Mark's Veg Plot

Mushroom Risotto with special salads

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

One day recently Jane made us a Mushroom risotto, an old favourite of ours.

Nice as it was, on this occasion it was not actually The Main Event. The salads that we had with it stole the limelight.

First up, a really refreshing and "zingy" salad made of Chinese Leaves, Fennel, Oranges and Land Cress.

This was truly a special salad. Soft leaves, crunchy fennel, peppery cress and sweet and juicy oranges. A brilliant combination of tastes and textures.

Salad No.2 was a remoulade made of Celeriac, Carrots and Red Cabbage, bound together with a mayonnaise into which a good dollop of Dijon mustard had been stirred, along with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice. [For those of you who don't already know this, a remoulade is basically pretty similar to a slaw, as in "Coleslaw".]

This is another great combination. The vegetables are all raw and therefore still crunchy [Tip: using a food-processor to shred them saves a huge amount of time], and the soft, tangy creamy mayonnaise complements them extremely well. Celeriac is one of our favourite vegetables these days; I'd probably eat it every day, given the chance!

So do you see what I mean? Nice risotto, but fabulous salads!

Serving suggestion: serve with home-made crusty bread, and a bottle of decent Italian wine...

*********************************************************************************
Note on photography. In common with almost all the photos of food that I take, these were not staged. My photos are of food that we actually eat, which is why they are sometimes not artistically composed. In fact I often take pictures of a meal that I had never intended to photograph. It's just that when I see the dish I sometimes think "Wow, that deserves a photo. Quick, where's my camera?" and I snap off a few shots before tucking in. Jane has learned to live with this now (I think).

Shallots and Garlic

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I don't grow many Alliums - usually just Chives. I don't really consider Onions to have good VSR, and the one time I grew Shallots they never got beyond the miniscule stage. However, inspired recently by a number of fellow bloggers, such as Sue from Our Plot At Green Lane Allotments, Elaine from A Woman of The Soil, and Sara from Hilwards, I have decided to have a go with Shallots and Garlic myself. As you probably know, I don't have a huge amount of space available, so my policy is to strive for quality and diversity rather than quantity.

Amongst my order from Thompson and Morgan therefore was one pack of "Longor" Shallots (18 sets), and one pack of Spring-planting Garlic (4 heads). "Longor" is a French type, described as "half-long". What a strange term. Presumably they are "half-short" as well.

Last Friday I had a day off work and I decided that since the weather was nice and the soil conditions were right I would plant out most of both types. I was mindful though that a return to much colder weather was forecast, so I kept back a few of each - hedging my bets just in case the first planting didn't make it.

Following my crop rotation plan, the Alliums went in the bed in which last year's Parsnips and Beetroot were grown. Due to shortage of space I am limiting myself to only what will fit into half of one of my raised beds, so not a lot! I have managed to squeeze in 12 Shallots and 23 cloves of Garlic.

Yes 23 is a strange number, but it is all that I could salvage because to my dismay when I opened the heads of garlic to split them into individual cloves two of the four were completely rotten!

Not a pretty sight, is it? It could have been worse though, because as soon as I discovered this I rang T and M and they agreed straightaway, without the slightest quibble, to replace the Garlic.

Planting the Shallots and Garlic was an easy enough task. I prepared the bed by digging it over lightly with a trowel (this is practical only when preparing a very small space, otherwise a proper spade will be required), incorporating into the soil the home-made compost I applied last week along with a few handfuls of pelleted chicken manure, and raking it flat. I then pushed the Shallots and Garlic into the soil at the relevant spacing (I used about 12" / 30cm between the Shallots and about 6" / 15cm between the Garlic cloves). They need to be firmly settled in so I ensured that about two thirds of their depth was covered, and then watered them in quite generously. The final stage was to cover the bed with netting supported by plastic hoops, in order to deter the foxes and birds.

Now all I have to do is weed and water occasionally, and wait until about August, when the plants should be ready for harvesting. Sounds suspiciously easy, doesn't it?

Blau-Gelb

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

The title of this post means "Blue and Yellow" in the German language. It is also the name of a German supermarket chain in which we used to shop many years ago when we lived in Germany for a short while. I wonder if it still exists today? When I Googled the term, this hardware business popped up, so maybe not. The name came back to me when I was editing some photos I took recently of Irises and Daffodils.

I think the colour combination of these two flowers side-by-side is very appealing. Unfortunately the Irises are already on their last legs and the daffs are only just opening up, so they don't overlap much.

These flowers are at the base of our Crab apple tree, in the circular flower-bed I had made for me this time last year.

There are not as many bulbs in there as I would like, simply because the apple tree roots won't permit it, but at least it looks tidy. More daffs are opening every day, so hopefully it will look more impressive in a few days' time.

Over-Wintered lettuce

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Last year I acquired for the first time some decent cloches, and I have used them this Winter to protect some lettuce. Most types of lettuce will not normally survive our Winter without protection so I have in the past had to rely exclusively upon the hardier chicories for Winter salads. Harvesting home-grown lettuce in February and March is a pleasure to which I am unaccustomed!

Under the two long cloches devoted to this task I planted a total of 17 lettuces. They were of two different types - "Winter Density" and "All Year Round". In the photo above "Winter Density" is on the left.

The long cloches in November

A few days ago I took the cloches off, on a sunny day, in order to do a bit of maintenance. By this I mean removing any dead or yellowing leaves, cultivating the soil to aerate it, and giving the plants a bit of water. I judged that although these lettuce are likely to get bigger, I could justifiably harvest the first of them. After all, we wouldn't be able to eat them all at once, so it's best to start eating the first of them while they're young.

So, before replacing the cloches, I cut these two. One of each type.

Neither of them has much of a heart, because they are not fully mature, but as part of a mixed salad I think they are certainly acceptable. Here they are being supported by tomatoes, fennel and chicory from our Abel and Cole veg box, and a few home-grown salad sprouts:

Fire!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

"We have Lift Off"! The first of my chilli seeds have germinated. They are ones of the variety "Fuego F1"

The seedlings are in little 3" pots, in a plastic propagator on the windowsill of our spare bedroom - directly above the radiator. (Notice the pieces of old carpet-tile protecting the paintwork).

The first of these seeds germinated 8 days after sowing, which I think is pretty good considering they had no artificial heat apart from the central heating radiator (daytime only!)

Here are some photos of the newborn babies...

By the way, the light brown object by the base of the bigger of the two seedlings is not the seed-casing; it's actually a tiny pebble in the compost, which the seedling is shoving aside.

My concern for the next couple of weeks will be that I may not be able to provide them with enough light to prevent them going leggy. On days when I'm at home I often find myself transferring the propagators to the other side of the house at lunchtime, so that I can maximise their opportunity to get direct sunlight.

Home-made Compost

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Over the Christmas holiday and up till about the middle of January I was unwell and physically incapable of carrying out a task I normally try to get done over the holiday period - distributing last year's home-made compost.

This is a mucky task, and one that takes a fair bit of time and lots of hard work. I have three plastic compost bins like this one:

I reserve one of them for making leaf-mould, and the other two are for garden and kitchen waste. I try to rotate them, with one "cooking" while the other is filling up, but it doesn't always work as neatly as that. This time both bins were full and the task had become really urgent, since there was no longer anywhere to put vegetable peelings from the kitchen, and I really had to empty one of the bins. Fortunately last weekend both the weather and my health were conducive to a spot of compost-digging...

With the aid of a garden fork I removed the top layer of material in the bin (about one-third of its depth), and set it to one side on an old Army groundsheet. It was very sticky and a bit smelly too, and absolutely heaving with worms. Those of you who regularly follow my blog know full well that I have a penchant for displaying photos of worms.... I'm going to let you off lightly this time and just tell you there were thousands and thousands of worms. I'll just show you a photo of the partly-rotted stuff after the worms had wriggled into hiding:

After removal of the top layer, I was left with the good stuff - dark, crumbly, soil-like compost:

It is the worms that take the credit for producing this wonderful natural plant-food and soil-improver. I hardly do anything. I just keep adding more material throughout the year, and occasionally I aerate it by jabbing in a long pole and wiggling it about - nothing scientific at all, and I certainly don't go to any trouble balancing the greens with the browns (although I avoid putting in any large woody stems, which I take to the municipal tip).

I used my spade to load up my trusty trug-tub time after time, using it to transfer the material to my raised beds and bins. I lost count after a while, but I think I had about 20 trug-tub loads. In case you don't know what a trug-tub is, this is one - it's a fair bit bigger than a standard bucket:

I spread the compost roughly over the surface of the soil, to a depth of 2 or 3 inches. I didn't spend much time making it too even, because I know what will happen now - the Blackbirds will root about in it for the next few days, looking for insects, and the compost will be, shall we say "re-distributed". Maybe next weekend I'll rake it over and even it out.

You might just be able to make out the dark layer of compost on all the raised beds in this photo:

So that now all my raised beds and the big tubs have had a good dose of this compost, I can start thinking about sowing and planting, with a clear conscience in the knowledge that my gardening year's hardest task is complete. I'll leave the contents of other bin to rot down a bit more while this recently-emptied one slowly fills up again.

SBDS

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I think this year may be the least successful year for some time in respect of my Purple Sprouting Broccoli.
:-(

SBDS stands for "Sudden Brassica Death Syndrome" (well, I say it does...). This is what has happened:

I have no idea what caused this. The plant just collapsed, more or less overnight. I suspect that some horrible creature has gnawed through its roots.

Last Summer, when the plants were young and newly planted-out, most of them were attacked by the Cabbage Root Fly and several barely survived. These ones have never grown to the normal size, despite the relatively mild Winter. This is one of them:

This next photo is of one of the spares, which I planted-out very much later than I would have liked, in the big tub which had housed my "Maskotka" cherry tomatoes during the Summer. It looks very healthy, just not very big:

Only two of my six plants (the ones unaffected by the Cabbage Root Fly) have grown to the normal size for this vegetable (which is about four feet tall). This is the best plant of the six in my raised bed:

The other big one decided to produce its first shoots in November, about 3 months earlier than expected. However, it is still alive and is still producing a few spears every now and then.

Normally, at about this time I would be eagerly anticipating an ample (perhaps bountiful?) crop of one of my favourite veg, but this year there will definitely not be a glut. I am determined to do better next year, and I shall be sending off for some of those packs of "Grow Your Own" nematodes to coincide with when my next batch of PSB is due to be planted out.

Spotlight on Crocus

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

At this time of the year there isn't a huge amount of colour in my garden, so I have to make the most of it...

Here are some photos of another batch of Crocuses. The cream-coloured ones are called "Cream Beauty" and are flowering at the time stated on the pack they came in - i.e. "February / March", but the purple ones (just labelled "Purple") are supposed to flower in March / April. The Yellow-and-black stripey ones are "Gypsy Girl". And the light purple / blue one right at the end is one whose name I don't know - naturalised several years ago.

Some thoughts on garden furniture

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

When I first seriously thought about "designing" my garden - that's to say, when our daughters had grown up and we didn't need a play area any more - I wanted to create a sort of "Mediterranean courtyard" look. A place where we could sit outside in the Summer time and eat meals, or at least sip a cocktail as the sun goes down. Something a bit like this I suppose:

Family meal at restaurant Bello Vista, Gassin, France

Of course there had to be room to grow plenty of veg as well. I started off with two raised beds made with odds and ends of timber that I had. Eventually this grew to six raised beds, made with proper treated timber bought specially for the purpose. In due course the grass was replaced with low-maintenance shingle. This is what the garden looks like now. (Well, not NOW, because it is still February and the garden was only just the other day covered in snow. These photos were taken during the Summer of 2011):

Looking at it now, I am fairly pleased but not totally pleased. What do you think of the green plastic table and chairs? Yes, I thought so. There is no doubt about it: they are a bit naff! They are all rather flimsy, and the table has a habit of collecting rainwater:

I have mixed feelings about garden furniture. Part of me says I ought to go and buy some more upmarket stuff (probably made of hardwood). But another part of me says: "Hang on. Because of our dismal weather last year we only ate a meal in the garden twice. Is it worth buying what might be some pretty expensive furniture just for that?"

I also like to use my garden table as a place to put my young seedlings out of harm's way when I'm hardening them off, and I might have some reservations about doing this if I had a posh table.

I also have no hesitation about leaving the plastic furniture outside over the Winter. If it were to be damaged, it would not cost me a lot to replace it. Actually, it's so lightweight that there's a strong likelihood that it might be blown away in a gale! If I had more substantial wooden furniture I would feel obliged to move it under cover (where, exactly? The garage is already full) during the Winter, or at least provide it with waterproof covers (at additional expense).

It's a dilemma, isn't it? What would you do?

************************************************************************************
P.S. I'm still having problems leaving comments on many blogs, so if you don't see a comment from me you'll know why. But that doesn't mean to say that I'm not reading what you write (Laura; Alison, Neesie, etc etc)

Parsnip and Thyme bread

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Jane made this delicious Parsnip and Thyme bread:

It's from the recipe in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's book "River Cottage everyday". It's a type of soda bread or damper - quick and easy to make and and utterly delicious, especially when served still warm from the oven.

We had ours with a bowl of lightly-curried lentil soup, made with lots of swede turnip. Since the bread has cheese in it we were a bit worried that it would clash with the curry flavour, but they actually went very well together. The dominant flavour in the bread was the parsnip, since it was made with some of the wonderfully fresh organic parsnips from our Abel and Cole veg-box.

The cheese and parsnip in this bread make it a nice moist texture, much less dry than many soda breads.
I should think it would be good with onion marmalade or some of Green Dragonette's amazing Tomato, Pumpkin and Balsamic chutney (as well as a good hunk of Cheddar cheese). Hugh F-W advocates spreading lots of butter on it, but if you're going to do this I suggest softening the butter beforehand since the bread is quite crumbly.

We only ate half of the loaf at the first sitting. We wrapped the other half in some tinfoil and ate it the next day, warmed-up in the oven. It wasn't quite as nice second time round, but it was still very good!

Some nice things

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I recently wrote about our weekend in Stratford and the Cotswolds, but I was only able to include in my posts a small fraction of the number of photos I took, so I am determined to show you some more! This post is a medley of interesting / beautiful things we saw - with no special significance other than that I liked them...

The weekend had a bit of a swan theme: we stayed in hotels called "The Swan's Nest" and "The Old Swan and Minster Lovell Mill", so what could be more appropriate to start this collection than a photo of a swan?

Whilst posing a shot of a bridge in Shipston upon Stour, I saw this impressive fungal growth on the tree against which I was leaning. Anyone able to identify it?

The whole Cotswold area uses the drystone walling technique for enclosing agricultural fields. It's an ancient skill that is becoming rarer these days, when it's quicker and less costly just to string up a few posts and a bit of barbed wire.

In the hotel at Minster Lovell they had several of these fabulous (and no doubt hugely heavy) plant-containers which are re-purposed drinking troughs for livestock, made from hand-hewn stone. I think they are really great, but there's of course no way I could fit one into my little garden.

I was also very taken by these ornamental "mushrooms" - each one of which is effectively a miniature garden, covered as they are with mosses and lichens.

This is one of the lamps outside the hotel entrance (powered by electricity these days, but probably originally made to use oil). I couldn't really capture the light effect as I would have liked. The afternoon sun was making these things absolutely sparkle, even though the lamps were not yet switched on.

I like the ripple effect on the water here. This is the River Windrush that used to power the mill at Minster Lovell.

Since I'm English, this wall-decoration in one of the hotel corridors appealed to me. The area of Minster Lovell is steeped in history - particularly in relation to what we called the War of the Roses, in which the houses of York and Lancaster vied for supremacy over a very long period.

This is a Contorted Hazel bush at the side of a car-park (not a garden as such). Isn't its complexity fascinating? What do you see in this picture? A large-scale pan-scourer? The head of Marge Simpson on a Bad Hair Day? Or what?

This is just a little corner of the hotel gardens which I thought looked pretty:

OK, this one is on my Wishlist now - officially an "orangery", but just think what you could grow in that!

This one probably doesn't need any explanation. Eggs. Although, not being an expert in such things, I couldn't conclusively say what laid them. They look to me like Goose eggs. How would I know?

I like the different textures of tree bark. This one is almost like scales.

I will admit that I do not know what this flower is. I thought at first that it was Celandine, but on closer inspection I changed my mind. I could go and look it up with the aid of Google, but I'm sure someone will save me the effort!

This is an interesting way of making a small hedge. These Dogwood branches started off by being a low step-over fence made of twigs bent into semi-circular shape and pushed into the ground. Now they have sprouted and are putting up new, vertical, shoots. In a year or two this could be a very substantial fence. Dogwood roots very easily doesn't it?

That's all, folks! Back to work now...

Caught in the act

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

In my garden I have a "bird-feeder" in which I put seeds and nuts for the birds to eat. Unfortunately my local squirrel population don't seem to have bought into the concept, and they see the device as being fair game. Unlike birds, squirrels can't fly, so getting at the nuts is more difficult for them. In the past I had some bird-feeders with plastic fittings and the squirrels found it easy enough to bite through the plastic to get at the nuts, so now I have one with metals fittings. The squirrel is an ingenious animal though so this hasn't deterred them. They just have to resort to a few physical contortions to get what they want.

For instance, can you scratch your ear with your leg, whilst perched high in a tree, balancing on a tiny bough??? Squirrels can.

Can you hang upside-down, holding onto a branch with your legs? Squirrels can.

It does make your eyes bulge a bit though...

Here he is making his getaway:

And disappearing into the distance, running along my neighbour's fence before diving into the bushes...

To be honest, I'm not too fussed about the squirrels nicking the odd few seeds and nuts - just as long as they don't monopolise the scene and take everything, leaving the birds with nothing, so I occasionally shoo the squirrels away if I see them wading in too enthusiastically.

**********************************************************************************
P.S. Nothing to do with squirrels, but I just wanted to record it: I sowed the first seeds of the year yesterday (I don't count the Mustard and Cress and the Baby Leaf Salad which I sowed as a tester). Of course they were chillis! This year I am growing four types. Two of them are ones I had last year - "Hot Portugal" and "Fuego F1", but I have also got "Amando F1" along with some seeds from an unnamed variety I brought back from our holiday in Turkey last Autumn. The Turkish one looks like this:

The Hungry Gap

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

The period right at the end of Winter when most of the hardy vegetables have been consumed, and before any of the Spring vegetables are ready is often referred to as "The Hungry Gap". Before the days of international air-freight this used to be a time when fresh vegetables were scarce. If we were relying on my garden as a source of fresh veg right now we would definitely be hungry.

Fortunately Jane has won a prize which convincingly closes the Hungry Gap for us (Brilliant timing, Jane!).

The prize is a large box of fresh vegetables every week for three months, delivered by Abel and Cole.

We are on our third week now and have been really impressed with the arrangement. Abel and Cole have been very efficient with their administration; their delivery drivers are prompt and courteous; and above all else the vegetables are excellent. The box always includes the three staples of potatoes, onions and carrots, but the other contents very according to what is in season and/or what is available (not all the items are locally-grown). The contents of each week's box is published on the Abel and Cole website, and you then have 48 hours to indicate whether there is anything you don't like/want, and arrange a substitution. (They even send you an email to remind you to do this!) You can also indicate any veg that you never want, and any veg that you particularly like (which is borne in mind when substituitions are made).

If you were to buy these boxes they would cost you £18.50 each, which includes delivery. Naturally there are several different sizes available, at different prices. The Large one is supposed to feed 4 people for a week, though I think if they were four people like Jane and me, then the box might perhaps be a little on the skimpy side. The quality and freshness of the vegetables though is first class.

There are some other aspects of Abel and Cole's service that we also like. For instance the smaller, more delicate veg are supplied in recycleable/compostable carboard containers (hooray, no plastic!), and the big cardboard box in which everything is delivered is easily folded up for storage until the following week, when the delivery driver will take it away for re-use.

Although it is unlikely, simply because we have a lot of home-grown veg, that this prize will convince us to purchase a regular weekly veg-box, I think we might be very tempted to have three months' supply every year to fill the Hungry Gap, and I have no hesitation in recommending the service to anyone who does not grow their own.

Thank You, Abel and Cole, for a really lovely prize!

Flower Sprouts - we finally get to taste them!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

A couple of days ago the long-awaited Moment of Truth arrived: we ate the first of the "Petit Posy" Flower Sprouts!

"What were they like?" I hear you asking. Well, they tasted OK but unremarkable. Nothing to write home about, as they say. Quite similar to Brussel Sprouts, though very mild. The texture was like that of young Cabbage. This new vegetable is a hybrid of Brussels Sprouts and Kale, allegedly giving the best of both, but I'm not convinced. I think I would rather have the two parents, separately. ("If it ain't broke, don't fix it").

I have to report that I am also totally unimpressed with the VSR of "Petit Posy". (VSR is Value for Space Rating). The seeds for these plants were sown in the third week of April so they have been occupying space for the best part of ten months. After all that time the yield was laughably small. On this occasion I cut one whole plant. Here you can see it next to a pair of secateurs, just to give you an idea of its size.

Unlike the non-F1 varieties of Brussels Sprouts, all the Petit Posy sprouts develop simultaneously, but even so, this one only yielded enough sprouts for a modest two-person serving.

According to the principles of VSR, plants are judged against the following criteria:-

1. The length of time they are in the soil before they can be eaten or harvested

2. The number of servings yielded per square metre

3. Availability, fresh, in Winter or other times of scarcity

4.Quality - homegrown compared with bought

5. Difficult or expensive to buy

Well, I reckon Flower Sprouts score highly on the last one, simply because I have never seen them on sale anywhere. They also score some points for 3, and possibly 4 (because it's difficult to compare them with shop-bought ones when such things are not available!). On criteria 1 and 2 - zero points, or nearly so!

To be perfectly honest, I don't think this vegetable is worth growing. Straightforward Brussels Sprouts are better.

*********************************************************************************

P.S. I'm still having big problems leaving comments on lots of blogs. It's all to do with the blessed word-verification. I have found that some of them work and others don't. If you have the method that opens a new window for comments, that's normally OK, but often when you have the "Embedded below post" option it doesn't work. I have removed word-verification from my blog altogether, and I hope that others will do the same.

The Cotswolds and Minster Lovell

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

This post describes the second half of our recent weekend away, and follows on from the one about Stratford on Avon.

***********************************************************************************

I'm sure that many of my British readers will have visited the area of the Cotswold Hills, or at least have heard of them. I think this is one of the most beautiful areas in Britain: softly-contoured rolling hills, covered in ancient broad-leaf woodland; picturesque little villages comprised mainly of quaint thatched cottages and substantial farmhouses built of the lovely mellow honey-coloured local stone; meandering streams and rivers fringed with bulrushes and Yellow Flags; fields bordered with skilfully-built drystone walls enclosing flocks of chubby sheep...

Those of you who don't know this area might care to follow this link to the website of the local Tourist Board.

After leaving Stratford on Avon we drove south through Shipston on Stour, Chipping Norton and Charlbury, eventually arriving in Witney, from where it was only another couple of miles to our destination in the village of Minster Lovell.

Chipping Norton Town Hall

We had arranged to stay in a hotel called the Old Swan and Minster Lovell Mill. It is a property in two parts - the 600-year-old Old Swan pub(lic house), and the slightly more recent Mill.

The Old Swan

The hotel sits in 65 acres of beautiful grounds, centred on the swiftly-flowing River Windrush, which used to provide the power for the corn mill. These days the area adjacent to the old mill-race is an outdoor seating area where (in suitable weather conditions) visitors can partake of sumptuous cream teas and cool glasses of Pimms and other such quintessentially English delights.

The hotel was really nice: full of interesting stuff! Some of it was very old (I mean this in a nice way, like "antique"). Surprisingly not this, though, it's a replica...

The grounds of the hotel also have lots to interest the keen gardener.

There is a veg patch and herb garden, ( relatively bare at this time of year) and even a whole flock of hens.

The hens are rescued battery birds. Their eggs are regularly served in the hotel, and you can even (as we did) buy some to take home with you. Young children staying at the hotel are allowed to go out and collect "their own" egg, which is then served to them at breakfast time!

They have a greenhouse that is so ancient that it even has a thatched roof:!

Actually, I think the roof-covering is a cunning way of ensuring that plants inside don't get scorched.

Visitors to the hotel may arrive by helicopter. You know, it's way out in the countryside, absolutely miles from London, and it is just so tiresome having to slog along the motorway with all those common people...

Who do you think arrived in this particular helicopter?

Look at the registration letters: G-WAGS! [For the benefit of the non-British audience, the abbreviation WAGS is in common usage here to signify "Wives And Girlfriends" - usually of sporting 'personalities', particularly footballers.] I didn't see who this one belonged to, but I'm not a star-spotter so I don't really care!

I nearly forgot to tell you about our whole reason for being at the hotel. We had been attracted by their "Sunday Sleepover" deal. For a mere £195 it included genuinely luxury accommodation for two people, cream tea in the afternoon, a 3-course dinner in the evening, and full English breakfast on the Monday morning. And allegedly a glass of champagne each before dinner. This never materialised, but when we queried it (after dinner) we were given glasses of cognac instead, which suited us fine, since we are not all that enamoured with champagne.

So what did we eat? (No photos, of course. Definitely not the done thing to photograph your food on an occasion like this!)

Jane had:

Starter. Scallops in Pernod with Williams Pear puree and red amaranth salad

Main: Sirloin steak with green peppercorn jus; served with a medley of vegetables and triple-cooked potato wedges

Dessert: A trio of local cheeses, including Isis and Oxford Blue, with biscuits, grapes, celery and walnuts

I had:

Starter: Terrine of Wild Rabbit, with apricot chutney, melba toast and salad leaves in a balsamic dressing

Main; Same as Jane.

Dessert: Creme Brulee (intriguingly flavoured with cloves instead of the usual vanilla) with home-made shortcake and a raspberry coulis.

Wine: an Argentinian Malbec (I've forgotten exactly which...)

The meal was really nice. Not hugely cheffy, but very good of its kind - effectively Gastro-Pub style. For me it was only slightly marred by finding a couple of small rabbit bones in my terrine, but that was a very minor issue. The star of the show was actually the vegetable medley. It included roasted parsnips, carrots and swede turnip, steamed leeks, poached mushrooms and even some spinach (presumably added at the last minute). All the veg were cooked exactly right - not soft and soggy, but also not squeaky or crunchy. Perfect. This is all the more surprising when you consider that most steak dishes tend to be served with a rather pathetic salad which is little more than a garnish, and some unexciting French Fries.

This post has already gone on far too long, so I had better not write about the Full English Breakfast... Suffice it to say that it was also an excellent example of the genre. Fantastic sausages; good local bacon; eggs from their own hens, etc. We had on two consecutive days what would appear (on paper) to be exactly the same breakfast, but for us it was No Contest. The one in the chain hotel in Stratford was OK, but the one at Minster Lovell was better by a mile.

Anyway, that was our weekend. I hope yours was just as enjoyable.

Stratford on Avon

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

We spent last weekend away from home, on a little break, getting away from the usual routine of shopping, housework and general "admin". We went first to Stratford on Avon, which is less than two hours' drive away for us. As I'm sure most of you know, Stratford is best known as the home town of the famous William Shakespeare. Here he is, commemorated in bronze...

We chose this as our first stop primarily because Jane had won a night's accommodation in the Swans Nest hotel, a solid red-brick 17th century edifice situated right next to the river Avon, in a very convenient position.

The hotel is right next to the southern end of the impressive 14-arch Clopton Bridge, allegedly built in 1480 on the site of an earlier wooden bridge which had been built to "upgrade" the ford which originally gave Stratford its name.

Directly opposite the hotel, a five-minute walk away, is what most visitors to Stratford come to see - the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre, completed only in 2010.

We didn't do this, but apparently you can up inside that tower to a viewing gallery from which there are spectacular views of the town. On another occasion we also might have opted to see a play, but on this occasion that was not the plan.

Right next to the theatre is the canal basin (terminus) of the Stratford on Avon canal, which runs for only 25 miles, connecting the Grand Union Canal at Birmingham to the River Avon at Stratford.

Surprisingly (considering the hilly nature of much of our country), England has an extensive canal network, which was established in the late 18th century, when the Industrial Revoloution demanded a means of transporting raw materials and finished goods in unprecedented quantities. At that time the road system was very poor, and the horse-drawn wagon was a very inefficient way of moving goods. The canals changed everything, permitting the movement of bulk goods in much shorter timescales. Our canals were never very wide, and a special type of boat was built for them. We call them "Narrow boats" - for obvious reasons.

These barges were originally towed by horses which trudged along the "towpaths". These days the boats have mostly been converted for leisure use, being fitted out with motors and sleeping accomodation etc. A canal-based holiday is still a slow-moving option, because of the large number of locks that need to be negotiated, For instance, on the 25-miles-long Stratford canal there are 54 locks!

Despite the huge investment that went into constructing the canal network, its usefulness was very brief, simply because the railway soon replaced the canal as the main means of transport - and was able to move materials at a speed which far surpassed that of the poor old horse.

Our opportunities for tourism were strictly limited this time, for a variety of reasons, not least of which was the weather. In the early afternoon we had some amazingly heavy rain - the sort we call a "tropical downpour". Just look at the colour of the sky in this next photo, taken looking right into the sun!

Anyway, our primary objective was to enjoy some nice food and wine, which we duly did. We ate in the Bistrot Pierre, which although not officially the hotel restaurant, is effectively the hotel restaurant. It is actually inside the hotel building, and its management have some sort of business relationship with the Macdonalds Group who run the hotel. We had what we agreed was a competent but unmemorable meal, so I'm not proposing to write any more about it. On the following day we drove down to the area of Witney, just west of Oxford, travelling through the Cotswold hills. I shall be writing a post about this other half of the weekend soon...

To end this post, here is a photo that proves convincingly that Geese cannot read:

Ends and beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Will it be the end of the line for this potted Rosemary plant of mine?

In the most recent spell of very cold weather this plant got severely frosted, and most of its leaves are brown and shrivelled.

The strange thing is that I have several other Rosemary plants, and they seem to be unscathed. The others are growing in open soil rather than in pots, and are in much more exposed positions than the potted one which has been close to the house and allegedly sheltered. I wonder if maybe the potted one is of a different, less robust, variety? I think all of mine have been bought as simply "Rosemary", without being given a specific variety name.

I think the Catalogna chicory is going to have to go as well.

On the other hand, there are some more encouraging signs elsewhere, such as this lovely Purple Sprouting Broccoli:

And the Chives are beginning to grow strongly now:

Now if only I had some home-grown tomatoes at this time of year....

Iris Reticulata - variations on a theme

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

In my garden the Irises are usually amongst the earliest plants to flower (beaten only by the Crocuses), so I see them as indicators that the Winter is coming to an end. For me one of their main advantages is that they are short plants and less prone to wind-damage than taller ones would be, and in the Late Winter / Early Spring we often get very strong winds.

This post is simply a collection of photos of my various types of Iris Reticulata, all currently in bloom. I don't have many of them, but as individual flowers I think they are incredibly beautiful. And they come in lots of different colours...

Yes, I think I ought to get a few more of these... Can you get yellow ones? I know that you can get large yellow ones, so presumably small varieties are available too.

Some under-performers

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

When I first set out to be a photographing + blogging gardener I undertook to be honest about what I grew (or didn't), showing failures as well as successes. Did you see that I have signed-up to the Bloggers' Voluntary Code of Fair Practice? (Badge in my sidebar now). I believe that being over-selective with which aspects of your garden to show to the world is in a sense being dishonest. It is with this thought in mind that I offer you this post today.

A big disappointment for me this Winter has been the "Petit Posy" Flower Sprouts. I had high hopes of these - they allegedly combine the best features of Kale and Brussels Sprouts. Being billed as exceptionally Winter-hardy and producing their crop at a time when few other vegetables are available, I thought it sounded like an attractive prospect. However... For space reasons I only have four of these plants, and two were basically "Reserves" planted much later than they should have been. But all four are a lot smaller than I had expected, and I have yet to harvest any sprouts. I haven't the heart to pick anything so small!

Viewed like this, they perhaps appear OK, but compare the size of those sprouts to the size of the supporting stake (25mm square). Not big.

Here's one in close-up. They look like loose or "blown" Brussels Sprouts, or tiny cabbages:-

I also have to report that the aphids absolutely LOVE these things, which makes me like them even less.

I suspect that I will harvest all of the Flower Sprouts in one go, and that they may (if we're really lucky) provide a single serving for the two of us - maybe stir-fried or lightly steamed.

Now look at this:

Yes, it's a Red Cabbage. You might think, looking at my photo, that it seems perfectly normal. You'd be wrong of course, because the whole thing is pathetically small - no more than 6 inches across - and this photo is a close-up. It is a "Marner Langerrot" Red Cabbage, that grew tall and spindly, but never produced a heart. Funnily enough, I have resisted digging it up because I actually quite like it, for its photogenic qualities. Those pale inner leaves are quite attractive, aren't they? This particular plant has featured in several of the "Frozen Veg" style photos I have published recently.

Next, the Hamburg Parsley. This is another one of of those veg that supposedly delivers the best of both worlds - a root vegetable similar to the parsnips, and a herb like parsley. In fact it has disappointed in both categories. The roots were small (particularly viewed in comparison to the lovely parsnips that grew right next door to them), and the herby parsley-like vegetation was a lot less vigorous than the "real" parsley. A bit of a flop all round, I would say.

Disclaimer: I accept the fact that these vegetables, grown by other people, in other conditions, at other times may have been hugely successful, but I I'm just saying that they didn't work for me.

So, what failures will you admit to then?

BTW: I hope to be able to report on some more successful enterprises before too long! :-)

Signs of Spring?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I must apologise for being less in evidence than usual these last few days. I have been travelling a lot and I have not had time or energy for much blogging, so I have concentrated on producing material for my own blog rather than looking at others. Currently we are away from home on a long weekend in the Cotswolds, and I don't know if I am going to get much/any internet access, so I am relying on Blogger to publish some scheduled posts for me. This morning there have been some problems with Blogger anyway, and although I have tried to comment on several blogs I have in most cases been unsuccessful.

***********************************************************************************

Our Winter has been very unpredictable. We have had a lot of mild weather; less rainfall than usual; and less wind. On the other hand we have had a couple of spells of very cold weather, and the temperatures have fluctuated a lot. Our poor old plants must be very confused. Just when they think that we are never going to get a proper Winter and begin to put up new growth, along comes another few days of bitter cold.

Some of my plants are beginning to produce buds now. Let's hope they don't regret it...

The Blueberries are in pots close to the house and therefore relatively sheltered. Although I have four different varieties which have fruit that ripens at different times, they all seem to produce their first buds simultaneously.

Blueberry

The flowers on the Bay trees are never individually impressive, but en masse they will look good.

Bay

The Wallflowers have recovered very well from the severe frosting they had. I can't tell yet what colour this one is going to be, but it won't be long now. Possibly one of the deep red ones.

Wallflower

There are lots of Crocuses flowering now, though they haven't had much sunshine to enjoy. This one is in a very open position and had opened-up fully.

Crocus

Whereas this clump is in a very shady spot, near the base of the Fish tree and the flowers are remaining firmly closed.

Crocus

Those are what I would describe as "naturalised". Some years ago I planted a couple of corms at the base of this tree, and they have grown and expanded over the years into quite a decent clump.

I have quite a few Daffodils around the garden, and the first of them is showing some colour now. This one is "Tête à Tête", a variety that only grows to a height of about 8 inches, so it is less vulnerable to the strong winds that we so often experience at Daffodil time.

Daffodil

These are taller ones. I've forgotten what type they are.

Daffodil

I have been going out to work very early this week (about 06:30), and it is nice that it's not pitch dark still at that time any more. One morning there was even quite a Dawn Chorus of birdsong. Definitely Spring is not too far away.

Crop-protection

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

With Spring being in the offing, I'm turning my attention once more to ways in which I can extend the growing season. Without protection of some kind, it would not be safe to plant things out until late May at the earliest, and since we usually expect to see the first of the Autumn frosts in late September or early October, that doesn't give a lot of room for manoeuvre. Today I'm going to show you the kit that I use for protecting my crops.

A couple of weeks ago I took delivery of a fourth one of those Parasene "Longrow" cloches, so that I now have enough of them to cover one complete raised bed. The package has been sitting in the garage waiting for me to get round to assembling the thing. Last weekend I finally knuckled-down and made the cloche.

The photo shows the new cloche sitting on the soil surface. You can see the legs which are normally pushed into the soil to keep the thing steady. When I took the photo the soil was frozen too hard to permit this.

I have written about these things before: you may remember my surprise at finding how insubstantial they are. At about £35 each when bought singly, I had expected them to be a superior product, and I must confess to being a little disappointed. The end pieces in particular are very flimsy indeed, and are likely to be the weak point. Nevertheless, I think that the cloches are a necessary addition to my "box of tricks" if I want to extend the growing season by a few weeks at each end.

Just in case you are in any doubt about this, a cloche like this serves two purposes: it protects young/small plants from some of the worst aspects of the weather (snow, frost, wind etc), but it also protects them from animals - which in my case is probably the greatest attraction of them. In the past I have sometimes suffered a lot from the night-time excavations of cats and foxes, frequently wreaking havoc upon a batch of newly emerged seedlings. These cloches have already helped me a lot in this respect. I shall be using them to protect some rows of parsnips and beetroot just as soon as the weather warms up sufficiently for sowing...

Another point to note by the way, is that cloches like this do not raise the temperature unless there is sun shining on them. In fact that is definitely something you need to be aware of in the Spring. When there is bright sunshine the temperature inside one of those cloches can easily get too high for delicate little seedlings, so you need to be careful to provide adequate ventilation. Mine have little opening and closing vents in the end-panels for this purpose.

In the top photo you can also see some of my bell-cloches. The ones on the right of the picture are covering a couple of lettuces. I have been pleased with this type of cloche. They were good value at 3 for £10, and they are nice and tall, so you can keep them in place even when a plant begins to grow quite big. Another advantage of them is that they are stackable, so they take up much less space when not in use. The same cannot be said for the long ones, unfortunately. Last Summer I had to keep them arranged around the edge of the garden because I have nowhere else to put them - though they were at one stage pressed into use as windbreaks to protect the young climbing beans...

At this time of year, my plastic mini-greenhouses start to come into the limelight.

When I start sowing seeds they will be used as part of my hardening-off procedure. The little plants will reside in these greenhouses for a while (perhaps being brought indoors at night if the weather is still cold), until such time as I judge them to be strong enough to fend for themselves in the open air. I find these greenhouses incredibly useful - I couldn't manage without them now - and they are also very good value for money at about £10 to £12 each.

In similar vein is the coldframe. I use this for hardening-off tender plants, but I also use it as a place to over-winter my herbs. Mine is made of aluminium with glass panels, but with hindsight I think polycarbonate panels would be better - they are lighter and safer (especially if you have young children).

I know that lots of people make extensive use of horticultural fleece, but I'm not a great fan of it. I have found it to have the following disadvantages:

It is too fragile - the foxes often rip it when searching for food. Heavy snow can also have the same effect.
It is not sufficiently water-permeable. I have had to remove it to water the plants underneath, even when we have had heavy rain
It is fiddly to remove if you just want a quick look underneath to see how things are doing.

Damage caused by foxes -- Grrrrrr!

So those are the options open to me at present. Now here's my Wishlist

(Proper; i.e. glass) greenhouse
Poly-tunnel
Space for 1 and 2!

Searching for salad survivors

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

After a couple of weeks of really cold weather, and some snow, the thermometer has moved sluggishly into positive territory. The snow in our part of the world has all melted now, so I have made the rounds of my veg plot to see what survived and what didn't.

No problems with the brassicas - they will survive much worse - but the salads were my chief concern. This Winter I have had many of them under the protection of cloches, including some lettuces. I have never attempted to grow lettuce in the Winter before, but the combination of choosing hardy varieties (I have Winter Density and All Year Round) and the cloches means that I have a viable crop. And the best thing is that it is available now, at a time when my raised beds would otherwise be pretty bare. These two were spares left over when I planted-up the long cloches, but to be honest they are the best of the bunch now. I think it is because they have had plenty of room.

This is where they live:

One cloche temporarily removed - for photography purposes

They aren't fully mature yet - they have grown very slowly (which is hardly surprising), but they are certainly useable already. Their siblings under the long cloches are OK too, though a bit smaller.

Elsewhere I have some Endives, some protected by individual cloches, some not. The next two photos demonstrate the beneficial effect of the cloche. In the first one you can see two plants growing very close together.

The one on the left is very ragged, but the one protected by the cloche is in much better condition.

This broad-leaved Endive is definitely beyond redemption:

This variegated Chicory is marginal. It might recover, but I somehow doubt it.

Whereas these two beauties were snuggled-up together under a single cloche keeping each other warm, such that they have not only survived, but also thrived.

Unfortunately for them thriving sometimes just hastens their demise!

At least this one has had a happy life!

My little patch of Land Cress is looking happy enough too. It fits conveniently under one of the bigger individual cloches, so it's well protected.

So all in all, things could have been a lot worse. And if I hadn't previously been convinced of the merits of cloches I certainly am now.

Some new Veg containers

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

It grieves me to pay loads of money for something that ought to be cheap. Why do plastic flower-pots, planters and other growing-containers cost so much? It's not as if they are a complex shape, or anything, and most of them are pretty flimsy. I think the assumption must be that gardeners have loads of money to spare and they will pay whatever the suppliers ask! In my case, Not So. I have been looking around for suitable alternatives, and have found a couple.

The first type is the wooden wine-crate. These are relatively rare these days, because most wines are packaged in cardboard boxes, but the "posh" ones still come in wooden crates. Making some enquiries in this respect I found that my local branch of Majestic Wine was prepared to help me. They don't get a lot of wooden crates, but they are not re-cycled either, so the staff were more than happy for me to relieve them of the responsibility for disposal. Unfortunately they only had two boxes available when I visited, but there is the promise of more to come. This is what I got:

As you can see, they are quite attractive items, though evidently made of fairly flimsy unseasoned wood. I don't expect them to last more than one year, but I reckon they will be ideal for growing things like salads, radishes or baby carrots. I have drilled a few holes in the bases and fixed a couple of battens to them. The battens will lift the boxes off the ground and allow excess water to run out better, as well as reducing the speed at which the wood will rot, by minimising surface contact.

My other useful find was a range of rectangular plastic crates sold as storage-boxes by Tesco. At only £1.67 each I thought these were a bargain. You can hardly buy a single pot-saucer for that sort of money, at a Garden Centre. Drill a couple of drainage holes in these, and you have got some very serviceable growing-containers.

Coincidentally I find that two of these will fit neatly into that wooden raised planter that Jane won for me last year:

So that's my carrot-growing arrangements for this year neatly taken care of then...

Some of you will have seen this one before. It is the container which held my Christmas tree.

I got this one (free) from my local butcher's shop. It previously held a huge quantity of Chinese Five-Spice Marinade, but I have washed it pretty thoroughly, and I plan to use it for growing a chilli plant in - I think the colour will be most appropriate!

Has anybody else out there found a good source of this sort of thing?

A Winter collection

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

We don't get snow that often where I live, so I have been making the most of the recent opportunity. This post is a selection of snow- and frost-themed photos. I don't think I need to write anything for this one. The pictures say it all!

Anyone for an iced bun?

Frost on one of the mini-greenhouses

Crocuses

Crocus in close-up

Twin peaks

Stop that Pigeon...

Anyone seen my Asparagus recently?

Thawing a little...

The cross-dressing Minarettes

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I described yesterday how I pruned the Minarette fruit trees. One of the pictures I took was of this little "fruiting spur":

When I looked at this, it reminded me of a person waving their arms in the air - maybe a policeman directing traffic - or perhaps a diver just about to dive off a diving-board. Definitely reminiscent of the human form...

So I sent the photo to my blogging friend Sue, who runs Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments, because she has a great talent for "enhancing" photos, and I knew she would be able to do something good with this one. By the way, she is the person who did my Mickey Mouse potato, and Herr Jeeves, the cane-topper duck. This is what she came up with. She couldn't decide whether this spur was male or female. Whichever it is, it's a cross-dresser, that's for sure!

'Ello, 'Ello' 'Ello. What's goin' on 'ere then?

Pretentious? Moi?

I think they are wonderful. Thank you Sue!

On a related theme, Mother Nature enhanced one of my photos for me too.

This

Became this:

So what do you see in this one? Gonzo from the Muppet Show, wearing a white cape? A bride with a very long nose? Or what?

[I wonder exactly what type of mushrooms it was that I ate last night...Magic ones, possibly.]