Sunday 30 November 2014

Ahhh the smell of the self righteous!

This time of year gardeners are never short of a bottomless to-do list, and I am no exception. So a fine November afternoon looked good for a bit of list busting. However last week there was a bit of recycling related uproar from Him Indoors. After a particularly long day he was attempting to put out the glass and plastic recycling which is stored in my potting shed and fell foul of my organisational deficiency (there was so much stuff in the way he couldn't even get to it!).

So today I put on my tidying head and tackled the shed. And an hour or two later it is clear and looks positively spacious. The frost tender pots are in and there is still floor space...


(this does beg the question - what was all that junk???).

The Canna Lily that was sprawling in a sack whilst it died back and dried out is now potted up.


Having an ordered and tidy shed set me on the path of neatness so I cleaned and oiled some of my tools, with the result that my shed is now tidy and has the smell of the self righteous gardener - that of WD40!


Are they unplanted bulbs in the trug in the background, I hear you ask? Indeed they are, my new trug has had bulbs awaiting attention in it since it arrived a month ago, but now look at it.


Not content with cleaning and polishing, I also finished planting my bulbs! They are all finally in the ground and it is still November - hurrah, that's a first for me! What an afternoon, I feel like I have more than earned my cup of tea and biscuit and Him Indoors...


Well, he can not only see the recycling bins, he can extract them without negotiating dormant plants, buckets and 42,000 small plastic pots (approx number, I stopped counting after 12ish!)




Saturday 22 November 2014

Autumn Colours in the garden

There are some amazing colours in my garden at the moment and in a bright moment in between the showers (or massive downpours) I dashed out to record them so I could share them.

The birds favourite - berries


Seedheads, already full of promise for next year.


Beautiful browns and textures


The stars of autumn - leaves - but they are disappearing fast.


Moments after I came back indoors the rain was falling again. 

Autumn is always beautiful to look at but often not so good to be out in!



Thursday 20 November 2014

Regrets - I've got a few!

Last week we ventured to the Trevena Cross Nursery on a research trip for one of our current gardening projects. We were searching out hardy but tropical looking plants but got somewhat diverted (surprise surprise!). As with every visit to a good nursery we saw lots of lovely plants, including the ones we were looking for, but there were a couple that I hadn't seen before that I loved.

Persicaria virginiana with gorgeous leaf markings and graceful, long sprays of tiny red flowers that created a delicate lacework effect above the leaves. Flowering now, it was beautiful and this picture does not do it justice.


A variegated Acanthus - such glorious, glossy leaves, stunning colour and gorgeous, rumpled texture.


And the regrets I referred to in my title? I didn't buy either of them - what was I thinking? I was distracted by the bargain bin (we all love a bargain) and I came away with a lovely Geum to add to the one I am so pleased with, a Ceratostigma and a handful of stocking fillers from the gift shop.

Not a bad haul and both plants are very nice but I can't help but remember the two plants that really took my fancy and wish that I hadn't been quite so restrained - and it's not often I can say that!!




Thursday 6 November 2014

Vegetable of the year!

The Borlotti Bean

This was the first year that I tried Borlotti Beans and they have been a huge success. Mine are climbing bean Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco (Firetongue) and were from Thompson and Morgan. The seeds germinated brilliantly and grew strongly (a bit too strongly if I'm being honest, the cherry tree next to the veg bed is adorned with red pods too), and the harvest is impressive.


The pods start out green and as they mature they turn streaky red. At about this stage we were eating them like runner beans, sliced and delicious.



Once they got to this colour, the pods were a little tough and the beans were swelling so I shelled the beans and we ate them fresh (like flageolet beans).


I ate most of the fresh beans above like sweets!

Now the leaves are dying, the pods are dry and purply, and the beans are creamy and streaked with red. It's time to dry them for the winter.


To dry the beans for storage the recommendation is to pick the pods and dry out whole until the beans rattle in the pods, then shell them and continue to dry the beans.


 I have started to pick my pods as they are unlikely to dry out any more on the vine - it's too damp and autumnal now and it would be disappointing if they rotted. However I am having to harvest in stages because there are so many of them and we might disappear under a sea of red pods!


Apparently they should be hard enough to bite or press your nail into and leave no mark (that's hard!) then you can store them in jars indefinitely.
Or alternatively you can freeze them from fresh, then they only need 10 mins cooking.

Now to look for some recipes!

This was by far my most rewarding and successful vegetable this year. It survived the drought with minimal watering and performed very well. The french beans were good too, but the courgettes were awful, the lettuces abysmal, my one spring onion was very lonely and my carrots non existent. My beetroot was ok and my potatoes were passable but the Borlottis have saved my gardeners' pride and will hopefully last through the winter.

If you have any suggestions for recipes for my harvest please share them, I find the best recipes always come from personal recommendations.




Tuesday 4 November 2014

Planting for spring

Last week was half term, the weather was mild, although damp, and the ground warm - perfect gardening weather and how much was I out in the garden? Not at all!
Typical really, visitors, teens, days out and eating/drinking too much took over and nothing got done. I am, however, now the proud owner of a lovely trug, courtesy of my Mother-in-Law. I'm less proud of the pile of unplanted bulbs that are reposing within it.


A couple of weeks ago I had a splurge and planted some white Honesty seedlings from Sarah Raven, a couple of Echium seedlings from Jayne and some of the bulbs I have rashly purchased, planting them mainly in pots.

Now I have a pot of Lily Pink Perfection, a new venture for me having never grown Lilies before, these are threatening to grow to 48-72 inches - I'm already scared! I have my Lily beetle goggles ready, and intend to be vigilant and ruthless (except when I forget, or get distracted, or the if plants get foot/basketballed before they get above the parapet!)


I also planted a large pot of successional bulbs; starting in spring with Muscari, Latifolium and Azureum, followed by Tulip Virichic, then Ixiolirion in the summer and some Schizostylis, also now known as Hesperantha (like it's not hard enough to remember plant names without them changing them) for autumn. I'll interplant with some annuals in the spring, but I'm hoping for low maintenance, season long interest (ha - in my dreams!)

Muscari Latifolium                                      Muscari Azureum


Schizostylis or Hesperantha coccinea

So there is still the shady bed by the front gate to be planted with more white Anemone Blanda, early Eranthus Hyemalis, scented Trevithian Daffodils and Forget-me-Nots, and I have to try and remember where I planned to put the rest of the Muscari I bought and the two lots of Alliums. They weren't impulse buys, honest, there was a plan - I just can't quite remember what it was!

Anemone                                                             Eranthus


And that's just the bulb planting, the list of cutting planting, clearing and cutting back makes me feel slightly queasy so I shall ignore it for now, I generally find that is a good strategy for dealing with overwhelming tasks in the garden. And if you ignore them long enough at least some of the work has died, rotted down on its' own or been eaten by snails so the workload is lighter than you thought!

(The flower pictures in this post are all stock images as I haven't grown any of these yet, with thanks )