On Thursday I took a little trip to Dublin for the evening thanks to Marks & Spencer Ireland, who invited me to taste test some of the Summer 2018 Food Hall range which will be appearing in stores very soon.

Whilst it’s backwards it begin with dessert, the most ‘kitsch’ and unusual products I spotted were from those ranges, so let me share those first.

The Ice Cream Toffees (below) are simply delicious, very sweet and very moreish.

The Sea Salt & Vinegar Caramels had to be the biggest ‘must try’ of the whole evening for me. I’d describe them as being like a salted caramel with a little bit of a kick. There’s definitely not a sour vinegar taste to them. Definitely one of those products I love M&S for, because I love trying new tastes and combinations and get so fed up of the same old pairings so anything crazy like this I always have to try out.

Ditto these, Milk Chocolate Truffles infused with Oak Matured Vintage Cider, but they get even more cool points by being packaged in miniature wooden barrels. These are perfect presents for cider connoisseurs, they are just terribly cute.

Lots more from the Sweet Treats stand, the gourmet mallows are divine by the way, if you see them in store they are worth a try.

Onwards to The Grill. M&S have launched a great range of affordable meat with offers across many selections of cuts.

On the night we had choices of beef, steaks, vegetarian sausages (the sweet potato is my top choice from 2017 btw), and their ever popular burgers.

Their picnic ranges are sublime with plenty of veggie options including the little Beetroot & Mint, and Carrot & Pumpkin Seed Veggie Bites you see at the front below.

Of course the Deli Coleslaw and Potato Salads are the stuff of legends, but if you haven’t heard they also do other low calorie options like Beetroot & Pink Apple Slaw.

We also has some lovely cocktails to try, but the kitsch option I have to show you is the Penny Cocktail which had a delicious British Strawberry Cream Soda mixer in it.

Of course the mixer is a non-alcoholic lemonade, so watch out for that one in store for summer BBQ parties.

I can’t wait to see everything start to arrive in my local M&S, there are so many tasty treats to pick up! The BBQ Grill items for this summer especially are going to be delicious. The beef was so tender it was as if it had been slow cooked for 48 hours.

I’m hungry all over again!

I’ve always grown veg each year starting since Smix brought home the traditional planted bean from nursery and it gave me the window-sill gardening bug, which is ironic as I also have the knack of killing house plants. I can keep vegetables alive for the span of spring to harvest, but give me a house plant and it’s dead within the span of a year.

Anyway, the past two years I’ve had those snazzy little greenhouses you buy in B&M Bargains that you build a bit like the kids’ play tents from the 1980s’ from plastic rods, with a big tarpaulin over the top. I was scuppered last July when we were away on our Portstewart week and there was a stormy night and when we came home my greenhouse had blown over and all my veg for that year had been ruined. The greenhouse had been destroyed.

This year, I was Googling to see who had the same greenhouse for the best price and was giddy (I’m easily pleased) to find Home Bargains had a WALK IN one for only £19.99 (it was online but it isn’t now, but they do still have them in my local store. I also bought two of these smaller ones.)

On May Day my Dad came round and helped me construct it and it was actually quite a good size. You can stand up fully inside it, and it’s sturdy. My dad put some brackets on the decking to secure it, and some screws on the bricks to make sure it wouldn’t move around or blow over like the smaller one did last year.

Anyway, on to my review. I had lots of regular seeds planted, but SeedCell contacted me about their very cool product, a biodegradable seed packaging that snaps off and simply pushes down into the soil.

There are lots of variety of seeds to choose from and they sent me many to plant. I got some herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, all in the easy to plant triangular pods.

How you use them- Soaking a pot of compost or patch of soil in water, the individual cells - once snapped free -can be pushed down into the earth. The curved topside of the seed pod remains above ground allowing rainwater to runoff, preventing the seed from getting soggy and also providing a more visible marker for the location of emerging seedlings. Once planted, the seed pod absorbs and retains the moisture it needs, feeding the water directly to the seeds inside using patented water absorbing technology. The pod protects the seeds as they begin to germinate in a safe microclimate, before breaking down naturally and leaving zero waste. * In my photographs the seed pods aren’t fully pushed down, they should be pushed in further but I wanted to show you what they looked like.

What I loved was that you didn’t get your hands muddy, pushing the pod in you didn’t have to touch the soil at all, so if you wanted to do some planting with your kids, this could be a very mess-free way of doing so.

Also because you can buy the SeedCells in single pods, rather than how you usually buy packs of seeds, if you live in an apartment in the city and you are pushed for space and maybe only want to plant one pot of chives or coriander or a sunflower, you don’t have to buy a pack of 100 seeds, you can just buy a single SeedCell. There is no waste.

I also love their box of mixed seeds too, it’s also a good idea for those who want to grow a ‘salad’ and don’t want to buy three or four packs of seeds and have lots of left over seeds unused. They’ve been really clever and thought of what people really want from a product.

I really love this product range and look forward to seeing what comes next from them. You can buy their products from their website, or Amazon, find them in DIY stores and Garden Centres. Their Instagram is @grow_seedcell Twitter @grow_seedcell Facebook SeedCell Youtube SeedCell Videos