Heavenly scent
I’m despairing at how little time I have to spend in the garden and up at the allotment, never mind updating the blog. My studies are due to end this year, so I have to accept this temporal shift in leisure time.
I took a break in the garden at lunch time as it’s the warmest day of the year so far with lovely blue skies, bird song, the odd lawnmower in the distance and that promising smell of spring in the air. As I sat down on our rather weather-worn bench, increasingly becoming part of the hideous conifer hedge 
, I was aware of the most delicious scent radiating from the Mahonia in the corner. Mmmmmmm. And it was busy attracting the emerging bees as well, the second bumble bee I have seen today swooped into the garden, circuited three times and then landed.
I had the camera in hand as I had noticed several ladybirds sunning themselves on the old Achillea seed heads.
Ahhh spring, how happy you make me feel on days like these 
Ladybird
Sarah’s garden
When we moved to our house in 2001, the fact that it had only a small triangular north-facing plot to the rear didn’t bother us too much. It only gets full sun (weather conditions permitting) for 6 weeks of the year. For this reason, and the fact that we are on a slope draining away excess rainfall from the agricultural surrounds, the previous house owner replaced the boggy grass with a 3-tiered patio. Functional, but unattractive!
I started going to City & Guilds gardening classes through Craven College that autumn and planned how to maximise a planting area. A landscaper came April 2002 to build my design. The one thing I would change is that I ordered reclaimed railway sleepers believing they would offer a good sustainable material to reuse. The landscaper didn’t warn me about the annual seeping of tar in hot weather – I just didn’t know they would do that although it makes sense. It’s killed quite a few plants around the edge and it also prevents me from sitting on the wood in the summer, or using it for weeding and replanting.
I’ve recently started collating my gardening photos and it’s interesting to see just how much the planting changes yearly. It’s a tiny plot, and given the shade and conditions, plants don’t often survive long, or need moving on when they get too big.
We lifted the flags and dug out the hardcore, with the help of a very kind friend!
The area for planting that gets the most sun
The reclaimed sleepers going in
The finished raised bed and wildlife pond
2 months later - the foliage taking over
June 2003 - a year later - more defined structure
Summer 2004 - the alpines already died off at the front, so replaced with impatiens, and the hebe taking over
May 2005 - the height starting to come with the lilac, crab apple, and kerria woven into the buddlia
May 2009 - having put a pathway in to access the back, with the bergenia really well established at the front
May 2010 - a notable difference in growth after a long, hard winter
Lords & Ladies at the end of the garden
When we had the raised bed put in to our small back garden, the year after we moved to our house, I was too impatient to stock the garden to carefully designed plans. This would have taken 2-3 years in terms of cost. Instead I inherited a lot of clump forming perennials from my Mum and Grandma’s gardens. One of these is the rather handsome Lords and Ladies (or Arum Maculatum). I knew that they are poisonous, but I was not designing a child-friendly garden at the time.
As time went on, I loved the glossy, variegated display that the leaves brought alongside the bare Lilac tree trunk in early spring and after a couple of years we saw the flowers and berry spikes too. By this time, we had little helpers in the garden, but our boys have both been very good at listening to important advice, such as leaving berries for birds, and we didn’t feel it necessary to dig up the more poisonous plants from the garden. That was, until I happened to catch a neighbour’s child about to pop a berry in his mouth from the Lords & Ladies I’d divided and replanted in with the potted Acer japonicum. I went out with the trowel there and then.
It took about 3 months for the Arum to grow back, like dandelions with renewed growth and vigour. Now seemingly pernicious, I eventually got around to googling why the Acer was not growing. We don’t get much sun in the back, so I realise that it is never going to flourish. I also read that Acer’s don’t do well when sharing root-space with other plants.
I finally got around to relieving the Acer of it’s companion last weekend, and I was surprised at the vigour of the rhizomes, they were dense and had grown into every crevice of the Acer’s roots. I wanted to be sure to remove every root piece, so I emptied the entire pot and picked all strands from the Acer, and gave it a ‘hair wash’ by running it under flowing water, just to be sure. It’s back in new organic compost now, I hope I have not caused undue damage. To complete a splash of spring colour, I have added narcissus bulbs and more shallow-rooted primula to keep cats out (I found some of their nasties in the old soil too).
Gathering sprouts for Christmas dinner 2009
There isn’t much work going on outside in these bitterly cold months. But I thought I’d add some snowy pictures from Christmas Eve, when we walked to the allotment to crop some sprouts, and just check the snow hadn’t damaged the polytunnel.
The allotment on Christmas Eve in the snow
Freshly cropped sprouts for Christmas dinner
The boys and Damian made a sprouty snowman
The sprouts were fabulous, so buttery tasting. There’s nothing like freshly cropped food in the middle of winter, when home grown food is in short supply. The leeks are fattening up nicely and will be next.
The Village Horticultural Show – September 2009
On the first Saturday in September, the village of Embsay-with-Eastby holds its annual horticultural show. It’s a really lovely day for all ages to participate in and enjoy. The children have made potato and carrot creatures for the last couple of years and this year submitted a stick of rhubarb each. We were able to choose from a lot more produce from the allotment this year too. For us, the growing is for dinner and not for the show, so we knew that we weren’t likely to be awarded many prizes. After all, we grow organic food and limit use of slug pellets, so we inevitably loose some crops to nature. But it’s lovely to be able to take part in a community event, and show our fellow allotmenteers that we appreciate all the advice and help we benefit from throughout the year.
We were quite surprised to have been awarded so many prizes on the day. I have no idea what metrics are used to judge the quality of a vegetable or flower, but here are some photos from after the judging.
Ours is bottom, left. This was our favourite entry, as we could see so many fabulous veggies we’d grown through the year. And to get a prize was really exciting! This is the first time we’ve tried cauliflower, and we got 3 from the 6 plugs that we planted. The vibrant colour is a hit with the kids too.
When I turned up to place our entry, I had a sinking feeling. All of the other entries were really massive. So my perfectly formed but petite aubergine and echinacea head (bottom, right) looked ridiculous. But the judges must have thought that the shining purple hue was worthy!
Damian won first prize for the redcurrant jelly that featured in an earlier blog post. He cut up two pieces of handmade paper from a fairtrade project in Nepal for the lid covering, much to my annoyance at first, but it did look really good.
There weren’t masses of flowers to pick from in the garden, as the border is still establishing. But I managed to select five blooms that were fairly equal. The plant looked a little bare afterwards, but thanks to the late warmth this year we had another flush of buds and they are only just dying off now (Nov) as we’ve had a couple of night frosts.
Same with the cosmos. I wasn’t sure what the etiquette was for stems, so I went for blooms only, and was the only one. But it seemed to work. Had I cut stems and left one bloom on the top, I would have wasted about 40% of the flowering capacity of the 2 plants in the garden, and didn’t want to do that.
The heleniums have been just fantastic this summer, especially given they were only planted in June. I think they might be my new favourite flower. And I love the scent from the achillea used in this display too.
Where have all the bees gone?
…To our front garden? After we laid the new lawn, I concentrated on planting up the new front flower border. As it is our only south facing spot, I really wanted hot colours and the type of flowers that have never thrived in our shady raised borders in the back.
More photos to follow soon on the planting progress, but just recently I have noticed that there is a constant wave of activity over the heleniums.
We have seen honey bees, miner bees and plenty of bumble bees in the flower bed, not to mention the hover flies, lace wings and ladybirds. Unfortunately, fewer seem to visit the border on the other side of the lawn, and a beautiful ruby-stemmed euphorbia I planted in the spring has been ravaged by aphids. It’s not looking so healthy now. I hope the bright colours of the flowers will attract more wildlife for next year, and as an autumn project we will be constructing insect houses with the children.
Redcurrants
I was never the biggest fan of redcurrants in the past. Perhaps the available varieties were more bitter then the blackcurrants I loved. When we took over our allotment, we inherited 2 blackcurrant bushes and one redcurrant. I have to say, that the redcurrants have always been better fruiters and far sweeter to the palette.
After two years of leaving them to get on with it, we’re going to make sure we prune properly this autumn, as the bushes are starting to look straggly. It’s also quite difficult reaching to the other side, for the leggy wooden growth in the middle. I will have to research if there are pruning groups and what the suggested rules are.
Even after 2 afternoons stripping currants, there were still enough to do something useful with. So Damian set to and decided to make some redcurrant jelly.
Method:
Add sugar to the washed redcurrants in a pan.
Cover with water.
Boil vigorously for a while.
Once the mixture is reduced, strain through a muslin to remove the
pips etc.
Decant the jelly to sterilised jars and leave to set.
The result; two jars of the (naturally) sweetest redcurrant jelly that complements many lunches, salads and even cooked dinners.
A week on…
Just a week later, the poly tunnel was really filling out.
And we harvested all of the garlic, and hung it to dry in the garage.
The berries and currants have been fabulous. There really is nothing like eating a home-grown strawberry or raspberry.
And the currants have been so plentiful, despite not pruning properly for the last two years.
The Rolling Harvest Begins!
We’ve been busy documenting progress with the camera after our trips to the allotment, but too busy to keep up with the blog.
Green leaves is pretty much what I’ve been craving all the way from Christmas, as it’s difficult to source locally grown options. Next winter, we’re going to look at ways of heating a small area, just enough to keep one or two plants on the go, but don’t yet know how viable this will be (financially or environmentally).
Poly Tunnel on 1st July 09
This is the poly tunnel on the 1st July, after the tomatoes, corn, globe artichokes, peppers and aubergines were blooming having been transplanted in the grow bags in May, and the seed sown in-situ pak choi and chinese greens were ready for harvesting.
Elephant garlic behind the standard sized bulb
And the trug we bought home for dinner was full of fabulous green leafy veg….
Buying locally
We are huge advocates of buying locally, and, that’s not as easy living in the UK as say Australia, never mind in the north.
We are busy planting our seedlings up at the allotment, but are far from harvesting much beyond salad leaves. I stopped in at Booths in Ilkley on my way home last week, and was delighted to see not only Yorkshire grown asparagus, but also sweet peppers. I also picked up some Yorkshire Fettle (Dales-made Feta like cheese) and British spinach and created a fabulous dish for the children in about 15 minutes. I was so pleased, I thought I’d share.
I deseeded the peppers and washed them without drying them. I placed them under the grill and turned every couple of minutes. I then stuffed them with spinach leaves and cheese. They went back under a low grill until the cheese melted, and the juices wilted the spinach beautifully.
I served with steamed asparagus and toasted pine nuts on top of pasta.
I was disappointed to discover that the pine nuts I buy from our Health Food shop are imported from China, but I felt we could allow that extravagance given the few food miles the majority of our dish had traveled.
Having been served a lattice of asparagus drizzled with clarified butter once in a London restaurant and simply loving it, I clarified some of our vegan spread (we use Pure sunflower) and added some freshly-picked chopped oregano and sage from the herb garden and drizzled on top.
The boys loved it, as did we! And this is seasonal food at its finest…can’t wait for the allotment to start burgeoning!
