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Tomatoes in November!
Well, I’ve never had homegrown tomatoes in November before! Well at least not red ones! They usually start to die back and get a bit mouldy as the weather starts to cool down and the days start to draw in, but not this year. Tomatoes in a Heatwave It’s been a most extraordinary weather year, with heatwaves so hot that it was still too hot at 7pm to sit out and eat dinner. Who’d have ever thought that would be the case in Britain! It meant that the main harvesting season was not as good as usual, it was just too hot. I suppose if heatwaves become the new norm,…
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2022 – A Bumper Apple Season
Who knows the saying ‘An apple a day, keeps the doctor away’? Probably just those of us of a certain age! I think it was all about getting enough fibre in your diet and an apple’s as good as anything. As Britain has always been in the wonderful position of being a great apple growing nation. We’ve always had plentiful apples, including varieties that store all through the winter. So, a great source of fibre and vitamins all year long. This year in particular has been great for apple growing, a proper bumper year, and we have been making the most of them! So, carrying on with the apple theme…
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Remembering my Gardening Hero (Dad)
On Remembrance Sunday, I think of my gardening hero (dad) more than usual. When World War Two started he was still a boy so joined the home-guard. When he turned 18 he was sent off to serve his country. Solace in the Garden He only told our mum a few of the horrors that he’d witnessed. No wonder he took solace in his precious garden. Grateful to be alive, having left friends where they lay on foreign soils. He was never happier than when he was in his gardening clothes, digging his vegetable patch and tending his flowers. Just like Monty Don his faithful dog was never far away. I…
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Bramley Apple & Calvados Cake
Scrumping! We are very lucky to have a Bramley apple tree in our next-door neighbour’s garden, and even luckier to have a generous neighbour that tells us to help ourselves! This year the tree has produced more beautiful looking, delicious fruits than ever. We’ve already made a number of apple crumbles, which have been portioned up and put in the freezer. This week though we decided to make an apple cake. I have to give credit to the garden apprentice for the addition of the calvados, and wow, what a difference it makes! Calvados is a spirit along the lines of brandy, but rather than being made from grapes, it’s…
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Gardening with Cats – The Original Stars of Gardeners World
Come Outside! The first cat we had would scratch at the back door, we’d open it and he’d just stand there meowing. We’d say are you coming in or not? – because our cats obviously understand English (when it suits them). We’d shut the door and five minutes later we’d have the whole thing again. It took us quite some time to realise that he didn’t want to come in, he wanted us to come out into the garden – because we clearly don’t understand cat talk! He wasn’t really a lap-cat, but he seemed to love us being outside with him. When we were gardening, he was never far…
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Super, Simple, Hot Habanero Chilli Sauce
This is actually the gardening apprentice’s hot chilli sauce; I only grow them for him. This year the habanero plants have done really well, but I guess the heatwave was always going to suit chillies. As usual we took the habanero plants into the house over winter, resulting in an early harvest back in July. The fruits were much smaller then, but just as hot! To preserve the chillies for use in the winter, we used to simply chop them up and pickle them, but there’re two problems with this method. Firstly, eating food with chopped chillies, results in some rather hot mouthfuls and some rather dull ones, it’s too…
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Chilli Explosion
The greenhouse looks like a colourful chilli explosion, ranging from yellow, through orange to red. For years now I’ve only grown two varieties of chilli, Habareros and Jalapeño. Two years ago, I fancied a change and swapped my ‘Jalapeño’ for ‘Havana Gold’ a similar heat chilli. I can’t say I’ve been thrilled by them; they seem to go squidgy on the plant quite quickly. And they are the same colour as the hot Habanero, meaning they make the same-coloured sauce. Potentially a very dangerous situation! So, I will definitely be going back to Jalapeños next year. The garden apprentice has discovered his new favourite curry uses Naga chillies, so I…
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Polly’s Simple, Mild Chilli Sauce
My chilli collection is split very definitely into two categories, mine and the garden apprentice’s. I’m afraid it’s rather stereotypical, I like the milder Jalapeño type chillies. Whilst he likes the silly hot chillies, along the lines of Habanero and Naga. As the big bulk of our chillies are harvested in the summer, we needed a way of preserving the fruits for winter. We used to simply chop the chillies up and pickle them, but there’re two problems with this method. Firstly as you eat food with chopped chillies, you can get some rather hot mouthfuls and some rather dull ones, it was too inconsistent. Secondly you don’t always want…
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Heatwave – Monsoon. How the Flowers coped
It’s been a strange year for flowers, some came and went so quickly as a result of the heatwaves and generally hot summer. Quite disappointing when you’re looking forward to seeing them. Others like Ligularia ‘Desdemonas’ huge leaves kept wilting, but then revived with a small amount of water and went on to flower. The Walnut’s drunk all the Water Lots of the mid-summer perennials just didn’t reach their usual size. The thalictrum being the most obvious down in the white garden. It only reached about half the normal height, with very few flowers. I suppose it’s not that surprising that quite a few plants in the white garden have…
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Visiting the Gardens at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons. Part 3 – Polytunnels, Compost, The Orchard & Tasting
“Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons is the fulfillment of a personal vision, a dream that one day I would create a hotel and restaurant in harmony where my guests would find perfection in food, comfort, service and welcome.” Raymond Blanc. Having been drawn down the famous lavender path upon arrival, walked around the Manor and on into the vegetable garden in part one. Watched the swan in the lily pond, meandered around the Japanese water garden, before checking out the Herb and Heritage garden, in part two. We now sit, poised on the recycled champagne bottle bench wondering, what does Raymond Blanc grow in his polytunnels? Oh, it’s starting to…
