Better Day Today

Am feeling happier after a sunnier and productive day in the garden, although I hear tomorrow is to be horrendous again....good day, bad day.

 

We have lots of lovely foxglove seedlings coming on well....Sutton's Apricot, Pam's Split, Candy Mountain, Summer King and the plain white alba - I can't wait to see them in the spring together with our new biennials for this year - cynoglossum amabile (chinese forget me not) and verbascum phoenicum Antique Rose.

 

Potted on rooted cuttings of rosemary and dug up my patch of comfrey to move to a more suitable spot.....ended up dividing it into about ten new plants. I've planted them beneath my pears and cherries as I've read that they put down a deep tap root which extracts the rich minerals from deep in the soil and brings them up to feed the fruit trees. You can't have enough comfrey - for mulching -"chop and drop" as they say across the pond (found this on my fave new website - www.permies.com - haven't had time to look at it in detail but there seems to be lots of great advice). Also perfect for making your own comfrey fertiliser - I will be giving a demo on my Wildlife Gardening Course on Saturday 22nd September (plug plug)! Details on our website here !

Geese in Chevron Flight

I was sitting in the carpark of our local shop tonight when I noticed the geese in chevron flight. It set me to thinking.........that time of year thou mayst in me behold.........I have been in denial, ever the optimist, surrealist.........totally banking on an Indian Summer but it's not going to happen is it? My late sown broad beans, peas and french beans have all been in vain, I've been overzealous in my deadheading so sure that my flowers would fight back all the better with an abundance of fresh growth and buds.

I've now reached the stage where I think...just bring it on....let Autumn steal our Summer from us....the summer that never was.

Everything suddenly seems paler, older.
Summer's comfort is plundered,
far-off marches played on gold trumpets
float over the scented fog.....

Three Autumns
Anna Akhmatova

(In a poetry mood...have been printing off Heaney and Hardy for the son's GCSE english).

 

Poetry...my secret obsession.....don't want to scare people off but I find it's like red wine...the more you drink/read the more you appreciate its depth, structure, style and lingering finish....and the more you want to delve into new vineyards/poets.

My dearest granny, who fevourishly scoured every charity shop that the public transport system would take her to, gave me a first edition (1969) Penguin collection of Selected Poems - Anna Akhmatova. It lay in my car untouched until I stopped for lunch one day (in a job that involved alot of driving around the Province) near the lakes outside Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh. I could not set it down - had to read it cover to cover and I wasn't really into poetry in those days. I'm sure it's so carefully translated (it was lost for a few years when lent to a relative and in desperation to reread I bought a more recent edition from Amazon - such a let down..dare I say prosaic) but wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to enjoy her poems in their mother tongue - surely something is lost along the way.

Anyway I've loved her ever since......she drew me to all things Russian for a time, from her biography to Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes - the most readable brute of a book that I've come across and I'm no intellect.

Before I get the urge to go, I must gratefully acknowledge another great lady who started all of this rambling in my head (the geese).

All that stays is dying, all that lives is getting out
See the geese in chevron flight
Flappin' and a-racin' on before the snow
They got the urge for going and they've got the wings to go.

Back to flowers tomorrow - I promise x

Fave August Flowers

 I can't believe how the time has flown - the kids are back at school anyday. Am I the only one that procrastinates every year until I have only a day or two left to shop for the dreaded uniforms - I never learn. Anyway, August is almost over and I haven't mentioned my top 5 flowers for picking so here goes!

 

5) Phlox - nice tall, straight stems and perennial - the vase life is terrific... a lovely scent too! 

 

 

4) Snapdragons - they provide a lovely vertical spire in a bouquet now that the bulk of the toadflax is over and there are some beautiful colours available...my favourite this year is Apple Blossom but they are so hard to grow from seed and I don't like having to buy in plugs - I'm going to try propogating from cuttings this year - will let you know how I get on. (Pic to follow).

 

3) Cosmos - just beautiful, no matter which variety you grow, great for wildlife (bees and burnet moths), easy to grow from seed and lovely in every vase.

 

 

2) Verbena bonariense - no staking required, no removing leaves to condition, nice long straight stems and such an iridescent colour - of course the butterflies love it too!

 

 

1) Dahlias - what can I say - they are unbeatable for the wow factor, colour range, and number of flowers per plant, as long as you keep picking them and give them a regular feed, they will produce bucket loads of flowers. They are also the most rainproof flower in the garden. Slugs will devour them when growth starts in the spring but if you can fend them off (for another post) and get them established, they will romp away.

 

 

Fantastic Fish Pie

Pie seems more of a winter dish but what with the woeful weather, I've been craving hearty meals...roasts, pies, casseroles etc. Our fish pie has evolved, like many recipes, to the point where it barely resembles the original which, by the way, is blooming lovely too....you can find it here. I never have cream in the house so started making a bechamel sauce instead (with english mustard & lemon juice so not really a bechamel :{)

 

Simply boil a few eggs & potatoes, chop your raw fish into the bottom of the pie dish...whatever you fancy - our lovely fish man comes on a Thursday....I just pick whatever looks good  that day...mixture of white & oily or white & smoked.

 

 

Next add some chopped parsley and veg...at the mo we have a glut of peas & tenderstem broccoli - they work great. Add your boiled egg, cut into wedges, pour over your sauce and top with potatoes either mashed or sliced (if, like ours, they're too waxy to mash).

 

 

 

Stick in the oven for about 25 mins and voila....a complete meal all in one dish! I wouldn't make a very good food blogger (flogger?) cos as per usual, I can't find the after photo (I'm running around with 2 camera cards, my old phone which I swapped with my hubby for his nice new iphone, and I can't find it anywhere.)

Horse it into ya Cynthia, for you're the girl for me,  ;{) (smiley man with moustache).

Celebrations!

We've won! I really can't believe it - I was feeling a bit down cos I'm a really bad business person and haven't sold many flowers and what with the rainy weather. I came in from the garden last night about half past eight and opened my emails to see that we have won Britain's bee friendliest garden (group gardens category).  I'm so happy....the more time I've spent working in the garden, the more I've come to know and love the bees - there are so many varieties but they're so hard to identify.

The winning prize was a course on how to make a wildflower meadow, held in Somerset so I'm getting binoculars instead! We get a nice plaque for the garden and best of all, our photo will be featured in their 2013 calendar! This is the photo that I submitted.

Some bee pics!

The Power of Herbs

I love growing herbs, just weeding around them gives you such a shot of aromatherapy. I especially love working with the mints and lemon balm...they're so uplifting and I love using them in handties as people always comment on the lovely fragrance. Rosemary is another great herb for handling - it stimulates the brain and improves memory, among other things (not to be used during pregnancy or if epileptic).

 Rosemary is also well known as a tonic for the hair and I had read online that it's great for dark coloured hair beginning to go grey! I decided to make a hair "potion" and give it a go......all I can say is wow! My hair is naturally quite frizzy and unruly but when I poured it onto my hair (didn't rinse it off) brushed it through and blow dried, it was amazing - glossy, full of body and sleek! I tried it on a friend with "hard to manage" hair and it worked really well....you do need to use a hair dryer - the heat must activate the properties but well worth a try (not recommended for blondes as it can allegedly darken your hair).

Rosemary Hair Tonic Recipe

• Use 1 part (chopped) rosemary to 2 parts water. Boil the water and then pour over the rosemary.

• Leave until the liquid reaches room temperature then strain. A sieve will do but muslin or an old pair of tights is even better as any particles left behind will go mouldy after a while. I keep it in a sports bottle in the shower and pour over my hair after normal washing and conditioning...DON'T RINSE OUT!

Blow dry as normal and ....voila! Happy hair!