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Can anyone recommend best places in the Skipton and Keighley area to forage elderberries? I'm in that area in about 10 days time with the sole purpose of taking cuttings and collecting berries from some of the more prolific bushes. A bit of background. There are no UK sourced high yielding...

So far my seedlings seem to be quite happy in small/ 3 inch pots, in shade, sitting on capillary matting. I thought I'd have more trouble with pale, stretched out growth. I wonder if what is working for me is that this is not dissimilar to the natural experience of young trees - germinating...

Thanks for the encouragement. Now, my mum has always liked plants and gardens and I envy her mixed south facing border. She has a whole load of potted plants she nurtures in her conservatory. She recently got into caring for "weeds" in those pots as she found them interesting to watch grow...

I've recently found the challenge of bonsai interesting. It started when someone gave me an off-the-shelf kit for a present. Getting the provided seeds prepared to germinate (warmth and cold periods for some) got me committed to this way of raising new baby trees. Then I went off the idea of...

Hi all, I've purchased my tickets and I'll be there Friday 30th for 4 days! Workshops or no workshops I'm aiming to bring some home made wine samples and hope others will bring theirs along too and we can work out how to safely share a tasting or two.

On my allotment I have found a double wild rose. I suppose it could be a cross with a garden one, but seems like a wild rose in all other respects.

I have found a number of white fruiting elderberries. Rare in most locations, although I think there is a pattern of seeing them around canals - suggesting they were selected by our ancestors working the canals.

Around me the bluebells in the woods are a bit of a mixture with traits clearly of some cultivated as well as wild bluebells. So white and pink are not uncommon. I did see some wild "pink bluebells" in a friend's woods a while back. Turned out to be orchids. Clearly I needed to put my...

In your exercise I hope you are using the wild places out there. When you are out there look for the unusual individual plant - due to genetics and not environment, not the garden/ commercial varieties. Take a photo and share. Common things to see are - variegation in the leaf colour -...

One of my regular haunts is my allotment. In order to keep up fire lighting skills I run a rule - that I should only use things found there to light a fire. Way back when I started out I would try to do bow drill and make a cord from the stems of ragwort and make up the other bits from found...

You seem to have stumped us there. I suspect we are all too young to remember that! Anyway, the my best cordages for friction fire are more about how I use them than the material. With a natural fibre you can keep it going for many attempts if you use multiple turns around the spindle, and...

On the export front I am sure we can give you a price and get it to you. And the "pure" is now in stock. Contact us through the website www.renegadeandlongton.com . Every bush (unless cloned as a cutting) will be genetically unique. With over 50 flavour chemicals identified and each bush...

Very good points. I am in fact working to 200kg per acre estimate. I may have slipped a decimal point somewhere. I know a site of about 10 cultivated acres with a yield of 2000kg. Something like 4 flower heads to the bottle.

Mike, you clearly know the score with sparkling wines.

Hi Janne, Definitely yummy and interesting. To see the commercial wing of this you might like to visit www.renegadeandlongton.com . We went commercial in 2016 with first batches now for sale of 2 versions of wild sourced elderflower champagne. The journey started many years ago from my...

Hi Dave, Definitely could be as hedges. Only stipulation is that trimming back would need to not start till the flowering was finished for the year - about mid to late June.

The reason for growing rather than just harvesting wild is that the varieties have been selected for unique characteristics.

Hi, I would be interested to talk to anyone who would be in a position to grow a few acres of elderberries. This is for an elderflower champagne!

How about we make a range of bushcraft teas available? I've got a jar of sycamore leaf tea that is surprisingly good. I may have a moment to make some bramble tip tea that is my current favourite. Bushcraft teas can be made out of many non toxic plants, either dried or fresh leaves mostly...

Hi George, Excellent.