Botanic Home and Garden Centre Magazine

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Garden Centre Magazine for Botanic Home & Garden Centre,

Inside this edition you can find a plentiful amount of information on what you can find instore, as well as a handy double page spread with monthly garden tips. With knowledgeable and friendly staff on hand in store to help with advice or inspiration, complemented by the huge variety of stock available, you will be sure to find what you need for your upcoming garden and/or home projects. This edition also includes many different informative editorials and alongside you will find local businesses whose services may just be what you are looking for.

We have also launched a digital copy of the magazine, available to view on your smart phone instantly. Please scan the QR code, featured at the bottom of this page, and this will bring up the publication for you to view. You can also access the digital magazine at touchpoints in the garden centre. One of the most exciting features of our digital publication is that you can interact with the garden centre's social media or connect with local business websites with just a quick tap on your device.

As always, we welcome feedback on our magazine, if you have any comments you'd like to add, we would love to hear them. Please email: info@yhgmedia.co.uk

Kind regards and happy reading!

Johnathan Beveridge Magazine Editor

Welcome to our 6th Edition of the Botanic Home & Garden Centre Magazine. There is much to do in the garden as regards planting in late summer and throughout autumn into winter, but for this edition we are going to concentrate on another of our passions – barbequing! We cover the great gas versus charcoal debate, and hopefully you can make good use of your new barbeque no matter what the weather brings for the second half of the year.

As always, we are on hand to answer your questions on all things gardening. Visit our garden centre for the best quality houseplants, perennial and rockery plants, shrubs, and trees and bedding plants, including a wide selection of Irish-grown plants. We also have seasonal décor, fabulous gifting ideas, BBQs and accessories, garden furniture, indoor and outdoor pots, garden ornaments and a fantastic range of garden care products. Our ever-popular gift vouchers are a great idea and are sure to bring a smile to your loved ones faces this winter and spring. We are located alongside Meadows & Byrne and Bakestone Café, and many more fantastic shops within Fota Retail Village itself, so why not make a daytrip of it!

Barbecues – The Great Gas vs Charcoal Debate

We love our barbecues here at Botanic Home & Garden Centre. There’s just something about cooking outside which adds extra deliciousness to any meal! We have noticed however, amongst both our staff and our customers, that some people are die-hard gas BBQ fans, while for others it’s not a real BBQ unless it has that authentic smoky charcoal flavour. So, what actually are the pros and cons of both types of BBQ?

Gas

For gas BBQs, the main benefit is really the sheer convenience. You can have your BBQ heated and ready to cook in just 5-10 minutes. The heat is very consistent and easily controlled with the burners. You can quickly adapt the cooking environment to hotter or cooler at the turn of the burner controls. Gas BBQs are great for large gatherings. These grills come with up to 6 burners, and they require less minding than charcoal BBQs, leaving you with more time to chat to your family and friends. After the food has been all cooked, the gas BBQs can be turned off and they cool down very quickly.

Gas BBQ nay-sayers will argue that the food prepared using this grill is less flavoursome, as there’s a perception that you cannot get the smoky flavour beloved of charcoal advocates. However, if you cook with the lid on, you can retain a smoky flavour and the food stays succulent. The fats from the food itself drip down and are heated up and vapourised and circulate around the BBQ adding flavour. It is fair to say, however, that this smoky flavour will not be as strong as with a charcoal BBQ, where you have the added wood smoke flavours circulating. To boost the flavour, you can simply add a smoke box or wood flavour chips for an extra hit.

Heat retention can also be an issue with a gas BBQ, with it not getting as hot or as cool as a charcoal BBQ. However, practically speaking, for most foods this is not going to be a concern. The cost of a gas BBQ is initially going to be higher than a charcoal one, as there are more moving parts, but the running costs tend to be lower over the longterm, and all our Weber and Grillstream BBQs are built to last. Lastly, some perceive a gas BBQ as requiring a lot of room, but, there are plenty of sizes to choose from so even the smallest patio can fit a gas BBQ. Some can even be easily taken with you on holiday, we have portable Weber Travelers for this very job.

Overall, the gas BBQs really involve less fuss and forethought, and gas BBQ owners tend to enjoy more barbecued meals overall from their BBQ, as it becomes more of a mid-week possibility to just light it up and start cooking, rather than just for pre-planned or special occasion use.

For the charcoal BBQ lovers there’s simply nothing better than the smell and sight of the hot coals burning and the taste of the smoky flavoured food. For them, it stimulates the senses in a way in which no amount of convenience of a gas grill can surpass. The authentic smoky flavour passed on to the food really does enhance the meal. Depending on the charcoal/ lumpwood used, this is not all down to the actual fuel though – with a Weber kettle part of the reason for the enhanced flavour is that the lid can close tighter than a gas grill lid (which is less sealed for safety reasons), giving a greater seal to help seal in those flavours. For longer cooked food, the charcoal does indeed play a significant role in the smoky flavour, so ensure you get a top quality charcoal. Also, a charcoal BBQ can heat to much higher temperatures than a gas one, resulting in a better sear on meat. It’s additionally superior to gas for slow-cooking, as the temperature can be held slow and low for long periods.

Charcoal

No doubt, a longer period of learning and skill is involved in perfecting cooking on a charcoal BBQ than on a gas one, and you do have to be patient as it is a learning process. Setting up the BBQ to get ready to cook can take up to 30 minutes. You can cut this time by using a chimney starter, but it’s still going to be a longer set-up than that with gas grills. You need to familiarise yourself with the best way to position the coals to create hot and cooler spots. How you arrange the briquettes or lumpwood really does make a difference. You can get flare-ups when fats drip down from the food and hit the hot coals, resulting in scorching of the food, but this can easily be prevented by cooking with the lid on allowing for more even and controlled temperatures.

It’s best to get good quality charcoal, such as the Weber charcoal we supply in store. Cheaper charcoal is usually made of smaller pieces, may not be sourced sustainably and may have chemical additives.

All our Weber charcoal and lumpwood is 100% natural with no added chemicals. We also now offer the option of Weber coconut shell briquettes which do not contain any wood and are instead made from coconut shells and tapioca starch. When you are finished cooking your meal, you need to let the coals burn out or suffocate them with the lid, and it can take quite a while for the BBQ to cool down, especially if you’ve misjudged how much fuel you needed. You will have to clean up the ash when it has cooled, but if you’ve used good quality charcoal with no additives the ash can be added to your compost heap, or directly to soil to help reduce acidity (just don’t use on acidloving plants such as gardenia, rhododendron, azaleas, magnolias and blueberries).

Overall, charcoal BBQs are more involved as regards set-up and minding throughout the cook, but they are worth it for that smoky flavour. And for toasting marshmallows at the end of the night, surely nothing can beat hot charcoal!

Hybrid

Best of both worlds! We have the Grillstream 4-burner classic hybrid in store, and it’s the way forward if you aren’t prepared to forgo the advantages of gas for charcoal and vice versa! On a day you want a quick and convenient meal, you use the gas burners. On a day you feel like cooking over hot coals, you simply lift up the grill, add the charcoal and light the charcoal with the burner for the gas, turn off the burners and you’re good to go. It gives you the option of either, depending on your mood! We have this BBQ available in both our Cork and Wexford garden centres for amazing value prices. Just see www.botanicgarden.ie or ask instore!

No matter which BBQ you prefer, we are sure to have one you will love from our wide range of Weber and Grillstream BBQs. We also stock a full range of bbq accessories, such as charcoal, flavoured wood chips, thermometers, utensils, pizza stones, rotissaries, gloves, foil containers, cleaning products and BBQ covers, so you can take care of your BBQ and cook up delicious food every time. So, what do you think? Gas, charcoal or indeed hybrid? We look forward to helping you choose your perfect BBQ here at Botanic Home & Garden Centre. And don’t forget, BBQs and BBQ accessories make a great gift, whether for a birthday, as a Christmas present or a wedding present!

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