One Last Chutney

We're trying to get the hill-side apples turned into purée or similar as quickly as possible, as they're starting to go over. The freezer's groaning at the seams!

With some of the apples, though, we thought we'd make some more sloe chutney. Just a small quantity, as we only made one batch of sloe gin last time, which doesn't equate to much chutney. The sloe gin has been decanted, and is much better than last year. I think it's a combination of harvesting the sloes earlier, and freezing them before making the gin. Which means it's probably time to get out there and collect a pound of sloes for this year's gin.

Accordingly:

• 10oz sloes, stoned (8oz)
• 8oz chopped apple
• 8oz soft light brown sugar
• large onion, chopped
• 12fl oz white/distilled vinegar
• 8oz raisins
• ½tsp chilli powder
• ½tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cloves
• ½tsp salt
• 2fl oz orange juice

Chutney's easy: bring that lot gently to the boil, and simmer until it's suitably thick. That quantity only took about 20 minutes.

We also made a batch of pickled damsons, which are better described as spiced damsons (the vinegar disappears, and the spicy fruity sweetness is much the dominant flavour). Recipe to follow...they're very good as a spoonful on top of yoghurt...

Winter Hanging Baskets

The last order needed for the winter hanging baskets arrived this week, so once we'd popped to the garden centre to buy ten white winter flowering heathers (Erica x darleyensis Silberschmelze), we were able to plant these. Out came the geraniums and verbena (geraniums repotted to over-winter, and verbena cuttings taken), and in went a bronze sedge, two heathers, five cineraria (previously in the hanging baskets on the arbour), and two candy-cane oxalis (O. versicolour: picture by Tanakawho). The oxalis are extremely unprepossessing: about 10mm long, and 5mm diameter, and shaped like a miniature shallot. Here's hoping they do something!

We also planted the baskets of paperwhite narcissi that we enjoyed over Christmas 2010. We spread them over several plantings last year. It didn't seem to make much difference, so we've done them all at once.

The fruit tree order I mentioned last weekend is now placed, so in a couple of months we'll receive seven fruit trees, some hedging plants, and a dozen Midwinter Fire dogwoods.

Wet Weekend

It's been decidedly autumnal this weekend, making an end to the reversion to summer. It's drizzled or rained throughout, and the wind's waxed and waned.

However, it was still a very pleasant weekend, as we had Alan and Ann visiting. We played rather a lot of Settlers (Cities & Knights, which was new to them), and rewatched Serenity, warmed by our first fire in quite a while. The chimney drew better than I remembered, and half a dozen logs kept us nicely warmed. The plan to install a stove has been rekindled, as a result.

We also made a batch of elderberry vinegar, with the last of this year's berries. This was a simple affair: an inch of berries in a big pan, generously covered with distilled/spirit vinegar. This was simmered for twenty minutes, and then squished through a cheesecloth and rebottled. It's meant to be good for salad dressings, or for adding to casseroles or roast meats' glazes. We shall experiment.

We've almost finalized an order of fruit trees and hedging, which will be good. Also recently arrived was thirty 'Firecracker' primulas, which are now in the troughs outside the porch, and a dozen mixed heucheras (to pep up the front garden). We've also got some bulbs on order from Parkers that should be arriving soon...including a couple of hundred daffs, and about 50 tulips. We also need to start planting the Paperwhite narcissi, in order to have them flowering at Christmas. We meant to do some on Friday, but it didn't happen!

Late Season Harvests

Thanks to an unseasonably warm week, we're still finding ourselves with salad leaves to pick. I'm sure the plants will either irrevocably bolt, or die in a frost, before too much longer, but for now, there are still salads to be enjoyed.

We've also managed to collect about 8kg of blackberries, which is better than we've done for the last couple of years. All into the freezer for now (which is starting to bulge at the seams), along with apple purée that we've been making in batches. The courgettes are still going, but the peas have pretty much come to an end, and the runner beans have slowed. I think we'll find that the summer harvests are over very soon. However, that just means we can start looking forward to the leeks, celeriac, turnips, and winter leaves.

The Summer Gold onions and Germidour garlic that we planted a fortnight ago are now sprouting (about half, anyway), and the spring onions have begun to germinate. There's no sign of the elephant garlic, yet, but that's buried twice as deep, so it'll take longer to emerge.

Less excitingly, I repainted the rest of the inside window frames (a job started a month ago), and discovered that the windows in the garage and workshop need some attention. I think they'll muddle through the winter, but next spring I think I should re-mortar them, and probably replace some of the putty/mastic.

Clare College Gardens

As well as going round St John's, we also went round the gardens at Clare College, which we tend to do during most of our Cambridge visits! In my reckoning, they're the finest of the college gardens.

Clare College Gardens (© Ian 2011)

We've been, I think, three times this year, and this room has been planted differently each time. It started with hyacinths, changed to forget-me-nots, and is now a tropical melange, with some striking bananas in the centre.

The beds elsewhere have also changed each time; testament to the gardening team's hard work! Their herbaceous perennials are always beautifully supported, and growing well, which I'm always envious of.

Dahlias in the river-side bed, Clare College Gardens (© Ian 2011)

Asters, Clare College Garden (© Ian 2011)

Dahlia (identification welcomed!), Clare College Gardens (© Ian 2011)

Quincentenary

We spent the weekend in Cambridge, to visit friends, and our old college, St John's. The college was founded in 1511, and in celebration of its centenary has held a number of events, including a 'Quincentenary Week' this past week. There were several exhibitions, which we went round, as well as dinners, talks, and tours earlier in the week.

The Old Library, St John's College, Cambridge (© Ian 2011)

The old library was built in the 1620's, and forms a range of Third Court. It was added to in 1990, with the New  Library. The Old Library is home to the college archives, and a huge collection of old texts: on display at the moment are documents relating to the foundation of the College.

Signature of Lady Margaret Beaufort, My Lady the King's Mother (mother of Henry VII, grandmother of Henry VIII, and foundress of the college), on instructions to her executor (St John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester) (photo © Ian 2011)

The Senior Combination Room (North Range of Second Court) (photo © Ian 2011)

The Hall, set for dinner (photo © Ian 2011)

Compost Heap Jelly & Spiced Berry Cordial

Yesterday, we boiled up a bag of frozen citrus fruit hulls and peelings, and apple cores and peelings, which I've been storing as they were 'created' for several months. This makes this jelly extremely frugal, as it uses the left-overs that would otherwise go straight on the compost heap, and the only paid-for ingredient is sugar.

Once the pulp was squeezed (yes, a cardinal sin in purist jelly making, as it won't be perfectly clear: I prefer to have ten jars of 'murky' jam, than five of clear jelly!), we added 1lb of granulated sugar to every pint of juice, and boiled it to setting point. Granulated, as the fruit is about as pectin- and acid-packed as it comes (citrus fruit and apple cores!). The result is a fruity and marmalade-like jelly, with a faint floral hint (those mischievous elderflowers that came with the oranges and lemons from the cordial), and is delicious. Thank you, River Cottage Bites.

The other thing we started yesterday was the spiced berry cordial. Having left the fruit mush to break down, I squeezed every drop of juice possible out, and added 500g of sugar for every 1kg of fruit we started with (in this case, 3kg), making 3l of liquid. We added two cinnamon sticks, 20 cloves, and 2 tsp of each of ground ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. This is brought to the boil, and simmered for five minutes. I then bottled this, hot, into warmed screw-top bottles: with the heat, and the sugar, I think it should keep just fine until Christmas.

The East Parterre at Witley Court, with box edging (© Ian (2011))

In my break for lunch, I took about three dozen cuttings of the heritage box we bought at Witley Court. It's a bit late in the season, but there you go.

First Stages

A fairly productive weekend, mostly spent in the kitchen, preparing the first stages of several preserving recipes!

Yesterday we mixed up the ingredients for a 6lb batch of mincemeat, using the new apple crop. It's really well in advance—we made the mincemeat for this Christmas back on New Year's Eve, so the batch from this weekend will only be used Christmas 2012. As before, it's the Gary Rhodes/Delia Smith recipe, modified to go in the slow cooker for six hours (rather than a low oven for several). That happened today, after the ingredients had sat overnight, and the result is magnificent. It's filled the kitchen with Christmas spiciness whenever we stirred it. Brandy (blackberry) will be stirred in tomorrow, when it's jarred.

In a break between showers, we nipped out to planted the over-wintering alliums. About 45 'Germidour' garlic, a dozen elephant garlic, and 110-odd Summer Gold overwintering onions. Before planting them, I dug in a few trugs of compost. Alongside, we've sown a few rows of White Lisbon overwinter spring onions, in the hope of an earlier crop of scallions.

It was dry first thing today, so we quickly gathered a kilo of elderberries, to combine with blackberries, damsons, and bilberries from the freezer to make a spiced berry cordial. It's about 50% elderberries, 25% blackberries, 20% damsons, and 5% bilberries, to a total of 3kg. To make the cordial, we've made up to 4.5l with hot water, and boiled it down to 3l (that is, reduced by a third). I'm leaving it overnight, and in the morning, I'll stir in some pectolase (to break down the fruit and release the juices). Once squeezed through muslin, the juice can be sweetened and spiced, and then bottled.

We also cooked up a big bag of citrus fruit hulls, and apple peelings (tasty sounding, no?): these have been collected over several months and frozen, and include the slices of orange and lemon that went into the elderflower cordial (and a few elderflowers). Covered with water, and simmered for an hour, I'll squeeze this tomorrow as well, and then make it into jelly.

Lastly—and lately—I strained the hedgerow wine that I started a week ago. The pulp (sloe, elderberry, blackberry), in a gallon of water, has been fermenting since Monday, with the aid of pectolase and yeast nutrient, and has now been squeezed onto 1.3kg of sugar in a demi-john. Fermentation, predictably, has picked up a notch.

More Green Manure

Just a short, and fairly mundane note: I dug over the space where the second-cropping potatoes had been (until earlier this week), and the last few meters of where the main-crop potatoes where, and have sown both with the last of the green manure seed.

The second-croppers came out, because they were starting to look sad, many of the Vivaldi had flowered, and most of the Orla had failed to come up. On digging over, it transpires that the Orla had decided to grow two new tubers (at the inevitable expense of the seed tuber disappearing), without the benefit of foliage. From all forty seeds, we probably only lifted about 2kg of tubers. Not exactly a success: we almost certainly won't trouble ourselves with second-croppers again. However, the Vivaldi showed no sign of scab, so they might be a contender for first-earlies next year, depending on taste.

Only nine of the Frostie spring cabbages we sowed about a month ago are doing well, so I've also sown ten more. The turnips from the same date have been badly attacked by mice and slugs, which is disappointing; it's now too late to sow more.

The elephant garlic and over-wintering onions have arrived, so we'll plant them at the weekend: we're still waiting for the 'normal' garlic.

Chutney, Jam, and Wine

Having collected the apples on Thursday, we've got on with making this year's chutney. We enjoyed the Grandma's Hot Apple Chutney we tried last year, so we did a double batch of that (12 jars). Instead of the basic apple chutney, we made a batch of the National Trust's Windfall Chutney (not with windfalls, but never mind), which was another 8 jars. A statutory batch (5 and a half jars) of mango chutney (another 850g tin of kesar mango puree!) followed; I think the spice blend worked better. We then tried a spiced elderberry chutney (cooked and sieved berries), which is extremely purple-red (5 jars). The Windfall Chutney has a couple of tablespoons of turmeric in, so that's rather yellow, making this years jars quite colourful: the Grandma's Hot is quite molasses-y, the Windfall is yellow, the mango orange, and the elderberry strongly anthocyanin!

We'll do a round of mincemeat next weekend (it requires an overnight steep of the ingredients), which will use more apples—the rest will be eaten as they are, or made into puree for cooking or eating.

One of our neighbours was given a large quantity of greengages, which were surplus to her requirements, so she gave us a few kilos. As a result, we've tried a new recipe, for greengage and almond jam. The greengages defrosted brown (they went in green), but it doesn't appear to have mattered. They also didn't require stoning before cooking, contrary to some instructions—though that did mean Liz had to keep vigilant watch for stones while to cooked, fishing them out as they floated. It's very tasty, and reminiscent of a marvellous gooseberry jam we made some years ago. Not too sweet, with a good 'plum' flavour.

To round off the preserving weekend, I started a batch of Hedgerow Port: elderberry, sloe, and blackberry wine. Nothing unusual: 800g blackberries, 300g sloes, and 400g elderberries, crushed, with 4.5l of boiling water poured over them. I added some pectolase once it'd cooled a bit, and yeast will go in tomorrow. The must'll ferment for four-five days, and then I'll strain it onto sugar in a demi-john.

The elderflower and elder rosé wines look like they've slowed considerably, so fermentation may be nearly complete. I'll probably leave them for another few weeks, then rack them.

Apple Harvest

It's a bit earlier than last year, but we picked the apples from the hillside. I think it comes to about eight big shopping bags full, which should be plenty for the recipes we've got planned. Making chutney is planned for the weekend; we might do some jam at the same time. It's that time of the year when there's loads of freezing, preserving, and bottling!

Rochdale Canal

We've had a rather busy weekend to finish our week off. Yesterday was spent getting the bacon and hams into brine, finishing the Great Potato Wash of 2011, mowing the lawn (vastly overdue, and hard work), and then making sausages.

It's the first time we've tried making sausages, and was prompted by the new half-pig order. We had loads of sausages with the last pig, but they were all basic pork & herb. As well as wanting a variety, we also thought it would be fun to try. It was.

Mincing the pork was rather tedious (dicing 7kg of pork, and then feeding it through a blade-and-plate grinder took an age), but making the sausages was actually really easy. We took 1.5kg of minced pork, added oatmeal (rusk substitute), water, salt and pepper, and then one of four 'flavourings'. One batch of apple; one of juniper & apple; one of leek; one of Welsh Dragon (leek and chilli). Once mixed (by hand: messy work!), I fed mix into the stuffer, while Liz guided the hog casings. Apparently, the trick is keeping a consistent size, and avoiding tearing the skins or introducing air—but we didn't have any problems.

We tried a bit of each mix before stuffing, and they all tasted good, and they looked very convincingly sausage-y once made.

We made up a big bucket of brine on Friday night, and set it to chill overnight, before adding the pork belly (about 3kg) and seven shoulder/leg joints for ham. I'd boned and skinned the belly on Friday, so it was just a question of dropping the meat into the brine on Saturday morning.

That took us quite late into Saturday night, but waiting for us in the morning was the newly salted bacon, which only needed 24 hours to pickle. It was from a small chunk I'd put to one side, and I think its size meant it was saltier than the rest (and a little too salty, in fact), but it tasted great.

The rest of Sunday was then filled with a trip out on a canal boat up the Rochdale canal, to celebrate Liz's sister's birthday.

Lock on the Rochdale Canal (© Ian (2011)).

We were very amply fed, and had a really good day. Neither of us have worked locks before, although I consider them an engineering miracle, so that was fascinating. And I only bumped the bank a few times.

Pig

A couple of slightly mundane days: yesterday spent painting window-frames (inside), washing potatoes, and sorting onions. This was enlivened by the arrival of our half-pig, which weighed in at a delightful 31kg. The roasting joints are in the freezer; the ham joints and belly (for bacon) are ready to cure; the odds and ends are ready to make into sausage; and the kidney was a very tasty dinner.

To celebrate, here's a photo of this week's flower arrangements!

Vases of flowers from the garden (© Ian (2011)).

Damsons

We spent this morning topping up half of the strawberry bed with more topsoil: it's now ready for planting. The other half wants topping up with compost/manure, as it'll receive rhubarb crowns (which want lots and lots of organic matter), but that will wait.

In addition to another pair of cauliflowers, and a handful of courgettes, we also picked the first of our runner beans, and lifted the first celeriac. The celeriac's a little small, really, but made a very tasty soup for lunch.

Anticipating making the flower beds in the sheltered corner of the garden, we dug a hole (slightly randomly positioned) in that corner, to assess the ground. Not good. There's about 25cm of good topsoil, but below that is hardpan clay. This was somewhat expected, as the ground gets wet during autumn and winter, but it's probably worse than I thought. It probably means we'll have to bring in new soil, and may have to install some drainage aids.

Better, though, was our discovery during an afternoon walk of a damson tree: we now have a big tub of damsons, and the same of blackberries—the first of the autumn. We reckon that the apples are nearly ready, so we might have a weekend of chutney and jam in ten days time.

Midlands

As mentioned, we've been away for the weekend, visiting Liz's grandmother in Ludlow. In addition to stealing cuttings and divisions from her garden, we also went to Witley Court for a day.

Witley Court (© Ian (2011))

The grounds, a magnificent country estate, contain the ruins of the 19th century manor house (itself a renovation of a Jacobean house, in turn built over a medieval property) that was burnt out in 1937 and never repaired. Now owned by English Heritage, it's a shell of a building, fascinating for a depiction of the type of building. The grounds are in the process of being restored, and still contain two fountains (one working).

The Perseus & Andromeda Fountain (© Ian (2011))

Nesfield's South Parterre and the restored Perseus & Andromeda Fountain, looking towards the South Portico (© Ian (2011))

The East Parterre, with the Flora Fountain (© Ian (2011))

Gazenias in the East Parterre (© Ian (2011))

The grounds contained a couple of living willow sculptures, including this one, which caught our eye.

Willow tunnel (© Ian (2011)) 

The box hedging for the parterres was grown from cuttings taken from the original 1850's planting. When restoration began in the early 2000's, these were—to say the least—overgrown. The new plants are more typical of box hedging (6" high). However, the restoration work has produced a surplus of plants, which were for sale. We are, therefore, now the proud possessors of 18 box plants dating from the same period that the house was built: perfect stock for our own herb garden hedging. I'll work on taking cuttings and increasing the number over the next few years.

Less excitingly, we also called in at three garden centres on the way home (Dobbies, Percy Throwers, and our local Armitages), and picked up a trio of lemon cypresses, for the front garden.

Potatoes by Starlight

As we're away for the weekend, and leaving straight from work tomorrow, we had to get organized tonight, which involved checking that nothing needed picking or harvesting from the vegetable garden before we went.

It was relatively successful, to start with: a good handful of courgettes, another of peas, and a few runner beans (only just starting to crop). One or two cauliflowers will probably be ready next week.

Then disaster struck. We realised that the maincrop potatoes—mainly the Golden Wonder—have been hit by blight. Not too seriously, but definitely. The Druid were asymptomatic, but a lot of Golden Wonder foliage was showing the brown spots, and collapsing. Unfortunately, this was about 8 o'clock, and light was failing, but there was nothing for it: the potatoes had to come up. If left until we're back home, then we could be left with no crop, or un-storable tubers.

So, with the aid of a torch each, we've lifted all the potatoes. It's probably only a week before we'd intended to do so anyway, but I'd rather expected to do it in the light. Daylight, I mean: it's almost (August 29^th) a new moon, so there was only a bit of starlight and twilight to guide us.

Still; there appears to be approximately 50kg of Druid, and about 25kg of Golden Wonder. At this moment, I strongly doubt we'll grow Golden Wonder again: it's more floury than we like, and the russeted skin isn't a favourite. Also, the yield is a little disappointing—no better than the earlies, and it's taken up space for two months longer. In better news, though, the Druid seems excellent. We experimented with two row spacings, and the bigger spacing appears to have been worth doing. Twice the spacing, but the yield of those six plants is roughly half the total from all twenty. They also seem to have good skins, and there are some monster tubers; the foliage was also strong and tall, although it needed nets to restrain it to the beds. A likely 2012 choice, I think.

A late night, though: we'll wash them and check them over next week.

Green Manure

Hmm: six weeks earlier than last time. Having cleared the onions last week, there's a patch of ground that now won't be resown with crops until the spring. Some of it will have spring cabbages, when they're big enough to transplant. In the remainder, I've sown two more rows of salad leaves, and two of radishes, but the rest (about 2–3 blocks) with green manure. This is a winter mix of red clover, crimson clover, mustard, and Italian ryegrass: it should get growing before the winter bites, and will serve four functions.

• Weed suppression: the clovers smother weeds;
• Nitrogen fixing: the clovers' roots take nitrogen from the atmosphere and fix it in the soil; the ryegrass helps release it gradually next season;
• Organic matter: the leafy bulk of the plants, and especially the mustard, add organic matter to the soil when they're dug in;
• Soil stabilization: bare soil leaches nutrients in the winter rain, but having the manure roots growing reduces/prevents this.

We'll hoe and dig in the plants in the spring, before the set seed. It didn't work brilliantly last year, I think because we only had the beds finished in time to sow the seed in late October. But with a month to get growing, I hope for greater success.

Patchwork Exhibition

We had my parents visiting for the weekend, and had a pleasant and relaxing time with them. We discovered the Bankfield Museum, which is an unassuming gem outside Halifax. It currently has an exhibition of patchwork by members of a local quilting group: there are some beautiful, and innovative pieces on show. There are also permanent exhibitions of textiles, a Duke of Wellington's Regiment museum, a costume gallery, and a toy gallery. It's well worth a visit.

We made a seriously tasty apple and almond pudding cake, too, which I will endeavour to load onto the recipe page when I get round to it.

Onions

The onions have been gently collapsing for a few weeks, and although I would ideally leave them outside to dry and ripen, the weather doesn't look favourable. It's probably going to be damp for the next week or so, and I don't want the bulbs rotting.

To avoid this, we've lifted them, and put them on racks in the dining room to dry out. It'll mean the room smells rather onion-y for a while, but there you go. We normally eat in the kitchen, anyway...

Yield seems good: there were only about a dozen that were smaller than one-meal in size, and many that were two- or three-meal bulbs. We'll weigh and count them when they're ready. However, I'm leaning to the conclusion that the Hyred are smallest; the New Fen Globe were largest. They also bolted far less—I don't think any formed flower stems, but there were probably 4 Hyred, and a couple of Autumn Golds that did.

Raspberry Supports

Well, the wood's been sitting there for five months, and the raspberry beds have been nominally finished for longer (nearly a year), but the raspberry beds are now complete. Really.

Except for re-stitching the nets where the old stitching has split. One day, maybe, they'll be done.

However, I have now added the horizontal supports that allow us to stretch wires along the beds, onto which we have tied the raspberry stems. They're about 70 and 130cm above ground level, which is about right for the current height of the canes, but can be moved later if needed. I'm glad to have this done: some of the canes were getting a bit battered by wind, especially the tallest (about six foot now).

Liz collected some new flowers for the house.

Mixed vase. © Ian (2011).

We managed to squeeze some other odds and ends into the dry bit of the weekend (which began at 1500 on Sunday): repotting the Christmas tree (not looking happy—again). The last one didn't look well last summer, and eventually died. The replacement is now looking a bit bare at the bottom, which is unsettling, so we've replanted into a deeper pot, in hope.

The second-early potatoes (lifted a week ago) are now washed and ready to store. The space they liberated is partly re-sown: a patch of salad leaves, two rows of spring cabbages ('Frostie' F1; 3" by 6"), a couple of rows of Zlata radishes, and about 40 turnips ('Golden Ball'; 6" by 12" spacing). The cabbages are just there to germinate; we'll move them to their final spot once the potatoes currently occupying it are out. Everything else is a quick crop, and will be replaced in autumn/early winter by overwintering alliums. There's still about a square metre unused, between the turnips and the maincrop Golden Wonder potatoes, but otherwise we're still fully occupied.

The onions, though, are on their way out. Almost all the foliage has fallen over, and is yellowing. A bit of dry weather would help!

Gladioli

Many of the gladioli that we planted in April came up (I've not counted), and four have put up flower stems. Given that it's quite windy at the moment, we've cut two to bring inside. Hopefully they'll continue flowering for a couple of months, so we should have a good supply of flowers to brighten the house.

Gladiolus (© Ian 2011)

Conflicting Advice

We're thinking of ordering some bulbs and plants in the next month or so, and one that's caught our eye is Oxalis versicolour, or candy cane oxalis.

'Candy canes' by Tanakawho

Based on the catalogue entry, they're hardy, and flower over the winter, so we thought of them for hanging baskets in the front. However, my research suggests they may not be hardy, and opinion on when they flower differs (late summer to autumn; early summer; winter).

If anyone has definitive advice (preferably for northern England), it'd be gratefully received...

Cauliflowers

It's been a wet weekend, with rain most of Sunday, and a couple of showers on Saturday.

This did not deter. Yesterday, we started by pruning the flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) which is next to the path down to the kitchen garden. It's been neglected for some time, so we took out a lot of old wood, and reshaped it; hopefully it will reward us next year.

We also lifted the second-early potatoes (Nicola and Juliette), yielding about 40kg of tubers (about 1kg/plant). I'm a bit disappointed by the yield, which isn't any better than the first-earlies. That said, we do appear to have lost a relatively high number to mice. I'll weigh them more precisely when they're cleaned and ready to store.

In more exciting news, we found that two cauliflowers were ready. There are a further three that are getting close. We ate half of one on Saturday, and blanched-and-froze the other half. The pictured cauli remains in the fridge, for dinner on Monday.

Cauliflower 'All Year Round' (© Ian (2011))

On Sunday, we spent some time planning for the next round of planting: the overwintering onions and garlic will be on their way before long, and we've added seeds for some turnips ('Golden Ball'), overwintering spring onions ('White Lisbon Winter Hardy'), and spring cabbages ('Frostie F1'). This lead to us making a planting plan for next spring, which I'll digitize in time, so now we have a good idea of what we'll sow next year (and where) and, accordingly, what the fertilization needs will be this autumn.

A big seed order in October/November will be the result, as we'll obviously need more onions sets, seed potatoes, and new seeds for a number of other things (parsnips, leeks, mangetout, and beetroot are definites).

For now, I shall just revel in the beauty of my first cauliflower. It's the first time we've had them work.

Wish-List

A plant was shown on a Gardeners' World we were watching tonight (though it's actually from a couple of months ago), and it rather caught my eye. One for the wish-list, I think. It's the South African night-scented phlox (though not a phlox), Zaluzianskya ovata or capensis.

They both have red-backed, white-faced flowers that open slightly in the morning, close in the full sun of day, and re-open in the evening when they're heavily fragrant. I think a drift in a rock garden would be very pretty.

Zaluzianskya capensis by Sericea.

Today is also the second anniversary of us moving into the cottage; I had hoped, whimsically, to time the 200th post with today, which would have worked if I'd got out into the garden last night, and had something to report. Never mind.

Strawberry Bed

At the end of last month, we started clearing a space for an extra strawberry bed (where I also hope to put a few rhubarb plants).

The 'Before' photo:

It appears we only work on this bed when it's very hot. It's been a very warm few days, and we've finished constructing the bed: I turned to soil on Friday, before building the bed on Saturday, when we also started to fill it (a couple of turf stacks that needed a home, and a few barrows of topsoil: more to follow).

The turves cut, and turned.

The posts in.

The boards attached, and soil levelled, ready for topping up.

I've also mown the lawn, and Liz has done a huge amount of weeding: the kitchen garden is really clear, and the front garden's been tidied, too. We've also lifted the first couple of onions (both Autumn Gold), which have weighed in at about 100–200 g. Very tasty, too. The crop should be ready in the next few weeks, and the foliage has started to yellow.

All photos and content © Ian (2011).

First Earlies

We've been lifting first early potatoes for a while, and replanting second-cropping potatoes. This weekend, with some help from Hazel and Alex (who were visiting), we've lifted the remaining Rocket and Lady Christl, along with the potatoes that had come up in the fruit beds.

This came to about 45kg/100lb of potatoes, which has meant a lot of cleaning! We've now got about 90 days of potatoes lifted and ready to eat, and have planted out all of the second cropping seed potatoes (twenty of each of Vivaldi and Orla).

Potato Harvest - Lady Christl (© Ian (2011))

We had a good time with our guests, as well as making them lift potatoes, and the rest of the garlic (now drying, ready to plait later in the week), and it was good to see them. We were very lucky with the weather, and spent a fair time outside.

More Carrots Sown

After taking out a few rows of carrots at the weekend, we had space to re-sow three rows of Early Nantes this evening. I also popped some cardboard collars on half the leeks, to see if it has any effect lengthening/blanching the stems. Yes, this is an experiment.

There were also another handful of peas to collect, and I took up another row (three plants) of Rocket potatoes. They seem to be keeping really well underground; minimal slug damage so far.

We also had to find somewhere for half a dozen spinach seedlings; lacking a good spot, we weeded around the smallest blueberries (still very little!), and put them in there. This necessitated digging up three of the potato plants that had been left unintentionally (no bad thing).

In weeding, I discovered that the end blueberry (Fruiting Dixi) had a small bunch of berries, which we hadn't spotted before. Very pleasing; it means four of the seven will have fruited this year (the two oldest, and two of the two-year-old plants we put in in 2009).

The seven are:

• Something unknown!
• Grover (the biggest)
• Top Hat
• Spartan
• Patriot
• Gold Traube
• Fruiting Dixi

The first two came with us from our old garden, and are cropping well again this year. I need to decide how to make ericaceous compost or mulch, which these and the raspberries will benefit from.

Oh: there's updated data on the Weather page.

Wet

A unrelentingly wet weekend, with it forecast to continue. However, we dashed out in the lighter bits, to get a few urgent things done. Another row of Rocket potatoes came up, making space for six more Vivaldi to go in. We brought in a big tub of peas, a couple of dozen carrots, and about six broad beans (not really ready, it transpires). We've picked the last of the red- and white-currants, and almost all of the raspberries. We'll need to prune the raspberries back, soon. When it's dry, I think.

We also managed to plant up the last two hanging baskets, with some petunias, cineraria, and lobelia. All seed-grown, I shall point out.

A rainy patch will probably be good, as everything will benefit from a good soak!

Autumn Planting Alliums

A brief mooch in the garden this evening, sowing some new carrot (Early Nantes) and beetroot seeds to replenish what we've taken up. We also collected some salad, kale, and spring onions (finally becoming a sensible size!). I don't know why the spring onions have taken so long to get going.

In addition, I have today ordered our autumn planting onions (100 'Radar' sets), garlic (3 bulbs of 'Germidour'; mild and good for storing), and a dozen cloves of Elephant Garlic (which is secretly a leek). All of these should arrive in August or September, ready to go straight into the ground.

The Radar should be ready May-July (ahead of next year's spring-planted onions, which will probably only be ready from August), and are pretty tough, overwintering well.

Germidour has about a dozen cloves per bulb, and a mild flavour. It's a soft-neck, which means it doesn't flower and stores better. Also, importantly (or not), it's easier to plait the garlic.

I've never grown Elephant Garlic, but want to try it for roasting during the winter months. In theory, it's a good candidate for a cash crop: the cloves cost about 75p each, but a bulb goes for about £4—and there should be 6–9 cloves per bulb. I'll probably keep at least a dozen cloves back for re-sowing.

Lifting Garlic

Spent a couple of hours this evening tidying a few bits up. We pulled up a big bunch of carrots; those that are getting munched, or too close to their neighbours. Some of the Parmex are getting a little large, so we took out plenty of them. The Early Nantes (which we sowed at the start of April) are now respectable, so we may take more of these up and sow some more later.

The beetroot are getting proper sized (tennis-ball, or so), so expect more beetroot cooking. The peas are now in full flight, and the runner beans are just coming into flower, so I expect gluts of those two imminently. The broad beans will probably be ready to start picking this weekend.

One of the Orla I planted at the weekend is showing (already) above ground, so that will need earthing up.

Having run out of garlic, I pulled up one of the garlics that's been growing since last May. These went in when the vegetable beds didn't exist, and the fruit bushes were small. It wasn't the right time (oops), but they've coped just fine, and are now ready. The one I took up is a decent size bulb, so we'll probably lift the rest over the next week or two, as all the foliage is dying.

It's about time to order autumn planted (overwintering) onion sets, and new garlic (if I want to overwinter it), so I shall be doing that soon.

Oh—an addendum to the weekend's work: I planted out a couple of dozen beetroot seedlings, and replaced about half of the salad plants (which had gone to seed, and were no longer as tasty).

Pottering

It's been nearly eighteen months since I posted about my last weekend like this. Once again, Liz had to work, which left me to get on with bits and pieces.

I've sanded down our wooden chopping boards (including the large piece of worktop cut out for the draining sink), and (re-)oiled them. They've all needed doing for a little while, but I'd not got round to it. The biggest one (the new one) is rather large, and pretty heavy, as the worktop is dense oak, but quite attractive. The two biggest will come in very helpful when chutney making, which is always demanding of space.

I made a passing attempt at fixing the light above the bathroom basin (which has been flickering, and giving a disco-esque feel to the room; strobe lighting is not ideal when shaving). I've not been entirely successful, as I think a tube or igniter is going. Still; it's improved.

I re-weeded the vegetable beds (well, some of them): the onions needed doing, although they're much better than at the end of May, and I attacked the celeriac, leeks, and salad leaf bed while I was at it. The celeriac are growing well, and I will soon need to be watching for side-shoots forming: these need to be pinched out.

The lawn needed mowing, as it's been about ten days, so I've done my bit to help fill the compost heap. On the same note, I turned all three, and watered them, as they seemed a bit dry.

The fruit beds have been a bit swamped by unexpected potatoes that have sprouted from tubers left behind last year. These are a nuisance, and can't be helping the fruit bushes, so I've cut off all the foliage. With the haulms gone, the tubers should 'set', and be ready for lifting next weekend. I think we've got enough new potatoes (the Lady Christl and Rocket are still doing fine, and we're getting an average of a kilo per plant), so doing it this way means they should store. To that end, I've left the hessian sacks soaking in a bucket of weak bleach for a couple of hours, to make sure they're sterile.

As I've now pulled up nine Lady Christl, and three Rocket, I had space to put in twelve of the Orla and Vivaldi. These two (a first and second early, respectively) have been waiting in the wings (chitting in the study) while the first planting went in at the start of April. One can purchase 'second cropping' seed potatoes for new potatoes at Christmas—the producer holds them in optimal conditions, and they get to you about now. I wanted to try it myself (not least because the tubers are twice as expensive if they're second croppers), hence the waiting period in the study. The first dozen are, then, now in the ground, and hopefully will provide us with new potatoes in a couple of months.

Another pound or two of strawberries, a bowl of mini-peas, and a few beetroot all contributed to the weekend's food. The beetroot turned into a tasty hummus (courtesy of Hugh Fearlessly Eats-it-all).

It was also time to put the elder wine into a demi-john. Now, I had hoped that this wine—a blend of elderberry and elderflower—might oblige me by being a rosé. No such luck. The anthocyanins in elderberries are obviously quite robust, and the wine is definitely red. It may, I suppose, lighten, but it's unlikely to become a rosé. Never mind: the taste will be more important.

Swelling Fermentation Bucket

Just a quick note to record that the fermentation bucket full of elder rosé is starting to get going. The sealed lid is swelling, which means the yeast is busily converting sugar to carbon dioxide—and alcohol. At the weekend, I shall strain the must into a demi-john, and add the rest of the sugar. Half went in to the bucket (the 'elderflower' half); the second 750 g is for the 'elderberry' part of the wine.

We'll have to see whether this approach works!

Summer House Party

We hosted a repeat of the post-Christmas get-together this weekend, with the same friends travelling up on Friday, and staying until today. Sadly, Katherine was struck down by a stomach bug, and couldn't make it, but Robert joined us this time (he couldn't make it in January). As before, much food was consumed and eaten, and we also enjoyed games of croquet and boules outside (the glorious weather held), and Twaddle and Chinese Chequers inside, as well as a walk on Saturday.

Everyone had left by early afternoon, and we've made the most of the last bit of holiday. A bit of tidying in the kitchen garden yielded a few trays of currants, and a kilo of strawberries, as well as a half-dozen carrots and a bowl of sugar-snap-size peas (they're not a mange tout/sugar snap variety, but we're eating them as such). We then popped out to collect a dozen heads of elderflowers, and set an experimental bucket of wine going: elder rosé. This is something I thought up last autumn and wanted to try, but have had to wait for the elderflowers, having frozen the elderberries I needed. My thinking is that a rosé based on the elderflower and elderberry wine would be interesting, as I find the latter has too much tannin, but the former has, naturally, none.

So, I halved both recipes, and combined them. We'll see what happens.

With the kilo of strawberries, we've tried making an elderflower and strawberry jam. Hazel made jars of this (and about six other jams) as favours at her wedding. It's a nice change from straight-up strawberry jam: hers was a little less sweet, and the floral addition worked really well. It seems to have set well, which I'm really pleased about: hopefully it will also taste good.

Biscuits and Bilberries

As planned, we spent the day with the smallest foster-child, to give Jenny and Philip a break while the girls were at school. I think it went well: he seems to have had a good time, and we managed to combine several useful activities with keeping him amused. We started by baking Shrewsbury Biscuits (a spiced currant biscuit), which he enjoyed cutting into cat-shapes (courtesy of a biscuit cutter we bought at Christmas). We had one each for lunch, but they're mainly for the weekend, when we've got a number of friends visiting.

We then dug up a potato plant (another Lady Christl), which was very exciting. For me, obviously, though I expect it's good fun if you're two, too. That was part of lunch, which was conducted as a picnic hiding inside an old oak tree up the lane, where Liz and her sister had a den about 15 years ago. Clambering into it was an adventure, only slightly distracted from by the Belted Galloway cattle (a great favourite) in the adjacent field.

On the way home, we even managed to pick a small tub of bilberries from the hedgerow. Who said a day spent looking after a two-year-old would be wasted?

Paint and Potatoes

Last time we had a bit of time at home (at the end of April), I painted half of the window frames—I've now finished them, so all of the windows installed last year have had a coat of paint this year. Some touching-up is required for the insides, but that's much less urgent, as it can happen in rainy weather, so long as it's still reasonably warm. While I painted the frames, Liz was busy cleaning the glass, and that looks immeasurably better. I'll have to go up a ladder to do the first-floor ones later.

I also mowed the lawn, for the first time since marking the pond: the lifted-turf 'firebreak' works well. We also brought up some more of the Lady Christl potatoes: we've had a couple of plants up as new potatoes now. In theory, we should have started with the Rocket, but a Lady Christl was looking sad, so it came up first. They are delicious, and cook really quickly.

Space for More Strawberries

On the hottest day of the year, what do we choose to do, but start clearing the space for the strawberry/rhubarb bed?

Needless to say, we had to take a lot of breaks, and we only did a comparatively short day of work—but it was quite productive. We removed the three bushes in the way, and two 60kg-odd stones that were hidden behind them, and started to level the area. The shrubs are ready to chip, and the stones have been moved out of the way (under an adjacent bush: might move them later, but they're out of the way). We also marked out the bed with the normal sticks and string, and as soon as we have time, we can start knocking in the posts, and building the raised bed. It'll be filled with what's left of our last topsoil delivery, combined with spoil from the pond and compost.

Fruit Trees Planted

We finally finished digging the hole for the apple tree today: I was nearly there last week, and once I'd regained some strength, I was able to drag out the large stone (which, it transpires, is a slab of reinforced concrete), and clear up. Plenty of compost and topsoil later, and the apple tree is planted.

Surprisingly, when we then dug the hole for the cherry, it was almost easy. No massive boulders or sheets of metal lurked below the surface, and the tree was quite quickly at home. You never can tell. While Liz dug the hole, I finished cutting turves to mark the edge of the pond, this time marking the edge of the contiguous bog garden. This has let me take up the sticks and string, so I can mow the lawn right up to the lifted turf, and the pond will remain clearly marked until we're ready to dig.

It's been extremely hot, so we had to take a couple of breaks to sit and cool down, but before we collapsed at the end of the day, we measured up the strawberry/rhubarb bed, which we'd like to make a start on this week. It has the potential to be quite large, depending on how many of the overgrown shrubs we take out—it'll probably be about 4.5m, and we'll remove an unhappy looking hebe, as well as a cotoneaster and a patch of deadnettles. The cotoneaster is, in principle, quite an attractive one, with variegated leaves. Unfortunately, like the (also pretty, and purple-tinted) hebe, it's leggy, dead in the centre, and doomed.

Our supply of half-pigs looks unable to supply us imminently, so we also spent some time looking at the alternatives, and working out what we'd require this time. We're tempted to try making our own sausages, and—ideally—our own black pudding, though this is logistically tricky. One requires fresh blood, really (although frozen is possible, if the abattoir or butcher will start the preparation of it), but the pig itself usually arrives two to three days after slaughter, by which point the blood would hardly be fresh. It can also be tricky for the abattoir to separate the blood from 'your' pig from that of all the other slaughtered animals, and seeing as we're particular about the origin of our meat, that undermines the point. Fortunately, we've found a smallholding that might be able to supply a half pig, and we're enquiring about whether they can meet our (ahem) particular demands. And, admittedly, spent some time browsing mincers/sausage machines.

Out-of-season Loft Insulating

I had some insulation left after packing out the utility room loft (after the frozen pipes at Christmas), so I've put it down in the loft above the main bedroom. It seems as good a place as any, seeing as the guest room and study are less heated, and the bathrooms' loft is pretty full of plumbing. That now means that loft has around 60cm of insulation, which seems plenty.

This was rather a hot day to be doing such things, but I had a couple of hours spare after an administrative day, and one in which we spent a couple of hours playing with the youngest foster-child. We're planning to spend the day looking after him on Wednesday, but wanted to have a preparatory visit (so he gets used to being just with us for less than a day). We're just at the start of a week off, so there was no mad urgency to get things done, which was rather nice!

Incubation

We might have discovered why a tray of petunia didn't come up.

© Ian 2011

I didn't expect Chess to get broody, but it appears he thought the seeds needed incubating.

Bottled

The elderflower cordial we started at the weekend is ready, so I've strained the fruit, squished the juice out, and bottled the cordial. As before, it's in pint milk bottles, about three-quarters full (which we find a convenient quantity), and is now in the freezer.

The recipe calls for two days of steeping, but longer does work well. However, you have to be scrupulous about sterility. Given that I also make wine, this is something I'm used to!

The wine will need until, roughly, the weekend, before it gets strained into a demi-john. I'll probably try to get the elderflower rosé and hedgerow port going at the same time; the airing cupboard will then be full of demi-johns! Which is, perhaps, as it should be.

Hellebores

We ordered them ages ago (last August), and they've just arrived: ten mixed hybridized hellebores. They're small ('jumbo plugs', which means a root ball about an inch across, and two tall), but that also means they were very good value, and I hope they'll grow on quickly over the summer. For now, I've just potted them on, into 9cm plastics. I love hellebores for giving us flowers at a dark patch, and I'm hoping to find some attractive variants in the mix. We'll see, this Christmas...

A Long Day Digging

Admittedly, I only spent a couple of hours digging, but it's the longest day of the year (the solstice was at about 1715). The hole for the apple tree is taking a long time to excavate, as there was—I discover—a large piece of iron sheet where I want the tree, as well as a big stone. The sheeting is out, but the big stone will have to wait. I'm worried that the same sort of problems will confront us when digging the pond, which may mean re-visiting the mini-digger idea. Which would, in principle, be fine—so long as the weather cooperated on the booked hire period!

Turf Cutting

A weekend of unexpectedly favourable weather has meant we've got on well with a number of things. Least exciting was a spring-clean and bike-maintenance session. Never mind; needs must.

More interestingly, we finished digging a hole for the plum tree to go in (no, it's not the 'right' time of year to plant it out), having removed two large trugs of stones, bricks, and a square foot of corrugated iron from the spot we wanted. Plenty of compost, topsoil, and feed added, and the plum tree looks much happier. Liz then started on a hole for the apple tree, with my help when needed; meanwhile, I cut the turves marking the edge of the planned pond. This means that the sticks-and-string markers can come out (removing a trip-hazard, and one that might be nibbled by passing deer), and I can mow right up to the edge. It also makes it easier to see, so we can consider the shape, and be sure we're happy. I'll take and post a photo of progress, to also show the shape of the pond. Actually digging the pond is going to be quite an effort, based upon the two—much smaller—holes we've attempted for the fruit trees. The apple tree's hole is hard work; there are several large stones in the way, and we're only about half-way there.

Taking advantage of the dry day on Saturday, we collected up several dozen elderflower heads, and proceeded to make this year's elderflower cordial, and I started a batch of elderflower wine. We're making the cordial a couple of weeks earlier than last year, as the flowers are further ahead; the wine's about three weeks earlier. However, there are still plenty of flowers; I plan to make a batch of elderflower rosé in a week or so (half elderflower, half elderberry (from frozen stock)).

Sunday afternoon has been spent weeding, sowing some more spring onions and radishes, and harvesting some produce! We've been eating salad leaves and spinach for about three weeks, now: the salad leaves in the small central bed have been doing really well, and the spinach has grown quickly. The first lot of radishes are now nearing the size of tennis balls, so we've taken up the last ones to finish this week. The kale was planted too densely (deliberately), so we're now eating every other plant, to leave them at the proper spacing as they grow. The Brussels Sprouts had a better germination/growing-on rate than we expected, so they were also too dense. We've taken up about two-thirds, and will eat the young leaves (taste sprouts-like, and kale-y). We also brought up about eight of the baby carrots (a mix of Parmex and Early Nantes); there are going to be some peas this week, too. I'm also expecting us to run out of last year's potatoes this week, so we can lift some of the first earlies (which still haven't flowered, though I'm sure they should have)—it's all starting to pay off!

Pondering

Although Sunday was rather wet, Friday (a day's leave) and Saturday were dry for reasonable stretches, so it's been a fairly effective weekend.

I started dismantling some more old pallets on Friday, to augment the compost bins with, while Liz weeded the onions. We didn't get all that far, unfortunately, before rain stopped play; we did, though, therefore sew the last curtain tie-backs for the kitchen. Saturday morning also started out wet, so we began the day by lifting the paperwhite narcissi that gave us some much-needed winter flowers. The flowers ended in January, but we gave the foliage as long as possible to die back, and fed the bulbs a few times (Chempak's low nitrogen #8, with NPK 12.5:25:25, to encourage root and flowers, but not foliage). The bulbs are now dry and dormant, so we've lifted them, cleaned them, and will put them somewhere cool and dark to wait out the summer. We started with 45, but there are several that have started to split, and have (currently joined) offspring forming, so hopefully next year the stock will be noticeably increased.

When the rain cleared, we got back outside, and continued where we'd left off. I finished assembling a third compost bay (a bit smaller than the first two, because of space constraint), and turned the contents of the existing bays (bay 2 into 3, then 1 into 2). The older heap (2) isn't doing as well—a bit dry, and not rotting very well, so I watered it after mixing it. Bay 1 was doing well: nice and hot, and rotting nicely, so hopefully it will go still better after aerating.

Liz's mammoth weeding session has left all the vegetable and fruit beds looking much better, although she's left with sore hands and back.

Sunday morning dawned clear, so we got straight outside to ponder our plans for the middle lawn. It's divided in two by the cover of the septic tank, which we have to build into our ruminations.

The Middle Lawn (from the north end).

It is, however, a very good size. We'd always wanted to keep the bigger, more level, more regular shaped part (the foreground above) for a 'games' lawn—somewhere large enough for badminton, short tennis, clock golf, boules, croquet, and the like. However, we've never checked whether it's actually the right size, rather than just looking about right. So, we dug out Liz's grandfather's length of rope, marked up for a badminton court, and set about laying it out. It's the circumference of the court, with marks for where the main lines go, so it makes it all rather easy. The lawn, it transpires, is approximately 7 feet short, but also about 7 feet wide; so the badminton court won't be quite regulation, but is eminently playable.

Yes, we checked it was playable. In wellies. And a breeze.

This, obviously, is excellent—the septic tank is immovable, and we don't want to reduce the beds. It won't be Olympic regulation size, but I'm not that fussed. We also checked croquet-suitability. It's a little small for serious use, but for a casual game, entirely satisfactory.

The culmination of this is that we can now go about laying the extra beds at the edges of this lawn, and remove the gorse/cotoneaster we don't want, knowing that the grass area is sufficient, and we don't need to revise our plan for which bit of lawn to leave large and quadrilateral.

We've also been intending to get our three pot-grown fruit trees (a plum, an apple, and a cherry) into the ground. They've not been really happy for the last 18 months, and we think they need to get out of their pots. Our master plan calls for a pond on the opposite side to the tank in the photo above—that's the foreground of the next photo. We've marked something tentative out with sticks'n'string (as normal), and we'll see how it feels. However, it's basically right, so I've lifted turves where the fruit trees will go, near the pond (yes, I know I'll need to clear leaves from the pond!). These appear like monumental mole hills in the photo—but as soon as it's dry for long enough, they'll be replaced with fruit trees.

Looking onto the Middle Lawn from the east corner.

Winged Weekend

Another busy weekend, for us, and for barn swallows who have been building a nest in our porch.

They're building their nest (out of mud pellets) on top of the keystone in the arch, on the 'in' side; it's nicely sheltered, but it does mean they get disturbed whenever we come or go. If we're doing anything for any length of time on the driveway, they perch on the telegraph wire opposite, and noisily complain.

Aside from the antics of these new tenants; we got an early start to the weekend, as we were telecommuting on Friday, so I got out to mow the lawn after work. First, admittedly, I had to mend the mower: the bolt that holds the blade was jammed stuck, and it took some work to get it to shift. By 'work', I mean destructive dismantling. New bolt installed, and mowing completed. It was swelteringly hot, though, so I was glad to finish. Liz started to clear weeds growing around the puschkinia and bluebells, which is another good thing to have done.

On Saturday, we had a busy day in the garden. The butterfly net (8mm square mesh) for the brassicas arrived a while ago, and so we put that over the rectangular vegetable bed. It went on really easily, after the shenanigans with the fleece covers, and it has reinforced edges which hooked over the existing nails neatly. We've stiched the ends together (non-permanently, so the same mesh can be reconfigured, wherever the brassicas are next year) with polypropylene cord. Earlier this week, we mended one of the split fruit cages with the same cord, with some success—they had been stiched with hemp twine, but that's rotting.

We also put some bird netting (inch mesh) over the peas, beans, and carrots. It's actually cat netting, rather than bird netting, for the carrots: the boys appear to have taken to sitting on the carrots. I wouldn't otherwise object (too much), but I don't want them bruising the foliage and attracting carrot root fly.

Belatedly, we realised we hadn't sown any butternut squash, so we planted a pair of seeds where we had put gourds, and covered them with bottle-cloches. The gourds joined another half-dozen from a windowsill in a large half-barrel, filled with compost and topsoil. They're a little crowded, I expect, but I only want a few fruits.

Sunday came, and we nipped out to the garden centre. The bitter winter saw off the clematis 'Pink Champagne' growing near the front door, and we also wanted a climber to go up trellis near the kitchen (disguising the old door). We found two new clematis to do this; an 'Angelique', and 'Marie Boisselot'. We also picked up a dozen petunias (pale yellow/cream), and planted these into two of the new hanging baskets. The other two hanging baskets received three verbena, three pelargoniums, and a small fuchsia or two; these are now near the door, and the petunia baskets are on the front of the house. The dahlias we got at the same time have graduated into bigger pots, too, to grow on until they're needed once pansies in the troughs have gone over.

We also re-planted the Christmas tree, into a larger bucket-pot, and sowed some more salad leaves. We've been eating salads with lunch for the last three days, as they're leafing nicely. The spinach is especially good.

Lastly, and least glamorously, I trimmed back the ivy where it was threatening to block the study window. Needs to be done a few times each year: I try to prevent it from adhering to the wooden window-frame. We also weeded the front garden, and reshuffled a couple of the hellebores under the acer, as there were a couple of gaps, and a bit of congestion. The front garden, with its two new clematis, four new hanging baskets, and weeded beds, is looking much better!