The Clean, Green, Renewable Chimeneas

What's wrong with our chimenea?
Chimeneas are great in your garden - they're warm, stylish and useful. However, they have some major disadvantages: they create loads of smoke, the fuel can be difficult to light and you can only use them outside. Additionally, burning the traditional fuels is also wasteful as they aren't renewable and produce emissions that aren't particularly healthy for the environment.

What's the answer?

The answer is here in the form of Bio-Ethanol fuels and chimeneas. We've just introduced two new models on Alfresia: the Lorenzo and the Celina.

They both have a hidden reservoir in which you pour the bio-ethanol fuel. They can be placed inside or out, on the floor, or a table because there are no emissions.

That sounds great, but I already have a chimenea...

If you're interested in using a cleaner fuel, but don't want to buy a new chimenea, you can purchase a universal chimenea burner. This features the same hidden reservoir, but does not have any of the periphery of the full chimeneas. You can place this smaller burner inside an existing chimenea or BBQ and let it burn from there. This means you can have your clay chimeneas inside!

What exactly are the benefits of Bio-Ethanol fuel?

As we've said, the benefits aren't only environmental. Yes, you there are no harmful emissions and yes, you can use it inside because of this. However, Bio-Ethanol is also the fuel of choice for many now because it lights easily (unlike logs or charcoal) and also dies down easily when you have finished with it.

What is Bio-Ethanol though? Where does it come from?

Sugar cane or corn are processed into ethanol, the undiluted form of alcohol, through fermentation. Then most of the water is distilled, so that the fuel is easier to burn. Following that, the mixture is dehydrated (further), making the resulting ethanol suitable for fuel.



If any of that sounds like a good idea to you (it does to me!) and you decided to make your chimeneas more versatile and cleaner, then check out our new range of Bio-Ethanol fireplaces and fuels.

Alfresia is an online garden furniture retailer.

February Gardening

With it nearly being March and nearly being spring, there are a few jobs that need doing in your garden to prepare for it.

You need to ensure that any vegetables that need an early planting are sorted before the end of the month;  aubergines, cucumbers, melons and peppers should all be planted inside a heated greenhouse. Tomatos, on the other hand, need to be kept under unheated glass.

You should, if the conditions allow, continue to prepare the soil for planting. You can use the technique of single digging to do this. Remove the soil from an area one spit deep and 15inches wide. Put it in a pile at the other end of the border. Move the soil from the next strip forwards into the area you have just dug out. Continue doing this until you reach the end of the border and put the first batch of soil into the strip you dig out.

You should also prune your trees, removing dead wood and any intrusive lower branches. Perform this with a saw, cutting neatly and cleanly. Start with an upward cut to stop the branch splitting if it is heavy. When you have finished cutting, you should apply a protective coat to the wound.

Carrying on with pruning, you should take a look at any Clematis plants. Vigorously growing examples, such as montana need little/no pruning apart from removing dead wood. You might also reduce the tangle of stems. This isn't vital but does reduce the weight that the plant's supports have to carry. Species such as Lasurstern, early flowering varieties, need to have all their dead wood removed, followed by a strict pruning of all weak growth, cutting shoots back to two strong buds. Clematis that flower on new growth, like Hagley Hybrid and Viticella, should be pruned almost to the ground in midwinter, so that all the previous year's growth is cut back, almost to the base, just above a pair of sound buds.

This isn't an exhaustive list of jobs that need doing before spring, but they are all important.