Haxnicks Fruit Cage Five Star Review

Hello Gardeners.

Just a quick boast from a proud Grandpa.. look out for our fruit cages featured in the June issue of Kitchen Garden Magazine this month. I am proud to say that they received an overall five star verdict from the grow-your-own experts in the KG team.

Round Fruit Cage

It can be a bit of a chore keeping birds and animals away from your precious crops, involving a tangle of netting and poles, but hopefully we have made it a little easier for you.  All our Fruit Cages come with helpful instructions telling you how to put them together. The netting fits neatly over the top and because we are so nice we also give you the pegs to keep it all in place. 

Grow Cage

We have also added to the range with our new Grow Cage which is perfect for protecting precious veg from all manner of invasions and in particular from cheeky chickens. 

Goodbye for now,
Grandpa Haxnicks

Rhubarb and Sweet Cicely

Hello Gardeners,

Here is a little known herb that is easy to grow and looks as pretty as it's name. Sweet Cicely has an aromatic aniseed like flavour and has been traditionally grown in cottage gardens to sweeten sharp fruits in tarts and puddings.

Sweet Cicely 

Sweet Cicely looks very similar to cow parsley with frond-like leaves and delicate white flowers and grows best in well drained soil in a sunny position. It can grow quite tall but can be cut right back after flowering.

The seeds can be used whole in cooking or as a ground spice, but I use the leaves for a little culinary trick taught to me by my mother. If you stew a handful of the leaves in the same pan as your rhubarb, removing them when the rhubarb is cooked through they will not only give a delicate aniseed flavour, but also cut through the acidity of the fruit. The tartness of stewed rhubarb that makes your teeth feel furry magically disappears. One grandchild of mine overheard me talking about this and asked to be shown the 'teeth fairy plant'! So that is what it's known as in our garden.

Goodbye for now,
Grandpa Haxnicks