lavender harvest

We've had a couple of days of beautiful warm early autumn sunshine recently and it's given me the opportunity to head out into the garden and harvest our lavender bushes. As we live in a dry, vertical, sheltered sun trap lavender is about the only thing that actually flourishes in our garden, which is just as well given that I've taken to making lavender parcels for pin money.

With Christmas fairs on the agenda it makes sense to dry my home grown lavender and use some of it as stuffing and it is actually a therapeutic way to spend a late summer afternoon. But I'm also planning on making some things with a more seasonal scent for Christmas. Any suggestions on how to create a yuletide alternative ?

pretty in pink

Sarah and I are both suckers for packaging and yesterday Hubby returned from a weekend away with a prize example. I'm not generally a fan of carnations. To me the mere word conjours up images of single, folorn stems on cafe tables and last ditch attempts at flower buying in a petrol station. However, packaged up nicely and it's a completely different story.

These pinks, wrapped simply in brown paper with an acid green bow of raffia are beautiful. In fact I can't bring myself to unwrap them. I even decided that they would make a very charming, rustic bouquet for young bridesmaids to carry. How fickle I am!

And whilst on the subject of pink and packaging look at these amazing fairy cakes a friend made me for my birthday. My eyes practically popped out of their sockets when I was presented with a box of 16 of these. Handmade, these truly were a work of art and tasted delicious too.

sloe gin

It's a good time of year for hedgerow pickings and whilst out on a family walk this weekend we discovered endless bushes of sloes. Well Hubby and I both enjoy our Gin & Tonics but I've never made my own Sloe Gin, but with such an abundance of the fruit to hand we picked ferociously. Tonight I sat at the kitchen table with a pin, pricking all the sloes and putting them in kilner jars. I used roughly 300 g caster sugar, 400 g sloes and a 70 cl bottle of Gin per mixture. Now the jars are resting in a dark cupboard, I need to turn them every few days until all the sugar has dissolved and then wait. Hopefully it will be perfect just in time for Christmas.

tiny hands and home grown potatoes

early in the year we set off to dundry nurseries in cheltenham to choose our seed potatoes for the year. It is a ritual, i am not really sure that it is a money saving thing by the time you have bought potato grow bags and watered etc. however the children love it, they really love the whole thing of growing a bucketful of potatoes.

this year we have gone red (can't remember which) white (charlotte) and blue (salad blue),

and with great excitement we tipped out our first bucket and had about 25 yummy charlotte potatoes. the children have scoffed roast chicken and new potatoes, salad nicoise and ham fried eggs and new potatoes with great gusto this week!

elderflower cordial

The cow parsley has gone and now the hedges are filled with Elderflower, which absolutely amazing as you pass. In fact it smells just like Elderflower Cordial, something the children love to drink (perhaps because of the quantities of sugar). The next couple of months are great for foraging and I love the fact that you can entertain the children twice with this sort of thing. Step One: a lovely walk to find your goodies. Step two: an afternoon in the kitchen creating chaos and hopefully something edible too.


Recipe:

15 - 20 elderflower heads
1.35 kg granulated sugar
3 lemons and 3 limes thinly sliced


Put 1.5 litres of water with the sugar in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil.

Add flowers and return liquid to the boil then take off the heat immediately

Add lemons and limes, stir well then leave, loosely covered for 24 hours

Pour into bottles and keep in fridge.

This makes two 750 ml bottles, which we drink quite quickly so I don't bother with Citric Acid. If you want your cordial to last longer add 30g of Citric Acid. It is also quite a sweet mixture so add plenty of water and serve with a large slice of lemon!


Very refreshing on these hot Summer days.

pressing flowers

I've been a bit slack on the old blog recently and my excuse this time.... photo back log!
When our hard drive went kaput we were fortunate to have most files saved externally and felt quite smug. However we didn't bargain for the fact that a new hard drive also meant new software! It's taken us a while to adjust to updated programmes and to find a new photo editing package.

For the last couple of months I've been relying on hubby to do all the editing for me. Since this coincided with the beginning of his golf season, this has meant very little productivity. However, tonight he was home early from the golf course and gave me a quick tutorial so I can hopefully edit my own pictures again and be a bit more of a regular contributor on the blog!

Back to the point. No one can have failed to notice how the plants have been loving the weather we have had recently and our little girl hasn't failed to notice how many flowers there are taking over our garden. It's been a perfect opportunity for her to try out the flower press she was given for Christmas and has been desperate to use.

I still have the flower press I was given as a child. There is something quite exciting about choosing your flowers, putting them away in the press and waiting........ until the moment, days, or even months, later, when you decide to unscrew those 4 corners to reveal what's inside. I always manage to forget what flowers I'm pressing and it's intriguing to discover how well they have worked. It is certainly true some flowers press better than others, some retain their colour, whilst others just disintergrate.




So today was a big day as our little girl opened her flower press for the first time. Wonderfully most of the flowers had pressed well, which meant that the girls spent a happy morning with paper and pritt stick making cards and gift tags before returning to the garden and filling up the flower press again.

malvern spring show

Today was a wet, cold and miserable day, but despite the weather conditions we've had a nice family day out at the Malvern Spring Show. We had a good look at the show gardens, but failed to get any decent photos of them due to the amount of fellow onlookers gurning in the background. For those of you watching this weeks Gardener's World our favourite Mark Eveleigh's Recovery and Wellbeing garden. A kind of small holding with amazing attention to detail, including stinging nettles behind the chicken shed!

However the RHS Floral Marquee provided plenty of photo opportunities. It protected us from the wet and wild conditions outside and deffinatley brightened up our day. I loved the colours these tropical looking green plants which caught my eye as I entered the tent.

Whilst there were many different species of flowers I homed in on the flowers I like, it was just great to see so many varieties, all in show condition. Peonies are one of my all time favourite flowers, the ones in our garden are just about to pop open and I can't wait to have some in the house.

The Clemetis were beautiful too. We have one climbing over our stable door and it has just started to flower. It's a fantastic cascade of flowers for a few weeks. We've never done anything to it and it just gets better each year.

We've also have loads of common Aqualegia in our garden, it spreads well, attracts the butterflies and looks good in a cottage garden bouquet but the selection on show was outstanding, and the flowers were so big.

One plant I've always liked but have never grown is Auriculas. I thought this display of them in simple terracottta pots was really striking. In fact I think that maybe I've never grown them because they look so good in pots, en masse and perhaps would be rather lost in our totally crammed and wild garden. But I'm still feeling that maybe I should have bought one!


My favourite stand was of the The Walled Gardens in Somerset. As the self sufficient, allotment culture seems to be so popular these days it was great to see so much delicious and attractive looking produce. Their display was well really well done, they had thought hard about the containers they used to show their plants in and the use of potatoes very original!



And finally, if not already uplifted by the huge array of plants and colours there was an enormous stand of Tulips which couldn't have failed to lift everyone's spirits. I adore tulips, from the simple red and yellow kind to the most exoctic of Parrot Tulips. A vase of tulips anywhere is enough to make my day fulfilled!

potty training

Both Sarah and I are running around like headless chickens at the moment. Since the latest Not on the high street catalogue was sent out Sarah's been busy making bags and I'm (in the words of Sarah's father) 'trying to eat an elephant all at once'.

But amongst all this whizzing around I keep glimpsing out of the kitchen and smiling at the sight of this family heirloom sitting on our garden table! Mum gave it to me a few weeks ago, apparently I had spied it in the garage and had said I would like to have it. I have no idea what my original intention for the potty was, but hubby was fed up of it lying around and shoved a stray viola in it, which is now thriving.

Then it got me thinking, especially since now is the time that we should be sowing our seeds, of what other unusual planters there are out there. I love the idea of recycling food cans, and since my little girl loves Heinz Tomato Soup this picture caught my eye, the striking red of the geraniums works really well with the signature Heinz soup labels.

Then I saw these lovely planters made of old tea caddy's, I think the image is originally from Apartment Therapy. Obviously I'm not the only one thinking of planting I came across this post on fun planters on Bliss Tree. You must look at the idea for the business cards, it is fantastic.

And hubby's job for this weekend - to drill holes in all the old buckets, watering cans and food tins I've been collecting, then I can start planting.

snow drops

For many January is a grey and depressing month but this year it hasn't been too much of a drag. The snow caused such confusion that the month has flown by in a flurry of unexpected days off school and weather report scrutiny.

Now February is here and we're making headway towards spring. To prove the point, the snowdrops are now poking their delicate heads out of the soil, and I'm sure the primroses will follow suit fairly soon. I love the way the seasons are marked by what's growing in the garden but I've been awaiting the snowdrops with added anticipation this year. The children found me this little bottle on the beach in Cornwall last summer and I've had a vision of it filled with snowdrops ever since.

And then I've always had a bit of a thing about teeny tiny bottles with labels on. It's an Alice in Wonderland thing.

summertime

One of the key events in the great British summertime has to be the village fete. I love everything about it from Pimms and strawberries to vegetable sculptures, its such an institution.I think its a tradition we should hold on to . We had a flower and produce show this year as part of ours. It was more fun than serious and had lots of categories for adults and children. It was the children however who shone. They produced some amazing entries.

All the winners got a handmade rosette, which we made by sewing several rounds of fabroc together with a button in the centre and some ribbon and ric rac to hang down. It was lovely to see so many being worn at the evening barbeque.

BRISTOL WHOLESALE FRUIT AND FLOWER MARKET - Google Maps

A number of people have asked for directions to the wholesale flower market at Bristol. It is quite easy to find and I have added a google map link for you below. Sadly due to the recession there aren't as many vendors as there once were, however those that are still there are very good. They also sell lots of high quality plants but you usually have to buy them by the tray, great if you are doing a lavender hedge or lots of tubs of geraniums.

">googlemap bristol wholesale flower market

also a really good florist sundries wholesaler is SPF on chapel street round the corner from the flower market. you can get all of your oasis/vases / candles as well as any number of other goodies here.
Alice if you email me I can give you some info on which places I would buy from and where to avoid.

kelmscott manor

I feel a bit like a busy train station on a Friday evening, with signal failure. I've so many ideas bouncing around inside my head but I just can't seem to get them out.

As a complete antithesis to this yesterday I had a peaceful day visiting the beautiful Summer home of William Morris, Kelmscott Manor. It is set in a quintessentially English village and the manor is picture perfect. William Morris' fabrics and prints fit into their setting so much better than the brown Liberty versions found on old ladies curtains. But I was really impressed by the garden, a lovely English cottage style and of course this is about the best time of year to see such a garden. It must be tended to as there didn't seem to be any weeds, but the plants were allowed to grow freely, roses climbed against the honey-coloured stone walls and the orchard was filled with swathes of Cow Parsley (with mown paths for people to wander through). For me it was the perfect garden - if only. What with Kelmscott yesterday and Chelsea last week(on TV), I'm very aware that our garden is in dire need of attention.



And whilst I'm on the subject of lovely houses and gardens I must mention today's outing to Bowood. Annoyingly I didn't take the camera as I was thinking along the lines of a day out for the children, completely forgetting that the Adventure Playground that both Hubby and I remember so fondly from our childhood is set in the most beautiful grounds (designed by Capablilty Brown) of an C18th house.

Needing a bit of a change of scene we walked away from the playground to the lake with its 'Doric Temple' , caves, waterfall and boathouse. The children loved it and Granny decided she wanted to live here. The boathouse would do, but the main house would be ideal!

food for thought

We had a lovely morning pottering about on my mother-in-law's allotment, planting sweet peas and ranuncula and collecting produce. I walked away with armfuls of goodies; more rhubarb, wonderful tulips, anemones, welsh onions, sorrel and chard and inspired to get planting at home.

But for now I'm looking forward to sitting outside with a glass of wine, watching the hot air balloons that are floating over the valley and flicking through the pages of Sarah Raven's Kitchen Garden. We've friends coming for supper tomorrow and I'm hoping to get some inspiration and if not I'll enjoy looking at the fantastic photos and come up with some more over the top ideas for our garden.

sowing the seeds

Last year we rather ambitiously took on a large allotment 3 days before our baby was born. Despite inheriting an established asparagus bed, a blueberry tree and a fantastic crop of strawberries we soon realised that we just don't have the time to dedicate to an allotment. So this year I have some left over seeds that need a home. I also have a few outstanding thank you letters. So I decided to combine the two and created some seed books. This year someone else will have the pleasure of growing my seeds!

primrose path

I've had an empty pot in the bathroom since the Christmas hyacinths died and I have decided I can stand it no more. The solution was waiting for me on the sunny banks of the garden, where pale yellow primroses are growing blissfully and prolifically. All it took was a couple of minutes, an attack with the trowel and a bit of moss to tidy things up.

sorting seeds

We only planted the last of our bulbs 2 weeks ago but now that it is March I know I need to think about sowing the seeds for our summer harvest. I also have aspirations to have a vegetable patch and cutting garden like Sarah Raven but our crop normally ends up being a few carrots, radishes that are to peppery for the children to eat, tomatoes that never go red and lettuce that goes to seed before we get around to eating it.

However I do start off with the best intentions and this afternoon I decided to have a quiet moment to organise the seed box; working out which packets are out of date, sorting out what I need to plant when and what I need to buy. All I need now is a sunny day, some compost and to think about what tricks I'm going to use to keep the dreaded slugs away. Any ideas?