An Introduction to B&Q Guildford

[Keith Terresa]

Once you know how to barbecue fish the correct way you'll love cooking and eating fish and seafood on the BBQ. Easy to cook when you know how, get out that BBQ and let's get cooking.

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First off, the best type of fish to cook on a barbeque is firm textured fish and seafood such as salmon, cod, monkfish, shrimp or lobster. Hopefully as long as you've prepared the barbeque properly it won't fall apart -

Top Tips for Barbequeing Fish Make sure that the rungs on the grill are clean. There's nothing worse than old bits of food burnt on the grill bars, not only does it leave a horrible taste but it will make the fish stick.

Get that barbeque really hot. If using a charcoal grill, use plenty of charcoal to build a really good fire that will retain plenty of heat.

Let the flames die down until you can see that the charcoal has become white, it should take at least ½ hour - this is where many people make a critical mistake. You know what they say - Patience is a Virtue - or in this case Patience will help you cook food that you can eat, not the usual burnt offerings!

As long as the fish (or any seafood or meat) is well oiled it won't stick. Of course, it helps if you don't prod it and move it around every 30 seconds, if you do you'll end up with scrambled fish which isn't much use to anyone except the cat.

Wait until the flesh is seared before turning it over.

Only turn it over once. The best utensil for this is a wide, thin spatula, big enough to lift the whole salmon or fillet in one go. An alternative is to buy a grill cage, the fish sits inside it and makes the B&Q Guildford whole turning over process child's play.

Don't salt anything before grilling. This will dry the fish out.

If you're using a traditional Chargrill a good idea is to use herbs or flavoured wood chips thrown on the charcoal to impart additional flavour.

Flavour Tip Barbeque rubs or marinades impart a delicious extra flavour when cooking your barbeque fish. I also like to paint some Thai sweet chili sauce over the fish before barbequeing, this is especially good with large prawn and shrimp and can be purchased at any good supermarket. These easy and simple ideas can help anyone learn how to cook fish on a barbeque.

Here are fifteen ways to get a gorgeous garden with the least possible effort, so you can spend the summer where you belong - in a deck-chair.

1. Choose plants weeds hate

Ground-hugging plants are ideal for this as they naturally suppress them. Scented, low-growing herbs like camomile and thyme, as well as periwinkle - are all good buys. Put them in borders and places weeds always take hold, like the gaps between paving. Squeeze weeds out by putting plants close together so there's no bare soil for them to grow in. The smaller and narrower your borders are, the less room weeds have to take hold, so reduce the size of big borders with gravel or paving.

2. Get colour effortlessly

Plants that hardly need any attention to look fabulous sometimes lack colour, so if you're planting box, rosemary or ornamental grasses, put the, in brightly coloured pots and they'll look good all the year round.

3. Prepare plants for a dry spell

Try mixing water-storing granules into the top 10cm of the soil. SaturAid includes a time-control fertiliser, which will keep plants nourished for up to six months. SaturAid can be purchased from garden centres nationwide.

4. Replace your lawn

Consider replacing the whole thing, or simply part of it, with gravel, paving or hardwood decking; they're all much easier to care for than grass. A total ban can make the garden look a bit stark, so soften edges by planting surrounding borders with low-maintenance plants or dot them around in containers.

5. Instantly neat edges - forever!

Put a border edging around your lawn to keep invasive plans where they belong and to stop soil or mulch from spilling onto the grass. We love this attractive willow edging from Primrose London - you can just push it into place for an instant result. Prices start at £22.95.

6. Move pots into the shade

Container-grown plants are always the first to need a drink in hot weather, so putting them somewhere cool, such as alongside a shady wall, cuts down on watering. Also, grouping pots and containers together helps retain a moist atmosphere around them, which means they're less likely to die of thirst and they'll be easier and quicker to water.

7. Buy ready-planted containers

This will save you time and effort.

8. Buy hanging baskets that water themselves

This means that even in the height of summer, you'll only need to top them up every few days. Self-watering baskets work by using a reservoir supply in the base of the pot.

9. Choose no-maintenance furniture

The Ro-timber range of wooden garden furniture is guaranteed to look as a good as new for a minimum of three years - with absolutely no maintenance, even if left outdoors.

10. Cut your lawn less often

Forget about mowing your lawn every weekend and go for a colourful, flowery meadow instead. Sprinkle your lawn with wildflower seeds in spring and you'll have a garden in full bloom by summer, then simply mow a path through it for easy access.

11. Stop weeds dead

Try using a weed-suppressing fabric such as Gardman Weedguard, which can be bought at garden centres or your local B&Q, to get rid of pesky weeds. You simply plant through the material. Alternatively, put decorative mulch or gravel on top of the soil in borders or containers.

12. Cheat with an automatic mower

Clever lawnmowers now exist that can cut the grass by themselves! The Robomow will also trim edges and recycle the mulched grass back into the lawn so there are no clippings to collect either. All you need to do is put a guidance wire around the perimeter of your lawn and any obstacles. From Electrolux, it's a whopping £1,499, but think of the time you'll save...

13. Re-use broken pots

Create the quickest-ever rock garden simply by nestling broken terracotta pots into a gravelled border, and plant low-maintenance succulents inside.

14. Create an instant hedge

Use terracotta pots planted with slow-growing box, and arrange them in neat rows to divide different parts of the garden. Alternatively, use them to disguise areas like the compost heap.

15. Get the garden to water itself

For a pot-grown plant get a self-watering spike from Lakeland. It will drip water directly to the plant's roots for up to three weeks - the drip rate even adjusts to outdoor temperature, so your plant will always have enough to drink. If you need to water a large area, Agralan's Soaker Hose releases water along the whole of its 15m length and, since it only needs low pressure, it can be connected to a water butt or -with a timer- to the mains supply. This means the watering can be done when you're away too.