Produce From The Garden

December 16, 2015

Christmas decorations

Our house is on the old side, low ceilings and lots of beams, a Christmas decorators dream; I can bang in nails where I like, they’re barley visible so can be left for the following year. This is our second Christmas in this home, last year we were still renovating so festive decor was minimal, I’ve made up for it this year. After foraging in the garden I returned enthusiastically with mounds of holly with genuine berries on (a first for me), Ivy and various sprigs of evergreen foliage including, rosemary, bay, olive and garrya. I lay the yule tide foliage out on the dining table and started placing it into various receptacles, most sourced from charity shops for a few pence, then painted a neutral dark grey colour leftover from a tester paint pot. Below are a few of my Christmas creations.

An arrangement in our porch to complement the wreath on the front door

A candle decoration

Flower pot candles, great gifts to make for gardeners

Flower pot candles close up

It was not all plain sailing, my plan was to make a simple garland to adorn our fire place and the image of what I wanted was in my head, but, the practicalities of achieving it was not! The husband would quip that there was nothing new there. The obstacle I encountered is that I have no mantle piece and nothing to place or attach the garland to. See picture below.

A picture to show the lack of mantle and christmas garland hanging space!

So my problem solving ingenuity (husband would say haphazard, bodge it, incompetence) came to the fore. There is a thin lip (less than a cm) of the bressumer beam that sticks out before the brick work. I thought if I banged a nail into this lip, I could hang a water tight receptacle filled with Oasis to the nail. Inspiration struck, I chopped up a drinks bottle with an additional tag which could be folded, hole inserted into it and hung from the nail.

The garland invention

I then painted the cut off drinks bottle with my dark grey paint.

Painted in a muted background colour

Once the paint was dry I filled the bottle with soaked oasis, and hung it off my carefully hammered in nail. I then started to place the foliage into the bottle, being careful to keep in balanced.

The first sprigs to be placed into the bottle

The end result is just what I wanted, a simple, natural garland from the garden.

The finished garland, a simple but festive effect

The after shot, and it’s yet to fall down!

December 15, 2015December 15, 2015

How to make a Christmas wreath from your garden produce

I love the build up to Christmas, more than Christmas itself. The children’s nativities, carol concerts, Christmas parties and my favourite Yule tide activity, decorating our home. This always starts with a stroll around the garden with my large wicker trug and secateurs, seeking festive foliage and anything pretty looking. I was pleased and surprised to see that the birds hadn’t gorged themselves on my bumper holly berry crop, so for the first time in years I am sporting genuine home grown holly berries in my decorations. More about my holly trimmed swags and candle arrangements in my next blog posting. Today is dedicated to the Christmas wreath, my favourite Christmas decoration.

The term wreath comes from the word ‘Writhen’ which means twisted or contorted out of normal shape or form, hence the twisted evergreen foliage into a circle. Wreaths were first used by the Romans who hung them on their doors as a sign of victory and of their status in society; the ancient Greeks gave the victors of their Olympic games a laurel wreath to wear on their heads. Christians celebrating Christmas adopted the twisted circle of the wreath as a representation of Christ’s eternal love, strength and creation of new life. To me they represent a warm festive welcome into friends and families homes. A simple wreath gives your home and instant Christmas lift. I often think homes without wreaths at this time of year look stark and bare.

I always make wreaths with produce from my garden, adding a few ribbons and baubles to give it a little extra lift and sparkle. I do like traditional holy wreaths but in recent years I’ve preferred to take a more colourful fun approach, I also think it matches the colour of our front door better!

This years wreath hanging on our front door

Below is my step by step guide to making your own wreath from the garden:

1.First of all I collect a variety of evergreen foliage from the garden, dig out ribbon, Christmas baubles and sprayed wired hedgerow finds, all reused every year. In late summer/autumn I cut and save some of my hydrangea flowers for winter arrangements, this year they’re going to be the star performer of the wreath.

Various materials I’ve collected for the wreath

2. Buy a wire wreath frame and some flower arranging wires from your local florist, they literally cost a few pounds, or like me who has mislaid her wreath frame and forgot to buy a new one, wire together two rings from a garden obelisk!

A wreath frame and flower arranging wire

3. Tightly wire good sized chunks of damp sphagnum moss (easily sourced from garden centres and florists) to the wire frame, this becomes the base of your wreath. The moss needs to be reasonably dense as it will need to hold the wreaths material firmly as they’re inserted into the moss base.

The sphagnum moss being tightly wired to the wreath frame

The completed sphagnum moss base

4. Create a background to the wreath using a dark evergreen leaf. I have used bay as I love the deep matt green as a base colour and texture.

Sprigs of bay start to be inserted into the wreath

The bay leaf back ground is added to the wreath

Now I have the background of the wreath I start to build the wreath arrangement, always working in threes or fives evenly distributed around the wreath. I have started by binding together with florist wire, three ivy berry stems, repeating until I have three bunches.

A bunch of Ivy berry stems bound with florist wire

The three Ivy berry bunches place into the wreath base

6. My hydrangea flowers are quite small so like the Ivy I have bound a few together making three bunches to be inserted into the moss base of the wreath.

A wired hydrangea bunch

The Hydrangea inserted into the wreath

7. I like to add long stems of olive or silver birch twigs in a clockwise direction around the edge of the wreath to give it a little extra dimension.

Olive stems inserted around the perimeter of the wreath

8. Again in groups and bunches of three, I add a bit of sparkle and festive glam with wired baubles. These are small glass baubles with an antique silver finish that come wired specifically for Christmas arrangements.

Christmas baubles added to the wreath

9. I am very good at getting myself into a messy tangle when trying to tie ribbon into pretty bows, so now I cheat by folding the ribbon and tying it with wire at one end. Again I make three bows to be place evenly on the wreath.

Three ribbons for the wreath

The ribbons placed on the wreath. I like how the pinkey red complements the light pink of the dried hydrangeas.

10. To finish the wreath I add viburnum tinus flowers to the wreath, I have plenty in the garden so will replace them as they start to wilt, the damp moss will keep them fresh for a good week.

The completed wreath

11. Finally I tie a ribbon around the wreath and hang it to the front door. Every week I will spray the back of the wreath with water just to give it longevity over the whole festive season.

The wreath in pride of place at our front door, ready to welcome guests

Another similar wreath I’ve made working in groups of five, giving a fuller effect

December 8, 2015December 9, 2015

The kitchen garden in November

November has been blustery, dank and murky. I’ve not spent enough time in the garden this month, the result a drab, decaying winter mess. Leaves have blown into large piles in the nooks and crannies around the raised vegetable beds and the kitchen garden generally needs a good tidy and weed for winter. This will make life far easier come spring and help bring back the defined structure of the kitchen garden, revealing some winter order and beauty. If I have any well rotted garden compost left (my herbaceous border has first dibs), I’ll give the vegetable and cut flower raised beds a good mulch, this not only suppresses weeds, improves soil structure and fertility but is an instant visual lift to any border.

My great triumph of the month has been successfully negotiating a ‘man and a digger’ from the husband for Christmas! Over the last year my kitchen garden has gradually come together, the rest of the garden is in a state and requires landscaping help. The husband sadly witnessed some of my shovel and wheelbarrow action in the kitchen garden, and presumed I could continue the rest myself, saving a pot full of money! So I’ve spent the last month slowly chipping away and gently negotiating the value and investment, ‘a man and a digger’ would be to our family. So fingers crossed come spring I’ll be rid of a 1970’s crazy paved rill, several large municipal style rose beds cleared then levelled ready for grass seed and the front garden prepared to build further cut flower and dahlia beds. As we all know a girl can’t ever have enough dahlias and cut flowers. November has not been a complete waste!

Below is my monthly summary in pictures.

The bulbs I planted in the cutting border have emerged and coming on strong, the mild weather we’ve had this Autumn/Winter seems to have given them a head start; I fear a cold spell might halt them permanently in their tracks.

Anemone Coronaria Sylphide shoots

Drumstick Alliums

Ranunculus Aviv Orange

The messy vegetable patch.

The upper vegetable beds

Kale I’ve staked. They were getting battered by the wind.

Rocket in the green house, we are still cropping from the previous outside sowings

Viburnham Tinus in flower. We have a gorgeous mature hedge of Viburnham Tinus that divides the kitchen garden from the rest of the garden. It’s beautiful white flowers with a hint of pink are so valuable at this time of year and will make an appearance in many of my Christmas decorations.

Garrya in flower – the star performer in November

Garrya in a vase, there is something quite angelic about the elegant flowers cut for the home

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

Filling vases for the home in November

I just got back from dropping the boys at school, it struck me that there were no cut flowers in the house, it looked drab, dull and lifeless. The end of November can be a tricky time to fill vases. A grey, damp, windy day is an excellent time to forage for flowers in the garden, five minutes pottering will result in twinkles of colour catching your attention.

Tiny single stem vases are ideal for presenting the individual blooms as the star performers. They look great positioned individually around the house or grouped to make a larger display.

Flowers grouped in a variety of single stem vases

Sparse garden flowers lead us to look for alternatives, in a couple of weeks we can collect and indulge in the sumptuous, rich evergreen foliage that brings the Christmas spirit into our homes. For now we need to look for substitute flora, with interesting shapes, textures and colour to help lift our homes. I love the large, soft, silver, serrated leaves from a cardoon. When placed in a vase they become a living sculpture in your home.

Cardoon leaves in a vase

Dog wood stems, a winter garden staple, also look striking in a vase

November 24, 2015

Chilli harvest

This has been a great year for Chilli’s; we’ve been picking them since midsummer. I’ve grown three varieties Serrano, Ring of fire and Cayenne. Their red and green jewel like fruit has looked stunning in the conservatory / potting shed. The chilli’s we don’t use fresh are stored in the freezer and keep us going until next years crop. There are still lots of green chillis on the plants which I’ll leave; they may still redden with time. I have always treated chilli plants as half hardy annuals, but, I’ve just read that they are in fact perennials and crop far better in their second year. So I will experiment and see if they survive the winter under glass. Apparently I’m not to worry if they lose all their leaves, they’ll send out new ones come spring.

November 22, 2015November 24, 2015

Frost

We woke up this morning to our first frost.

The drop in temperature has come as quite a shock, I’d got used to a balmy 15°c this autumn. I’m pleased the frost is here, the season change felt incomplete without the cold chill to signal the end of the growing season. Now it’s come there are jobs to be got on with. The dahlia foliage will be turning black, it’s now time to either dig up the tubers and store over winter or as I do prepare to leave in the soil over winter. I will cut back the foliage leaving 20cm of stem so I can see where the tubers are, then place a thick (at least 15cm) insulating mulch over each plant. You can use any mulch, but, if it’s a light mulch such as compost and likely to level out of time, I cover with fleece just to keep it in place. Come spring and the end of frosts distribute the mulch to a thinner layer and let the tubers sprout.

The warm weather led me into a false sense of security, I have neglected to pop cloches over my winter salad which is sown in the vegetable beds, a task for today. I will also have the fleece ready for my pea and broad bean shoots, if we have a long cold spell.

Even though it’s a Sunday, my children have no concept of a lie in, so we were up at first light, at 7am I was out pottering round the garden in a thick coat, pyjama’s and wellies. The frost takes the garden to another visual dimension. The delicate, intricate crystals give the garden a sharp stylish elegance. Below are a few pictures but sadly my photographic skills prevented me from capturing the early morning beauty.

The top vegetable bedsFrosted Cavalo NeroKale RedborFrosted SageSedum

November 19, 2015

Perennial Tulips

Those of you who regularly read this blog will know I like a bargain and can’t stand waste; everything in the garden has to earn its worth. I get great pleasure from dividing plants, sowing from seed and taking cuttings, to squander or fritter money in the garden does not sit well with me. Disposable gardening (ideal for some) is in direct opposition to my motivated desire to tend my plot, it is the evolving nature of a garden that ignites my passion and drive, I like to build a relationship with my plants, each one having a story, it gives purpose and meaning to why I garden. This perspective has stirred mixed emotions in me when it comes to tulips. They’re magnificent flowers, their colour lifts and complements a garden in Spring and they make fantastic cut flowers, but, to buy and plant tulip bulbs producing just one bloom each and then to dig them up and discard, goes completely against the grain. I just love the huge tulip displays many notable gardens put on, but my enjoyment is always tempered by the voice in my head shouting ‘how much did they cost, for just one season’. So in conclusion, I have bought and grown few tulips in my time. So it was with great enthusiasm that I read an article about perennial tulips in ‘The Garden’ last year (Nov 2014), it was by a great hero of mine, Fergus Garrett. I was inspired to grow perennial tulips, my top five selections based on Fergus Garrett’s recommendations are:

Tulip Spring Green, a viridflora or green tulip variety, ivory white feathered with green.
Tulip Ballerina, a lily flowered tulip variety, mandarin orange with a red pink glow, and scented.
Tulip Apeldoorn, a Darwin hybrid variety, cherry red
Tulip Purissima (White Emperor), a Fosteriana variety, white
Tulip Negrita, a triumph variety, glowing purple with beetroot purple veins

I also selected a couple of popular tulips from B&Q that I could not resist, Queen of the Night, a dark deep purple and Princess Irene, a stunning fiery tulip with orange and purplish blooms. Just typing out these descriptions fills me with excitement, imagining beautiful bouquets and arrangements for the house next year.

Tulip bulbs ready for planting

November is traditionally the time to go out and plant tulips, the theory being that the temperatures have dropped enough to reduce the chances of botrytis disease, commonly known as tulip fire blight, damp, warm conditions can accelerate the fire blight so it is usually best to wait until the weather is cold and there have been a few frosts. I fear my impatience to get them in could have scuppered me. We are still yet to have a frost here in Kent, although the BBC weather forecast does show one snowflake for Saturday so it looks as though this unusual mild spell is at an end.

As these tulips are primarily for cut flowers I dug trenches in my cutting border 15 cm deep and planted the bulbs in rows. My cutting border is raised which is good for drainage, it is important to not let perennial tulips sit in waterlogged soil as they will rot. If this is a potential problem you can successfully plant the bulbs on a bed of gravel which provides drainage. Planting at a depth of 15 cm means that I can overplant them with annual flowers to cut latter in the season.

The end of the cut flower bed where I’m planting the tulipsTulip bulbs planted in a trench

My fingers are crossed for a bumper crop.

November 16, 2015

Two unusual visitors in our garden

Two unusual sightings in the garden; a peacock butterfly, showing what a mild November we’re having and a very brave or stupid pheasant! Our perpetually hungry dog, Rolo, favourite gourmet snack is fresh pheasant, such delicacies are rare for him these days as he’s an old slow boy with little sight, however, a game bird taking a stroll in our garden is not going to stop him trying!

Peacock butterfly out in NovemberA pheasant taking a stroll in our gardenPheasant in goal!

November 10, 2015

Filling our home with colour in November

Still no frost yet in Kent, so I’m thrilled to be filling the house with dahlias in November, long may it last. The stems are getting thin and weak but with the right vase they’re still giving life and colour to our home.

November 9, 2015

The Kitchen garden in October

To me the autumnal leaves have been better this year than any other I can remember. On our half term trip visiting friends in Wiltshire, I often thought this must be a taste of what the renowned Canadian Fall foliage is like at this time. The garden seems to be successfully fighting off the calls of winter, we’ve got many plants in flower, several on their second flush for the year. My sowings of winter salad, green manure, garlic, peas, broad beans and hardy annual seeds have all emerged and doing well. I think I’ll have to buy some fleece to pop over them if we have the exceptionally cold winter we seem to be promised by commentators,and the large quantities of holy and other berries in the hedgerows (generally a good guide to a severe winter). As always below is my monthly round up in pictures.

The top vegetable beds, still producing spinach and salad

The garlic sown a couple of weeks ago is thriving in this warm weather, I’m hopeful for large bulbs next year

Broad bean shoots

Pea shoots

Green manure seedlings

Seed tape (background) v hand sown (foreground) winter salad, hand sown is winning so far although I think I was a little heavy handed with the seed!