How to attract birds to your winter garden. Part one: setting up
Most of the houses that I work in have a conservatory. The majority of them have a pair of binoculars lying on a windowsill. Not for observing the neighbours but for watching birds that visit their gardens. When I look at a client’s bird table I often wonder whether a lot of the birds do the rounds. Is it the same belligerent gang of long tailed tits that took turns to eat our fat balls this morning? And do my precious collared doves actually belong to families all over the village? To encourage bird visitors, we plant shrubs that...
read moreSloe Sherry recipe
This sherry recipe works equally well for the sloes, bullaces and damsons that are left over from your sloe gin. Our old pal Gilbert always makes this on Boxing Day, having polished of a few bottles at their renowned Christmas Eve Drinks Party and toasted the Queen with sloe gin on Christmas day. He claims that it is to salve the disappointment of his Christmas stocking. Everyone knows that anything as small as a stocking would never grace the foot of Gilbert and Marjorie’s bed. Having finished the final batch of our 2005 sloe and damson...
read moreWrapping up the greenhouse for winter
The first year that we had the greenhouse I haunted that section of the garden centre. At that time I was spending quite a bit of money on materials for jobs from Homebase and the Save and Spend card was sending me wads of vouchers very quarter. I had longed for a greenhouse for years. We bought the Baron Greenhouse 8ft x 6ft. As it was a Meccano affair, arriving in a long thin box, it wasn’t very expensive. I quickly realised that the greenhouse companies make most of their turnover selling ‘essential’ greenhouse equipment...
read moreQuince Jelly recipe (also works with Japonica quinces)
Our friend Bunty gave us a Portuguese quince tree three years ago. Besides being very decorative, with dark branches and lazy, floppy leaves it produces the large firm fruit that make the tastiest jelly. Mature quince jelly (over six months old) turns a gorgeous amber colour. The first year our tree produced one small quince. It bore three last year and this year suddenly came into its own. The crop would be at least ten. The fruit are quite big so there would be enough to make more than jelly. Anne Mary and I poured over her old recipe books....
read moreBottled Fruit: Belgian Pears recipe
I breezed onto the internet just now to see entries for Belgian Pears. I thought that they could be a traditional dessert. Well, in Belgium, they are not. Which is a shame, as anyone, from the Belgians to the Bengalese would love this dessert. Forget any memory of dull bottled fruit. This wonderful concoction just happens to be preserved in a jar. We tend to include this for dinner parties when we’re feeling under pressure. Many jars of this superb non-alcoholic scrumptiousness are patiently sitting in our barn, waiting to be opened and...
read moreGilbert’s Grapes in Grape Liqueur Recipe
I’m still ploughing through the fourteen kilos of grapes that we were given last week. I made another batch of grape jam, set some aside for wine and rang my friend Marjorie. She lived in France for years, is passionate about two things. Gilbert and food. Gilbert, her husband, describes himself as, “Rotund, relaxed and retro.” Quietly, he is a true bon vivant. Marjorie’s food is superb. She immediately suggested her grape liqueur recipe. Then I remembered finishing a wonderful meal at Marjorie’s with little...
read moreAll Hallows Eve
I’m still working down in Saffron Walden at the Murphy’s house. When I arrived today, Clare was planning the Halloween supper for the children. Green spaghetti with an orangey tomato sauce. She came back empty handed from her pumpkin search, Waitrose and Tesco had sold out. Even the veg man in the market wasn’t there today. She had found a set of plastic fangs for their youngest daughter, ‘They’re really soft plastic, so they won’t rub,’ she explained. How lovely to have a Mother that cares enough to...
read moreBest Chilli Sherry recipe
I’m not successful when I try and grow chilli plants from seed. Everything starts off well, and I give my surplus plantlets away to friends. A few weeks later, when my plants are beginning to look peaky, I spot the giveaways flourishing in their gardens. It’s maddening. Last year one friend even complained that she had a glut! So I supply the neighbourhood but am forced to cheat with chilli plants at home. By mid July, when it’s clear that all hope is lost, I drive to a good garden centre. If I’m lucky, I’ll find...
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