they have become more popular since guerrilla gardening has been talked about more in the press (Basically people getting together to make waste land & neglected urban areas more of a haven for wild life, & much more pleasant to look at!)

I think it is a great idea, and what a fantastic thing to make with kids while they are on their school holidays, not only will they be learning about seeds & helping to grow plants but they will have the added bonus of getting their hands dirty, and for once it is a pastime where the rain actually helps things along a little & as the rain seems to be around a fair bit these summer holidays we may as well embrace it!

There is a little film to watch which Josie has made & her book can be found on amazon for £8.99.

Tools of the trade

We are very excited with our latest arrival at the boutique, these great Sophie Conran tools have arrived & we are so pleased with them, the quality is fantastic & they come beautifully presented too.

Sophie has worked with Burgon & Ball, who still manufacture their products here in the UK, to create the collection of tools.....

"As a gardener I have always dreamed of creating a range of garden tools and accessories. I beleive that tools should be functional and beautiful, and make each job a pleasure.

One of the problems I face as a women when gardening is that my hands are generally too small for standard tools. My designs specifically address this issue and I hope will add to the joy of gardening".

The better the tools, the easier the job."   Sophie Conran

The collection is made up of seven tools, trowel, fork, compost scoop, secateurs, sieve, dibber & weeder & can be found HERE

New landscaping website

Our lovely new landscaping website went live yesterday, we will be adding to it over the coming months, mainly images of Cols work which we need to get caught up on.
www.urbanedenlandscaping.co.uk

He is out & about today doing maintenance work for a customer with 12 acres of garden so he'll be in need of a good hearty meal tonight!! Good job the allotment is producing lots of spinach at the moment!