A very welcome visitor from next door

My next door neighbour has the most amazing rose in her garden, and by some miracle of luck, it has grown over to our side.

I think it started last year when we noticed it had climbed up a tree on our side.  This year it kind of collapsed onto our side, and the spur grew so much that I swear we are getting more flowers than they are,  which seems a bit cheeky.

However, the happy coincidence of it growing into the lime green foliage of our tree gives us both a mutual benefit, greater than if either of us kept our plants on our own side of the fence….

What do I do?  It seems an absolute travesty to cut it off, but I have a sneaking guilty feeling that we should be encouraging it back?

There is a saying that you should offer back anything that you take off the plant, so I guess that means if we pick any flowers.

The whole thing makes me feel somewhat like a character out of the fairy tale Rapunzel.

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Bluebells

A quick post in admiration of Bluebells.

Apparently the British Isles have over 40% of the world’s bluebell population.

These ones were snapped at Kew Gardens  a few weeks ago.

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Scorchio

It has been so hot and so dry, I am starting to feel like we are in a record drought, at least locally.  Surely a hosepipe ban must be just round the corner?  Perhaps I have a short memory, but for all the grass to be brown, dry and dead by this point in July is unusual.  There’s been no decent rain for 6 weeks. Plants in the garden look very stressed, and are succumbing to weird, new insect attacks with strange symptoms.

Because we can’t get to the  allotment every day to water, our crops are pitifully small.  I have peas that have barely grown out of the ground before flowering, potatoes that look more like chilli peppers in terms of plant size (photos will follow).  I know from friends who are managing to water often, this could be a record summer for the diligent gardener.  Sadly for me the lazy gardener, this will not be the case.  Our soil is very dry at the best of times, but now it is like a desert.  I have learned to welcome the highs and the lows equally, knowing that without the failures, the successes aren’t as precious.  Gardening alone has taught me this valuable life lesson.

The lavender up at Mayfield is looking brilliant at the moment, and really is an inspiring sight.

The lavender festival at the Stanley Road Plots is a couple of weeks away:

Carshalton Lavender Weekend 24th – 25th July 2010

Fortunately lavender thrives in dry conditions!  When it comes to gardening, the expression that springs to mind is “every dog has its day”.

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The cutting garden

Well, this was going to be the year when I concentrated on flowers for cutting rather than vegetables.  On the whole, flowers have proved a lot easier to grow.  I wonder if this could be our soil, with about 3 inches of chalky topsoil before you hit the bedrock.  This means its very poor in nutrients and prone to frequent and long droughts, both of which flowers seem to handle better than veg.  I think to build up sufficient bulk in a vegetable crop you need to either water it constantly, or improve the soil every year for about 10 years??

Having said that, obviously where people are vigilant they have got fantastic crops.  You only have to see Ali’s blog (from the same allotment site!) to see the potential.

I think until I am able to commit more time in the summer evenings, I will have to resign myself to the lower maintenance crops like flowers and herbs.  We are planning to get a greenhouse in the garden later in the year, so this means we can do tomatoes and so on there.  Watch this space to see if we do grow anything interesting this year, or whether my moans, groans and excuses fill the WHOLE BLOG!  Ha ha.

So in the meantime here are some more of my finest cuttings from this week.  First up my Charles de Mills rose was magnificent.  This yielded me a whole bush of fragrant, dark mauve blooms.  The best ones were cut with a stalk attached and put into an arrangement with some cornflowers.

Ones that were too late to pick for cut flowers were picked just below the flower and placed in water to keep them fresh.

And because I couldn’t bear to waste them, I even picked the petals from the deadheads to be dried in saucers and saved.  The smell in the room was fantastic!

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Springtime flowers – Irises

I am so proud of these irises.  The plants were bought from the Hampton Court Flower Show in 2008.  It was the first time we had been to a big flower show like that and I was overwhelmed by the choice and variety of plants available.  As I wandered round the specialised nurseries I found it near impossible to choose which plants to buy.  Two irises caught my eye, this one, and one which looked like its opposite, with purple centres and white edges.

I took them home, I lovingly planted them, and then I watched and waited.  And waited, and waited.

Last year they looked half dead, and at times it seemed touch and go whether they would even survive.  We supposedly have near perfect soil type and conditions, with our chalky soil being reliably alkaline and well drained, with British rainfall to keep it watered.  As if to compound this, someone in a neighbouring allotment has a whole field of irises which do brilliantly well.

Just a month ago, this is what it looked like, with a load of manure on in the hope it might do better this year.  You can just about see its partner, buried under manure next to it.

Then a few weeks ago, this:

You can imagine my reaction when I saw that it had actually flowered. Despite a month with very little rainfall, they have flowered prolifically.  I’ve got three vases round the house already, pairing them off with some bamboo from our new garden.

Yet again, patience and a touch of neglect works wonders in the garden.

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Midsummer sun and Sunflowers

The Met office has sheepishly apologised for predicting a ‘barbecue summer’ that has been resoundingly rained off.  I have to say I don’t understand why they feel personally responsible for the maverick weather we get in this country – but all the same it’s quite enjoyable watching them eat humble pie when they get it wrong.

I am not sure whether to moan about this summer’s weather or not.   It has been warm enough to ripen tomatoes, peppers and chilis outside in August, whereas I can remember previous years where even in Autumn I have been desperately holding out for some sun to ripen crops.  In addition, the watering duties have been negligible compared to the usual fretting every other day.  Crops have swelled beautifully, although weeds and lawns have needed more maintenance. The humidity has made blight more likely, which has been devastating for those affected.

But for me one of the mixed blessings of gardening is that each year brings its successes and failures.  One plant’s meat is another plant’s poison, and I quite like having gluts of different crops each year (and of course courgettes every year), and I accept the outright failures.

This week’s surprise bonus was the sunflowers, which have done really well.   They can be seen here towering over the roof of the wendy house.

The beans and courgettes have gone over while we were away, but the outdoor tomatoes, chillis and peppers have been an unexpected bonus.  I can’t claim any credit for this, but hats off to Jamie for a fantastic year.

Unfortunately haven’t been to the Warren yet since coming back from hols, because of a heavy cold.  It is bad enough to worry it might be Swine Flu, but not bad enough so that I feel like I am going to die, which as I remember is a giveaway sign of actual flu.  So another false alarm probably.

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The cutting garden

Well, neglect has turned out to be my friend as well as my enemy.  I have been so busy at work that inevitably everything else has fallen down.  This includes the allotment.  However, this means I have a glut of flowers which made a lovely surprise when we eventually did get there.

As well as the Swan River Daisies that had sprung from nowhere, I found some ragwort that had sneakily flowered while I have been off weeding duty, so I decided they went quite well together.

The sweet peas made the house smell lovely, and somehow the whole thing just reminds me of midsummer – the best time of year for all kinds of reasons.

Also, I took a photo of the plants I picked up at Hampton Court last week.

The echinacea has been raided for the flower arrangements, but the hydrangea is just stunning.  The astilbe was inspired by the Enchanting Escape garden.

Off now to the allotment, where we are about to do a plot to plate challenge.  I reckon the potatoes will be in the pot within 15 mins of being dug up, along with some french beans.  I am salivating at the thought of it!

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Hampton Court Flower Show 2009 Part 2

One of the best things about the flower show is the Floral Marquee, where specialist growers set up displays to exhibit their latest varieties.  What is interesting is that there is a nursery somewhere specialise in every sort of flower you could imagine, from fashionable plants like echinacea to old favourites like chrysanthemums.

I was particularly drawn by a display of lilies.  The frangrance was so strong  that it literally filled the whole marquee, and at each door, there was a strong current of warm, lily scented air coming out.

There were colours I had never seen anywhere before, and I am determined to get some in the plot for next year.

One of the great things about gardening is that your garden is never complete – you can always add something else, like a never finished work of art.  If one year doesn’t work out as well as you had hoped, you can always look forward to the next one.

I am already thinking that next year might be a cut flower year, where I try to cultivate enough flowers to keep the flat supplies with gorgeous flowers all year.  Now there is a new challenge.

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Fathers Day 2009 – Blackcurrants and Garden Visits

What a weekend!   We managed to fit in both allotments, twice, and go to Petersham Nurseries for some inspiration.  The activities culminated in making a batch of blackcurrant cupcakes.

First I must show you the photos I took at Petersham Nurseries.  It is one of my favourite places for inspiration – whoever runs it has got such a good eye for colour, and puts things together beautifully.  I noticed they had a job going and boy am I tempted…..

The displays really make you want to buy something, but the price tags are breathtaking.  It makes me wonder whether it would be fun if money really was no object.  I think it is more satisfying to get ideas, then try to recreate your own version in a thifty way.

If you look at the objects, there is nothing inherently special about any of them, but the arrangement together just works somehow.  Having said that, they just seem to have a knack of picking objects that work together.

There is also a fabulous restaurant there, run by Skye Gyngell and a tea room for those like us on a more limited budget.

There is usually something interesting there in the way of plants too.  This time of year, they have gigantic dahlias.

We bought one for Jamie for Father’s Day, and brought it back to the plot.  I have to say it looks a lot more modest than the one in the shop, but they do flower continuously from June to October, so there is plenty of time!

Last year we made redcurrant cupcakes, and they were a great success, so we decided to use some of our bumper crop of blackcurrants to make some more.  The secret was not to add them to the mix, but to press them onto the top just before they go in the oven.

Blackcurrant cupcakes

375g Self raising flour

115g butter

200g caster sugar

2 very large eggs (or 3 medium)

1/4 vanilla pod

1 tsp vanilla extract

175ml milk

Some blackcurrants – a few handfuls

Beat together butter and sugar till fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Split vanilla pod, scrape out seeds and add to mixture.  Fold in the flour, then when mixed, add and mix in the milk.  Spoon the mixture into muffin cases, then add blackcurrants to the top as shown below.  Then pressed in the blackcurrants into the mixture, but so they were still on top.

Put into a preheated oven at 180degrees C, and leave for 20 mins or until golden on top.

I know it is a cliche, and one I use very often, but the tartness of the blackcurrants against the fluffy sweetness of the vanilla cakes turns a childlike treat into something more interesting for adults.

Finally, one more photo from 8pm this evening – the peas flowering.  I picked a handful of yellow podded peas, just in case I can’t get back to them for a couple of days.  It looks as though there will be a lot more where they came from!

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Sweetcorn sown direct!

This is the third year of having an allotment, and I have to say that the initial burst of energy has eased to a slower pace.  So it is really nice when something genuinely captures new enthusiasm.  One of these was the sweetcorn that I sowed direct in the soil a couple of weeks ago.  Horrendously late, it needed a soil temperature of 18 degrees C according to the packet.  I wasn’t sure whether UK soil ever reaches this temperature, but it really was my last chance to get them in before June began.

Here is the patch on the 29th May:

Sweetcorn seeds went in just before the warm spell

And again on the 12th June:

Sweetcorn shoots in just two weeks

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw them!  They will even need thinning at some point because I was so pessimistic about their chances of success that I have crammed them in, expecting the odd seed to germinate.  I have got two varieties – Ashworth Early and Hopi Blue.  Another way of looking at ‘early’ crops is ‘faster growing’, so I am hoping this means I will still have time to get sweetcorn cobs before Autumn.

The other surprise this week was that the dark blue lavender bush is ready to crop:

Lavender ready to pick

It is a darker blue than the Carshalton Lavender plants which we  inherited.  I thought it would be good to dry out the heads for decoration rather than scent:

Lavender heads drying on the patio

The later crop will be in July, when we will pick some of the silvery heads for lavender bags etc.

Finally, we got our first crop from the blackcurrant bushes given to us by Jamie’s Gramps and Mum.  The recipe of this week is a glorious blackcurrant frangipane tart, from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook.  A bit like bakewell tart studded with blackcurrants, it is one of those recipes where the tartness of the fruits is perfect with the rich pudding.  Lovely with an afternoon coffee on the patio after work:

Frangipane and blackcurrant tart

I will put the recipe on to follow:

Following the loss of almost all our Dahlias in the frosts this year, I bought a two at 70p at Chipstead fete this weekend.  Not even knowing what colour or type they are will add a frisson of excitement later this summer.

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