What I did during my break

Well this won't do!  Nothing posted in my 'garden diary' since last September? I've no idea where the time's gone and there are no excuses; just a blur of family and friends visiting, working weekends on dementia events, Christmas with the family and friends and to top it all I picked up some sort of cold bug which lingered around for 3 - 4 weeks.

I did manage to spend some time in the garden though.....just to maintain some form of sanity!

The log store was completed, with help from my neighbour (very handy living next to a builder!). We used lengths of wood from the cut fence to make the posts and sides and palettes were used as the base.  My neighbour put a roof on and covered it with roof felt and I had a piece of tarpaulin which now hangs down over the store to help keep out the south westerly rain.  Not the most attractive cover but at least it does the job.

I bought a blueberry (Spartan) and a couple of raspberry bushes (Autumn Bliss) last autumn so the fruit cage was brought out of its box in the shed and finally erected.

My first year of growing vegetables was an interesting one - more of a 'taster' session than anything. I just wanted to see what grew and what didn't, what was easy and what was time-consuming.  The beetroot, peas, leeks and rhubarb did well.  The carrots and parsnips came up small and wouldn't have looked out of place in a 'strange-shaped vegetable' competition! No onions or beans showed themselves...don't know whether the seeds were eaten or something else got to them, but I'm not deterred and will try again this year.  However, I won't be bothering with the brassiceae this year.  They need much more space than I have for them at the moment and it's a lot of time and effort producing such large plants that produced so little - well, in my garden at least.  Maybe I'll have a go in another year or so but not this year. At least that will leave me room to try growing something else.  My pumpkins didn't amount to anything either.  I got three really good little fruits on the go and then suddenly they just disintegrated.  I have no idea what caused it.  The mildew on the leaves didn't spread, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate them.

Indoors, the kitchen became the wine-making HQ as I went on a frenzy to make enough for Christmas presents. In the end 11 bottles of  elderberry, 6 bottles of carrot and 6 bottles of sloe wine were labelled and wrapped as gifts - making Christmas a lot cheaper this year.  At the family Christmas there was a little tasting session of all of them and everyone said that the carrot was the best - yay! Personally I prefer the sloe but, although drinkable, I think it will be better in another month.

Not wanting to follow the norm, I named all my wines:  Old Fogey, Tortoise Tipple and Donkey's Treat.  I'll leave you to work out which one is which! I also added my own personal labels; lots of feathers, glitter etc. Well, I try to be creative.

Following on from that I've recently bottled the last wine;  It's called Squingah and is a mixture of......well, answers on a postcard please.............It should be ready to drink around May time.

Elderberry fermenting nicely

Not the best picture; it's paler and
less cloudy in real life!

Squinjah!

So, goodbye 2011 and hello 2012!

Seeing as how Cornwall has had the least amount of snow compared to the rest of the country (I think there was a light dusting over Bodmin Moor) I've been able to get into the garden this weekend and begin the process of tidying up and preparing for this year's work.

The first thing I had to do was put a bark path alongside the log store. We may not have suffered the snow but the amount of rain we've had turned the earth path into a quagmire.  Later in the year I might improve it by turning it into a gravel path.

The raised beds have had some attention.  I've added compost over the top and hopefully the worms will do the rest.  Black plastic sheeting over the top should help keep them warm until planting begins.  The rhubarb was beginning to come up again (like so many other plants in the garden convinced spring is here) so I've popped a black bucket over it. I'm not convinced we're over the frosty period just yet so I've also lain straw around the base of the apple trees.  I didn't let them fruit last year so I'm looking forward to a good crop this year.

The rhubarb and soil protected against frost

The False Spirea thinks it's spring already!

Unfortunately, time got the better of me this winter and I've left it a bit late to get any decent amount of hedge-laying done.  Instead I began filling in some gaps in the hedge this weekend using hazel coppiced in winter 2010.  Snedding the branches and making stakes is possible now that I've bought myself a double-bladed billhook. I love my garden tools!

A natural fence underway using coppiced hazel

So now it's time to start thinking about what to plant this year.  All the inner cardboard from toilet and kitchen rolls have been saved over the months and are now making themselves useful as seed pots.  Today, I started off rocket 'runway'and spinach 'Samish F1' (I sowed seeds straight outside last year but got nothing) alongside tomato 'Sweet William F1' and some mixed leaf 'Spicy Oriental'.

cardboard rolls recycled as seed pots

Carrots, parsnips, beetroot and red onion will be attempted again this year along with chard and swede.  There's space for me to add another couple of beds and I'm tempted to just dig a couple of plots straight in the ground this time instead of raised beds.  It'll be interesting to see if the rabbits take any notice; they don't seem to have bothered to come that far down the garden.  Perhaps Jasper has something to do with that!

Well, that's enough for this evening.  Now that I'm 'back in the saddle' I'll do my best not to fall off again!

Autumn is a-comin'

So:

• The carrot wine is bottled 
• Elder tree has been stripped of berries (not by me!)
• The log store framework is underway
• Hazelnuts have been collected
• The borders are almost tidy
• Compost pile no. 2 is breaking down nicely
• No sign of the rocket or spinach I planted
• Rabbits are trying to dig back into the wild area at the top of the garden
• Pumpkin fruit have been de-cluttered

Carrot wine
After a little taster and the addition of a tad more sugar the wine is bottled and sitting in the rack ready for Christmas.  It's a little sweet for my taste, but it would have been too sharp without the additional sugar. But wow, does it have a kick!  The difficulty now is keeping my hands off it until Christmas, although hiding it in the cupboard under the stairs does help.

       

Elderberries
Unfortunately for me, my elder tree produced most of its berries on the side that overhangs my neighbours garden. Fortunately for me, I have lovely neighbours and they were happy for me to pop round anytime and pick the berries.  Unfortunately for me, by the time I got round there early last week, the tree had been picked clean already............by the birds! Not to worry, a short trip this weekend to nearby Respryn with my neighbour Sue and her two girls brought in great rewards with 5 freezer bags full (just over 6lbs) of elderberries.  Just some large bags of sugar required and I'll be starting it later this week.

I've also been keeping an eye on the sloes in the hedgerow at work; they're in abundance this year.  I know you're supposed to wait until there's been a frost before you pick them but, to be honest, we don't tend to get frosts down here until later in winter so I'm just going to wait until they feel soft and I'll pick them; not for sloe gin, but to have a go at sloe wine.  There's also a recipe in my CJJ Berry book that says 2/3 elderberry and 1/3 sloe makes a good wine - possibly 6 bottles of elderberry and 6 of elderberry & sloe wine this year then?



Log store
I've had some much appreciated help from Sue's husband this past week, in getting the log store underway. A couple of weekends ago, I started by clearing, levelling (which also included removing enough soil to fill 7 wheelbarrows) and compacting the ground only to then remember that I'd lent my saw to a friend and couldn't proceed with installing the support posts.  In steps Carl with his trusty saw, hammer and nails and up go the posts and 2/3 of the roof.  There's only the side slats to put in - I'll be using the wood left over from when the fence was cut down earlier this year - and a cover for the front to be found (I'm thinking along the lines of heavy tarpaulin) and it'll be finished. Hurray!

Hazelnuts
Well I've managed to get enough to make what I call my 'winter cookies' this year; the filling is white chocolate, cranberry and hazelnuts.  It's popular amongst family and friends.  If I remember I'll post the recipe when I make them. Thankfully, the strong winds of the last week have helped by shedding loads of nuts into the garden; saving me the trouble of having to reach up into the trees in my hedge to try and get at those 'just out of reach' ones.  There's about 12oz (340gms) in the dish so far; I'd like to get a full 1lb (450gms) if I can.....just a few more windy days might help.

Border plants
I've been far too ashamed to show any images of my lawn borders recently; for fear of being accused of cruelty to plants or neglecting my gardening duties. So the last couple of weeks, I've been out after work on the odd pleasant evening and tidied them up.  The Forget-Me-Nots have gone mad this year and it's about time they were replaced with something less invasive, so I've been clearing them out (I know I won't get them all this year) to make space for something with an autumn/winter interest. I've also been dead-heading the Siddalcea, the Herb Marsh Mallows and the Glory-of-the-Snow but left the seed heads of the Alliums on for a little longer; I rather enjoy the silvery grey colour in the garden this time of year.

Weeding has been a big problem as the weather's been ideal for weeds and I've struggled to keep on top of it. But I'm finally managing to get around the borders one bit at a time. I'm using the last of the compost from Pile no. 1 as a layer of mulch on top of the border soil; I hope it will help to keep them down. Talking of compost........

Compost
Pile no. 2 is breaking down nicely; I bought an 'activator' to help speed up the process and it's worked a treat - just wish I could remember the name of it now!  Once I've used the rest of Pile no. 1 on the borders I'll be starting it over again.  There's still a couple of bags of horse manure that have been breaking down for 12 months and they'll go on the raised veg beds soon enough.  Should all help towards a good growing season next year.

Rocket and spinach
Of which there has not been a peep! Maybe I did leave it a little too late to plant the seeds, but I was hoping for at least some small leaves around now.  Never mind, keeping a record of things like this will help me to do better next time.

Those damn 'wabbits'
Ok so some of it's my fault, I haven't managed to get up the top of the garden and strim away the rest of the overgrown area.  As a result, on taking a walk up there the other evening I discovered a freshly dug hole in the ground. Now it was heading towards the hedge and my neighbour's garden on the other side (not Sue and Carl's garden) so I didn't feel too bad about digging it back in as there's probably other entrances on his side of the garden.  But it does mean that if we get a dry evening this week (not looking hopeful I have to say) then I'm going to have to get up there with the strimmer and clear it down to the ground and check for other potential 'digs'.  Oh, and I'll be having a serious word with Jasper as well - obviously not the great rabbit killer he made himself out to be last year!

Pumpkins
These have developed around 6 small fruit and there are still some flowers developing.  So, I've taken all but two fruits off so far and raised them above the ground to prevent them from rotting.  The plant will need to be helped along with some tomato feed now.  The mildew (see previous post 'Future fruits' dated 28th August)  that appeared on some leaves doesn't seem to have spread since I sprayed with the mixture of Bicarbonate of Soda and water, so fingers crossed...........!

Future fruits

I've begun another bout of digging. This time it's the area next to the shed which I'm prepping for the installation of a fruit cage and a couple more raised beds. The jury's still out on what fruit to grow yet but I'm toying with the idea of having a Boysenberry. I only came across this fruit recently; we bought some for the care home garden because it doesn't have any thorns. A little different from the usual berries, it's a cross between a blackberry, raspberry and loganberry. Well I'll give it a go once the cage is up and see what happens. Perhaps I'll plant a blackcurrent and a couple of blueberries with it. I'll have to check the size of the fruit cage before I go shopping!

I'm making the most of this productive mood and have also started clearing the ground on the other side of the shed to make room for the log store. Maybe it's because I'm beginning to feel like summer is coming to an end and occasionally my thoughts are turning to autumn and winter.  It's time to look into getting some logs delivered. Two more pallets have been retrieved from work to provide the base and there are some large posts and planks of wood left over from when the fence was reduced which I'll use to make the slatted sides. It's a good job it's a Bank Holiday weekend; I'm grateful for the extra day.

As far as the vegetable garden goes, all the peas are now bagged and in the freezer, the last of the beetroot have been cooked and sliced and I've cleared the spaces and planted a small row of rocket and another of spinach.  The spinach will only produce small leaves at this time of year but I do love them in a salad.

The pumpkin I planted back in July is doing well but has developed mildew on the leaves.  A quick search on the internet has revealed a couple of non-chemical solutions. One is to mix 1/4 ounce of baking soda in a gallon of water and the other is a 50:50 mixture of milk and water.  I'll try the baking soda solution first and see if that helps.  I'm informed that the mildew doesn't affect the fruit but if it kills the leaves off then the fruit could get sun-scorched without the protection.

What else has been happening? Well, I've added a few more plants to the borders around the lawn; a couple of Gypsophyla, a Lantana and a Dahlia.  The Forget-Me-Nots are being removed as well as most of the Aquilegia.  They were very helpful in filling in the borders in the early days but are taking over now so it's time to replace them with more variety.

Oh and the carrot wine is finally away from the starting blocks. It's almost ready to have it's first syphoning.  But I must admit, it's an odd colour!  I expect only time will tell with this one.

Hopefully it'll be ready for Christmas and
will taste better than it looks

I've also been given a bag full of windfall apples by a friend and I'm wondering if I should get some apple wine on the go as well.  It's all down to the amount of equipment I have - which isn't much - and the fact that the elderberries are ready to be picked, both from my tree in the garden and from one at work so there's an opportunity to make several gallons of elderberry wine this year.   Decisions, decisions.

A little note to end on........I've accidentally stepped on several green hazelnuts lying on the ground in the garden recently.   I wasn't sure if you could eat them 'green' but have found a few tasty-looking recipes so I'll be out foraging along the hedge tomorrow and trying these recipes out.  It won't be long before the race against the squirrels begins to see who gets to the ripened one first; I think I can predict the outcome of that in advance!