Labour of the month: March

My Labour of the Month for PPPs in March is a ritual that for me marks the beginning of Spring and the season when I can walk out into the garden and harvest ingredients for lunch; and what's even nicer is that these ingredients reappear each year without any hard labour on my part.

Picking Hop Shoots

For a lunch-time omelette served with
a chive and bitter-cress side salad.

An established hop plant will send up
an abundant quantity of new shoots;
leave 5 or 6 strong shoots to grow up
the pole or support and snip off the others.

– don't waste them! they are as prized

as the first cut of English Asparagus;
the flavour of hop shoots isn't strong
but they have a slightly astringent bitterness
which is pleasantly refreshing.

Fresh green chives make pretty edging to
the vegetable beds – and there's more than
enough to use in the kitchen every day.

Here's a pesky little weed – Hairy Bitter-Cress,
pull it out before it fires its seeds all over the plot!
However it's not all bad, those young green leaves have
a great peppery kick to them, so they make a
lovely side salad to wake up the taste-buds.

Fry some sliced mushrooms;
add the washed hop-shoots to the pan
and cover until they wilt;
pour in lightly beaten eggs;
gently cook and stir until the egg sets.

Sprinkle with crumbled Wensleydale cheese,
season with ground mixed pepper and
finish off under a hot grill.

Wash the Bitter-Cress and chop the chives,
mingle them together.

When the top of the omelette is browned and bubbling
serve with the salad and some wholemeal bread.

Celia
x

I'm Magic Cochin and I'm a seedaholic

THE EVIDENCE:

In front of witnesses (you lot)

I hereby promise not to
buy any packets of seeds this year . . .


really, I really won't


I promise



Celia
x

Season's end

In the past week it seems like someone clicked a switch and turned on Autumn – there's a chill in the air and damp, dewy, mistiness hangs over the garden reminding us that we live in a valley where cool air nestles until midday.

I haven't blogged much about the garden this year, mainly it's because we've been busy with life and family stuff that has to dealt with come what may – consequently the garden has had to fend for itself. I have had a little time in the past month to do this . . .

. . . a new long narrow border planted with bearded iris, red-hot pokers and alliums.

Elsewhere the garden had descended into a wild chaos – this is the Dragonfly Pond, the shallow pond dried up completely in the nine week drought but it is now full and has joined up with the deep pond through the narrow dividing channel.


For hedgehogs that come into the garden for a drink (yes I know they do because they leave black droppings shiny with beetle wing cases on the lawn) I have renovated the Hedgehog Cave in the corner behind the pond. I wonder if they've checked it out yet?


At last the little plants in the big blue pot are flowering and make a pretty miniature garden.


Through the green door in the wall the vegetable garden looks as ramshackle as the wildlife corner! Despite the obvious crop failures . . . the three-sisters mound and the runner bean arch . . . . there have been and still are plenty of crops to harvest.


I have masses of herbs! I think it's one of my favourite things – to walk out to the garden and pick herbs to use fresh in the kitchen. Clockwise from top left, here is my (self-sown!) Italian flat-leaved parsley patch; a second flush of gorgeous Moroccan mint; sage which is perfect with winter veg and pork dishes; and Old English thyme – I think thyme is my new favourite herb, it's such a deep complex flavour.


The Rondo grape vine is looking very autumnal. We need to pick those grapes – they taste lovely but are full of big pips! We're not into wine making so we'll probably just drink the fresh grape juice. The hens love them (and the pips too) so if we don't eat them they get recycled into eggs!


This a first for our garden . . . Achocha.


The leaves look a bit like a herbal substance we could get arrested for growing, in fact it's one of the traditional food crops of the Incas from South America, a 'slipper gourd' . . . the little green fruits develop in the leaf axils. We tried a few chopped and added to cous-cous to accompany a tagine, they have a pleasant crunch and taste a bit like raw green sweet peppers.


The old Cox's apple tree has surprised us this year by producing some beautiful apples, the flavour is wonderful!


Bird's Egg climbing beans, from the Heritage Seed library, have been the one successful bean this year. I've left a few pods to ripen on the plant – worth it for that wonderful colour!


More splashes of colour from the rainbow chard leaves. I wouldn't be without chard in the vegetable garden, it survives whatever and eventually rewards you with a good crop! And it's so useful – I add the leaves and stalks to curries, casseroles, risottos, frittatas . . .


A stray self-sown leek seed-head – as attractive as those border alliums – it's sometimes worth leaving the garden to do it's own thing.


So, that's the end of the autumn garden tour, I'll sign off with this photo of Tarragon the Lavender Araucana cockerel. He's lived with us for nine months now and I'm getting used to the fact that the hens are 'his ladies' and not 'my girls'. Tarragon is moulting, he's covered with new quills just unfurling and he's growing a beard and moustache! His designer-stubble looks quite rakish!


I've a diary packed with exciting things to do and places to go to, so I think I need to take a short 'blogging break', I'll be back sometime in October and I'll tell you more about my plans for these ******mas events.

Let's get back to the plot

I haven't blogged about the vegetable garden recently, the winter has been harsh and long and like many gardeners, now that Spring is just about here at last, I feel well behind schedule. But, let's not panic – my Dad always warned me off starting sowing seeds too early and having to somehow keep the seedling from going too leggy and soft in the greenhouse because it was too cold to plant outside. I'll catch up . . . you just see!

Today I had an appointment with the optician, so I missed the postman's visit. On my return I noticed a pile of packages had been carefully put under cover within our courtyard – I was curious then excited . . .

. . . one was a parcel from Zoe (who used to blog and now tweets) – rhubarb crowns 'Timperley Early' and Stockbridge Arrow'. So far rhubarb has not been a success in my garden, but I'm making an extra effort this time and have prepared a bed next to the garden wall, well dug with horse manure. Thank you Zoe - the heritage peas and beans will be on their way to you soon.

The other parcel contained a very large heavy book, 'A Flora of Suffolk'. I ordered it at the pre-publication price and couldn't wait to spend evenings immersed in botanical heaven :-)


My plot is not all bare earth and uncleared pea wigwams – here's a round up of the best bits:

Crimson Flowered Broad Bean plants hardened off and ready for planting out; some healthy looking sweetpea seedlings which have had their tips pinched out so they will make strong side shoots; and some beautiful purple violets I brought home from my Mum's garden – these are for The Wild Wood, but I put them in an old terracotta flowerpot so we could use it as a table decoration at Easter (I dream of having lunch outside, but we may have to wear thermals!).


Sorrel! Doesn't it look wonderful – and it's very very good for you too. I like to finely chop the leaves and add them to scrambled egg as it cooks. The under gardeners love to eat sorrel too – I suppose they are adding sorrel to the egg at the production stage. And here's something to try, dip a piece of sorrel leaf in sugar and savour the flavour – like very good Champagne apparently ;-)


Chives edging the end of the raised vegetable beds. They've sprung up from nothing in little more than a week! It's chopped chive sprinkles on everything from now on.


Yes I know, I know, I need to do some weeding – you're supposed to look at the garlic! Doesn't it look good and strong after spending the winter frozen under the snow. The theory is that the cold weather triggers the division of the bulb into cloves – I'm hoping for a great garlic crop this year.


There are 'weeds' you can eat – which is very satisfying indeed! This is Hairy Bittercress, pulled from overwintering scented geranium pots in the greenhouse . . . and destined to give a piquant pepperiness to my lunch :-)


Lastly here's my favourite flowering shrub of early spring, cornus mas or The Cornelian Cherry. It's a more subtle shade of yellow than forsythia, and makes a beautiful large shrub or small bushy tree. I love to look at the flower clusters which spangle the bare branches – aren't they just beautiful! Tiny posies of miniature flowers held within a ring of pale green velvety sepals. It tells me that spring is here at long last :-)

It's October!

I could just write "see below" because this week has been more or less just like last week - I've popped out to see the under-gardeners from time to time; I had sweetcorn for lunch; I've been spending most of the time at the computer with Photoshop - the studio-assistants keeping me company; and it hasn't rained.

But, let's celebrate the fact that IT'S OCTOBER - hurrah, my favourite month. I love the hedgerows full of lovely fruits and colours, the days which are often so bright and sunny and the slight chill in the air which is an excuse to put on snugly socks and jumpers (I'm not a hot weather girl). And also, tomorrow is my birthday – no NOT the big one with a zero at the end, but nearly - as Cliff reminded me this morning, tomorrow I'm entering the last year of my first half century! Better make it one to remember then!


Before I get back to the grindstone and draw and colour more illustrations (I'm helping a studio to sort out a revision/re-print - if you've ever worked for a publisher those words will probably strike dread into your heart!) I'll show you some pictures of our garden taken this lunchtime . . .

Most of the garden looks like this . . .


The under-gardeners think that this is a vast improvement, Cliff and I have other opinions!

However there are some things in the garden which have thrived in the dry heat, like the containers in the courtyard planted with scented geranium 'Snowflake' which has grown huge and has beautiful lemon-cream fragrance and a lovely fresh green colour and Pineapple Sage - a plant I've had for years and thought it hadn't survived the winter - just look at it! it smells wonderful too.


Behind you can just the tomatoes, after a very slow start they are wonderful this year and without a sign of blight.

In the borders there are some gorgeous splashes of colour from plants which don't mind the arid conditions. Here is salvia greggii with it's cloud of salmon red flowers and the yellow autumn foliage of thalictrum glaucum.



The vegetable garden is very 'end of season' with dying vegetation and seed pods. But a late sowing of salad leaves just before we went on holiday has done really well - look at these lovely lettuce leaves, a variety called 'Summer Marvel', seeds bought in La Palma last January.



Must get back to the task in hand, line drawings this afternoon . . . quilt, chick, cake (might need reference for that one)

I'll keep you updated on Twitter - there are exciting things in the diary this month.

Autumn sunshine

Thank you for all your suggestions for recipes for our Saffron harvest. The one that tempted me most was Zoe's suggestion of Cornish Saffron Cake. I found a recipe on that wonderful blog Baking for Britain.

I'm afraid my efforts didn't live up to the brioche-like fluffiness of texture I was hoping for and eagle-eyed domestic goddesses will notice it's a tad under cooked, BUT it tastes pretty darned good with a nice cup of tea in the autumn sunshine in the garden.


I've just harvested more Saffron and there are at least three more flower buds emerging :-) There will be enough Saffron to try a savoury recipe too.

Growing gold

A few years ago I spotted a little bag of tiny crocus corms in the tourist information shop in Saffron Walden – Crocus sativus, the flower that gave it's name to this market town in north Essex. I bought them and planted the six tiny corms at the end of our asparagus bed.

Each autumn I wait for the tufts of crocus leaves to break through the soil like upturned green paint brushes. How many will be hiding a pale sheath from which a flower will emerge. and when it does will the slugs or birds see it before me!


Those firey dragon tongues are the prize, the reason why for over 3,000 years Saffron has been cultivated and the precious stigmas traded for untold riches. Golden cloth, exquisite illuminations, medicinal potions, culinary delights, sweetmeats . . . all gilded with the aromatic gold.

You will need a field of crocuses the size of two football pitches to collect one kilo of Saffron! In the supermarkets Spanish Saffron sold in those teeny weeny packets inside a glass jar, costs £2.50 for 0.4g!


A precious pinch of fragrant Saffron and more to harvest . . .
what shall I make?

Herbs

On this posting I will record the herbs & edible plants and flowers which I grow for their scent and flavouring.


BASIL
Violetto (Italian seeds – Semeurop)
20.04.08 sown in seed tray in heated propogator in the greenhouse

Foglia di Lattuga (Italian seeds – Magnani Sementi)
20.04.08 sown in seed tray in heated propogator in the greenhouse


CORIANDER
(home saved seeds)
15.04.08 sown in a long row outside in the vegetable garden


DILL
(Mr Fothergill's seeds)
01.04.08 sown in a short row outside in the vegetable garden


PARSLEY
Gigante d'Italia (Thompson & Morgan – The Taste of Italy seeds)
01.04.08 sown in a small seed tray in the frost-free greenhouse
08.05.08 largest seedlings planted outside

and also in a short row outside in the vegetable garden
germinating under glass cloche 07.05.08


SAGE
(Thompson & Morgan seeds)
01.04.08 sown in a small seed tray in the frost-free greenhouse
04.05.08 pricked out into cells


SORREL
Buckler Leaf (Thompson & Morgan seeds)
01.04.08 sown in a small seed tray in the frost-free greenhouse
looks like Broad Leaf Sorrel to me!!!!!


THYME
Old English (Thompson & Morgan seeds)
01.04.08 sown in a small seed tray in the frost-free greenhouse
04.05.08 pricked out into cells