大象传媒

Now is a great time to start thinking about hiring a fruit press as the apple gluts will soon be with us. If you have at least one mature apple tree or can put your fruit together with your neighbours', it鈥檚 well worth making juice. You need about听10kg of apples to make five litres of juice.

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Monty鈥檚 press was hired from a community orchard in Bristol. There are many similar schemes around the country or there may be apple days held in your area where you can take fruit along to be pressed.

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Monty only made a small amount of juice so he was able to drink it fresh. If you need to store yours for more than a couple of days, try freezing it in plastic milk cartons or consider home pasteurising.

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More information on how to pasteurise at home from

Lots of flowers are edible, though they're not all delicious. Monty adds pinks, nasturtiums and marigolds to his salad but there are many more at Longmeadow he could be eating, including sunflowers, pansies, bergamot, roses and borage. Some of the best tasting flowers are dayliles which have waxy petals and sweet, nectar-filled bases.

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Many herbs have edible flowers that taste just as they do so if your herbs bolt, it鈥檚 good to know that you can still use them. Monty puts pretty purple chive heads in his salad bowl but basil, fennel, sage and chervil flowers are tasty too.

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Some flowers are poisonous so don鈥檛 eat anything you鈥檙e not confidently able to identify and are completely sure is edible.

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To check whether a plant may be poisonous in any way, check the on plants hazardous to human health. If you are in any doubt, don鈥檛 eat it.

St Athens
Chapel Close
Houghton
SO20 6LS

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Barry holds the National Collection of Rubus. His garden is open by appointment only. For more information visit his website:

Climbing beans are rapidly going to seed now but still make a great harvest. Leave green pods on the plants to dry but pick the brown ones now. You can either store these in their pods to husk later or, if pods are fully dry, shell them into an airtight container where the beans can be stored and used as seed for next year鈥檚 crop or as a useful ingredient in winter soups and stews.

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More about growing beans for storage:

It's time to start planting garlic and it's best to begin with elephant garlic as this benefits from an especially long growing season. Plant cloves at least twice their own depth and be generous with spacing to allow them to form good bulbs. Garlic needs a sunny position with well-drained soil. Once they鈥檙e in the ground they need very little care through the winter and will be ready to harvest in the middle of next year.

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Find out more about elephant garlic: