Growing flowers to sell: Carnations
As you know I’m growing flowers to sell. This is never going to make me a millionaire but it’s a steady small stream of income and our garden looks amazing. I’ve been trying to up my sales at the village shop – I bought a pretty metal three tiered stand to make a tempting display of gift wrapped flowers in temporary vases – these are in fact 1 pint picnic glasses that sit neatly in the coffee cup holder of a car. Disappointingly these are not selling as well as the flowers (gift wrapped) and displayed in a bucket! Next week...
read moreWhat is the setting point for jam and jelly?
Earlier this summer I decided to use my jam thermometer to help me find the setting point of jam. To my delight I noticed that it was marked ‘JAM’ at 105°c/220°f. “This is going to be so easy.” I thought. “No more trailing back and forth to the fridge waiting for a tardy batch to set.” Danny had bought me a 9 litre Maslin pan and this was the day it was christened. Up until then I had been using a very large non stick saucepan. So I clipped the thermometer to the side of the pan and feeling like a pro started to boil...
read moreBuying bulbs in bulk and a few bulb planting tips
This is the time of year that the shelves are groaning with Spring bulbs at the local garden centres. Tempting displays that usually draw me in. But not this year. These little packs of 10 bulbs for £3.99 are too expensive. I’m buying in bulk. When I first moved to the cottage I invested in a lot of tulip bulbs that gradually died out over the years – I had no idea that most of them need to be lifted and stored over the summer. Since then we have invested in species tulips that spread gently in the tubs and borders. There are two types of...
read moreSimple nasturtium seed tartar sauce recipe. Seasonal food.
I had a hankering for scampi yesterday and mid meal decided to run up a quick tartar sauce. We made quite a few small jars of pickled nasturtium seeds last Autumn. Fiddly to gather but well worth the effort as they pickle well and they taste like hot capers but with more of a satisfying crunch. Towards the end of the season the nasturtium seeds get much larger and hotter! Danny doesn’t like capers but he loves nasturtium seeds – pickled and raw. As speed was of the essence I just doled out a tablespoon of mayonnaise and added the...
read moreThe hand dug well project: thinking and planning
The water table is very high in our garden. When John Coe used to mow our lawn he declared that it was the greenest midsummer lawn that he had ever mowed. “Even in the hottest summers it’s still lush when the lawns in my village are burnt and dry.” Admittedly he gardens on sandy soil over in Freckenham. That’s why he can grow long straight carrots. Unfortunately I can’t but win hands down on the lawn front. When the pond was being dug I wanted a deeper area for the fish to hibernate safely overwinter. The men digging the pond...
read moreGreen tomato chutney recipe
A couple of days ago I discovered that our Red Brandywine tomato plants in the front garden were showing all the early signs of blight. They were ripped out immediately before the blight could spread to the other plants and I was left with 3 kilos (over 6 1/2 pounds) of giant green tomatoes. I’ve been meaning to develop a recipe for green tomato chutney for ages and this was the final kick up the butt to actually do something about it. I repaired to bed with the trusty Min Pins and submerged myself in a green tomato chutney recipe shaped...
read moreHow to deter cabbage whitefly organically? New discoveries
Cabbage whitefly has been this Summer’s bane and it is causing problems this Autumn too. Cabbage whitefly are different from ordinary whitefly. When you brush against the plants, clouds of minute white winged specs fill the air. On the underside of the leaves you will notice tiny lesions which are sucking the sap out of the leaves. The Sutherland kale resprouted well after hacking away the infected leaves – the whitefly didn’t like the nettle tea at all – but they are back with a vengeance. How can these tiny creatures...
read moreOn birthdays
The first birthday that I can remember was when I was two. Sitting in my wooden high chair at the kitchen table of our Devon cottage. The sun glimpsing through the small windows – the table full of people. There was suddenly a commotion at the door. A parcel had arrived for me. Someone unwrapped the parcel and placed the contents on the tray of my high chair. A baby doll lay in a cardboard box staring up at me through the cellophane window in the lid. It was a present from my godmother, sent from America. I was overwhelmed as much by the...
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