A colleague who is a keen gardener and fortunate enough to have a greenhouse as well as green fingers, offered me some excess plants grown from seed. As I haven't anywhere other than an open porch to store such gifts we agreed to wait for the frosts to finish, it felt like an age but finally today is delivery day!
I was told to expect some spare Cosmos, but actually I've been generously bestowed with dianthus, a fern, some dwarf sunflowers, a tomato plant, a pot geranium, and a fiery burgundy-leafed plant which I was told was "Firecracker" but doesn't look like any of the the Google images I've found.
I'm over the moon especially now that, as the bluebells that are covering the garden right now can only last a few more weeks, I'm panicking that the garden will look sparse over Summer. I just have to work out where to put it all for maximum impact. I offered cake in return, and was told that Ginger is a favourite, so here's my payment - a Nigel Slater Double Ginger Cake.
An early birthday present from A's parents when we visited last weekend, a bay standard in a beautiful pot. The bay is a family tradition, A's sister and sister-in-law have also been given bay trees in the past. We've planted up the pot just to the side of the porch and the tree looks and smells fantastic. In its honour I have cpoied down just one of my favourite recipes using bay leaves - and a tradition of my own family: the basmati rice recipe from my dad Colin's curry recipe. You can find the accompanying curry recipe on the web too. Enjoy!
Colin's curry - basmati rice accompaniment
Heat corn oil in large saucepan with tight-fitting lid. Add cloves, crushed cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. Add rice & turmeric and mix well by swishing the pan round. Add boiling water and bay leaf and stir. Cover and simmer gently for 12-15 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Use a form to remove the seeds and bay leaf and turn out into a warmed dish. Allow to stand in a warm place for 5 to 10 minutes and fluff up with a fork before serving.
Back from a weekend in Somerset with A's family and with a gift of four foxglove plants from the family garden. When we moved to the house most of the plants in the path border had already flowered and gone over. In amongst the azalea I found a single spike of something, full of tiny brown black seed, which I collected in a twist of brown paper and optimistically labelled "foxglove".
I'm usually one for muted pastel colours in the garden but in a foxglove I can tolerate the blowsiest of fuschias. I love watching the bumble bees busy in and out of the tubular flowers and was looking forward to bulking up my solitary foxglove with some baby plants that would bloom over the Summer. Casually mentioning my plans over the weekend I was more than a bit disappointed to learn that foxgloves are biennials and I wouldn't be seeing flowers for another year. However, the disappointment didn't last for long because I left with four healthy foxglove plants which had self-seeded into a border the year before; these I planted into the shadiest end of my garden in a small drift with the hope that they will self-seed some more.
