Autumn Benefits

Each season brings its own rhythm in the garden and I love autumn.  The tasks are a pleasant ritual, rather than a chore.  Gardeners need gloves but bright, dry days are a bonus and must be celebrated because the garden path is leading us into dark, dank winter days. 

There are fallen apples to rescue (easy with our quirky apple picker-upper!) and zillions of leaves to heap into large bags to make rich leaf mould.  Doc sends the lawn mower away for a holiday and a service.  The smell of bonfires along our road is pervasive and reminds us that our neighbours’ are tidying up too.  Some people feel that autumn heralds the end of the growing season, but for me it is the beginning of the gardening calendar.  This is the time to get those bulbs into the ground and invest time in order to reap the rewards of next spring.

My foot has taken a step backwards this last week (sorry about the pun!) and I cannot manage even a gentle potter in the greenhouse.  However, Doc was busy on the plot over the weekend, promising me that he would make sure the garden was fit for my inspection next spring!

Before this setback I was able to give the strawberry plants their autumn clean up.  Mouldy, unripe strawberries attract slugs and they like nothing better than a snug, winter home under the decaying leaves.  I made sure there was space between each plant to increase the air flow and this should hopefully reduce the risk of fungal infections. The bonus of course was finding some rooted runners (free new plants!) which I lifted, potted up and took to the sanctuary of the greenhouse.  I already have 3 dozen plantlets and they make great presents for friends and family.

The vegetable plot is still providing us with comfort food and we need plenty of that at the moment.  We have parsnips and leeks and the radicchio plants I haphazardly planted months ago and left to their own devices are making wonderfully sharp accompaniment to a boring sandwich.  In the garage there are trays of apples, pumpkins and butternut squash.  Even the greenhouse has its own offerings and my pots of parsley are still doing really well.
2013 has been a great year for apples and Doc’s cordons (18 and still counting!) provide us with  daily apple tastings and we love them chopped up in our porridge. We could have invited the whole street for a Springfield apple tasting and if next year is as fruitful, we must consider organising a community event. 

Anyway, the tree that always delivers the most abundant and tasty crop is the dessert apple: Katy.  It is an old established tree and the fruits are bright red and full of rosy cheer.  A few years ago Doc’s mum kindly gave us a juicer attachment to our Kenwood machine but we did not feel there were enough apples to ‘sacrifice’ in the name of experimentation.  However, this year Doc decided we should try to make some apple juice so in went the apples, cored and washed and out came the most gorgeous pink juice.  Usually I loathe apple juice - the kind that comes in cartons in the supermarket – but this freshly made apple juice was a revelation.   It is wonderful stuff and we had 2 precious pints to savour.  It does not keep more than a couple of days and unfortunately we did not have enough room in the freezer to store bulky juice, so we enjoyed it whilst it lasted.  Next year, we need a bigger freezer!

We love making the most of seasonal produce from the garden but of course there is a freezer full of produce from earlier in the season.  There are French beans and berries, rhubarb and gooseberries as well as bags of tomatoes I skinned and chopped. 
Surprisingly, the star of the freezer has to be the bags of sliced strawberries and pots of strawberry puree.  As with the apples, we had a glut this year and unlike raspberries, strawberries are not noted for their freezing qualities.  But I could not waste them, could I?  I pureed some because the texture of the fruit is not important and for an experiment I sliced some strawberries and open frozen them on trays before bagging them up.  I intend to use the sliced fruit to try a new recipe involving whizzing the frozen fruit slices with semi-frozen whipped cream for a soft, instant ice-cream.  I will let you know how it goes!

Strawberry puree is proving to be very useful - and delicious.  A strawberry jelly tablet is transformed by putting the squares in a jug and filling it to the half pint mark of boiling water.  Stir until dissolved and then top up with unsweetened strawberry puree, to make the full pint of liquid.  Pour into a dish and chill in the fridge until set.  We serve it natural yogurt and our granddaughter (Olympia, 16 months) would eat the whole lot!

Following the theme, strawberry jelly mousse is a must-try recipe.  Dissolve the tablet of jelly in a couple of spoonfuls of water over a gentle heat.  Defrost 7 ozs (200 g) frozen strawberries and sieve to remove the seeds.  Whisk up 2 x  6 oz/170 g cans  chilled evaporated milk until thick and doubled in volume.  Fold in the slightly cooled jelly liquid and then the strawberry puree.  This should serve 4 people but it may not!

It looks like I will be trying lots of new recipes if I cannot get out into the garden.  Doc does not say as much but I know he is thinking that this autumn is bringing fringe benefits.  I have put down the secateurs and picked up the recipe books.  I am going to have to regard my situation as an opportunity rather than a threat - though I am not sure my waistline feels the same.

Gardening doesn’t get tougher than this

I have been putting off writing a blog post for a long time.  Back in March I experienced a fracture of a metatarsal in my left foot and this was a repeat fracture of several years ago.  Although the fracture healed again, complications set in.   I am a very driven and self-motivated person, so I (literally) put my best foot forward and soldiered on, trying to cope with my busy, active life.  However, 6 months later I was not pain free and actually it was getting worse.  After considerable visits to different specialists and steroid injections, I am now waiting to see a Podiatric surgeon. 

It is as though my life has gradually shrunk away from the sides of the tin.  Daily life has always been inexorably intertwined with gardening and now everything is a struggle and it is likely to continue to be a struggle for some time to come.  I am back in the garden now but I am a shadow of my former manic (!) and passionate self.  Life is different. The last time I went for a proper walk was March 22nd and anything I do in the garden requires careful thought and lots of time.  Putting on my gardening clobber is not the same as it was and not just because of my new boots packed with thick wadding to support to my foot.  I am of limited capacity.  It is hard to embrace and celebrate what I can do and let go of what I can't do, when I am still grieving for what I have lost.

Whatever the outcome, gardening our large, hilly plot is going to be a forever challenge.  Since I have discovered there is a problem with my metabolism, I should not risk encouraging further fractures to develop.  My health has leapt to the top of the agenda and I am slowly learning to let go of much of what was important to me because there is now something which is even more important. 

I remember joking with everyone that the seats in our garden are redundant because I never have time to sit on them  - there is always so much to do!  Like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I would always be rushing around.  Now I sit in the garden more than I stand up in it, lazing on the bench by the shed, snug and warm in the greenhouse or perched on the steps by the pergola draped with wisteria.   At first, the agony of feeling incapable fought visciously with the agony of walking but eventually calm broke out I can now allow myself to sit and contemplate, even if I am not always dry eyed.

No-one is born a hero and being heroic does not always require us to dramatically slay a dragon or climb a mountain without oxygen.  For most of us, we are simply caught unawares and normal life changes in an instant.  There the challenge is, thrust upon us and we just have to cope and muddle through.  What other option is there?  So I too must learn and adapt, accept what has happened and find new goals. 

Doc is supporting me and has done amazing work in the garden but there is a limit to what he can do because he has other responsibilities.  We may have to bring in more outside help, be realistic about what we can grow in the kitchen garden and our plans for overhauling the under-developed areas are now on hold.

None of us knows what the future will bring.  One minute I was racing up and down, down and up, round and round, swinging a spade with one hand and wielding the secateurs with the other.  In the next minute I wasn’t doing that very easily at all and gradually I realised I should not even be trying.  However, even if I never run down the hill at Springfield again, then I must hold tightly onto the precious memory that I once did. 

It's all about size

Our rhododendron and azalea collection dates back to when the garden was originally laid out, from 1910 onwards.  The colour starts in late winter (depending on the temperatures) and there is a continuous succession of blooms right through until summer.  After a dull, grey winter, they are a blast of vitality and the acidic soil at Springfield has enabled them to flourish.

Not sure about the colour combination but it wakes us up in the morning!

Rhodies in particular are heavy-weights and if given their head, they start throwing around too much weight.  And that’s the problem, isn’t it?  When we moved here, they had been allowed to grow unheeded and we set about pushing them back and showing them the colour of our loppers.

But the time came when an annual moderate pruning was not enough.  So this summer Doc has almost massacred them but finally we can distinguish each tree and walk between them.  They don't look pretty at the moment and they won’t flower next season but this is a price worth paying for reclaiming the garden.  They won't die though, they are already sprouting green shoots and before long they will be back in the business of providing colour, but on a smaller scale. 

There was over a foot deep of leafmould around these thugs, the result of decades of decaying leaves, spent flowers and twiggy bits.  When Doc dug all this out, he found lovely stone edges to the beds and the path between the rockeries is actually much wider than we thought it was which is going to be very useful.  (Though we will need a fence to keep people from falling down the banks!) 

 

We can use the leafmould as a mulch elsewhere in the garden and it will be rich in nutrients.  Doc has piled up the largest logs to feed the log burner next year and the rest of the mountain of debris has been burned on a bonfire which lasted 2 whole days.  He calculated that he had walked 4 miles, barrowing it all down to the bottom of the garden. It is one of the reasons he is currently so slim!  I feel guilty that my disability meant my only contribution to the mammoth task was to trim the leaves from a few branches.

The process has been cathartic because we feel that finally we own the entire garden, not just part of it.  We are busy planning what to do with the banks now we are back in control.  One of our ideas is to create planting terraces with sleepers so we can plant some attractive ground cover plants, bulbs and so on.  Without planting pockets, new plants would be washed down the banks in the rain.  We also have plans for a garden room with a retaining wall at the back of it so this will be a major project.  It is going to take some careful thought and of course, we must keep on top of the rhododendrons....

Size is the current theme because we have had great success with the carrots.  I know that baby, sweet carrots are best but since we find growing carrots quite a challenge, we are proud of this particular whopper.  With such a cold spring we thought germination would be impossible and even when we did see some growth, we did not water the plants very much, nor did we get round to installing a baffle to deter the carrot root fly.  However, nature has provided and this carrot was perfect and has lasted us for 3 meals!  We are hopeful that the white carrots (parsnips) will be just as productive.

Death in the air

It started with a whisper of a whiff.  At first, I thought it was the smell of soil clinging to the potatoes in the vegetable rack, or a potato that had rotted.  Or maybe it was the large basket of beetroots?  However, by the time I had made another batch of beetroot chutney, the whiff had become a pong.  Doc thought it was the smell of the house martin droppings outside, wafting in through the vent in the pantry.  So he scrubbed, scraped and disinfected the vent as well as the path outside the kitchen.

The path was clean and smelled sweet, in fact we could have eaten our dinner off it but the pantry was now so putrid it made us feel sick to go inside.  Something had to be done. 

We took everything out of the pantry which was a large task because although it is a small room, it is much like Dr Who's tardis.  Doc made remarks such as “Are you hoping to use this lot to barter with the barbarians as they rampage through the valley...?”  I got to work with the disinfectant, explaining that there is nothing wrong with having a well stocked larder.  (Although I have thrown out some jars of herbs and spices which had use-by dates too embarrassing to mention.) 
Doc opened the window and it was then he noticed a yellow, damp patch in the corner of the windowsill.  We lowered our noses and the smell was even more intense.  Doc is a GP and said he had smelled the smell before.  It was the smell of death....decaying flesh..... (who would be a doctor?)

With a little investigation on the internet, we discovered that it is not uncommon for small mammals such as mice to find their way into the cavity walls of a house, get stuck and die.  Perhaps they are searching for cheese?  Apparently, it takes weeks and weeks for a corpse to complete the decomposition process.  So we have to let nature takes it course, or hire a builder to break the wall apart and retrieve the rotting mass.   

Doc has installed blocks of activated charcoal and is researching some odour sucking crystals in the hope of managing the symptoms of this horrible problem.  Currently, the contents on the pantry are in the dining room so we feel as though we are camping out.  I am concerned that the fruit and vegetables from the garden will suffer in the warmth of the kitchen.  The fridge is stuffed full!

On top of this, I was terrified out of my wits the other evening.  I was reaching out for the toothpaste when I found a large insect crawling up the tooth mug.  On closer, but very tentative inspection, the little critter appeared alien to me.  It had a black body with a waist, lacy wings and bright orange legs.  Sticking out of its rear was what looked like a long, nasty sting.

The words ‘don’t panic Mr Mainwairing’ came to mind, so I breathed deeply and coaxed the little beastie into a glass and covered it with a flannel.  I carefully took it downstairs and although Doc was not visibly concerned, I noticed that he held the glass at arm’s length.  He released the insect outside, slammed the door shut and we went to bed.  I could not sleep though and was convinced this tropical killer had arrived via the supermarket shopping. It could have arrived in the bananas.

Next morning, Doc found the creature in the utility room so it must have crawled under the back door – though of course it could have been its twin.  This time, there was no holding back.  With a sharp tap, it was dead but not so squished that my TV CSI training could not be put to good use.  I initiated a thorough investigation, beginning with the obligatory photographs and several searches on the Oracle.

I soon discovered that the offending insect was a Pimpla Instigator or ichneumon fly and there are many different species.  They are totally harmless, nectar feeding insects but we are consoled that lots of other people have reacted in a similar way, with the same results.  

Our visitor may not have killed us but it does have a rather grisly habit. The so-called sting is actually an ‘ovipositor’ and the female uses it to inject as many up to 150 eggs into a defenceless caterpillar. The grubs grow inside the caterpillar, gradually eating their way to the outside world.  So, far from being a nuisance, our fly was probably killing off the caterpillars that eat the vegetables we are trying to grow!  

 

Fruits of our labours

With my ailing foot, harvesting the fruit and veg is something I can get my teeth into and that is exactly what I do with the Japanese Wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius). There is something magical about popping these small, sticky, ruby coloured clusters of unctuousness into your mouth, straight from the pink, prickly stems.  Not many of these delicate little fruits make it back to the kitchen but this season’s crop is the best we have seen, so there is a bowl of them in the fridge to have with our muesli tomorrow.  And there are lots more to ripen. 

Wineberries are an unusual fruit with a glossy appearance and a definite sweet red wine taste. They are exotic in their appeal but are remarkably easy to grow – either in full sun or partial shade. They are similar to summer fruiting raspberries in that they fruit on the previous year’s growth.  Unlike raspberries though the canes are long and arching – so we tie them into a trellis but if you have the space you can let them run free, though they will not be well behaved!  If you bend a stem to the ground and weight it down with a stone, it will root very easily. 

You can use wineberries in cooking as you would raspberries, but we never do.  They have such a wow factor that we think they are best served as they are. I can never understand why more people don’t grow them. 

 

Pear Envy

Doc and I are trying to keep up with the harvest and it feels good to wander back up to the house with a large trug laden with our own produce.   Wandering up and down the garden is all I can do at the moment because I still am finding walking a challenge – and our plot is inconveniently on a hillside!  5 months ago I experienced a stress fracture in my left foot and although the fracture has healed, I am still hobbling about in pain.  Complications have set in and I have no idea when I will be fit again.  Thank goodness for Doc’s support, he is literally a tower of strength.  We always thought we made a good team.  He starts a job and I finish it or I start a job and he finishes it!  He is relishing the extra time he spends in the garden, having recently reduced his day job to half time.  He is outside in the fresh air most days, doing something or other - and of course playing golf!

Anyway, I can manage the harvesting (apart from the runner beans in the high reaches of the cane framework!) and I particularly love picking juicy, ripe tomatoes which have been warmed by the sunshine. Everything is at the peak of freshness and tastes far better than anything you can buy in the shops. 

Not everything is doing well– and I don’t just mean the cucumbers.  We seem unable to grow a decent pear tree, let alone encourage one to bear any fruit.  When we moved here, there was an old pear tree but we did not know the variety.  It was huge, far too huge to ever harvest fruit from it.  However, this was an irrelevance because even if it occasionally managed to grow fruitlets they always fell to the ground before growing to any appreciable size and it always looked tatty and listless.  We have since had this tree felled and Doc plans to build a fruit cage in its place.

A few years ago, we invested in 3 new pear trees for the orchard – a Conference, a Concorde and an Onward.  None of them can do anything but struggle.  They have weak, spindly branches and all show bright orange spots on the leaves in summer and autumn.   As for fruit, the Onward is boasting a pair of pears, but they are so small I fear they will blow off in a gust of wind!  No chance of pear and walnut tart, I am afraid.

The orange spots are a rust fungus which feeds on the host plant over an extended period, without killing it. It is not able to survive on dead plant material.  Pear trees are deciduous so it must either alternate with a different, perennial host such as a Juniper tree, or produce resting spores to pass the dormant season.

A common alternative host for the fungus is a Juniper tree and yes, you’ve guessed it, our neighbour has a Juniper tree!  Non-chemical controls, like removing infected areas of the tree and dead leaves are unlikely to be effective for us because the spores can easily be blown backwards and forwards, across the garden hedge.  We could consider an alternative site for a pear tree but we don’t have anywhere suitable.

If we really want to enjoy a juicy, home grown pear then I think we would have to resort to chemical control of this pest.  We are still thinking about this one.  Perhaps we will have to resign ourselves to becoming a pear-free zone......

Still, there are lots of plant species we can grow.  Until a free packet of seeds prompted an experiment, we did not think our garden would suit Morning Glory.  They are an annual climber and need warmth, masses of sunshine and a sheltered spot.  We have given them a nice arch with a south facing aspect.  However, it does get windy and it was very cold in the spring.  I raised the plants in the greenhouse and when I finally plucked up courage to set them free in the garden, they sat and sulked for several weeks.  Our patience is rewarded though because they look lovely at the moment.  They are such a welcome splash of colour in August, a real bonus, and they look much nicer than the pear trees!

 

And then there is August....

I've heard that the test of a good gardener is to have a garden full of colour in August because there is a natural lull between the end of the summer show and the onset of the autumn bloomers.  August is the month that usually has the least rainfall so many plants avoid flowering during this period - though currently our garden is enjoying a period of heavy downpours!

Although we try to balance the planting at Springfield, it is a challenge to achieve the full on pizzazz of spring and early summer.  You have to look a little harder to find colour and interest at this time of year and if it wasn’t for the energy and abundance in the vegetable and fruit garden, seeing the Foxgloves droop, the dancing Osteospermums fade and the rose petals fall,  I could feel dispirited.

We tend to have a tidy up in August and this can lift us.  Hedge cutting begins in earnest and I have several sessions deadheading the roses to encourage a late flush of flowers.  Hardy Geraniums benefit from a good hair cut and will often come into flower again later in the year.  We also prune back the cordon apple trees, shrubs and those perennials which have finished flowering.  If you don’t cut back Alchemilla (Lady’s Mantle) it seeds everywhere and will take over the garden the following year.

Growing bedding plants in containers and baskets can keep the colour going but we have a large garden as it is, without adding to the surface area and there is enough watering to do in the vegetable garden.  We do have two lovely hardy Fuchsias outside the front door though and they flower all summer and into the autumn.  I rate them as ‘Good Doers’ for any garden.  They have the bonus of being happy in shade and I over-winter them in the greenhouse ready to flower again the following season.

The Viticella group of clematis flower at this time of year and we have Etoile Violette which has small purple flowers to perk up a trellis. It is growing through a young Wisteria which because it is young, is all leaves and no excitement.  The combination always finishes up as a tangle at the end of the season but it’s worth it.

Salvias and Penstemons flower in August but can get lost in a large garden so we love the Buddleia which we let rip.  It has huge arching stems and long purple flowers which compliment the silvery leaves.  The Crocosmias enter the stage in August too, as do the cheerful Heleniums,  Asters and Sedums. 

So we do have August colour but it is rather restrained and the plants are dotted all over the place.  I think we need larger borders at Springfield so we can plant large swathes of the later flowering perennials and perhaps give some space over to some more large shrubs to continue the interest.  Gardens never stand still.  I will add my idea to the list! 

Catching up ...

Even the keenest gardeners need a break from their gardens.  We have been away in Northern Ireland, visiting family and we had a wonderful time with our Granddaughter, Olympia.  However, it was good to see the garden again and we always feel privileged to come home to Springfield’s abundance.  We arrived back feeling refreshed; inspired by other gardens we have seen on our travels and saw the plot with ‘fresh’ eyes. 

However, the joy of exploring the garden soon gave way to the realisation that we had to work hard to catch up with nature.  We did not expect to see quite so much growth - very hot weather tends to slow the garden down - but it seems to have done the opposite.  The Green Fingers Award of Garden Merit definitely goes to our lovely neighbour who was stoic with the watering cans.  Emily is a novice gardener but managed everything wonderfully well.  We cannot say thank you enough.

Emily helped herself to produce but there were still masses of fruit and veg to harvest.  The lettuces went berserk (anyone fancy a sack load of salad?) and there were tomatoes, spring onions, courgettes, peas, strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, parsley, potatoes, onions and beetroot.  And of course, as the trugs were filled we have had to either cook and eat the bounty, or freeze it - or as I was doing late last night, making beetroot chutney. (There is only a certain amount of goats’ cheese and beetroot salad that 2 people can eat.  There is a vegetable rack full of courgettes too.

The cucumber plants are noticeably less productive this summer as they do prefer cooler conditions but there are enough fruits for our needs.  They keep much better if you store them in a cool larder rather than the fridge. The summer cabbages have not hearted but the red cabbages though are growing okay. The pumpkins are swelling nicely but the butternut squash are mostly foliage with just a few flowers and fruit.  The late raspberries are just starting to fruit and today we had 4 each on our muesli, topped off with what felt like the equivalent of a whole punnet of strawberries – each!

The stars of the show were the luscious cherries.  There were not many but they are highly prized as they are so expensive to buy in the shops.  A couple of years ago, we bought a Stella cherry tree to train into a fan up a south facing trellis.  This variety has an RHS Award of Garden Merit and is grafted onto dwarf rootstock to keep it under control – cherry trees can otherwise grow to an enormous size.  The tree is renowned for producing lots of sweet black/purple cherries.  However, as you can see from the photo ours is not a Stella tree.  It has large, RED fruits with a delicious sweet-sharpness.  It tree must have been labelled incorrectly and we are hoping that it is not a too vigorous variety.  It is very healthy apart from some ants and aphid attack but I put a sticky collar to discourage the ants and had a good session squishing aphids.  I am thinking of naming our tree: Serendipity.

Summer is simply not summer without the gorgeous scent of sweet peas drifting around the house and garden and my free packet of mixed seeds has done really well.  (Thank you Gardeners World Magazine)  We picked so many of the flowers before we went away that the smell in the kitchen gave us a headache!  Sadly, those plants which were setting seed got missed and this reduces flower production.  However, there is still a presentable show and my favourite colour this year is the stripy pink one.

 

I am sorry I can’t linger here longer (I would like to improve my blog and find out why my followers have disappeared from view.....) but there is still work to do in the garden. But it is joyous, simply joyous to bring in the harvest.  I must remember to dead head all the roses and cut back the hardy geraniums so that (hopefully) there will be another flush of blooms later in the season.

 

Red is the colour

 

Redcurrants and strawberries don't need any big introductions. They speak for themselves.  Glistening, juicy beads which have a sharp flavour.  Luscious, fragrant berries.  What's not to like?



 

We have enjoyed 6 of these....so far!

I freeze the redcurrants on open trays and then pack into polythene freezer bags.  I then make them into jewel-like redcurrant jelly (sometimes with the addition of Port!) or as a topping for baked cheese cake.  However, Summer Pudding would not be the same without redcurrants to compliment the rasperries and blackcurrants. 

Recurrants also team up well with almonds so occasionally I make a fatless swiss roll (whisking method), using ground almonds in place of some of the flour.  I fill the swiss roll with redcurrants folded into a mixture of whipped cream and marscapone cheese.  Decorated with toasted almonds, it is lovely.

After years of growing strawberries this is the first season we have enjoyed a glut and this is surprising given the awful early spring we had.  Dare I say, we are fed up of strawberries - literally!

Anyway, I given some away to friends and I have made some into puree and frozen it to have with porridge in the winter.  I also have a recipe for a speedy ice cream  The sliced berries are frozen.  To make the ice cream, put 1 1b of the frozen fruit into  a food processor and whizz up with 6 ozs sugar and a dash of rosewater, until chopped.  With the processsor running, pour in half a pint of double cream.  Serve it immediately as it is, or re-freeze and store for a day or two. 

 



My New Friend

Beyond Springfield there is a valley and open fields.  We love the view and the peace and quiet of nature and we have learned to live alongside the wildlife it brings, even if some people would regard some of the animals as pests.

There many early mornings that we see half a dozen rabbits grazing in the orchard and from time to time they venture further up the garden for a rummage in the borders or a play on the lawn.  They think they visit unseen but of course our ankles find the holes they leave behind and there are droppings everywhere.  

Mr Macgregor’s Garden is fenced off with ‘L’ shaped chicken wire and trellis because we did not think they would take any notice of Doc's ‘Rabbits Keep Out’ sign.  We also have high, raised beds and this does appear to help deter them.   In any case, there is a huge choice of food they can eat because the neighbours also have large gardens with plenty of lush munchings.  There is loads of space for everyone to share.

So, there is no need to trap the rabbits and make pies with them.  Any new ornamental borders are planted with hope (“let’s see if the rabbits destroy that.....”) and some plants have survived and some have not.  Anything precious is wrapped in chicken wire and the young fruit trees in the orchard have little jackets around the base of their trunks.

Yesterday, I was down on the plot picking sweet peas and enjoying the birdsong, when I noticed a cotton tail poking out of the grass near the raised bed where some tasty courgettes are growing nicely.  I suggested the rabbit move along by firmly shooing it away.  It looked me in the eye and then continued to graze.  I put down my snippers and trug and walked across to it.  And when I say right up to it, I mean within a couple of feet.  

With a mouth stuffed with clover, he/she looked at me again.   I looked at him. It was definitely a face off.  Again, I politely suggested he leave.  No response.

Usually, rabbits are shy creatures.  They will graze if undisturbed but if you go near them, they hop off into the hedgerow.  Not this one.  This one is friendly.  This one wants to stick around and get to know me.

Today, my ‘new friend’ was in the same spot again, laid on his side and basking in the sunshine.  He does not look poorly, it munches the grass and today it hopped onto to the raised bed to investigate the courgette plants which is not something I wish to encourage.

If anyone, has any suggestions how I can persuade this fury visitor that it would be better for him and me if we keep our relationship at a distance, please let me know.  Gardeners have to choose their friends very carefully because there could come a day when I will have to choose either our friendship or a row of lettuces - and I will choose the latter.  Already I am beginning to think the rabbit looks cute and a certain name keeps popping into my head.  

Please go, Peter, before it’s too late......

Pale, Interesting and Smelly

I was only introduced to the Astrantia a couple of years ago.  I won this plant in the raffle at our local Gardening Club and knew very little about it.  Members advised me that it was a cottage garden plant and that it would like light shade.  I planted it carefully and waited.  It grew very well and expanded well beyond its space so last autumn, I lifted the clump, split it and spread it around the garden. 

It seems to do well in both sunshine and light shade.  It is a pretty, understated flower but I don’t know the name of the variety.  I have since been told that people have difficulty growing this plant from seed and yet it can seed itself around a garden.  However, it does have one downside.  I was down on my knees weeding (my foot is still a problem) and there was an awful smell.  With a little investigation and suspecting that cats were the culprit,  I discovered the source of the odour was actually the Astrantia!  Still, it hasn’t put me off.  I am planning to buy a pink or lilac one too.

This Vibernum or ‘snowball’ tree is a popular feature at Springfield – when it is in flower.   For the rest of the year it looks uninspiring but is a healthy, old established shrub which has now grown into a medium sized tree.  It does tolerate hard pruning but it did suffer last winter.  The flowering has been relatively poor this year but in previous years it has been one huge snowball made up of lots of snowballs!  The flowers are supposed to have a nice scent but like the Astrantia, I find them rather unpleasant.  However, we like having this tree in the garden and try to make a point of admiring it when it is in flower.  This photo was taken the week and it was just finishing flowering and interestingly, the final flowers were all on the same part of the tree.

Mized trugs and Zingy flowers

The vegetable garden is becoming more productive and the trugs are filling up.  We have lovely Little Gem lettuces, lots of mangetout (which we eat raw in a salad or lightly steamed as a hot vegetable) and a good crop of Charlottes -  which are ‘First Early’ potatoes.  However, these are Late Earlies, if you know what I mean, because of the cold spring.

The radishes needed a bucket rather than a trug to bring them up to the house because we have a glut of them.  I have not mastered the skill of producing just enough of the 'catch crops' when we need them.  I do succession sow radishes but the rows either catch up with each other or one row fails and we have a gap in supply.  I had to pick all those that were ready today, wash them and put them in the fridge because the recent heavy rain is inviting slugs to dinner.  Still, homegrown radishes are much more flavoursome than those you buy so we don't mind pigging out on them for a few days.  They are lovely dipped in salt but we use them as dippers for a greek yogurt, grated cheese and mixed herb dip. 

I expect all the salad onions will be ready at the same time too but they will stand for a while and don’t attract pests.  There are several Lollo Rosso lettuces and a whole row of Webbs Wonderful that will probably bolt before they get to our plates.  I miss the chickens and today there were enough leaves to share with them.......

The baby 'bunching' carrots are those I sowed in pots in the greenhouse, during the late winter and I am very pleased with the results.  We have had 10 generous portions from 2 x 10 inch pots.  I just sprinkled the seed thinly on the surface of peat-free compost, sprinkled extra compost on top and kept the pots watered and fed occasionally.  The taste is sublime and it is a real treat to eat carrots which taste of carrot.  The carrots in the raised bed outside are growing slowly but hopefully we will get larger carrots for the main season which will store for a while.  However, I did not erect a baffle - working on the principle that they were sown very late and the carrot fly will have flown past before the carrots were up and about wafting their scent across the open fields behind us.  Only time will tell, of course.

There are pleasing eyefuls of colour dotted around the garden.  Roses and clematis lift our spirits and this clematis is the gaudiest of all at the moment.  It is called Fireworks and a single flower is bigger than doc’s hand.  They might not be the most sophisticated flower choice but who cares?  We need an overdose of colour after such a long, cold winter and disappointing spring.

 

Friendly Plants

 

When we moved here 9 years ago, there were many unfamiliar plants. It was like arriving at a party and I didn’t know many of people here. But as I got to know them, many of the new plants became good friends and I would really miss them if they disappeared. 
 
We have both white and pink clumps of Dicentra and these pretty ladies been a revelation.   The pendulous heart-shaped flowers dangle on the arching stems, delivering both colour and movement every season.  Dicentra does well in shade or sunshine, has a long flowering period and does not suffer from any pests or disease.  This glorious pink one sits underneath the purple/copper beech tree and the contrast between the pink flowers and bronzy leaves is striking. 
 
The Laburnum tree was another new friend I made and believe it or not, I named it the ‘yellow tassle’ tree until a neighbour explained what it is.  For some inexplicable reason I always think of the Laburnum tree as a male.  Perhaps it is because most of the year he is a little rough around the edges and quite boring!  He is poisonous too, if consumed in large quantities but he is worth having around because once a year, in early spring, he puts on a dazzling show.   

Some plants are friends because friends have given them to me.  I met my treasured friend, Sally, over 30 years ago and she brought me a Honeysuckle Americana as a housewarming gift.  I had always thought of these plants as shy, shade lovers but at the time the only available place to plant the Honeysuckle was in the south-west facing border at the back of the house.  But it adores the heat and the red and yellow flowers are seductively fragrant.  Like most things this season it is flowering later this year and currently it is worth stepping out through the French window just to take a really good sniff of it.  I also have a later flowering, pale pink climbing Jasmine growing through it and the two of them are quite chummy, rubbing shoulders as they scramble up the house.

Chocolates are nice but the gift of a plant is nicer.  It lasts longer, offers calorie-free pleasure and you never forget who gave it to you.  The only thing you have to watch is that you don’t kill it.  Now that would be a bad omen for your friendship!

Loppers, Faith and Tea

I read with amusement a while ago that Camellias can be grown successfully in containers.  Our Camellia, which has been at Springfield for decades, had grown to over 20 feet high and 10 feet wide at the last calculation and our acid soil suits it.  We don’t know the variety (maybe it is a Williamsii) but it has delivered consistently for the 9 plus years we have lived here and is a mass of bright pink flowers in late winter.  For us, the Camellia in full bloom is a sign that spring is on the way.  In the past we have had flowers in February though this year, the late spring caused it to come into flower much later.  We thought it may miss flowering this year but we were not disappointed. 

However, the size of our Camellia is now history because it started to look unruly a couple of years ago and Something Had To Be Done.  Today, Doc set out with the loppers and it now stands 8 feet high, diminutive compared to what it was.  We are hoping it is sighing to itself: “Oh thank goodness, you have taken me in hand!” rather than “Oh help, I am dying.......”

The time to prune a Camellia is immediately after flowering so that there is enough time during the active growing season for it to form new buds for next year.  However, with such a hard prune in mid June, we doubt we shall see a single flower next year.  We are prepared to take the hit and hopefully, our beloved Camellia will come back rejuvenated and with increased vigour in a few years time.

According to the RHS, hard pruning and renovation is safe and reliable.  I shall feed it with ericaceous feed, leaf mould and mulch with bark.  With some decent rainfall (never use tap water on a Camellia) it should perk up by the end of the season.  We have faith in it, we must believe it will flower again.

As I type, Doc is still trundling up and down the garden, taking the amputations to the bonfire.  Whilst he had the loppers in his hand, a couple of rhododendrons received a similar treatment.  I wish I could help him but my foot is still painful and I am confined to light duties.

The Camellia is related to the tea plant (Camellia Sinensis, I think), which also belongs to the Camellia family of large trees/shrubs.  Doc is addicted tea and would drink it all day, every day, before food, with food, after food and between food.  By the time he comes in this evening, he will be in need of a very large cuppa.  It is well deserved and thoroughly appropriate under the circumstances.  Better go and put the kettle on.

Summer Jottings

For the past few days it has felt like summer - and not a moment too soon.  The garden is energised and today I brought out my sun hat.  Dare I say it, but it was too hot to garden this afternoon!

Fingers crossed, my inability to grow aubretia may be at an end.  Slugs are a menace in our garden and although we treat the raised vegetable beds with biological warfare (nematodes), it is too expensive to treat the rest of the garden.  However, I had an idea how to keep them off our vulnerable ornamentals and my method is free!  With great dexterity I picked some holly leaves and arranged them around the base of an aubretia plant and despite heavy rain for several days, not a single slug enjoyed a nibble.  I am wondering if the prickles really do put them off and that my as yet unpatented method keeps the slugs saying 'ouch'.  I will have to be careful myself when weeding.

Two lilac aliums have sprouted up with some yellow poppies in the border at the front of the house, underneath the kitchen window.  We planted some bulbs years ago but it was the wrong situation for them - not enough sun and the soil is not very good.  Anyway, years later two have come up to greet us, right underneath the bird table!  Perhaps they will seed and eventually we will have a decent stand of them.

The box balls that were at the front door have been moved to near the garage to make way for the fuschias and some summer colour to welcome the postman.  However, they are in need of a trim and I was never very good at cutting the children's hair, so I am unlikely to do a good job in re-shaping them.  I could always ask my hairdresser to have a go with them........

The oak tree that had been partially felled a few doors up from us, was finally cut down today.  It used to tower above the gardens on our side of the road.  Impressive though the operation to remove it has been, it is sad to see the tree go.  But it was sick and now there is an opportunity to replace it and look to the future.

Some gardeners believe that no colour combination clashes in nature.  We have masses of different coloured rhododendrons and this pink one was planted probably a hundred or more years ago when the house was built.  I don't know if the yellow azalea was planted at the same time but here they are, living side by side in perfect harmony.  The azalea has a wonderful scent and we don't mind the yellow and pink together.

The orchard has been mown and the spent daffodil foliage cut down.  However, we like to pretend there is a meadow theme going on down there so Doc has mown paths and left nature to itself.  We are not sure whether this is a good idea or not because there are signs that Orange Hawkweed could take over.  We do have cow parsley and some unknown wild flowers, though it depends which website you browse as to whether a plant is a beautiful, native wild flower or a pernicious weed.

 

I could do with a sit down but there is work to do.  Time for tea and then its back to the plot to water the tomatoes in the greenhouse.  I am struggling with my painful, post-fractured foot (see previous posts!) but I am determined not to give up.  It is amazing how much I can do in an hour before I need a sit down and I have learned the art of prioritisation.  Doc has also learned a thing or two such as how to take orders!

Exotic Figs

In her book ‘An Omelette and a Glass of Wine’, Elizabeth David said: “To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.”  

Many of us British gardeners would like to recreate the magic of the Mediterranean and grow our own figs but although they grow well outdoors in the South of England, they are more of a challenge the further North you travel.

For this reason, Doc and I decided to grow our fig tree inside the greenhouse.  Our idea was to lift it outside in the summer but it grew too heavy and awkward to make this a practical proposition year after year so it stays under glass.  It seems to be thriving.

Another good reason for growing a fig tree in a pot is that it needs to be treated very mean.  Left to their own devices a tree can reach 20 feet tall, with lots of vigorous green, sappy growth which does not crop well. 

We planted Ficus carica, Brown Turkey’ (AGM) because it is the classic fig for this country, with heavy cropping, producing its fruit in August.   We started with the fig in a pot one size larger than the pot it arrived in and over the years, it has been re-potted on every other year.  It is now at home in a very large 45cm (18in) diameter pot of soil-based compost (John Innes 3).  We top it up with fresh compost from time to time and feed it with tomato feed in the spring and summer.  It needs plenty of water when the fruit is swelling.
 
We do prune our fig in early spring, cutting out dead or straggly branches, before the main growth starts.  By mid June, the new shoot tips are ready to be pruned to leave four or five leaves. I have heard that figs kept under glass can produce two crops per summer but we only ever have one crop. By the end of the season, there are pea-sized fruitlets which grow on the tree all winter, over spring and then into the summer for cropping. 

Figs are ready for harvesting when the skin is soft, and a bead of sugary fluid is secreted from the ‘eye’ at the base of the fig. They also split when gently squeezed.

Our fig has never suffered from pests.  Red spider mite is supposed to be a problem for figs grown under glass but we always damp down the greenhouse in hot weather.

A fig tree always has an exotic look about it and reminds us of sun-filled holidays.  I love those large, fan-shaped leaves.  I can’t say they are my favourite fruit to eat but Doc loves to eat them with goats cheese.  I did wonder about drying some of the fruits in the airing cupboard and making them into lovely fig biscuits.  However, I think Elizabeth David would turn in her grave, and we don't want that, do we?

Wishful Thinking

Baz, our tree man has come today to inflict the chain saw massacre on our dying pear and apple trees.  He tells us that the oak tree in a neighbour's garden will be receiving the final chop shortly.  Although the canopy looked healthy adn verdant, the trunk has a huge split in it.  The water is seeping in and gradually rotting the tree from the inside out.  This is a danger sign - we have strong winds here and the tree could have easily crashed to the ground during the next winter.  The oak tree is not a native specimen but it has done well and we have all enjoyed its spendour.  RIP.

Despite the miserable weather, we have a reasonable crop of spinach.  I fancy making a spinach roulade for tea.  I have just popped down to see if there is any asparagus to go with it and there are creamy speckled beetles on the asparagus bed.  The dreaded asparagus beetle!

I have picked off several of the critters and squished them but no doubt they have had fun laying  their eggs everywhere.  We never compost the ferns at the end of the season and always throw them on the bonfire, so we are bemused that the beetles have overwintered and multiplied to successfully.  We have never encountered this problem before.  The spears look characteristically bitten and unsightly, but some are edible.

Steps will have to be taken.  Nematodes are not available to tackle this problem but apparently, Scotts Bug Clear Gun for Fruit and Vegetables (RHS advice) is a possible solution.  It contains pyrethrum which is a natural insecticide made from the dried flower heads of chrysanthemums.  We shall have to see if it works.  I will choose a still day so the spray does not affect surrounding plants and the insects pollinating them. 

Pests or food?  It is a perenniel gardening and agricultural dilemma, isn't it?  Feed the world but conserve the wildlife. 

Hail May!

We have had some warm-er days over the last ten days, several were pleasingly sunny.  However, it appears that Mother Nature likes to toy with us.  Just when we are thinking about wearing a pair of cut- offs and stoking up the barbecue, she not only drenches us but adds cold wind and hail storms as well.

Today was cold enough for thick gloves and Doc carried the pressure-washed garden bench into the greenhouse so he could oil the wood in some degree of comfort.  Yesterday, we were pleased to find healthy little parsnip and carrot plants poking through the soil in the raised beds and today we are wondering if they will still be there tomorrow.

I have runner bean plants escaping from the cold frame and I had hoped to plant them out by the end of this week.  I took a risk with the pumpkins, butternut squashes and courgettes – but they are snug under cloches for a while yet.  The lettuces are doing well and of course everything in the greenhouse is on schedule.  I nearly removed the fleecy tunnel from the potato bed but thought better of it and I’m glad I left it in situ.  Potatoes do not like the cold and they have put on a lot of green growth this last fortnight which could frizzle if exposed to very cold temperatures.

Recently, Doc and I witnessed a sad spectacle in a neighbour’s garden.  We have long since benefited from the view and majesty of their huge oak tree.  We don’t know the details but a team of tree surgeons spent a couple of days dismembering the canopy of the tree.  They were highly skilled, two men were harnessed in the tree itself and several others were on the ground using ropes and pulleys to guide down the severed limbs down.  Limb by painful limb the tree was dismantled and the screeching of the chain saw made us shudder.
 
No matter how expertly the work was done, or how much it needed to be done, it was still sad.  Who knows how many decades the tree has been growing?  Ten?  Twenty? We have always considered the tree part of the landscape, free to scrape the roof of the sky if it so wished.   Now it is nothing more than a large stubby trunk with shortened arms, a ghost of its past.  We are hoping though that this skeleton is a mercy.  Maybe they have pollarded the tree so it can re-generate and be more manageable in the years to come.  Every day we walk down the garden and a glance across at it.  So far, the men have not been back to finish the job.  We don’t want to hear them shout ‘timber’ as the last of the tree crashes to the ground.....

For the neighbours closest to the tree, there must have been a severe loss of light from such a monster of a canopy and indeed we shall have a much clearer view of the setting sun on those rare, balmy evenings.  We did not have to live right next to Goliath, other people did, so we hope there are benefits worthy of such a drastic pruning. 

It is poignant that tomorrow we are losing a very old, almost dead pear tree and an apple tree which is virtually falling down on its own. (It sways in high winds!)  Our neighbours will have to listen as a chain saw tears into old wood.   Sometimes we gardeners have to take difficult decisions but gardens bring with them responsibilities as well as opportunities.

So, Doc and I have decided.  We are going to plant two trees to replace those we are about to lose.  We would like a Liquid Amber but are undecided about the other one.  I have also ordered two highly vigorous climbing roses:  Rambling Rector and Himalayan Musk, to scramble up our last two remaining, large old apple trees in the orchard.   All our replacement fruit trees, except the Bramley Seedling,  are on semi-dwarf rootstocks so this is the last chance to make a bold statement. 

There will be a lot of work to establish the roses because they will be close to the old apple trees and they are hungry plants.  We will have to bury a very large open-ended pot, filled with masses of nourishing stuff for each specimen, protect the stems from rabbits and train the growth up the trees with wires.  It is expensive too but hopefully, in a few years time, two roses will be scraping the roof of the sky and filling the air with delicious scent.  Well, that's the plan. We can’t wait.  It will be nice for the neighbours too.

Battle of the Brassicas

The idea of a French-style Potager where vegetables, herbs and fruit jostle attractively with cottage garden flowers, is very appealing.   However, if I tried the aesthetic approach with the cabbages, they wouldn’t last long.  The red varieties are particularly beautiful but all brassicas need more care and attention than other crops because they like specific growing conditions (lime) and they are plagued by pests.

The raised bed allocated to the brassicas this year does not look pretty but it is a very effective vegetable fortress and keeps all the cabbage-loving critters at bay.  The mesh is very fine and will keep the pigeons and insects out.  Cabbage white butterflies have to flutter by too.  They like to lay their eggs on the undersides of the leaves.  The eggs grow into caterpillars that then eat all the leaves.  As for the slugs, the bed has been treated with biological nematodes and for double measure, each plant has a sprinkling of organic slug pellets too.

In addition, each cabbage has a collar round the base to protect it from cabbage root fly.  This little demon lays its eggs on the soil at the base of the cabbages and when the eggs hatch, the maggots tunnel down to feed on the roots, effectively killing the cabbage. I buy packets of cabbage collars but they are expensive and I must start making my own from bits of old carpet.  They are simple enough to make, for each one you just need to cut a smallish circle, cut a straight line halfway through the circle and then cut either side so it forms a Y shape.  Then you just slip one around the base of each plant, though you need to be careful you do not damage the stem – I always have a few spare plants waiting in the wings just in case.

This year I am growing some pointed, small Hispi cabbages, white cabbages for coleslaw and our favourite red cabbage for an autumnal, spicy braise to go with pork.  Checking on progress will be challenging though.  I might need some SAS training to get under the mesh.

....And we're off!

It may have been a slow start this season but Springfield has definitely sprung and is galloping along so quickly, I can’t keep up with it.  I still have a broken left foot and this is not helping the situation.  I am not fit enough to chase after the garden but thankfully, Doc isn’t working this bank holiday weekend.  He was looking forward to a few days off and perhaps the opportunity to enjoy a Saturday as well as a Sunday paper, but he will probably think differently by the time I’ve finished prioritising his list of jobs!

The rhubarb forcer has delivered the goods and a few days ago we tasted the most sublime early (time is relative this year!) rhubarb.  The stems were candy pink and fragile and needed no more than a sprinkling of orange zest and a little sugar.  I poached it gently for a few minutes and we enjoyed it with local, vanilla ice cream.  Simply delicious.  We shall force some rhubarb next year but since it puts stress on the plant we will us a different crown. 

Today, the sun shone all day and someone turned up the heater.   It felt good to feel warmth on my face. The magnolia is a white froth of loveliness and the scent fills the garden.  The camelia is also in full bloom and the borders are bursting with perennials.  I’m sure I will manage to pot on the tomato plants in the greenhouse and I am hoping the tiny asparagus tips (finally) poking through the soil, will soon be big enough for me to harvest.  No injury will stop me making a hollandaise sauce and poached eggs to go with the lightly steamed asparagus.

Last weekend I ventured out (in the cold) for a potter around (Doc allows pottering) and I took the radio with me for my weekly fix of BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.  I was examining a patch of golden and red dogwood and cursed the Lily of the Valley encroaching on its space.  No amount of cold, drought, flood, poor soil or absence of light stops it from creeping up on everything.  It is such a weed in our garden, a blight on the landscape and one of the few plants I would happily give away.  However, there was a lady on GQT who was asking how she could grow it!  Apparently, she had tried for 40 years without success.  And here we are, trying everything available to kill it!  We cannot even claim skill and perseverance.  The LOTV was here when we came and will probably still be here when we are long gone. 

Gardeners often have plants they cannot control or plants they cannot grow at all, whatever they try.  The plant that I would love to grow is aubretia.   In our village, several of the cottages have high, beautiful stone walls with purple, lilac or blue aubretia cascading down to the footpath.  It may be considered a cliché and suburban but aubretia makes a beautiful statement in springtime.  I love it.  We also have a stone wall and a rockery but can I grow it?  Not at all.  It looks good for about 10 minutes and then succumbs. I blame some unidentifiable critters rather than the gardeners in residence.  If anyone out there has any foolproof tips, please let me know.  Such is the life of a gardener.

Too much brown

There are many reasons why I write a gardening blog, one of which is that it is a useful garden diary.  It is interesting to look back and see what we were doing last year and beyond.

So, around this time in April 2012, I was praising the Persicaria which was in flower.  I was also sowing parsnip seeds and Doc was helping me re-plant the bed at the front of the house with new perennials.  The hungry gap was over and on the 14th April, we enjoyed Rhubarb from a very verdant rhubarb patch.  All systems were go, go, go.

 

Rhubarb for crumble - 14th April 2012

Further back, on the 8th April 2011 I was coping with a very unpleasant eye allergy.  However, I had managed to plant out peas, mange tout and lettuces.  The narcissi in the orchard helped lift my spirits but not as much as the asparagus did.  Not only were we picking it on 21st April but had been doing so for 3 weeks!

8th April 2011

What a difference a couple of years makes?  Today, the only productive plant outside in the garden is.... actually, there ISN’T a productive plant apart from a frost bitten bay tree, one brownish-looking rosemary bush and a tired thyme plant.  There isn't a hint of a shoot in the asparagus bed, the rhubarb is just unfurling a leaf or two and planting out the mange tout would be cruel.

 

There are strawberry plants in a raised bed but they are struggling to keep going.  No sooner do they put on a fresh green leaf than the frost turns it to a mush.  Their colleagues in the greenhouse are fine and I wish I had dug the outside ones up and found room for them inside too. 

 

Last week, I was concerned that the early seed potatoes might give up altogether if I did not take pity on them, so I plunged them into a raised bed and then covered them with plastic.  But I expect Bob Flowerdew would think I am mad doing this.

The temperatures have crept into double digits this weekend but it is still cold for the time of year.  Plants continue to do well the greenhouse though and I have moved some to the cold frame.  But they do need to be outside so they can explode into growth.  The lettuces are proving to be tough and I have several pots of cut and come again salad leaves which we snip daily.  The salad rocket supplies a little bit of heat to cheer us up. 

I have doubts the Morning Glory plants will barely have the stature to hold themselves upright, even if they have a nice arch to support them.  (Doc persevered to erect this in a rather brisk Southerly wind today!)  They are green but they don't look strong at all.  There are sweet peas which could be hardened off and planted out but I don't think they will do any more outside than they are inside.

I think we are at least a month behind and if we don’t get some continuing warm weather, we might not catch up at all.  Today, Doc searched the orchard and found 12 narcissi to pick and bring into the house.  12 is better than nil, isn’t it?  Never give up, is out motto. Still, we have found a new BBC programme to watch.  'Beechgrove Garden' from Scotland, is absolutely fabulous.  We love it!