Fallen down the rabbit hole

Just before Christmas my mum went to a mad hatter’s tea party and knowing I like all sorts of fancy dress, presented me with the top hat she’d been given. I thought, gosh, this really sums up my year, as at times it’s felt like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the blogs getting less frequent. Well it’s been a bit of a trying eighteen months, with sadness, stress and extreme tiredness. It’s involved losses, health scares, four house moves (not mine) and lots of ongoing building work (definitely mine).

Don’t get me wrong, I know all too well that my problems pale into insignificance compared to many desperate people in this world. We all know the adage, “there’s always someone (usually many someone’s) worse off than yourself”, how true this is.

But this in turn causes guilt, in the form of ‘what have you got to feel, sad, stressed, anxious or tired about’? We do beat ourselves up!

Gardening Therapy

I’ve often talked about gardening therapy, and I think it’s widely recognised now that just being outdoors is good for your mental health. Add to that the benefits of gardening and you have a winning combination!

It’s just that this year when I’ve needed time in the garden more than ever, I’ve had less and less time to spend in it. And when I have had some time, it’s been raining again!

Chillies started off well

I started off so well last January, at a very sad time in my life, I got stuck into gardening by sowing my chillies early, unfortunately due to having no time at all for the garden by the end of the year, many have just rotted on the plants, a very sorry sight!

As we approach the first frosts I normally pick all the remaining fruits and turn them into chilli sauce but I simply ran out of time.

Luckily the chillies that I’d kept going through last winter produced a reasonable early crop, enough for a small batch of Naga chilli relish. And this years chillies have been picked and used regularly in many dishes.

The long, purple ‘Buena Mulata’ I’d grown for the first time this year was particularly delicious, with perfect heat for me. I’m sure I’ll be growing that one for the foreseeable future.

Weeds. In my garden!

As the year’s gone on, it’s become ever more manic and the garden has slipped into the background. Each day I’ve thought “I could just do with three more hours”!

Weeds are the main problem, visitors have regularly commented over the years at the lack of weeds. Well not any more! They get a grip so quickly.

On the plus side it’s not just the weeds that have grown despite my absence, the garden has quietly carried on and still produced plenty of bounty.

It just shows that all the worries of new gardeners saying ‘how do I get it to grow’. Well you just give it soil and water, stand back and watch it do what its DNA tells it to do.

Early fruits

Early fruit came as abundant as ever from the blueberries, followed quickly on by the raspberries. At this point I was still keeping up with it all, making cakes and even some jam. This is the part of the year when breakfast becomes so delicious it makes me get out of bed earlier.

Mother nature’s weather has suited the roots

The purple new potatoes did well in their enormous pot. When I finally harvested the last of them in August leaving the old compost in, I decided to sow some carrot seeds. They germinated quickly and grew well with all ‘Mother Natures’ watering.

The beetroots have also enjoyed the growing conditions. I sowed the first ones early and we had a regular supply until the sowing dwindled out… A pulled a particularly large one, the day after a fortune cookie told me “you’ll have an unexpectable harvest”, just shows, they must be true lol.

The shallots I grew for the first time, have stored really well tied in a plait and hung up. Ideal to grab one for cooking.

Beautiful cabbage

I grew the most exquisitely beautiful red cabbage this year, they were almost too good to eat. The leaves looked metallic and I thought what an amazing sculpture they’d make.

Luckily they tasted just as good and were turned into sweet red cabbage as well as simply shredded, and fried with onions and garlic.

Best crop of the year

As the time I had in the garden became more limited, the one crop I had to keep up with were my favourites, tomatoes. As I’ve mentioned frequently, this year has been the best crop since I started growing them.

The conditions were ideal, with plenty of sun (really, can anyone remember that now) but no intense heatwaves like last year.

We’ve eaten fresh tomatoes from June to November and have a freezer full of tomato sauce. Which makes for nice, quick, and easy pasta meals.

Fruits on the wall

The figs, pears and apples have luckily taken care of themselves, giving us an abundance of fruit to pick at, including the last few – appropriately named – apples ‘Christmas Pippin’ just a few days before Christmas.

Flower highlights

Of course, the garden isn’t all about food, the flowers are an important part for me and the pollinators.

I grew a few new flowers in 2023.

Two new dahlias, ‘Bishop of Canterbury’ and ‘Honka Pink’, both of which I would happily grow again. With a bit of luck the tubers will survive the winter.

Yet more cosmos, including a white one called ‘cupcake’ that really did resemble a paper case for you fairy cakes. As I said earlier in the year, I am a convert again to cosmos having not grown them for a very long time. They just give so much bang for your buck, producing an extraordinary amount of flowers until the first frost.

I had a couple of rescue plants, some pale bluey, mauve agapanthus that had been abandoned, and with just a little TLC flowered well, and a yellow rose, dug up from a friend’s garden when they moved house.

New Years Resolutions

As last year now slips into the past, life this year is still super busy with the building work about to get very messy! I’m not sure how often I will get chance to keep you abreast of how the garden is getting on, but I shall try my best.

I’m sure once the building work is finished it won’t take too long to back the garden up to scratch again, and I’m sure I will feel much happier again to get out there more.

So finally, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

And as you make your New Year’s resolutions, you can guess what mine is, ‘to spend more time in the garden’!

Happy gardening.