Veg update!

The salad mix, mid-way through thinning (rocket has been planted separately so it doesn't get too bullyish with these gentle tasties)

Peas nice and sturdy, and sending out their climbing tendrils, all covered up with protective net to keep the birds out  Does this count as success yet?

Late April garden

Lilac is coming... apple blossom in full swing, but already starting to fall... bluebells amongst the crocosmia (getting going from last Autumn's renovation)...  Kerria japonica pompoms, I remember these as hedging when I lived in London... Blubells!... the pathway border doing its Spring thing

Cleaning windows

 

A lovely sunny weekend day but no time to do anything of significance in the garden, instead I cleaned the windows which had got grubby from the Winter weather beating on them.  I did them the way my Grandma taught me, vinegar in the water to rinse, newspaper to buff.  Now I have clean windows and a better view of everything that needs doing in the garden.

Crystallised primroses

An abundance of primrose in the garden right now and a while-a-go birthday gift from A's mum =  a chance to have a go at making crystalled flowers.

Gather your ingredients: the flowers, caster sugar, a paint brush for cleaning and application, water for washing, and lots of kitchen roll (off-camera).  Flowers are usually crystallised with egg white and can last for 2-3 days, but as I had no plans to use mine for a couple of weeks I used longer lasting gum arabic, which I ordered online.

I picked my primroses on a dry day, after the dew had lifted, but as it had been raining heavily on and off over the past few days and the flowers were splashed with soil I decided to wash them with a quick dip in water.  I wouldn't actually recommend doing this though, as the petals could get waterlogged and folded over onto themselves and soil still clung on even after a vigourous plunge; next time I'll use a soft brush to remove any soil.

 

The gum arabic comes in powdered form and needs to be dissolved in a clear liquid; I used gin!  I painted the reverse side of the flower first, and then held by the stem to paint the right side of the petals, then sprinkled caster sugar all over.  Leave them to dry out overnight on a sheet of greaseproof paper, then store in a Tupperware in the fridge until needed.

Here are the results, a little bit of Spring crystallised and preserved for a while longer yet.  I plan to use them on my Mum's birthday cake, in early May.  And finally here is my helper, who took a liking to the sugary water that I was washing my sticky fingers in (no primroses were washed in this water after this incident).

Growing from seed

The year is skipping along and this weekend I managed to get another New Year's resolution underway, by planting up some salad mix, rocket and peas.

There is a bed in the back garden where sage and rosemary grow strongly alongside some rambling and shrub roses and when we moved in last year I had grand plans to convert this bed into a little potager, but the sage is so vigorous that nothing seemed to take.  Between the dry rooty soil and Fernando's digging, a small lavender bush that I transplanted, chives and rocket all dwindled. 

Hannah, my friend at work, came to the rescue and suggested growing veg in black sack bags from Wilkos which are cheap as chips and but fill out with compost to make really deep containers. 

We've chosen some rocket and a salad mix, crops that command a high price in the supermarket, and peas - another once common garden crop which now cost a fortune to buy fresh.  The added advantage of growing peas is that they grow upwards, and we have plenty of upwards space.

Shopping from the garden, coming soon!