Veg Plotting

Chelsea Sneak Preview: A Centenary Celebration

2013-05-17T08:30:00.000+01:00

Amongst all the discussion of Chelsea's centenary show this year, I'm pleased the opportunity's been taken to produce a suitably celebratory book.

Brent Elliott is the author and as he's historian to the RHS, this is the best possible choice. I've heard him speak on a couple of occasions and really appreciate how his dry sense of humour brings his subject to life, particularly when detailing with relish the stormy arguments and mass resignations of the committee during the RHS's early years. Happily his humour (and details of arguments!) shine through in this account.

I found it best to tackle this volume twice. Once for all the plentiful pictures and good captioning, then reading the detailed text at my second sitting. Both are excellent, but trying to read both together was a bit much for me.

Chelsea has changed immensely over the years, except for one thing: the picture of 1932's Sundries Avenue on page 42 looks almost exactly the same today (apart from the clothes worn by the exhibitors). We have the alpine societies to thank for today's show gardens. It was they who pioneered taking their 'table top' displays outside the show tent and showcasing their plants in large rock gardens built especially for the RHS' pre-Chelsea Spring shows. That tradition continued into the new Chelsea venue and part of the show garden area today is still called the Rock Garden Embankment even though they've long gone. I wonder what the alpine societies make of their legacy today?

The show has seen other huge changes - the shift from a society event and the start of the 'season', through to a more celebrity-led occasion today. Then there's the rise of the show garden above that of the plantsman (helped enormously by TV coverage, though the two are in better balance when visiting the show). In the early years, an enthusiastic, but knowledgeable amateur could hold his own (it was almost invariably a he) with all the professionals. Today it's all big business and corporate sponsorship, with very little room for the amateur (though you can find them if you look hard enough, particularly if they're a national collection holder or from a school).

All this and more is documented meticulously in words and pictures and is very readable. I also loved the inclusion of the 'My Chelsea' features scattered throughout the book. Here many of Chelsea's great 'personalities' - many of them from behind the scenes - say why the show is so special to them. I particularly enjoyed Jerry Harpur recalling how few photographers were in attendance when he first started. Now there's over 60 of them, all competing in a diminishing market for their pictures. It's just as well for them that Chelsea is one of the few times when gardening becomes mainstream media.

You've probably guessed I've enjoyed this book immensely, but might be wondering where it fits in my Chelsea sneak preview series, seeing it reflects very much on the past. That's because some of the photographs from the RHS's archive have been made into poster-sized exhibits for display throughout the showground. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them on Monday and hope my favourite one (see pages 32-33) is there.

If you like the look of this book, you can possibly get your hands on a copy as Karen is kindly giving hers away. She may not appreciate I've told you this as she's rather hoping she can keep it for herself ;)

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for review purposes.

Previous Sneak Previews for Chelsea 2013:

GBBD: Apple Blossom Time

2013-05-15T08:30:00.000+01:00

Herefordshire Russet & Red Windsor - I'm rather liking the apple, Pulmonaria and Dicentra combo at the bottom left

Most years, my garden's apple blossom falls between April and May's Blooms Days. This year its timing is perfect and I was relieved to find the bees buzzing amongst the blooms despite the cooler weather we're having lately.

March's extreme cold means it's a bumper year for apple blossom*. Now I'm crossing my fingers for a bumper pollination and harvest. Don't mention to the weather gods I've said that, will you?

* = most apple varieties require lots of hours - between 400 and 1,000 - of cooler temperatures (just above freezing) to break winter dormancy and for good blossom formation = minimum chill requirement. There are some varieties which require substantially less than that (100-200 hours e.g. Anna). It will be these varieties we may need to look to plant in the future if longer term climate change means our winters get warmer.

Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Seasonal Recipe: Perch Hill Rhubarb Cordial

2013-05-13T10:00:00.000+01:00

I first tasted this delicious cordial at Sarah Raven's Grow Cook Eat day in aid of Horatio's Garden in March. Sarah has kindly given me permission to reproduce the recipe here on Veg Plotting. I'll be adding my own notes from the day and from making my own, though you can also view the original recipe on Sarah's website.

As you can see the result is a pearlescent cordial with just a hint of pink from the original rhubarb. The taste is subtle, yet you can easily discern the recipe's main ingredients. I've used about half the sugar given in the recipe and for me that hasn't spoiled the flavour when diluted. I'm also going to experiment with using the sweet cicely from my herb planter to reduce the sugar content still further.

It's also a timely recipe if you're getting a bit fed up of rhubarb by now, yet your patch is still producing copious quantities. I've made a batch of rhubarb and ginger jam as usual and this is another suitable glutbuster idea :)

Ingredients

2kg rhubarb stems (trimmed weight), roughly chopped (as you probably don't have the means to weigh your plunder up at the plot, this equates to a huge armful)
2 large oranges
8-10 whole star anise
1.2 kg granulated sugar (though method later says 600-800g)
Citric acid or juice of 3 lemons (both optional)

Method

Put all the rhubarb into a large pan (a very large pan actually!) and add 1.5 litres cold water (you don't want to cover it completely with water as this dilutes the flavour of the cordial). Using a potato peeler take four or so strips of skin from each orange, add this to the pan with the juice of both oranges (zapped in the microwave first on full for 30 seconds to maximise the amount of juice obtained) and add the star anise.
Bring the rhubarb up to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently until the rhubarb is soft (it may look like mush at this stage). Take off the heat and allow to cool for an hour (or overnight in my case).
Pour the rhubarb and juice into a large jelly bag and allow the juice to drip through overnight (if you don't have a jelly bag, a large piece of muslin tied to the legs of an upside down stool makes a great improvised one).
Now pour the collected juice into a pan (and compost the unwanted rhubarb solids) and on a low heat add the sugar (about 600-800g, but do taste as you go, so you get the sweetness you want, remember it will get diluted with water). Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
You can add 2 teaspoons of citric acid at this stage if you want to store this for several months, but this is not necessary if the cordial is going to be used straight away. The citric acid does give the cordial a good tart kick, or you can add the juice of 3 lemons for a sharper flavour (I've used neither and I'm still very pleased with the flavour. I'm not intending this cordial to stay around very long, so no citric acid for me)
Allow the cordial to cool.
Pour into sterilised bottles (I warm them in the oven at 100^oC for a few minutes beforehand) and store in the fridge. Makes approximately 1.5 litres.
Dilute to taste and add ice cubes and/or a mint leaf if so desired

Other Notes

This cordial can be made from March to May depending on the rhubarb varieties you have available: Timperley Early in March, Stockbridge Arrow in April and Victoria for May. I grow Victoria, hence this recipe appearing on the blog this month :)
Some finely chopped fresh ginger could be used instead of the star anise. NAH reckons cinnamon would also work well.
Seasonal variations include elderflower in May/June, then red or white currants, followed by scented leaf pelargoniums, plum (or back to rhubarb again) in August and finally quince in the autumn. You might also like to try making my Easy Apple Juice in the autumn.
Rhubarb is used as a marker by archaeologists to indicate habited areas
Rhubarb can last 100 years - divide every 3 years in July/August and don't harvest for 3 years to allow the divided rhubarb to establish itself again
It's a hungry crop, so feed well in late winter - in Yorkshire (where the rhubarb triangle is) they use shoddy (waste from the woollen industry) as a feed
Keep picking rhubarb from spring to late summer, then allow the plant some recovery time for next year's crop
NB citric acid can be hard to get hold of - try health food or brewing shops

Related Post

For lots more seasonal recipes - not just for rhubarb - have a look at my Easy Recipe Finder. Oh, and the recipes are pretty easy too :)

Waving Goodbye to the Pleiones

2013-05-10T10:30:00.000+01:00

I had a great day at Malvern Show yesterday - it's officially a vintage year. Instead of giving you the full tour (which will be on TV tonight at 8pm), I'll be focusing on a snippet or three from time to time.

This is the last ever display of pleiones from Ian Butterfield. I hadn't come across this genus before I started visiting shows and whilst I don't really have the right conditions to grow them (they're a ground orchid which likes to grow on tree trunks and in rock crevices), I do appreciate getting up close and personal to them at the spring shows.

Ian Butterfield is the national collection holder and avid hybridiser. He reassured me his show retirement doesn't mean he'll be stopping his work. "I still haven't managed to breed a green one", he told me, "and I'll still be supplying plants. It's just the effort of staging an exhibition that's getting a bit much now". NB Ian is in his 80s and I hope I'm as sprightly as he is when I get to his age :)

This photo illustrates Ian's total confidence and experience as an exhibitor. This is his entire stock of P 'Sabatini', just 5 plants (there's one hidden behind the label). I'd be scared to death of losing them, but I'm sure Ian gives them the utmost of care.

I hope pleiones continue to be exhibited by other growers. I've found the shows are a great way of discovering and learning about new plants. I might have eventually come across them by other means, but it wouldn't have been half as much fun. And what could be better than talking 1:1 with the expert on them?

What plant discoveries have you made at garden shows?

PS here's a couple of extra snippets from me elsewhere on the blogosphere: a suitable Friday Bench plus the Best in Show from the Floral Marquee. And Patient Gardener made her show debut :)

PPS What does the curator of RHS Wisley do on his day off? Why, attend Malvern of course! I caught up with Colin Crosbie in the Floral Marquee, where he enthused about the display of Primula sieboldii we had in front of us. It was he who told me it was Ian Butterfield's last show.

Getting to Grips With Seed Mats et al.

2013-05-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

Earlier this year, I spent a fascinating morning at Seed Developments finding out how they go about making biodegradable seed tapes, discs and mats. Naturally, they've given me a few samples to try, which I've supplemented with a few others I've found in various shops :)

This isn't my first venture into this field. You may remember I tried some mixed salad leaves discs for my 52 Week Salad Challenge experiments last year. The mats were ideal for my biochar trial as I didn't have to worry about getting an even number and spread of seed onto my compost. Later on, they also became part of my Travellers' Salad ;)

Prior to then, I'd dismissed seed tapes as a GYO option, partly due to lack of choice as most of the the seeds I like to grow aren't available in this form. The cost per seed compared to packets is quite a bit higher too. However, having trialled the salad mats last year, I'm now seeing their advantages. Sowing is quicker and less fiddly, plus there's no thinning needed. So, there's quite a bit of time and bending over saved during the growing season.

Lately I've seen another benefit. I'm suffering from RSI at the moment (and typing this isn't helping!) and as well as the pain, I'm finding fine finger control quite difficult. It means sowing larger seeds like cucumber is trickier than usual and quite often the seed pops out of my fingers before I can get it into the compost. So whilst I'd initially dismissed the cucumber seed mat as not really needed because larger seeds are so easy to handle, it's actually been a godsend this year.

Seed mats and tapes seen at the Edible Garden Show in March

Seed Developments is a British company (hurrah!) based in Somerset and is the top manufacturer of these products in the world. You won't find them named as such in the shops because they tend to 'badge produce' for companies like Chiltern Seeds, ProVeg, Suttons and DT Brown. I also see there's a new option available: a new online retailer (supplied by Seed Developments) is selling seed tapes, discs and carpets with lots more varieties on offer. I'm heartened by this as there's an opportunity for them to offer a wider variety of seeds to usual.

Georgie over at Common Farm Flowers is also trialling some seed tray sized flower mats. As a commercial grower, she sees possible advantages in terms of sowing time and optimum seed spacing. I was also going to blog about the production process (as it's the kind of thing I find fascinating), but I see I've been beaten to it already :)
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The 52 Week Salad Challenge is sponsored by Greenhouse Sensation.

Note to readers: sponsorship goes towards my blogging costs and does not affect my independence.

Happy Compost Awareness Week!

2013-05-07T08:30:00.000+01:00

I potted these up yesterday before I realised it's Compost Awareness Week - how timely :) It's a variety of comfrey called Bocking 14, a strain developed during the 1950s by Lawrence Hills, the founder of Garden Organic. Bocking in Essex was the home of the organisation's HQ at the time.

Bocking 14 is sterile, so it's not as invasive as its parent Russian comfrey, though I'm still going to think carefully where I finally plant these as its root run is pretty extensive. With my new raised beds plus an extra bin to fill, I need to make lots more compost. This comfrey is my first step towards keeping the mouths of my hungry compost bins filled. I'm also planning on making better use of our lawn clippings balanced out with lots of extra shredded paper to stop my compost becoming a green slimy mess.

John Harrison has written an excellent guide to comfrey and its uses - well worth a read.

How do you keep your compost bins well fed?

Additional reading:

You may also like last year's post on Talking Compost at Holt Farm about how they make their own organic compost mixes.

Update: Head Gardener James is doing his "Slugs, Bugs, Trug and a Pug" talk this Friday at Holt Farm in support of Horatio's Garden for SSIT. So now's your chance to find out how they do it first hand AND for a good cause :)

Book Review: The Spade as Mighty as the Sword

2013-05-05T15:55:00.000+01:00

With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to see how unprepared Britain was for the Second World War. In Daniel Smith's The Spade as Mighty as the Sword we see just how close the nation's reliance on food imports at the war's outbreak nearly cost us dear.

Then the Dig for Victory campaign was born and caught on with the British public big time. A catchy title, inventive posters and the reassuring voice of Mr Middleton all helped to turn the nation into allotmenteers. They had to, it was either grow more food or starve. Around 55-60 per cent of families were involved in the campaign and the WI provided the domestic network which ensured everyone knew what to do with any surplus.

We may look back on the Dig for Victory campaign with fondness, as an example of where state intervention for once really helped and the nation's diet was far healthier than we see today. However, Daniel Smith's clear-sighted tale shows success wasn't gained without controversy and resentment. I hadn't realised that two government ministries were involved (Food and Agriculture) and they didn't always pull together. I also hadn't realised that Mr Middleton, the nation's first celebrity gardener, wasn't that keen on growing vegetables!

It's interesting to see the government calculated that just under half a man's daily calorie intake (1,200 out of 2,500 calories, up from 900 at the war's outbreak) was provided via domestic production. Seeing most of this was mainly via vegetables (relatively low in calories compared to meat), it's an impressive increase.

As food security is poised to become an increasing issue, I wonder whether we could do this again? As an allotmenteer, I get some reassurance from the fact I can ensure NAH and I continue to have enough tasty food on our plates. I also wonder whether our diet would be as dull (though nutritionally adequate) as the wartime diet was. Would we give up growing the more exotic crops such as courgettes and peppers which have become popular in modern times, in favour of more productive potatoes and cabbages?

This is a well-written, chronologically told story, which has given me lots of food for thought, especially seeing I revisited this book for today's review in a week when Elizabeth has spent a fascinating five days taking part in the Live Below the Line campaign.

Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher. I also reviewed Twigs Way and Mike Brown's Digging for Victory a while ago. Whilst both cover the same subject, they're both well worth a read.

Seasonal Recipe: Universal Pesto

2013-05-03T08:30:00.000+01:00

Preparing green garlic for pesto

Ever since I learnt to scythe a few weeks ago, I've been hankering after foraging some wild garlic to recreate the delicious pesto Caroline left us for lunch.

Sadly allotment duties lately have kept me away from where the wild garlic grows. However, the bulb garlic which 'melted' away in last year's rain has reappeared up at the plot in the form of lots of juicy green garlic. I harvested it yesterday: some went into a chicken leftovers and leek soup, then some was chopped into last night's curry. Now it's time to make some pesto.

Whilst pondering my surprise bounty up at the plot, I also thought about the recipes various Salad Challengers linked into Salad Days last year. If there's a strongly flavoured bountiful leaf, you can pretty well guarantee it'll find its way into a pesto recipe somewhere.

So, I've devised a recipe for Universal Pesto which is adaptable to whatever you have to hand. Note: I'm currently recommending you choose 1 item from each ingredient line in the list where there's a choice. I need to do some experimentation to see whether any of the leaves and/or nuts can be combined successfully. Or you could have a go and let me know how you get on :)

Ingredients

100g leaves - basil (if you're feeling traditional), rocket, wild or green garlic, carrot tops, parsley (curly or flat leaf), nasturtiums, watercress, spinach, coriander, sorrel, lemon balm (excellent with fish), bull's blood beetroot leaves (for a pink result)
150ml oil - olive (any kind), sunflower, rapeseed
50g nuts - pine nuts (toasted or not, I prefer toasted), walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews - shelled weight
50-60g hard, tasty cheese e.g. pecorino, parmesan, very mature cheddar, crumbly goat's cheese, feta - finely grated (or crumbled in the case of the goat's cheese or feta)
1-2 garlic cloves (if not using wild or green garlic)
Squeeze of lemon juice (optional, I'm also pondering the possibilities of adding some lemon balm instead)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste - if the watercress or nasturtiums are on top form, you might not need any pepper

Method

Wash the leaves if needed and discard any damaged leaves or pieces of grass you've inadvertently harvested (the latter particularly applied to my green garlic!)
Put all the ingredients (except the olive oil, salt and pepper) into a food processor and blitz for a couple of minutes until well mixed together
With the machine still running, slowly pour in the oil and mix until it's combined with the rest of the ingredients
Add salt and pepper to taste

Now all I need is some fresh pasta and we're sorted for tonight's tea :)

NB 1. We're not planning on going out tonight, which is just as well seeing the garlic pesto has quite a kick to it! If you've chosen garlic as your leaf but wish to have a milder flavour, then firstly sweat it in a little oil for a few minutes. That should do the trick, or you can mix in some natural yoghurt or half fat creme fraiche afterwards to make a milder, creamier alternative for pasta, baked potatoes etc. Oh, and eating some parsley afterwards helps freshen up the breath :)

NB 2. Tip from Paolo from Seeds of Italy - if making basil pesto use a pestle and mortar instead as contact with metal can turn the leaves a nasty shade of black.

Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a few days, or added to a clean jar and topped up with some extra oil, so that it keeps well. Ensure it's completely covered by the layer of oil as this prevents air getting to the pesto below. Alternatively the pesto can be frozen in suitably portion-sized containers for a taste of spring or summer in the depths of winter.

And if you have a variation to add to the list, do let me know in the comments below :)

Update - I've had some fab ideas from people in the comments which I've added to the recipe in italics. Thanks everyone! I also made the pictured batch of pesto today using three quarters green garlic to one quarter blander lettuce leaves. I can report that the result still has quite a kick! I'm also told that using parsley in the mix gives a much greener pesto.

Update 2 - Love and a Licked Spoon has blogged her recipe for chive and lemon pesto. She's used a slightly different ratio of ingredients to those I've given here, but it sounds wonderful.

GBMD: Magnolias High Over Head

2013-05-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

He told of the Magnolia, spread
High as a cloud, high over head!

William Wordsworth (1770–1850), in Ruth; or, The Influences of Nature (l. 61–62) The Poems; Vol. 1 [William Wordsworth]. John O. Hayden, ed. (1977, repr. 1990) Penguin Books.

Magnolias are at their showy best right now and next door's tree is leaning companionably over the fence to give us a closer view. It's also the first thing we noticed when visiting mum last week. Her magnolia is in the back garden, but its candle-like blooms peep out from behind the garage giving everyone a streetside view.

Not all the magnolias I see are high as a cloud, nor high overhead as I have a Magnolia stellata in a large pot. I love its furry buds in the winter and always pray the frost doesn't catch its fleeting whiteness in the spring. Is it this danger which can swiftly turn those blooms to mush that makes them all the more precious?

Re-editing the Plot

2013-04-29T08:30:00.000+01:00

View from the top of the plot

I've been spending quite a lot of time at the allotment lately and already the above view is looking quite different. Much tidier! I've been meaning to write about my plans for the plot since I gave up half of it just over a year ago, but last year's dreadful season meant I never got around to it.

The thicket you can see are my raspberries 'Autumn Bliss'. These of course are remaining because they're prize winning. Last year I experimented with not cutting the canes down in February* and as a result obtained an earlier crop and a heavier yield. Definitely worth repeating this year.

Behind the raspberries is a mess of gooseberries from which I'm currently trying to extract a vigorous bramble. So far the bramble (aided and abetted by the gooseberries) is winning...

And guess where this view is from...

My major project at the moment (apart from plot clearing) is the installation of some raised beds. After the task of emptying out the compost bins to fill them up (who needs gym membership?!), they're so much easier to maintain and keep weed free. There are 5 so far - 3 with strawberries and the other two have garlic, shallots and onions. The latter two are also host to another biochar experiment to see how I get on with different crops to those I trialled last year. I have another 2 to set up - probably playing host to my peas and carrots, though I suspect there'll be an overflow of lettuces at some point as I've sown so many.

When I gave up half of the plot, I was worried it would bring a halt to my experimenting, but happily so far that hasn't been the case. I'm also planning on trying some Oca this year, probably right there in the front of the picture. I have 7 tiny little tubers to plant as soon as the soil's ready...

A major shock this week has been the removal of the trees bordering the plot by the owners of the garden over the fence. I now realise that the trees were probably helping to prop up my shed, so it's time to get a new one. An unexpected bonus has been getting to know my hitherto unseen neighbours, who are great. Unfortunately this won't last for long as they're planning on having a higher fence. However, yesterday they gave me a large compost bin, some wire mesh to go underneath it, plus some metal poles which are ideal for building part of the new supports I'm planning for the apples. Result!

I was sad to lose half of my plot, but lately I've realised I'm falling back in love with my allotment again. It takes about a week to clear now and is much more manageable. As soon as everything's been cleared and planted up, I'll draw up a new plot plan for you to peruse. The pictures on today's post are also a bit of a 'before', so I'll post some 'after' shots too - taken on a sunny day I hope!

* = a tip gleaned from My Tiny Plot, who in turn gleaned it from Which? Gardening.

April is the Blog Love Month IV

2013-04-28T14:45:00.003+01:00

Colander lights add a quirky touch to Yeo Valley HQ

I'm veering off-topic - as I frequently do here on Veg Plotting - with some non-gardening blogs which have caught my eye this week. Don't worry, there are a couple of gardening ones by way of a finale too :)

First up is my beloved NAH. After years of teasing me about Veg Plotting, he finally started his own blog a couple of years ago. He's putting a steam engine back together without the manual - or many of the parts! Have a look at how he's progressing on Sentinel 7109
I've just found out about the fascinating neolithic houses project at Stonehenge. It's something I hope to investigate personally next month.
It's a small hop, skip and a jump to my Local Vocal Janice's new blog Immaterial Practice documenting her progress and discoveries in the 30 days up to her Fine Art degree show.
Found via my friend Mark's blog, I love Perpetua's way of roving in retirement.
Not a blog, but I couldn't resist telling you about the Darwin Correspondence Project - which showcases the correspondence between Darwin and the botanist Joseph Hooker. They were great friends and Darwin wrote to Hooker about his emerging ideas re evolution...
Found via my daily Twitter newspaper - an article on the science of colour in marketing is also food for thought for blog design and layout methinks...
Shared by Mark Diacono this week, I enjoyed this exploration of the routines famous authors and artists used in their day to day work.

As this is the last Sunday in April, I'm also including the final two discoveries for tomorrow and Tuesday.

Sarah Salway has a number of blogs, all of which deserve a link, but Writer in the Garden is the only one I haven't commented on... until now. I love her idea for this year's Chelsea Fringe. Now everyone has the opportunity to take part :)
I've saved a real treat until last. Alys Fowler has a blog now and started with a beautifully written and observed encounter with a bee.

So there you have it. 30 days and (almost) 30 new to me blogs. All showing how mind bogglingly rich the blogosphere is and how Emma's idea for April was a cracking one :)

Here's the previous weeks if you missed them:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Which enjoyable new blogs have you discovered lately? Tell me about them in the comments below...

Salad Days: Windowsill Lettuces

2013-04-26T08:30:00.000+01:00

Lettuce 'Amaze' looking rather perky a couple of days ago

What a difference a few weeks makes! Spring has sprung at last and those leggy seedlings I showed you last month are transforming themselves into something rather tasty looking.

I've now planted out all my lettuce seedlings into the coldframes and cloches outside, except the pictured 'Amaze'. As you can see from the above picture they're romping away on our bedroom windowsill.

The initial 22 varieties I sowed are now down to 18 - 2 failed to germinate as reported last month and a further two - Mordore and Musson melted away in the overcrowded legginess that was the initial tray of seedlings. I'll catch up with these and some further varieties I've acquired later on in the year.

This month I've taken delivery of several exciting looking items of kit to trial courtesy of Greenhouse Sensation. My initial efforts have focused on the simplest item they've sent: the small Saladgrow planter, which is suitable for windowsill as well as greenhouse growing.

Setting up the Saladgrow: Fully assembled and ready for the windowsill; then L-R, top to bottom:planter feet used to support the upper tray; upper tray showing the water level indicator + wick; upper tray with compost + lettuces added; the opening used for adding water to the lower tray

As you can see it looks like a slightly larger propagator, but there's a twist. The planter sits on top of the horticultural equivalent of a bain-marie (though without the heat) - a lower tray of water and diluted nutrients (provided as part of the kit), complete with a cloth 'wick' dangled from the upper tray which soaks up the water and feeds it through into the compost above. Thus a constant supply of water and nutrients is delivered to the root level and this is one container I won't have to worry about when it comes to holiday watering. I think I've used less compost than with my usual windowbox style containers, but then I might have been using a greater depth than what's needed with them anyway.

It was relatively easy to set up, though I did manage to put the planter feet into the wrong tray at first. Then I started reading the leaflet to find out how I should set things up properly! There are a couple of clarifications with the leaflet I've asked the company to look at and I'm also awaiting an answer to my question on whether the nutrients they supply are suitable for organic growers. I'm also not sure how the water level indicator works: I don't know which way up is correct and I found I could add water to almost overflowing without it showing the tray was full. But overall as you can see it's working well and I'm looking forward to picking our first leaves very soon.

'Bright and Spicy' mixed salad leaves this morning - sowed on March 5th

This month I've also learnt:

Some salad mix packets should really say Sow outdoors all year; ready in 3 weeks under absolutely ideal conditions instead of Sow outdoors all year; ready in 3 weeks. Of course I knew that when I sowed the seeds in the freezing cold over 7 weeks ago, but now I've proved it. ETA is in a couple of weeks...
It's possible to oversoak peas (um, I forgot them!) - 5 days soaking rather than overnight slows germination down dramatically and the rate to around 50%

How's your salad faring this month?

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The 52 Week Salad Challenge is sponsored by Greenhouse Sensation.

Note to readers: sponsorship goes towards my blogging costs and does not affect my independence.

Wordless Wednesday: Union Flag With Goose

2013-04-24T08:30:00.000+01:00

Plant of the Centenary: The Official Shortlist

2013-04-23T10:15:00.000+01:00

Starting to bounce back after a hard winter: Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' in my garden yesterday

We had a lot of fun choosing our own Plant of the Centenary, and now we get to do it all over again with the RHS's official shortlist :)

There are some truly landmark plants: Russell hybrid lupins; a Heuchera, and Geranium 'Rozanne' - how many plants can claim to be the subject of a court case? There's also a nod to the gardening legacy shaped by the plant hunters, in the form of Pieris formosa var. forrestii

My congratulations goes to Shirl, whose chosen favourite is amongst the shortlist of 10: the pictured Erysimum. Sadly I can't find my picture with a hummingbird hawk moth dancing attendance one summer, so I've had to make do with a snap taken yesterday.

Each plant has its champion, matched by their decade of birth as well as the plant's Chelsea debut. It's worth looking at them on the RHS's site, purely for the wonderfully named Chelsea Pensioner who champions the Saxifraga 'Tumbling waters': Sergeant Stan Pepper :)

All that remains is to get voting everyone!

I have 3 out of the 10 in my garden. How does yours fare?

What Spam Looks Like

2013-04-22T08:30:00.000+01:00

No, not that tinned pink meat of a dubious nature, the other spam...

It's clear there's been a LOT of spam around lately. By a lot, it's meant up to 50-80 extra comments for my blog on some days. This is what a spam attack looks like via my stats on Blogger. I'd often wondered why there were sudden spikes shown, but it took a rash of notification emails with attendant spam comments, all coinciding with 08:22 one morning for me to twig what was going on. On bad days, those spikes are happening every half an hour or so.

It's not just Blogger with the problem. I see Wordpress has also warned of increased levels of spam and hacking attempts recently.

I've noticed various types of spam comment along the lines of:

Nice blog, I'll be back for more - really funny if it also compliments your writing on a Wordless Wednesday post ;)
Asking advice on theme, hacking, plagiarism etc.
Advising you of a problem with your blog or how you could do better
Complete gobbledegook with or without explicit wording
Explicit wording
Most worryingly this week, I've seen a context derived comment - advice on plant growing on my Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day post. So wrong, it was obvious, but if it gets refined, this kind of spam may get rather hard to spot

All have a link to a blog completely unrelated to the comment content, apart from some of the SEO and explicit ones. It's also worrying that some of the comments manage to get through the spam filter and onto the blog. Guess which type does that the most.... very embarrassing :(

The spam seems to fall into two distinct groups:

It happens almost immediately after a post is published
It's on old posts from months, even years ago. Most of them don't get trapped by the comment moderation I've set for after 15 days... There's often a number of these coming in 1 after the other within a few seconds. It's made me wonder if LinkWithin is being used in some way to find successive posts to leave comments on.

Why is it happening? I can think of three distinct reasons:

Link sellers/spambloggers who try to establish backlinks from reputable blogs to up the Google Page Rank for their shadier offerings
Shady blogs trying to tempt the curious to click on their links (either on the comment or via their entries in the blog's stats) either just for kicks OR in the hope that a) they like what they see and make a purchase and/or b) the shady blog can download malware onto the blogger's computer. NB an example of this type is shown at the top in the above Print Screen from my Blogger stats. Whatever you do, DON'T click on any links from unknown sources when looking at your Blogger stats. That's exactly what they want you to do.
Email farming (this again is via Nitecruzr) - collecting any subsequent commenters' email addresses if they leave it in the process of commenting. Any email addresses can be then be linked with the bloggers' URLs and hackers can then look through the blogs for personal information which might possibly be used as passwords. They then use a program to go through hundreds of email/blog/personal information combinations to see if a blog can be opened into its admin area. If successful, those blogs can be hacked for all kinds of dodgy purposes. Unbelievable? Possibly. BUT I've already had an email from Google advising me of a possible hacking attempt on my blog...

Here's hoping, one day...

In the same boat? If yours is a Blogger blog, here's some options for what you can you do about it:

Make sure you mark any spam comments which have got through as spam ASAP. Don't just delete them as this doesn't give Google the opportunity to learn about new spam sources, then seek out and destroy them.
The Google Forum has a problem rollup thread which is collecting information for their spamwars. Completing the questions in relation to your spam experiences gives them much more information to go on, rather than just reporting comments as spam. I add information on there whenever I detect a change in the way spam is hitting my blog.
Add extra comment security from the blog Settings options in Blogger:

Don't allow Anonymous commenters. Stops the spam in its tracks, BUT it will also stop some of your WordPress commenters, as owing to a Blogger bug not all of them can comment using the OpenId option. If I did this I'd also stop my dear friend Lu - who has no online account -from commenting :(
Use Word Verification. Stops most of the spam in its tracks, but it hacks off an awful lot of commenters because the letters/numbers given are almost impenetrable at times
Use Comment Moderation all the time. I don't know how effective this is at trapping the spam, but seeing it's not been that effective for my posts older than 15 days setting, I'm not holding my breath. It also means that subsequent readers can't respond to your comment conversation, unless you're very quick to publish the pukka comments

Add extra comment security from the Options item in the Post settings at the individual blog post level. I do this for posts which attract spam if they're older than 3 months. It's a tip I got from Diana at Elephant's Eye - thanks Diana! I disable both the Reader comments and Backlinks options for completeness. It's a shame to disable commenting in this way, but as I rarely get any comments on a post after a month or so, it's worth it to preserve my own sanity
Install another commenting service such as Disqus. Blogher recently discussed the three most popular ones available. Personally, I loathe Disqus as it's so unwieldy and I give up commenting, no matter how good the post is. Commentluv is great, though I don't know if it's available for Blogger and I haven't used Livefyre. NB Nitecruzr has posted about the potential pitfalls of installing a third party comments service...

Picture of the other spam, for a bit of light relief - courtesy of Matthew W Jackson & wikimedia

As you can see, there are plenty of options available, but they're not entirely satisfactory. For now I'm not implementing any of the extra comment security options because I still want everyone to be able to comment. However, if the spam gets really bad again, or I'm away, you may find I've disabled Anonymous commenting for a while.

Additionally if you're worried about your blog's password (irrespective of blogging platform), change it to a strong one which is also non-personal, plus consider two-step authentication for additional security. WordPress users also need to check that their blog access doesn't include the id Admin as this is being subjected to lots of hacking attempts at the moment. If it's there change it.

Going forward I'd also like the options WordPress.com has to approve first time commenters and the ability to block specific URLs, IP addresses and words. At least that way, I can deal with the spam which I find is increasingly getting around Wordpress's Akismet...

Have you noticed an increase in spam lately? How are you dealing with it?

April is the Blog Love Month III

2013-04-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

Porch still life - Great Dixter March 2013

Week three of my version of Emma Cooper's Blog Love Challenge sees me discovering blogs which are celebrating gardens - especially theirs - as my homage to National Gardening Week.

Firstly there's Pauline from Lead Up the Garden Path, who celebrates the return of her St Patrick.
We gardeners love talking about the weather, so here's a blog which keeps tabs on gardening and the weather in Ossett, Yorkshire.
Helene has been a regular, thoughtful commenter here over the past few months, so it was lovely to discover her multiple-collage celebration of her garden this week.
Not a garden, nor a new blog (though sadly I haven't visited in ages, so it feels like a new blog again), but I had to share Val Littlewood's willow sketches from Pencil and Leaf.
A Blooms Day discovery this week is Mario and Hortus | 5 - thoughtful posts and good presentation of his beautiful images
Rosie at Leavesnbloom has some lovely, dreamlike photos of her garden in Perthshire this week
And finally, Silverpebble has opened her spring notebook :)

If you missed my discoveries for Week 1 and Week 2, follow the links to find some great blogs and posts :)

Blackbird Singing in the Middle of the Day

2013-04-19T08:30:00.000+01:00

It's not just the flowers which have woken up to spring this week at VP Gardens: at last the birds are singing strongly. I couldn't resist taking a short video of this male blackbird singing its heart out on the public land next to our house. He seems to be responding to another blackbird further away, which suggests he's probably proclaiming his territory or fitness to breed to the other males in the area.

The greenfinches have started 'zooming', a woodpecker is tapping away and the resident song thrush in our garden is my current alarm call in the morning. I've also seen reports of the first swallows arriving to these shores. As soon as I hear the chiff chaff, then my spring will be complete.

Which birds have you heard in your garden lately?

Breaking the Rules: Sprouted Lentils

2013-04-17T08:30:00.000+01:00

I've learnt recently lentils have a strong urge to keep on growing. I sprouted some as usual for my Salad Challenge, but last month's exceptionally cold weather turned our appetites away from salad.

So this batch got shoved in the fridge for a couple of days until the weather warmed up. Except it didn't and a few days turned into a few weeks :o

I knew beansprouts of the shop bought variety are grown in the dark (weighted down to keep them stumpy), but I thought the cool temperature of our fridge would stop the lentils growing. After all, the text books say a minimum temperature of around 5^oC is needed for plant growth. That puts them firmly into my Against the Odds series too ;)

The shoots are etioliated as expected, but I'm surprised the tiny leaves are green rather than the chlorotic yellow usually seen when plants grow in the dark. Perhaps the occasional burst of light as we go to the fridge for milk or whatever is sufficient for chlorophyll production?

This isn't me breaking the 'rules' this time, but my lentils are showing that once again, plants don't read the manuals ;)

It's interesting to see what's happened, though I'm playing safe and composting rather than eating these!

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The 52 Week Salad Challenge is sponsored by Greenhouse Sensation.

Note to readers: sponsorship goes towards my blogging costs and does not affect my independence.

GBBD: Blackthorn Winter

2013-04-15T08:30:00.000+01:00

We've just emerged, blinking and rather wan, from the coldest March in over 50 years. Much of the garden is only just beginning to stir into life and after a day's warmth the blackthorn - which has remained tightly in bud throughout the cold spell - has rather ironically burst into bloom.

I say ironically, because a blackthorn winter usually refers to a late cold snap in late March or early April. Had it bloomed when it seemingly wanted to last month, then I'm sure we would have seen the phrase touted regularly around the weather reports. As it is, its blossoming now serves as a warning. We may at last have some longed-for warmth, but winter could just as easily return.

The blossom gives away its Prunus heritage (it's Prunus spinosa - an apt name): such starry flowers on bare branches. A simple flower, but beautiful nonetheless. Soon the petals will be strewn across my front garden like confetti. This year the blossom is prolific, which will be good for this effect and also bodes well for sloes in the autumn.

If I have my way these particular blooms won't get to form their sloes. Like many of its Prunus cousins, blackthorn suckers prolifically. The blossom you see is right at the front of our side garden and has wormed its way through from the public land next door. If I allow these to remain - and I should have steeled my heart a couple of years ago - their next stop is through the tarmac of our drive. Don't worry, plenty of blackthorn is close by as we have a rather fine hedgerow next to the house, so we will still get to forage for sloes later on this year.

Now the real gardening season begins. There's two months work to squeeze into one, which undoubtedly applies to the flowers too. I'm expecting some unexpected flowering combinations this year :)

Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

April is the Blog Love Month II

2013-04-14T10:50:00.002+01:00

Oh to have a compost heap so tall it needs a ladder!

Week 2 of my version of Emma Cooper's April Blog Love challenge has led me to the following new discoveries:

Peonies and Polaroids - a discovery thanks to Out of My Shed as Cara was on the list for the bloggers get together at Great Dixter. Sadly we didn't get to meet, but I've enjoyed getting acquainted with her beautifully written and photographed blog instead.
The joys of the headlines from Brighton's The Argus. My favourite (not included in the link) is Bearded Woman Attacked At Crucifixion, though many seen via the link also had me crying with laughter.
Rusty Duck - I love the cheeky robin on the header photo.
Amy at Get Busy Gardening - another discovery via Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild :)
Missing Henry Mitchell - an intriguing blog name, which is succeeding in being as observant in its nature as the writer Henry Mitchell apparently was. I particularly enjoyed this week's encounter with an opossum.
The Smithsonian's science blog - I could spend days reading all of their blogs! I've settled for their account of how technology is being used to identify small areas suitable for wetland creation which can make a huge difference to flood alleviation.
In a week when so much has been said about Margaret Thatcher, Noel Kingsbury examines her legacy with regards to public open space.

You can view my discoveries for Week 1 here.

Google Reader: The Hunt for an Alternative

2013-04-12T08:30:00.000+01:00

So, farewell Google Reader.

It's served me well for over 5 years. I've kept up with around 300 blogs without going insane. I've even filed away long-gone favourites in there in the hope they'd be revived some day - and to my delight some are from time to time.

So like many others in the blogosphere I've started the work this week to see the potential impact and what needs to be done ahead of Google Reader's demise in July.

Looking at my subscription rates*, around 700 of my subscribers might go. Thanks for subscribing if you're reading this via your Google Reader BTW! So what are the options for you going forward?

I've come up with the following possibilities so far:

1. Use one of the other facilities you have to hand

I already use the Google Follow facility (as shown in my left sidebar) to read lots of blogs. It isn't just confined to Blogger blogs either as I've successfully added my WordPress and Typepad faves. This means I see the latest from everyone on my Blogger dashboard whenever I go in to write a post. In fact, I usually have a good read - and comment - before I start my own blogging! I also use the blogrolls on the right of my blog in a similar way as I have a couple of them configured to show post titles and to move them around according to what my blogging buddies are publishing.

If you're on Blogger, you could use these options. Wordpress has a Follow facility too, though I don't know whether it works in the same way as the Blogger one does. Let me know in the comments and I'll update this post :)

However, if you want to file your reading away into various categories or you don't blog, then this isn't really the option for you.

2. Sign up for posts by email or blog newsletters

Only really viable if you read a few blogs, or to catch those which are more random in their posting frequency, otherwise your inbox will get full very quickly. It's also dependent on bloggers having these facilities on their blogs. I like the flexibility Wordpress offers for its email signups as you can elect to have them on a weekly basis and on a particular day.

3. Use Twitter/Facebook

It's dependent on you using these forms of social media and the blogger tweeting or sharing their posts to them, but I do catch a fair few of my favourites (and others spotted and shared) this way. I also use paper.li to combine tweeted links into various virtual newspapers on a daily or weekly basis, which are great to catch up with over a cup of coffee. It also means I don't have to hunt through twitter to find the blog posts I've missed.

I showed you how paper.li works here. Not on Twitter, or don't want to join paper.li? You can subscribe to my Plotting Daily instead if you like :)

I'm also going to have a look at what Google+ has to offer, especially as I have a feeling it may replace Google Follow sometime... I'd appreciate your comments if you have any experience of reading blogs in this way.

4. Sign-up to another reader

The only real option if you want to continue reading blogs in a similar way to now...

The candidates available are in the dozens if not hundreds. So how to choose? I'm playing a wait and see game at the moment, but looking at the random straw polls that are my Feedburner and blog stats, I can see the following are proving to be early leaders:

Bloglovin' - and this is how Veg Plotting looks on there :)
Feedly - which claims over 3 million have switched over from Google Reader so far
Netvibes - which is also one of the options Google presents if you click on my feed button
The Old Reader - probably the closest to the Google Reader experience

From what I've read from people who've already made the switch, these all offer an easy import facility from Google Reader. I haven't got a handle on which ones work well with mobile phones though, so any information you can add would be great! The first 3 offer an app; the Old Reader doesn't but claims it works fine on mobiles.

Not impressed with my straw poll? Then read Lifehacker's more considered list of the best Reader alternatives.

Other things I'll be doing in the run up to July

Backing up my Google Reader data just in case the switch over to my new one doesn't go as smoothly as advertised. You can find out how to do that here.
Consolidating my various methods of reading blogs into fewer options!

Have you made the switch yet? Which reader did you go for, or which ones are you considering?

* = to find your subscription numbers, go into your Google Reader, then click on View all Recommendations under the Explore option (you can see this option to the left in the picture at the top of this post) and then perform a Search on your own blog name.

Update: Helen has commented Feedly doesn't support Internet Explorer, so you also need to factor in browser compatibility with your choice of new reader. She reports it works fine in Firefox, the transfer went smoothly and she prefers it to Google Reader.

Matt says he uses Apple Mail to manage his RSS feeds. He likes having feeds and emails in one place, but points out this will only work at the desktop level, which is fine for him. I also have a number of feeds showing in my stats which are associated with Macs or particular browsers - another example of making use of what you already have to hand :)

Janet has reminded me that using filters to automatically forward new posts to a separate folder is a great way to handle lots of email subscriptions. As a result it's her favourite way of keeping up with blogs. A very useful tip, thanks Janet :)

Also, don't consider using iGoogle, as this is due to go towards the end of 2013.

In the Footsteps of Plant Hunters: Borde Hill

2013-04-10T12:45:00.000+01:00

Commemorating the birth of Colonel Stephenson R. Clarke 150 years ago*. L-R we have: great grandson Andrewjohn Stephenson Clarke, RHS President Elizabeth Banks, Head Gardener (HG) Andy Stevens & Estate Manager Jonny Morris

I must confess that until a few weeks ago Borde Hill hadn't featured on my garden visiting radar. Now having gone there last week on a blowy, snowy day, I'm pleased to say it now very firmly is.

Even on a winter's day in April, Borde Hill is special. Why? Because just over a century ago, the then owner Colonel Stephenson R. Clarke was one of the major sponsors of plant hunters. The likes of Ernest Wilson, George Forrest, Reginald Farrer and Frank Kingdon Ward were despatched to bring back as many wild treasures as they could muster; particularly rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and exotic trees.

Stephenson R. Clarke was influenced hugely by the wild gardening approach advocated by William Robinson and was also an early pioneer of 'right plant, right place'. He took great care in selecting sites on his estate which closely matched the conditions under which the plants and their seed were growing at the time of collection.

For the plants this means they've often grown to their maximum potential. For the visitor it can mean quite a walk to see everything as some of the choice specimens are spread over the 200 acre estate instead of being confined to the main garden area around the house. For me it meant a supplementary trip with the Head Gardener, Andy Stevens after the main day's activities to one of the estate's woodlands to see many of the prize rhododendrons just beginning to bud up ready for their spring display :)

On our garden tour - is there a champion tree out there?

We proved ourselves a hardy lot by insisting on an extensive garden tour whilst it was trying to snow. Here Andy Stevens is explaining how the garden uses the wider views of the landscape wherever possible. That hedge line behind him marks the line of the ha-ha used as the boundary between the garden and the wider estate. Next to him is Owen from the Tree Register, whose job is to measure and confirm the UK's champion trees. Borde Hill has around 80 of them - the largest number in a private collection - thus confirming many of them were indeed planted in the right place :)

I also learned they've been digitally mapping the collection - not just the champions - but some 8,000 trees and shrubs. Whilst they have records of what's been planted, it often just cites a vague location, so this will enable the creation of a much more detailed database. I was involved in a similar project with the National Trust a while ago - who've digitally mapped 100 of their 300 gardens - and I believe this has massive potential, not only for Borde Hill's management, but also in identifying key plants of conservation (and possible propagation) value. For example some of the specimens at Borde Hill are extinct in the wild now, so the garden is akin to a giant 'Noah's ark' for these plants.

I don't mind visiting gardens on wintry days because it gives me the chance to get to grips with a garden's structure. Here we have the Italian Garden stripped down to its bare bones. I was standing under one of the champion trees when I took this photo - a bonsai-like Discaria discolor - there's a little bit of it framing the top centre of the shot.

The other aspect of Borde Hill this photo illustrates is the family's keenness to not let the garden stand still. Yes, they are very aware of the garden's heritage and history, but it doesn't stop them from changing things. Eleni Stephenson Clarke loves Italy, so this part of the garden acknowledges the memories and influence of good times spent abroad.

Elsewhere, the garden's heritage is acknowledged via an ongoing programme of replanting, some of which this year is in celebration of Stephenson R. Clarke. I saw some of the amazing correspondence on file between him, the plant hunters he sponsored and other families who were establishing plant collections in the late Victorian/Edwardian era. It was fascinating to see and will be a very useful resource for this project.

This is Jay Robin's Rose Garden, another newer part of the garden and named after the current Stephenson Clarke's eldest daughter. Studying it provides a masterclass in training and pruning roses as well as understanding I don't manure mine enough! Once again, I have walled garden envy plus a desire to see what's in the greenhouses you can just see to the left of the photo.

Closer to the house are more enclosed, intimate spaces. Some of them make use of existing landscape features such as a secret, sunken garden called the Round Dell. This was a former quarry and full of sticky clay, perfect for damp loving plants. Most of the garden is on Wealden clay, so I sympathised with Andy over its claggy nature.

I also learned Andrewjohn Stephenson Clarke is currently developing a garden app for Borde Hill's visitors. I've given him some of my ideas for how it could work and the kind of content I'd like. What would you like to see on there?

Borde Hill is poised to wake from its winter sleep and become a mass of colour as the rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias put on their display. It'll be well worth a look from then, right up to the autumn tree colours seen at the end of the season in October. My thanks go to Andrewjohn and Eleni Stephenson Clarke for their hospitality and to Andy Stevens and Jonny Morris for providing me with loads of information on the day of my visit.

This is the first post in a mini-series of snippets I have planned on plant hunting - a subject I'm keen to explore further in 2013. More to come soon :)

Update 11/4: I've just heard that Owen Johnson confirmed Borde Hill's 83rd champion tree last week: Meliosma beaniana. More info can be found on Borde Hill's facebook page.

* = the tree planted is a Styrax obassia supplied by Crug Farm Nursery from seed they collected in Japan in 2005. A rather nice connection between Stephenson R. Clarke's plant hunting sponsorship and 2 of today's modern plant hunters.

Learning to Scythe

2013-04-08T08:30:00.000+01:00

Those of you watching The Village on Sunday evenings will have seen quite a bit of scything lately courtesy of John Simm. So, it was with great timing Beth Tilston had kindly offered to teach me to scythe on Saturday. The picture shows Beth in action in the sunshine. Yay, sunshine!

I'd always thought scything must be a difficult thing to do. Well, it's not difficult, but to do it well takes some practice. After Beth's lesson I'm confident I'll get there. The key is to keep the blade low on the ground and to keep the arms relatively close to the body (as you can see in the photo) when making the cutting swing. This conserves energy (and muscles!) and makes it easier to keep the blade in the right position. Hacking away isn't the right thing to do!

The scythe is easy to assemble and much lighter than I was expecting. Though of course a light scythe makes sense when you've got a meadow to mow. We scythed in three main areas. The first was newly emergent grass (not much of this because of the recent cold weather), which was akin to trimming an area that's looked after regularly or clearing an area which has lots of fresh growth.

The second was topping (as shown in the photo) which clears off the top layer of dead grass ready to trim back fresh growth. This technique will be useful on my allotment, not only for clearing neglected areas, but also for clearing back the mounds of grass which typically appear over the winter and a regular lawn mower really struggles with. I also used this technique to clear the grass surrounding the raised beds you can just see to the right of the photo. A smaller blade was used for this latter task due to the narrow space.

We also cleared an area of brambles close to the hedge you can see in the photo. It was most satisfying. It's also interesting to see how the scythe blade is used to turn over and trace the brambles to their source before chopping them off in their prime. Beth had cleared this area a couple of times last year and noted how the brambles' re-growth is getting noticeably weaker. Ha - take that you brambles! Something to remember for those coming over to us from the public land methinks.

As well as using the blade to turn over the brambles, Beth also showed me how it can be used to pile up the scythed grass or brambles ready for disposal. All this without any bending over - much easier on the back and legs :)

Beth also showed me how to sharpen the blade. This needs to be done every 10 minutes or so. I was surprised at first, but quickly realised how right she was. When you feel your technique's got a bit rubbish, then that's the time to sharpen the blade and find all is right with the world again. The blade also needs peening from time to time. This is a special kind of hammering technique which levels the blade out again into its optimum angle for scything.

I had a fab day - Beth is a great teacher and her enthusiasm for scything has taken her to many interesting places. I could tell you lots more, but they're Beth's stories to tell, not mine.

If you live in the south-east, or are visiting the Sussex area, it's well-worth checking out Beth's website for details of her courses. She teaches individually, or in groups of 6-8, so the latter's a great option if you can get a group together. It's a rural craft that's well worth reviving; it's eco-friendly and a useful technique to have in one's gardening armoury. A scythe is the ideal partner for anyone with a wildflower meadow and how about us starting a campaign for quieter lawn mowing on Sundays?

My thanks to Beth for her time and patience and to her friend Caroline for allowing us to use her smallholding for the day. She also provided the yummy wild garlic pesto and pasta we had for lunch :)

Useful links

A great post from Beth about scything on the Guardian Gardening blog last year.
There is just one UK supplier of the Austrian scythes we used on Saturday.
If you're in or near Somerset on June 9th, then the West Country Scythe Festival and Green Fair looks well worth checking out.
The Scythe Association currently has around 100 members. More are welcome :)

April is the Blog Love Month

2013-04-07T10:30:00.000+01:00

Another excuse for a view of Great Dixter: the Sunken Garden this time :)

Emma Cooper, that all-round good egg of garden blogging has come up with a great challenge for April: spread a little blog love. I found out on Monday, because I was one of the first recipients :)

In her kick-off post Emma says:

It has been a bit of a gloomy old start to the year. The sun won’t come out and play, the NHS is being dismantled and anyone with a blog has been battling spam comments every day [too right - Ed]. Now we can’t do anything about the first, and it feels like we can’t do much about the second, but we can bring some love to bloggers everywhere (because we do love them, don’t we?) and so I am starting the April Blog Love Challenge.

Emma is commenting on 5 blogs a day, then sharing those posts back over at her blog. Hers will be a combination of old favourites and new discoveries. I've modified her challenge for my purposes because I've been trying to comment on 5 blogs a day since last November (it was my NaBloPoMo replacement). Instead, I'll be commenting on one blog a day I've not commented on before, preferably one I've not seen previously either.

I'm also sharing my discoveries on Twitter using Emma's hashtag #bloglove. I thought it would also be a good idea to have a weekly round-up of the blogs I've discovered. Hopefully it'll help me to keep up with my challenge ;)

So here goes:

First up is Alex Ramsey, whose photography I've admired for a very long time.
Leaves, Stems and Thorns - a discovery via a comment on my response to Gayla Trayle's Grow Write Guild - who writes about their first garden.
Curious? Gardener - I met Colin at Great Dixter last week and have enjoyed discovering his blog since. I commented on his post about Dicentra.
Staying with Great Dixter, we also learnt about the Christopher Lloyd Scholarship and how Maggie Tran - this year's recipient - is keeping a diary of her year at Great Dixter.
CJ from Above the River - started blogging a few days ago and left a comment for me earlier in the week :)
Ann Somerset Miles - many of you will be familiar with Ann's work already, but may not know she's blogging about Malvern in the run up to the spring show. You can catch up with what's happening via her new blog and I hope to see you at the show on Thursday.
And finally if you're a Blogger blogger, check out The Real Blogger Status. Nitecruzr aka Chuck Croll is very helpful on Google's 'Something is Broken' forum and his blog has lots of useful information about the key Blogger issues of the day.

Thanks for the Challenge Emma - may this post send good things your way! And thanks to those of you who've chosen Veg Plotting for a spot of Blog Love too :)

Have you made any great blogging discoveries recently?

Against the Odds: Lichen

2013-04-05T08:30:00.000+01:00

Here's one of my school geography lessons in action: lichens colonising our bedroom windowsill. In this context they're known as a pioneer species and as the windowsill has had no vegetation previously, this is known as a primary succession.

At school we studied this kind of colonisation on rocks and lava flows. I never expected to find it so close to home, nor happening on plastic! I wonder what kind of food the lichen is gleaning from its unusual home?

In the long term this probably isn't doing the windowsill much good, but I haven't the heart to clear it off as it's far too interesting. Many lichens are an indicator of clean air - I must look these up to see if they fall into that category.

You may also like to look at OPAL's Air Survey and the role lichens play as an indicator of clean air. Looking briefly at their lichen guide, I see the yellow lichen is a leafy Xanthoria, which is a nitrogen-loving type.

Against the Odds: an occasional series on Veg Plotting looking at plants in unexpected places.

Footnote: a few days after I scheduled this post, The Telegraph issued a photo gallery showing Digging for Victory during WWII. It includes a garden created in a bomb crater - now THAT shows gardening against the odds!