Griffins Hill Retreat yoga and food blog

By Jane Gibb

With the excitement that spring has arrived and the garden is beginning to bloom, it’s easy to forget to stop and take a look at what’s really going on. 

Yet, that’s just what you should be doing to make the most of the early warmth and to wake up your garden. I have five tips to show you how.

1. 1. Remove spent leaves 

Take a closer look at the plants that die back over winter. Remove any dead leaves that may still be attached. Strawberries in particular need attention. Clean dead foliage from the base of the strawberry plant because this is the hiding place for snails and slugs and with warm weather on the way they’ll soon be feasting on the new growth.

By Jane Gibb

Every so often, life really takes it out of you. There’s nothing that restores my spirits and my body as quickly as a bowl of soup.

This easy and aromatic lentil soup will warm and calm you, while giving you a shot of restoring protein and energy.

The secret to getting the most from this soup lies in how you make it.

0 0 1 325 1857 Griffins Hill Retreat 15 4 2178 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-AU JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:JA;} The good thing about gardening is that there is always next year to try again – that’s how I felt after last summer, one of the most challenging I’ve face in term of crop production here in my organic kitchen garden. In January, Dunkeld was listed as the driest place in Victoria, which is amazing when you think if the usual contenders like the wind-blown Malley Wimmera region. Basically there was no meaningful rain between September 2012 and June 2013 – typically we would have had a good soaking month or so of rain in that time, with a nice downpour in January to quell the dust. This year,...