Digging the Apple Walk

As intended, we've managed to spend a day working towards planting the apple walk. Unfortunately, about halfway up the left planting line, we uncovered a massive boulder, which is part—I think—of a terracing wall from long ago. The terrace has disappeared into the undulations of the ground, now, and isn't so necessary: the soil is stabilized sufficiently by the trees, I think.

The boulder, probably a meter square, and 30cm thick, has defeated us so far: it's too heavy to move (probably 500kg). I think it's entirely uncovered, so I have resorted to using the sledgehammer to break it up. Once it's smaller, and moveable, we'll heave what's left out. The ground here is so stony that the spoil heap of stones looks a lot like we're building a dyke.

Our other bits-and-pieces have gone ok: we've split a load of firewood, and stacked it, and re-oiled the hedge and fruit trees on the hillside. Some of the hedges had been nibbled, which prompted this reapplication of deer-deterrent. Fortunately, the hedge plants will benefit from the trim, as it should promote a bushier, denser growth.

Christmas 2013

Our Christmas, predictably, was a gourmand affair. I think we've had three 'Christmas' dinners, now.

Table set for the second Christmas dinner of 2013 (both © Ian 2013)

Start of a Break

We finished work for Christmas on Thursday, and spent Friday getting ourselves a little more organized for the holiday. There's a list of things we want/need to to get done, and I think we're on top of the urgent ones. Ideally, we'll spend a day quilting towards the end of the holiday, and there's some things we'd like to work on outside, weather permitting. There's always boring administrative things to get done inside, when the weather fails to cooperate (like filing the receipts for 2013...). We spent a lovely day with my parents yesterday, having a pre-Christmas dinner, and finally watching the first Hobbit film. The pork liver pâté we made in October (and froze in anticipation!) was delicious.

With some luck, we should be able to make progress on preparing the site of the apple walk. We started about a month ago, having had the idea back when we visited Barnsdale. The apple arch there (photo on this website), and a similar one in the Highgrove walled garden, are the kind of thing we're trying to create. Each side of a 33' long, 8' wide tunnel will have apple trees planted (every 3'; eleven up each side). They'll be trained up each arch of the walk (each arch being 4' vertical, then a 4' radius, 180° arch, and back down 4') to the top, where two apples will meet. They'll be trained into one-sided espaliers, with 3' long arms coming off every 18" or so, to create the structure of the apple walk.

Ideally, on a level site, each tree would have arms on both sides, half the length. However, because the walk is going to slope upwards, unavoidably, this won't work. Branches trained downhill will fail to grow.

We've got twenty apples on order, and I've found two more that I can obtain grafting material for, which we'll try grafting ourselves. They all originate (as far as we can tell) in Yorkshire, and date from Roman times, through Norman introductions, and the Victorian boom in apple varieties. Whimsically, we're going to arrange them chronologically, so that the oldest are at the top, and the most recent (just a few decades old) is at the bottom, or start.

However, long before it looks like anything at all, we need to smooth the plot, dig out the stones, and improve the soil. And, probably, dig some drainage.

Flying Visit

Just a very quick note to record a one-night trip to Cambridge, to catch up with friends before Christmas. We'll see everyone at the start of February, but as Philip & Rachel's son was born a couple of weeks ago, we wanted to meet him, especially. By happy coincidence, Robert and Liz (and nearly-year-old Ash) were around, too, so I think we actually saw everyone.

Christmas Greenery

On Friday, we managed to use a dry spell to plant about thirty saplings along the back of the birch clearing. When they've grown, they'll form a boundary to the space, and delineate the 'maintained' clearing from the untamed hillside above, which we plan to leave as gorse, heather, bilberries, brambles and bracken. They're a mix of crabapples and hazels, left over from the hedges on the other side of the plot, and they've been planted, like those, with mycorrhizal fungi on their roots, and chilli-oil on their shoots.

The rest of the weekend, we seem to have spent decorating the house for Christmas. I like to think we do things properly.

All photos © Ian 2013

Hedge

In October, we dug a trench for hedge planting, aiming to make planting the hedge a quick job. It needed to be, because the plants we ordered were bare-root, and could arrive at any time. This had its problems, because they'd be stuck in their box for up to a week (if they arrived on a Monday), but we certainly couldn't leave them waiting to plant while we cleared the ground (stones and all), and heeling in 350 plants didn't appeal.

So, we pre-dug the trench, refilled it with stoneless soil, and covered it with weed membrane. The plants arrived on Friday (the perfect day of the week for them to get to us), and we've spent most of the daylight this weekend planting them out. About 170 of them now form the formal hedge up the left of the orchard. These are planted into crosses cut in the weed membrane, having been dipped in mycorrhizal fungi suspension. It's a random mix of myrobalan plums, hazel, crabapples, and purple beech. This should give a good combination of spring blossom, autumn fruit and foliage, and winter cover; good for us, and good for wildlife. We've planted them at 25cm spacing, and I'll top them in late winter, to encourage a dense lower section.

The bare-root hedging plants (purple beech, myrobalan plums, hazels, and crab-apples) before planting; far right is the crab-apple 'Golden Hornet' (© Ian 2013).

A further 80-odd have been planted along the less-formal boundary in the clearing above. We used all the plums in the lower hedge, so this should be able to get a bit taller, and the higher proportion of beech means it'll keep more leaves over winter. We want this to be more of a screen, so that the clearing feels protected and secluded.

Lastly, there were twenty 'Midwinter Fire' dogwoods in the delivery, seventeen of which we planted in a long drift in the birch clearing. When grown, they should guide you up into the birch stand, and form a backdrop to it. They look a lot like sticks, at the moment, though. We'll have to be sure to keep the bracken down over the next year, to stop them being overgrown, but that should be manageable.

The same bare-root hedging plants, along with 'Golden Hornet' and the 'Midwinter Fire' dogwoods at top (© Ian 2013).

There's still a bundle of bare-root plants that are heeled in to the vegetable garden, ready to plant as a hedge-edge along the back of the birch clearing. Fortunately, having planted the bulk (300 or so) of the plants, the rest could be heeled in until later. There was also a Parrotia persica (Persian ironwood) in the delivery, which is going near the woodshelter; but that's containerized, and will wait. The last part of the consignment was a 'Golden Hornet' crabapple, which is destined for the centre of the games lawn: that's also heeled in for now. There's not much urgency with that: it'll be happy heeled in until February, I expect.

Chippings

Back in June, we made some progress getting the paths in the kitchen garden towards their long-intended final state. They'd always been grass, in theory, which in reality meant mud down the middle, and weeds along the edges. Long dissatisfied with this, we wanted to level them, put down weed membrane, and lay a thick layer of chippings. This worked well in front of the woodstore, and so a week ago I arranged for our friendly tree surgeon to drop off a truck-load of sycamore chippings. This is the small branches, twigs, and leaves, put through a Timberwolf shredder. The mix is quite a lot like hedge clippings, which compost well, though it's probably got more wood in it. Anyway; while it's not as 'nice' as bark chippings, it has a lot to recommend it. It's free; it's a waste product that would otherwise be processed by someone into peat-free compost; it works well on paths to keep them weed-free and drier.

The biggest benefit: after a year, it should turn into really nice mulch.

We put a load of the chippings onto the paths, which now look really tidy. We then started scraping up the chippings from the front of the wood store, which have, now (after six months in a heap, and a year on the path) turned into really well broken down compost. That's been going on the sweet-pea beds, and we're about half way up the path, replacing it with new. We ran out of light, unfortunately, which is often the case at this time of year. Four weeks, I make it, until the solstice.

Other than that, we've started clearing and levelling the ground where the apple arch walk will go, in the corner of the orchard. I think we've hit a terracing wall, as I seemed to be digging out a pile of stones. It's gone reasonably, though: I think another couple of days clearing/levelling, and a couple of days actually digging the planting trenches (which will probably need a good deal of compost or topsoil adding in).

Almost Ready

After most of another weekend of work, we're almost ready for our bare-root hedging plants to arrive (whenever that is). It's the time of year when, in reality, there's not much time to be outside. By the time we're up, have eaten, and got ourselves sorted, it's normally half-ten, and the light starts to fail by four. That makes a scant five hours available to work, out of which we lose at least some time for lunch.

These things can't be helped.

I used Sigrid to make a first pass at clearing the middle of what I'm going to term 'the boundary clearing' (on the left of the hillside, and which merges, at present, with the neighbouring territory), before we manually cut back the gorse, and pulled up gorse trunks. Over the years (decades, probably), the gorse bushes have straggled out, and many have six foot trunks, lying on the floor (buried by leafmould), with the bush some distance from its rootstock. Fortunately, once you've cut the spiny top, the branch usually pulls up readily enough. We cleared the clearing's left side, making a huge heap of gorse and brambles, yesterday. Today, we tidied up a little, and have marked where we intend to plant some of our hedging plants, in order to create a continuous barrier at that side. At the moment, you can see straight into Ivy Cottage's windows from the clearing, which suits no-one. Once the beech, hazels, plums, and apples are there, and growing, the clearing will feel more sheltered, secluded, and secure.

We're aiming for something that doesn't feel like a hedge, but a more natural boundary. I won't trim the plants into a squared-off shape, and they're not in a straight line. Once they're established, I'd quite like to grow some roses, and some ivy, through them, for flowers, winter foliage, and wildlife (ivy's a fantastic late-season food for pollinators).

Until then, there are just little cairns of stones, marking each of forty-six spots, running down to the corner where the fence ends. It takes in a number of small trees that are established (hawthorns and blackthorns), and skirts a holly tree. At the moment, you can enter the clearing from the orchard at that end, but eventually, once we've cleared more blackthorn, the entrance will be further along, about a third of the way along the back boundary, where you'll go through an arch of plums, and either left to this clearing, or right into the other.

Once we'd placed these, we used the last hour of light to go back to that other clearing (the birch clearing), and keep cutting back the gorse there. We're done, now, with manual cutting, and I need to go back with Sigrid to clear the brambles and bracken. The structure of the clearing is now clear, and we'll be planting a short run of the same hedge mix at the back of it, to delineate the clearing, and give it some boundary. There'll be a 'gate' above the birches, up the hillside through the heather, or a passage leading left into a cluster of trees, and then on into the boundary clearing.

Elderberry & Apple Jelly

After cooking the fruit yesterday evening, and straining for 24 hours, I had a pan full of elderberry and apple juice this evening. I think, in future, I might cook and strain them separately: I think the elderberry would have yielded more without the almost mucilaginous apple pulp. However, 450g of sugar per 600ml of juice, brought to the boil until it reaches 104°C, as normal. This one was quite exuberant, and almost boiled over several times, but we got there in the end. There was quite a lot of foam, which I managed to contain to one jar, which will be hidden away for us to eat on our own. The rest look rather presentable, with a dark, rich jelly.

Clearings

We spent this morning stacking a delivery of firewood, which means the wood shelter is almost full, now. Until I've used a half-stack, there's not room to stack more: for the first time in a couple of years, we can't saw or split more wood, as there's nowhere to put it; an odd sensation.

Of course, that doesn't mean there's nothing to do. Saturday morning was taken up with wall insulation matters (technical survey), and the afternoon we spent in the main clearing on the hillside, getting out more gorse, brambles, and bracken from around the stand of silver birches. There's now quite a nice path becoming clear that leads you from the entering corner (from the future apple walk), along the front of the clearing, then round a arcing 'ramp' towards the stand of trees. We've got twenty 'Midwinter Fire' dogwoods on order, many of which are destined for this clearing, to start building a woodland garden which will probably look its best in spring.

This afternoon, our attention's been on the other side of the hillside, above the apples, where there's another clearing, which we've not done anything with previously. The two will wind up linked by a short passage, I expect, but entry into this, left-hand clearing will be from near the James Grieve apple tree, where we think we might create an entry arch with four fan-trained plums forming a pergola of some sort. Early days, for that, though. For now, we were working out what needs to come down in the clearing, where the treeline will remain, and what we need to add -- mainly, some purple beech and hazels along the left edge, near the boundary, where the planting is sparse. We cut down a number of blackthorns, and next weekend I'll take Sigrid up and start properly clearing the undergrowth.

Before we came in, I collected a big bowl full of elderberries, from the tree at the top of the colour-wheel garden, where they're still clinging to the tree, despite the leaves having all fallen. The berries, and 150% of their weight in roughly chopped apples, have been cooked with 600ml/kg of water, until pulpy. I'll set them straining through a jelly bag before bed, and tomorrow they can become jelly.

Cider

We've been pressing apples for the last couple of evenings, scratting the apples, and pressing the milled pomace. A couple of trugs full of apples has been enough to put two gallons of juice into a fermenting bucket, which I've inoculated with 'Nottingham' yeast this evening, as well as bottle eleven 1l kilner bottles with pasteurized juice. The pomace is still in the press, dripping slowly, and there should be about another litre tomorrow evening.

I anticipate the cider fermentation to be a bit frothy and messy, initially, which is why the two gallons of must are in a five gallon bucket. Once it's calmed, I'll move it into a pair of demi-johns, to complete fermentation. I must remember to add pectolase, too, or it'll definitely be a bit hazy.

First Frost

Today sees the first frost of the winter: later than I'd expect, but October was mild, and we've only just put the heating on this last weekend. The rest of the weekend (getting the boiler fired up the first time each winter is not insignificant, with two thousand litres of water to heat from 14 to 85°C) was spent on bits and pieces, including chopping and stacking a few cubic metres of firewood, and—fortunately, given today's weather!—lifting the Bishop of Llandaff dahlias.

I notice that my 25th October entry, about putting up the orchard fence, is my 400th. Cue some stats and data...

Bizarrely, in both my first twelve months of this blog, and the second twelve, I managed exactly the same number of posts (111); and in each of the third and fourth years, I made 90 entries. As well as a round number of posts, it's almost exactly four years since I started keeping the log of what was going on in the house and garden.

I've now managed to blog on 73% of the days of the year: interestingly, I've always written something on 1st September. One day, I'd quite like to compile a collection of diary entries, one for each day of the year. I think they'd give an interesting view of the regularities and irregularities, as a 3rd March from one year is followed by a 4th March from another. Monty Don's book, The Ivington Diaries, follows this structure, and I rather enjoyed reading it.

Apparently, it'll take me at least one more year of blogging to accumulate enough entries to cover the whole year (I managed to 'collect' 29th February last year, by accident, so I don't need to wait until 2018 for that!), but I may get there yet.

Blackcurrant

We spent today visiting my parents, and went to a craft fair in Masham (two new pole lathe turned candlesticks!), and have also acquired a new blackcurrant (Ben Sarek or Ben Lomand; not sure which) from mum, which she was disposing of. It'll either go in a fruit cage, or on the hillside (though it might replace a blackcurrant in the fruit cage which then itself goes on the hillside).

Chilli Oil

The chilli oil we painted onto the fruit trees in August seems to have worked, and we've not noticed any more deer/bunny damage on the fruit or pines. As the weather's starting to turn autumnal, and it's been a while, we thought we'd re-apply the deterrent. We mixed three heaped dessertspoons of hot chilli powder into about 700ml of oil, and worked round the orchard, daubing each tree with some. As we went, I sorted out a few too-vertical branches, and cleared weeds from around the trunks.

This afternoon, we've continued tidying the garden, getting it sorted for winter, and moving the last few things into the greenhouse, or workshop: the tuhlbergia, agapanthus, and pelargoniums all needed to come in. The three Bishop of Llandaff dahlias can wait a little longer, we reckon, as there's not been any frosts yet.

Our batch of spiced apple mincemeat has gone into its jars (one and about three-quarters of a 1.5kg kilner), and we then spent some time juicing apples. My mechanized scratter hasn't worked as planned (difficulty connecting axle with rollers), but the aluminium drums with screws set in them work really well as manual graters, and we were able to create good milled apples for pressing. The yield is pleasing: about 55% (ie, 550ml from a kilo of fruit), or nearly 5l from a filled (nominal 12l) press. The juice has been pasteurized (70°C) and bottled.

Fence

Having dug the trench for the hedge that will go inside it, today was spent putting up the boundary fence at the edge of the orchard. We've opted for C8/80/15 stock fencing: it's a heavy-weight 'C' wire, with 10 guage (3.0mm) top and bottom wires, with the rest 12 gauge (2.6mm). There are 8 horizontal wires (not evenly spaced: the lower ones are smaller, to deter squeezing through), and it's 80cm tall, with 15cm gaps between the verticals.

We decided to put the fence posts (2.5") every 2700mm (9'), with a chunkier, 3.5" post at each end (with angled straining bar) and in the middle. Getting the posts in took until early afternoon: most of them were straightforward, with only one hitting stones. The stock fence went on in a couple of hours: a joint effort in tensioning it, and it now looks pretty tight. It now looks pretty good: we've left the boundary posts that weren't in the right places to be fence posts, but once Peter and Sara have checked they're happy, these can come out.

Spiced Apple Mincemeat

Most of today's been spent on odd jobs. A big garden tidy up has started, to put it 'to bed' for the winter, and we've planted the rest of the bulbs. The two apple jellies we started yesterday are now made (possibly slightly softer-set than intended, but still perfectly acceptable), and very tasty. We've added to this a batch (a rather large batch, in fact) of apple pastilles, which may turn out to be slightly more toffee-like than planned. And we've filled the slow cooker with the ingredients for the eponymous Spiced Apple Mincemeat, which we're trying for the first time. We've previously used a different recipe, but the method worked well. This has slightly more apples (and we increased it a bit further, using the 'pre-peeling' weight for the post-peeling weight), and a different balance of spices and fruits. It's all in the slow cooker to start to infuse/mellow/blend, and we'll turn it on in the morning. It'll slowing cook all day, cool overnight, and the brandy will be added right before jarring, on Saturday morning.

More Preserved Apples

Today we started by finishing the trench for the hedge. The last few metres were hard work, with a couple of monster stones hiding underground. We finally got them out, and then, perversely, have re-filled the trench. We added a few bags of sand/grit, and a little compost: the trench is now de-stoned and improved, and can (hopefully) have the bare-root hedging plants planted out with just a trowel, at high speed. We finished by covering the trench, and the surrounding ground, with a metre-wide strip of weed-proof membrane. That's, ultimately, to help ensure that the hedge establishes with less competition from the grass and weeds: for now, it helps kill them off before we have to cut slits in the membrane to plant through.

It does now look as though we've built some sort of toboggan run.

This done, we went into the garden proper, and did another set of bulbs. With over a thousand to plant, it's better broken up into a number of operations!

Last thing for the day has been starting some jellies: a plain apple jelly, and a 'fireside' jelly; also apple based, but with some flavourings (including lavender). The apples, now cooked, are in jelly bags to strain until tomorrow. While that's been cooking, we also prepared some pickled apples. Peeled, cored and quartered apples go into a hot spiced vinegar for five minutes, then into a bottle; the vinegar has sugar added, is reduced slightly, then poured on top. Unfortunately, we slightly over-cooked the apples, and some of them have started to purée. Never mind: we'll know for next time.

Bottled Apples

We made a late start to things today, as we had a team round to survey for wall insulation. That done, we donned boots, and got out to plant our spring-flowering bulbs.

• 100 mixed daffodils
• 70 mixed dwarf daffodils
• 300 Puschkinia Libanotica
• 100 Iris Reticulata 'Pixie'
• 200 mixed Chionodoxa
• 50 Narcissi Tête-à-Tête
• 25 Purple Blend Tulips
• 40 Ard Schenk crocuses
• 20 mixed hyacinths
• 200 mixed species crocuses
• 20 Camassia quamash
• 10 Fritillaria meleagris
• 12 Nectaroscordum siculum (honey garlic)
• 16 Allium aflatunese
• 24 Allium sphaerocephalon
• 50 Allium caeruleum, and
• 10 Allium 'Purple Sensation'

We haven't done all 1300 today, but made a good start. The daffodils have gone into the beds either side of the septic tank, and we enlarged the bed on the games-lawn side, making it more like the other one, and curving out into the lawn (less mowing!). The puschkinia, chionodoxa, and crocuses are for the sweet-pea/wildflower bed and the heuchera bed; the camassia, snakes-head fritillaries and honey garlic are for the copse bed; while the rest of the alliums are going at the garage end of the long bed. The irises will go at the kitchen end of the same bed, and the hyacinths and tulips are for pots.

We got as far as the light would let us, and then came in to bottle some apples. Each 2l kilner jar takes a kilo of apples, peeled, cored, and sliced. They go in the oven at 140°C for 50 minutes, then you add boiling water and seal. Very straightforward, and they will hopefully keep for a year.

Trench

A couple of weeks ago, we started digging a trench along the west edge of the hillside, where it borders the neighbour's plot, ready to plant a hedge. We made quite quick progress, covering about 40% of the distance in about an hour, because there weren't too many stones. Today, we got back from a weekend in Ludlow, and decided to get a bit further.

The weekend in Ludlow was very relaxing. We got a few bits done for Liz's grandmother; pruning a few things, moving a few perennials, and shifting a heavy compost bin. On the way home, we stopped at a previously un-visited garden centre, and picked up some seeds, a couple of half-barrel planters, and some free bulbs (autumn saffron crocuses; just ten, but a useful trial).

The hedge up the left/west side of the orchard is part of a plan to properly define the boundary. We'd previously put in a number of fence posts, but only five along the orchard section, and another six or so from there upwards. Ultimately, we'd like to put some sheep to graze the orchard, and the vague edge didn't make the orchard feel tidy, defined, or complete. So we've agreed with Sarah and Peter to put up a stock fence along the edge, which should secure the fields long-term. Of course, fences aren't terribly pretty, nor good wildlife havens, which is why we decided to separately plant a hedge inside the fence, with space between it and the fence to get for maintenance. It's going to be a non-prickly mix of hazel, purple beech, crab apples, and myrobalan plums ('cherry plums'), which should be attractive, good for wildlife, and yield fruit for us, too.

Hedges are best (well, cheapest) when planted as bare-root saplings in the autumn. The disadvantage is that they come with very little warning, and will need planting out within a week. We'll need the weekend to do the planting, so we decided to dig out the necessary trench, clearing the stones and adding grit and compost, in advance, so that planting them will be as quick as possible.

So, today, we dug a bit further up. Only a bit, though, as we hit a really rocky stretch, with some pretty big stones. However, we should be finished before too long.

Pig Processing

Our half-pig went to slaughter this week, and I collected it from the butcher's yesterday morning. We spent most of the rest of the day outside, getting things a bit tidier, including a mammoth weeding session along the long border, filling the compost bin in the process.

Today's been a very long and busy day, processing pork into various finished products for the coming twelve months.

We started by getting the various bags of meat sorted, into those that needed something doing, and those that were getting frozen as they were, as joints. That's about half a dozen. Another half dozen, and a big piece of belly, went back in the fridge, ready to go into a curing brine once that was made.

I then started working on the bag of trimmings, and the joints we wanted to turn into sausages, cutting them up into pieces small enough for the mincer. That generated about 12lb of bits, which went back into the freezer, to chill. The mincer works well on nearly frozen meat, but as it gets warm, the fats get messy, and the muscle doesn't get cleanly chopped by the blade. As a result, you get stuck every few minutes, with sticky, stringy, sinewy bits getting clogged on the rotor.

And that's no fun. So, we put the meat back in the freezer, and got on with other things until it was really cold.

The next was brawn, which involved getting all the odds and ends, tidied up (I'm not persuaded of the virtue of putting quartered head into it), and putting in a big pan. Covered with water, and with a few onions and muslin bag of thyme, bay, and peppercorns added, it was set on a simmer for a few hours. Liz then picked over the solids, extracting a dish full of meaty bits. The stock is cooked further, to reduce by half, and then sieved over the meat. This looks much tastier, actually, than last year's: there's less of it (pickier about the bits), but I think it'll be more valued.

While the brawn pot simmered, we got on with black pudding. We made a very tasty boudin noir de Poitou earlier this year, and a British fry-up black pud last year. On the basis of these, we modified the fry-up recipe, hoping to make something better seasoned, and a little more structural, but on the same lines. The new recipe, then:

• 750g of onions, finely chopped, and sweated in an ounce of butter
• 250g pearl barley, cooked (for about 45 minutes)
• 250g rolled (porridge) oats
• 50g salt

These get stirred together over a low heat, which seemed to help prevent the barley lumping up. We then added:

• 1l light white sauce (or Béchamel)
• 2tsp ground coriander
• 2tsp ground pepper
• 1tsp ground mace
• 1tbsp brandy
• 2l blood

Stirred thoroughly, we poured this into six 1lb loaf tins (and a 2lb tin), which had been lined (but not greased: there's enough fat in the mix). These went into a bain-marie in the oven for an hour at 170°C. That was enough: it's a lot less time than the batch this time last year took, and more like the Poitou blood cakes. I think the Béchamel helps them set, whereas cream doesn't. Sliced, packed into double portions, and frozen.

After this, I ground the sausage meat, and we added 12-15% chopped apples, 10% blended porridge oats, and 1% salt. I didn't add any liquid, this time, as the mix seemed moist enough. This then went back in the fridge, while we made the cure for the hams.

We really enjoyed the two Wiltshire cured hams we made last year as a trial, and decided to do all our hams that way this time. The ingredients are brought to the boil, then allowed to cool, before putting the hams into the chilled mix. In theory, you can pre-brine the hams, but that seemed superfluous (and a waste of salt!).

• 3l beer (the Harvest Mild we've been enjoying!)
• 50g saltpetre
• 750g black treacle
• 1400g salt
• 30g black peppercorns
• 35 juniper berries

They'll come out in three and a half days (Thursday morning).

I then mixed up a batch of 'Ray's Liver Pâté' (HFW's River Cottage Cookbook), scaled to the amount of liver we'd received (about 450g), which went into the oven (another bain-marie!) along with some baked potatoes.

The sausagemeat having chilled, we set to with the mincer, and turned out 96 sausages, running out of skin just too soon. The last of the meat made 12-sausages worth of patties, which will be useful for stuffing, and similar. Arguably, we didn't run out of skins too soon, really.

Last, and late, we settled down with our baked spuds (very tasty Druids), sausages, and black pudding. A very tasty reward at the end of a long day.

A Gallon of Blood

As last year, we're buying a half pig from a local smallholding. The pig's gone to slaughter today, so we called in at the abattoir on the way home, to pick up a bucket of blood. Destringed, and poured into tubs, it's now in the freezer, ready to make black pudding at the weekend, when the rest of the pig will be ready to collect from the butcher.

Autumn Preserving

Last week, I started a batch of greengage wine, which was ready today for straining, sugaring, and inoculating with yeast. Into a demi-john it's gone, with 1.7kg of sugar, yeast and nutrients: it appears from my recipe that this one takes a good while to ferment, and the lower temperatures will probably increase that further. Never mind: it's tucked away in the airing cupboard.

On Sunday night we made a batch of apricot and peach chutney (with, inevitably, apples, onions, spices, and so on, too!), which is probably the last batch of chutneys for this year, having already made Windfall chutney and a date and apple one. The cores and skins joined a bag of frozen lemon halves (which I've been collecting over the last six months: zesting and juicing them, then freezing the 'discard' husks) in a big pan. Covered with water, and simmered for an hour, I've strained them, and made the juice into Compost Heap Jelly (450g sugar per 600ml juice).

That was last night: tonight has been the turn of rosehip and apple jelly. Another batch of apples were cooked down, and pushed through a sieve. 300ml rosehip syrup (from two years ago!) and 600ml of apple 'sauce', meaning 900g of sugar: cooked to 104°C, and jarred.

Constructing the Greenhouse

Our new greenhouse arrived earlier in the week, and we've spent a good part of the weekend putting it together. It took longer than I hoped, actually, but then there were an unbelievable number of parts. Although time-consuming, it's been reasonably straightforward, once we had the hang of how it went together: that knowledge was hard won when it came to glazing, and  the first few panes were literally painful (stiff bar capping, and sore fingers!).

We had it pretty much glazed by the end of a long day on Saturday, and then had the roof vents and door to finish this morning. Then we manoeuvred the staging (21" wide, in a U-shape around the edges) in to place, and hung the shelves (4' long, and cunningly suspended): there's a lot of space, when all that's taken into account: probably the equivalent of twice all our downstairs windowsills. That, obviously, is excellent. The windowsills are now clear (except the tomatoes in the dining room: no point, as they're just finishing ripening), and the small deschampsia, lavenders, and hosta seedlings are all under cover, too, along with the few dozen perennials that arrived as plugs six weeks ago. We potted these up into 3" pots, and they're under cover, too. Although they don't strictly need to be inside, they're small, and we hope they'll grow on better for the extra protection.

Greenhouse

I've wanted one for about 14 years, and finally, we have one. Our little 8x6' greenhouse arrived today, as a stack of toughened glass panes, and several bundles and boxes of parts. We'll put it up at the weekend, hopefully, on the back patio.

In other news, I've started a bucket of greengage wine, with some frozen fruit we weren't getting round to using (Liz wasn't enamoured of the jam we made originally). Needs 250g pearl barley, unusually, as well as 1.5kg of stoned fruit.

Last night, we finished the spiced berry cordial, by adding 2kg of sugar, three teaspoons of each of nutmeg, allspice, and ginger, two big cinnamon sticks, and thirty cloves. That was simmered for five minutes, then bottled.

We've also picked all the apples from the front left established apple tree (which we pruned into quite a pleasing, goblet shape in the winter), which were starting to fall rather readily. There's probably been 5kg of windfalls, and 20kg of picked fruit, which bodes well. I'm hoping to build a scratter over the weekend, to help pulp/crush apples for pressing.

Of Steps and Stones

We continued digging out the herb garden/knot garden a week ago, in order to get the elephant garlic and normal Pink Germidour garlic into the ground, but couldn't get any further in the time, because it's such hard work digging out all the stones. We went back to it this weekend, and spent both Saturday and Sunday mornings on the task. I'd already lifted sufficient turf, so we just had to dig over the ground to make space for three more 'diamonds' of the design, in order to plant out the Radar over-wintering onion sets (36 per diamond). There were a few massive stones, and a lot of middling and small ones: red bricks, and dressed stone as well as random field stones.

Finally, we had the ground ready, and in went the onions. Yesterday afternoon was then a plumbing/electrics session for me: replacing the instantaneous water heater, which blew up while Ann and Alan were with us, with a new 10l storage heater. Although this requires a bit more notice (about 20 minutes to heat through), it has the big advantage of only drawing 2kW, instead of 9.5kW: 2kW can, realistically, be provided by the solar panels a lot of the time, which means hot water for free. (Obviously, 4kW of solar panels would only rarely make a contribution to 9.5kW, and never meet it.) It's also rather well insulated, and the water stays hot for a few hours, so it can be run off the solar panels mid-afternoon, and used that evening.

While I did that, Liz made two chutneys: the Windfall chutney we made two years ago, and a date and apple chutney that's new to us. Both seem tasty, but of course most chutneys improve (sometimes considerably) with 12-24 months maturation.

This afternoon, we finally got round to building some terracing steps from the back patio (outside the workshop door) down to the middle lawn. The grass slope there, aside from being impossible to keep mown, becomes impossibly slippery when muddy and wet: given that it's my route from wood shelter to boiler, this was a problem. I cut level bases for two sleeper sized risers, and filled the tread with a stone/brick retaining wall (so the sleeper isn't taking the weight) and topped with soil. We've then spread weed-proof membrane over the top, and put down chipped bark. It looks an awful lot smarter, and should be much nicer for walking over. At the same time, Liz sorted out the main path through the kitchen garden, where the uncovered membrane had rucked, and spread a few barrows of chippings on that, which has been planned for years.

Lastly, this evening, we've cooked down 4kg of elderberries to 4l of liquid, as the first part of making spiced berry cordial. We've only used elderberries this year, as it's a whatever-is-to-hand recipe. In the morning, I'll add the pectolase, and then we can strain, spice and sugar it. The recipe's for 500g of sugar per kilo of fruit (so, 2kg), and two cinnamon sticks, 27 cloves, and 9 teaspoons in total of ginger, allspice, and nutmeg (proportions as I see fit!). It's simmered for five minutes, and bottled.

Mowing by Moonlight

I've just managed to finish mowing the lawn before it went completely dark. I have no doubt that it won't be a particularly well finished cut, but I needed to seize the opportunity, as I've not managed to mow it for two weeks, and it needed doing before it gets too wet, and too long.

It will probably be the last regular mow that I do this year. If there's a suitable dry spell, I'll try to cut it during the autumn and winter, but the weekly cuts are almost certain to be over now.

Yesterday evening I strained a batch of blackberry wine from the fermenting bucket into a demi-john (and second bottle!), which I started last week. It'd been sitting in the bucket longer than it should have been, but I think it's fine, especially as it's been quite cool, so it wasn't rocketing along.

The vegetable garden is noticeably slowing: the courgettes are further apart, and the beans and peas are slower. The sweet peas have almost had it, but are just about hanging on, giving us a little late burst of colour. Even so, I doubt they've got more than a week or two in them now. That said, they're the best we've had them, and it's probably no coincidence that it's also the first year we've had them in the ground, not in a big container.

Autumn, then, is nearly with us. The trees have started to colour, the apples are almost ripe, and the summer flowers are fading. And, not least, I've got several hundred spring bulbs waiting to go in the ground: probably during a week of leave in October.

Extending the Knot Garden

Ann and Alan were with us for the weekend, but as they had to set off home after breakfast, we've had a day getting on outside. We're going to try planting the overwintering alliums in the knot garden, from now on, to give ourselves a little more flexibility in getting the autumn brassicas into the ground. This year, several of these (notably the romanesco cauliflowers and sprouts) went in a bit late, because the onions and garlic were late, because of the spring. It doesn't look, now, as though the sprouts and caulis are going to do very well.

So, if we get the overwintering onions into the herb garden, the brassicas can be planted out as soon as they're big enough, instead of waiting for their space to be free. To that end, we lifted enough turf for half a dozen more 'knots', and started digging it over. The ground's horrible, though: full of stones, and so we were only able to finish two. Fortunately, that's enough space for sixteen elephant garlic, and 25 'Pink Germidour' garlic. The onions will have to wait another week.

Pressing Business

After the winds at the weekend, we went out on Monday to collect windfalls from the apples, of which there were a couple of carrier bags. Small apples are a pain for using in chutney or cooking, as you lose so much of them in peeling and coring. However, they're fine for juicing (although they do have low sugar levels). I ran 3.8kg of the small fruits through the food processor's chipper/chopper, and packed them into the apple press, which has languished in a corner of the kitchen for eighteen months (no apples last year).

The apple press (© Ian 2012–13)

The press only came with a limited number of spacers, which I still need to properly augment: this time I used some four-inch blocks of wood from dismantled pallets to pack out the pressing plate, which was enough. A good bit of handle turning later, and a long pause to let the last bit drip through, and we're in proud possession of 1.8l of juice, which I've pasteurized at 70°C, and bottled.

It's delicious, if a little acid, because the windfalls don't really have enough sugar to counter the malic acid.

Clearing a Clearing

Rachel and Philip were with us for the weekend, and (in return, I suppose, for our help with their thyme lawn) offered to help do something useful in the garden. So we put loppers in their hands, and led them to the clearing on the hillside, where we proceeded to cut down gorse, brambles, and bracken.

Apart from that, we ate a lot, and caught up. We're very grateful for their help, obviously, as the clearing is starting to live up to its name. Another day of work, I reckon, and we'll be in a position to plant out some dogwoods, which we intend to order in the next month.

Blackberries

After several sessions, I've now finished painting the window frames for the year: I've done a little over half of them, and will do the rest in the spring.

In other DIY, I've replaced the fill mechanism in the downstairs toilet cistern, which seems trivial, but will be much better: it's taken increasingly long to fill since moving in, starting at about 20 minutes, and reaching a couple of hours, before packing in entirely a week ago.

We've sown a number of seeds, including some aquilegia ('Royal Purple' and 'Magpie', as well as some free-pollinated seeds from grandma's garden), and potted up a number of house plants.

It's blackberry season: we picked a couple of ice-cream tubs full -- all from the hillside. It's been really good to step out of the house and collect so much fruit: far better than having to schlep to the quarry, or a stretch of the lane, and lovely to have it growing in our own land. It's looking like nice fruit, as well, and there'll be more to collect in a few days, I think.

Some of the weekend's been spent putting together a plan of works for the next twelve months, to include, hopefully, wall insulation, a small greenhouse for the back patio (the 'big' greenhouse on the hillside will be another few years), the work on the colour-wheel garden, and a pergola/fence structure to enclose the drive. The greenhouse, if we go ahead, will be imminent; the pergola in the next few months; the wall insulation won't be until the spring/summer.

Potatoes, Parsnips, and Planting

After discovering quite a lot of wireworm damage to a couple of parsnips, we decided to take up the parsnips (4.5kg), carrots, and maincrop potatoes, to limit damage. The Druid potatoes have yielded 28kg, from 20 plants, which is pleasing.

Although taking them up early was a bit frustrating, we've also managed to get our honeyberries in the ground, finally, and get a number of other pots planted into the front copse bed, as well as the goji berries into their new beds on the back patio. The honeyberries, and two cultivated blackberries, have gone into new small beds demarcating the entrance to the kitchen garden, which also feature willow trellis panels. I'll have to get a photo...

A heather, the forsythias, the old astible and heuchera from the pots in the front, have all gone into the copse bed—the astilbe and heuchera having been split. Some of the heucheras have gone into the hanging baskets for the winter, as the nasturtiums (which have been great) have been badly caterpillared in the last couple of weeks, and are rather the worse for wear.

Lastly, a photo of this week's sweet pea harvest: 700 stems. It's probably the peak, but we've been getting about 500 stems each of the last 8-9 weeks, I estimate, which is a staggering number of flowers. Sadly, the plants are showing signs of fatigue, so it won't go on much longer.

The sweet-pea tripods (pre-harvest!) (© Ian 2013)

700 Sweet-Peas (© Ian 2013)

Survey

It's the time of year to take semi-ripe cuttings of perennials, so yesterday, with the help of a fosterling, I took a number of pots of lavender, box, willow, dogwood ('Midwinter Fire'), Cornelian cherry, and a yellow-flowered herbaceous perennial from Jenny's garden the name of which constantly eludes me. They were all treated with rooting hormone (apart from the willows), and are in warmed propagators to give them some warmth and humidity. Before that, then I painted half of the window frames on the front of the house, and Liz weeded, as well as painting the trough planter for the goji berries.

We spent most of today on the hillside, which has been strimmed again. It might need doing once more this autumn, but that might not happen. Having done so, we went around and painted the trees with an anti-deer concoction of chilli powder in oil. Hopefully that will help keep them away: they've browsed the leaves from one of the tall shoots on one of the Victoria plums. While going round, I used a GPS app on my phone to take a reading of each tree's location, as we don't actually have a plan of which tree is where. I'm not sure it's worked perfectly, but it provides some idea.

Location of the Fruit & Ornamental Trees in the Orchard ( Ian 2013)

I'm going to work on plotting it with labels, too.

I also measured the length of the putative apple walk we're thinking of building in the 'top right' (left in the plan above) corner, which an avenue of trees leads you towards, and which takes you up into the first clearing. It looks like it'll be about 24' long: as we're planning trees 6' apart (probably with imitation 'trunks' intercalated), in an arch 8' across; each tree can then be espalier trained 3' each side. That makes for five trees up each side, so we need to start planning varieties -- and digging two planting trenches.

Finally, as we went round, I've done a bit of work training the primary laterals on the fruit trees which are tall enough, so that they're more, well, lateral. For example, most of the plums have reached a height where their leader shoot was cut, which promotes several new shoots to break into growth at the tip (about 6' tall). These will be the primary framework of lateral branches, which will ideally be reasonably horizontal (for many reasons, not least that this makes a larger crotch angle between trunk and branch, which is much stronger, mechanically). However, they start life really vertical, and need to be tied down, which I've done with guy twines.

Mulberry

It's been a busy couple of days, but it somehow doesn't feel like we've got too much done.

Today was mostly spent getting the mulberry ('Jerusalem') in the ground. We had to take down a hawthorn that occupied the spot (we didn't feel it was earning its keep, and it was rather prominent), which was straightforward. Digging the hole went reasonably well, until I uncovered two massive stones: one about 250kg, the other about 100kg. Eventually, we managed to drag them down the hill to the boundary (using fence posts as sleds), where the bigger will hopefully form a bridge over the ditch, and the smaller will be incorporated into the wall as I rebuild it.

Once they were out of the way, we followed the same protocol as before: big hole, incorporate compost, ensure there's good drainage with a ditch leading out, and then a square metre of weed-membrane on top. An eight-foot post and 35cm diameter chicken-wire cage completes it. We'll water it in for the next week, to help it establish, but it's looking good.

I then made a wooden planter trough that will sit on top of the (somewhat pointless) gravel bed outside the workshop door, on the back patio. There's nowhere near enough soil for anything to grow, but with an extra 30cm deep, 30x170cm trough, we'll have somewhere to plant three goji berries we bought in January last year, and which have been consigned to pots since. We'll give the wood a coat of fence paint on the inside, and line it with plastic.

Yesterday was a day in the kitchen garden: weeding, turning the compost bins (almost full), cutting down fruited raspberry canes to make space for the new canes (next year's crop), lifting the rest of the onions (which went in in mid-May: Rumba, Fen Early, and Red Fen). They're now in the woodstore, on racks, to dry off.

York Gate

David and Ann were with us for the weekend, and having dropped them off at the station, we carried on to visit York Gate Garden, which is on the outskirts of Leeds. It's on a similar scale to our own garden, and is pleasingly divided into a number of smaller gardens, which is the kind of approach we're trying to take. It had a pretty pond, a nut walk, and a productive kitchen garden.

York Gate Gardens (© Ian 2013)

And, inevitably, a small nursery. We picked up three alpine Lady's Mantles  (Alchemilla conjuncta), which is more delicate than A. mollis, with leaves that are more divided, and silver edged. It is, apparently, less prone to seeding everywhere, and is better behaved.

Having got home, we pottered in the garden, including a contemplative look at the games lawn: Liz is floating the possibility of cutting an oval flower bed in its centre, and making the surrounding beds that bit bigger. Doing so would prevent badminton (but the combination of warm, dry and still weather necessary for a reasonable game is extremely rare), and formal croquet; but modified croquet, boules, lawn darts, and similar would all be possible. And it would make more space for plants, and probably look more attractive.

I also hooked up some new watering equipment, which arrived last week: a timer computer, which can set water going up to eight times each day, and an automatic distributor from Gardena. The latter's rather clever: each time the water comes on, it sends it out the next outlet of six, in sequence. By connecting each irrigation zone to a different outlet, and using the computer to turn the water on (and off) the same number of times, each zone will be watered. It will mean I only have to turn the water on/off once, instead of five or so times, in an evening, and the kitchen garden (and green roof) will be watered. It will also mean that the watering can be done while we're away, without laboriously inconveniencing a neighbour.

Swelling Apples

A four day weekend allows you to get a lot more done.

On Friday, some of our time was occupied by a wall insulation surveyor, which may or may not come to anything, and taking the car to be serviced. We managed, though, to get some planting out done, around that: the plants from Tatton Park, and others, are now in the ground, which they'll appreciate

Saturday, we dodged showers to mow the lawn, weed, and pot up a number of perennials that have arrived (all little plugs: delphiniums, echinacea, penstemon, and salvia)—this also meant potting on some of the 96 lavenders which arrived in June, and which have filled their 30mm modules. We then spent the evening with Cath & Jason, which was relaxing.

On Sunday, we went on a trip to Harlow Carr. Part of the impetus was the £5 voucher for the cafe which they kindly sent us. I bought a vanilla slice (iced mille-feuille and crème pâtissière) and a raspberry tart (shortcrust, with white chocolate crème pâtissière and raspberries on top, with a piped white chocolate garnish), which came to £5. Coincidentally. They were truly delicious.

Helenium in late summer borders (© Ian 2013)

The main borders are looking glorious, full of late summer colour, grasses, and the slightly lower light of August.

Main borders, Harlow Carr (&copy Ian 2013)

I've admired this bench before, and still like it. We're thinking about how to incorporate something similar into the edge of the games lawn.

Bench in Scented Garden (© Ian 2013)

We also rather liked these sinuous bean supports, and admired some 'Lupini' beans nearby.

Bean supports in Kitchen Garden, Harlow Carr (© Ian 2013)

On the way out, through the garden centre, we couldn't help but notice that the top fruit was on 50% off sale—much as it was last year, when I bought a walnut. No walnuts, this time, but a half-price quince (which I manfully ignored, as it was Leskovac, or Serbian Gold, which we already have)—and a mulberry, 'Jerusalem', which I couldn't leave, not for £22.50.

It'll go on the hillside, of course, probably to replace a prominent and only briefly attractive hawthorn. Around it, the older apple trees are all nicely loaded with fruit, which is gradually ripening. Weeks until the apple harvest, I think.

We got home, and made a batch of Danish pastry dough. Today, we've spent the whole day tidying the garage and workshop, which are now really pleasingly organized. In between, we turned the pastry into pain aux raisin, which are lovely, ready for visitors over the next month or so. Altogether, a pleasing, tasty, and plant-filled weekend.

Onions, Potatoes, Gooseberries

We've had a day of mixed maintenance (that's probably the best way to put it). The first of the summer onions (Fen Early) have collapsed, which means they're ready to lift, so up they've come. They're not particularly big, unfortunately, and there's only about 65 (I planted 100 sets), but there you go. I think the cats walk over that corner of the beds, which probably hasn't helped them.

The cats' garden skills are not impressive: Chess 'incubating' seeds (© Ian 2012–13)

They went onto a rack in the wood-shelter (a great secondary use for it!), replacing the Radar onions which came up three weeks ago. The garlic is probably also dry, when I have time to plait it.

We then put stakes in alongside the Brussels sprouts and kale (which don't like getting rocked by wind, of which we get plenty), and planted out some spare January King cabbages. I sowed a tray of Frostie spring cabbages earlier in the week, which will fill that bed.

These went straight in where the second early potatoes, Kestrel, had been, which we lifted his morning. They've yielded about 15kg, which makes them slightly more productive than the Lady Christl. Fortunately, they show no sign of blackleg, which lost us about a quarter of the Lady Christl tubers shortly after lifting.

After that, we had a mammoth fruit picking session: I've picked the rest of the gooseberries (barring a few handfuls), and Liz collected another big bowlful of blackcurrants. There's still the same again to ripen, and many more blueberries, which are gradually colouring up.

Once we'd had lunch, we planted a few things in the copse bed: our hydrangea (H. aborescens) 'Haye's Starburst', the three heucheras we bought at Tatton Park, and another that we had previously, along with a handful of stipa (S. tenuissima), a winter box, and a 'Pink Lemonade' blueberry (which has pink coloured fruits). Two more pinkberries went into the quince bed, which already has heucheras, stipas, and winter box, which means the two beds should feel coordinated.

Lastly, we've started clearing a few spots in the long border, taking up spent foxgloves and Lady's Mantle, in order to make room for the other perennials from Tatton Park: we hope to get them in the ground next weekend.

Apple Cheese

An unexciting day, spent sawing, splitting, and stacking a couple of cubic metres of firewood. Good to have done, but not scintillating.

More pleasing was making apple cheese last night. Last weekend, we thinned the apples on the established trees, which had set a lot of fruit: far more than the one per spur recommendation. Accordingly, we took off a number of fruitlets (about 3kg), which we didn't really want to waste. A look through the various preserving books we have led us to a crab apple cheese recipe, which looked promising, unripe apples having a lot in common with crabs, I reckon.

Anyway, it was simple enough to make, though a bit time consuming (in a waiting around way, rather than actual work). I trimmed the stems off the apples, chopped each in two, and put in the preserving pan. After just covering with water, the apples were simmered until pulpy, and then pushed through a sieve. This was surprisingly productive: we only threw away a couple of mug-fulls of fibrous matter. We weighed up, and added the same amount again of sugar, along with a half teaspoon each of cinnamon and ground cloves per 450g. Gently brought to the boil, and then set it reducing.

The normal recipe is to boil until you can leave a clear spoon track, but I didn't want to overdo it, and the cheese was pretty deep. It's not, therefore, set as thickly as it should, and would probably be too soft to demould in the traditional fashion for a cheese. Nonetheless, it's gone a lovely rich red-brown, and tastes lovely (a little sweet for Liz, apparently, but I like it). It's made about a dozen jars, of about 350–400g each, which is probably a year's supply.

Barrelled

A little while ago, I started a bucket of 'Harvest Mild' beer, which has been gradually fermenting. The specific gravity, when I checked it last Thursday, was low enough for transferring to a barrel, so I did so this evening, adding 2oz of sugar (for a secondary, carbonating ferment). It will probably need two to four weeks before it's at its best, and we'll use some, I expect, for curing hams next month.

It's about the same time as barrelling a keg of beer last year, though this is a different variety. Last year's barrel is finished; there are just some dregs left, which I should get out of the barrel, which I'm hoping, all being well, to fill with cider in a few months.

Cambridge Wedding

We went down to Cambridge late on Thursday, returning early today. The main reason for the trip was David and Anne's wedding, on Saturday, but we wanted to take the opportunity to meet up with other friends who were going: hence going down early.

Friday was spent pottering round Cambridge, going through some of the colleges, and lazily eating lunch, before going across to Rachel and Philip's for dinner. Their thyme lawn is looking really good, and the plants are just starting to touch in a few places.

The wedding service was in St John's College Chapel, and the reception (drinks; cake; 'breakfast'; ceilidh) was at Sidney Sussex (the college kitchens are closed for refurbishment at St John's). Our gift, finished and wrapped on Thursday morning, survived the journey.

Self-assembled picnic hamper (© Ian 2013)

Both colleges looked lovely, with a red-and-white palette. David always smartens up well (tails can only help!), and Anne looked lovely, in an ivory dress with some nice embroidery and a surprisingly well-behaved train.

Bridal bouquet, at the reception in Sidney Sussex gardens (© Ian 2013) 

We headed back to Katherine's rooms at about midnight, after a lovely day (and an excellent meal), and came home around lunchtime today.

The sweet peas are looking excellent, having not been picked for a week.

Sweet pea wigwams (© Ian 2013)

We then spent an hour or so cutting sweet peas, and then collecting gooseberries, the last of the red & white currants, some of the blackcurrants, and some raspberries. It's a multiple-night job, I think: the gooseberries are all ready to pick, and the blackcurrants are starting. The blueberries are gradually ripening, too.