Dolichomitus-imperator wood-wasp

Spent a while yesterday watching this little beastie locating a suitable piece of cut bamboo and doing acrobatics to get it's ovipositor into the hole. Only later when I did some research did I discover this is a parasitic wood wasp and it was looking for another insect's larvae to lay its egg on so when the wood wasp larvae hatches it could burrow in and feed on the target larvae. Not nice! But I guess we all have to eat something.

Image from   http://www.natureconservationimaging.com/images/Dolichomitus-imperator.jpg

 

Snow and Rhubarb

 

 

This was our rhubarb, coming up nicely 10 days ago. We've had a couple of picks - rhubarb and custard and rhubarb fool - lovely! But today it's zero degrees and snowing! Last night I covered the rhubarb with hessian and fleece and I'm hoping it won't get zapped by the frost.

We don't force rhubarb because we don't see the need. Our rhubarb is really tasty and the early pickings are tender and sweet. But I guess if it's under a dustbin it is protected from the elements.

Forecast is for snow and frost for a few days, so Spring will definitely be on hold for a bit.

Snowdrops and crocuses

Looks like Spring is here! But still very cold overnight. 

 

2021 - A Real Winter!

2020 ended with snow and 2021 has largely followed suit. If it isn't sowing or freezing it's been pouring with rain. The ground is saturated and the green pipe and waterfall have been flowing the fastest we've seen in nearly 15 years here. 

2020 was a year for records - wettest February, hottest summer. Apparently this is the coldest January for 10 years. 

These snowy photos taken on 25th January. 

View from our back door

    Across the veg gardens from the greenhouse

 

The nets over the Brussels sprouts nearly collapsed with the snow.

All very beautiful, but difficult to get much done. There were some warm spells when I spread compost over the empty beds and did a bit of tidying up.

Planted up some big pots with potatoes - 2 in the greenhouse, 3 in the annexe conservatory, but much too cold to sprout. The pointy cabbages in the greenhouse are coming on slowly and the luttuces are hanging on. The Brussels sprouts, when not covered by snow, are doing really well and we.ve had several meals with plenty more  coming on the second planting (nearest the front on the right under the snow!). Also had a few Chantenay carrots from the greenhouse.

Brrr...Winter Snow

Last day of 2020 - and very cold. 

First snow of the winter fell two days ago and lots hasn't melted yet despite some lovely sunshine at times. Makes a change from the dreary and wet wrathe we've become accustomed to.

 

View from the kitchen on Tuesday morning

 

The veg beds yesterday morning

 

Yucca and a lily brave the cold

What's growing now

It's the back end of November. The days are shorter and the light not so bright during the daytime. Last night was the first real frost of the year.

We've eaten all the potatoes we grew this year (there's four adults in the house to feed now), only a dozen or so tomatoes ripenng on the kitchen window sill, beans and the first sowing of pointy cabbages finished. So what's left:

In the garden:

• Lots of celery - great germination and planted out about 36 seedlings which have now become a forest. We eat quite a lot in salads and stews and just to munch. I've put some in the freezer for winter cooking.
• Brussels sprouts - doing brilliantly this year. We've already had several meals and will have some tonight. There are two groups, one planted out from their modules a little later so are further behind. So we should have plenty into the new year.
• A few kale plants - looking rather sad because the cabbage white caterpillars devasted them early on, but are now pushing out a few leaves which will go in stir-fries.
• A lovely patch of rainbow chard - provided many meals already and looks like they will continue through to the spring.
• Peas - an experimental late planting in the ground where some potatoes were lifted.  They are doing surprisingly well and producing some lovely, pest-free peas, though not more than a spoonful for each of us. Lots of flowers still. Next year I'll plant a whole lot more. They are frost-resistant.
• A broad-bean sprouted in the compost - so I thought I'd give it 11 more for company. I don't usually do autumn-sowing because they come up quickly and early in the spring anyway. But we'll see. Another way of using the space after the potatoes have been lifted.
• Rhubarb - is already sprouting, so covered with a good mulch of garden compost to protect from the frost and give them a boost.

In the greenhouse:

• 5 pointy cabbages in the soil where the tomatoes were earlier - 1 Dutchman and 4 "Tinty" red ones. These have been great outside all year and these late sowings into small pots seem to love their new home.
• Two little gem lettuces remaining from two troughs sown earlier. They have been doing well all summer (outside during the warm months) with successive sowings.
  
• Two troughs of mixed lettuce seedlings
• Trough of spring onions
• Trough of Charentay carrots - small but tasty.
  
• 2 large pots each with 3 Pentland Javelin potatoes saved from this year's harvest. Planted these yesterday. I usually plant up a couple of pots just after Christmas, but the weather has been so warm (except for frost last night!) I thought I'd jump the gun and try to get some earlier spuds (especially since we've finished all the store).

In the conservatory:

We have a large, very light conservatory which isn't heated, but is warmer that the greenhouse during the cold winter months. Good for starting off seeds.

• Pot of parsley seeds. The summer outdoor sowing didn't take at all, they were rather old seeds, so hopefully these will come along better. But they are very slow-growing.
• Tray of Ailsa Craig onion seedlings.
  
• Radishes - haven't grown these for a while. All the seeds germinated and are looking happy so maybe Christmas radishes?
  

Spare bedroom:

• 7 tomato plants on the window sill! I really don't enjoy shop-bought tomatoes so would love to find a way of growing them through the winter. Last year I made (at The Shed) a planter with a trellis for growing a clematis and flowering plants and in June replenished it with garden compost. In addition to the flowers up came 7 tomato seedlings. They looked pretty healthy so I potted them up and had them in the greenhouse for a while. A couple had flowers and one had two tiny fruits.
  As the weather got colder I brought them into the conservatory, but it was too cold. So I took them upstairs where it's warm and gets more sun in the mornings. I also draped some LED Christmas lights around to give more light. Initially they produced a lot of flowers which I dutifully tickled up with my Mum's paintbrush, but they didn't take. The two tomatoes are growing steadily though! There are a few more tiny buds, so maybe.....
  
  

 

 

November flowers

 It's NO-vember - damp, grey and dark by 4 o'clock -

but there are still some flowers out there bringing a bit of colour to the scene.

Fuschias still glorious in there pots outside the conservatory.
They'll need to come indoors when it gets frosty.

Don't know the name for these. Their colourful flower spikes bloom from mid-summer onwards through the autumn.

A hellebore! They normally start to flower in january or February. Crazy seasons!

Cyclamens and sedum still flowering, though not covered in bees as they were in October.

Tomato & Chilli Chutney

At this time of year the greenhouse tomatoes are coming fast and furious in the lengthening sunshine and the chilli plants have given their all, so a wonderful way to create a reminder of summer during the winter days is this delicious chutney.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs tomatoes 
• 1 lb 6 oz onions 
• 4 cloves garlic 
• 5 small fresh chillis 
• 1lb 6 oz sugar 
• 5/8 pint vinegar 
• 6 oz sultanas 
• 2 ins piece of root ginger  or 2 tsp ground ginger 
• 2 tsp of dried marjoram or a bunch of fresh 
• 1 tsp salt 
• Couple of twists of black pepper 
• 2 tsp black mustard seed (optional)

 Method:

• Put clean jars and lids in oven at around 120C for half an hour
  
  
• Chop onions into small pieces 
• Chop garlic into tiny pieces or use a garlic press 
• Wash tomatoes, remove stalk and any hard centre
• Chop the tomatoes inc skin and pips 
• Chop chillies finely, similarly the root ginger
  
  
• Put all the ingredients into a heavy pan, preferably stainless steel. Cook on medium until the onions and tomato skins are soft then cook gently until it thickens up a bit. This may take an hour. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. It makes a fairly soft chutney.

• Put hot into the warm jars filling them up to the top and put lids on right away. (I use lids with the button that goes down when the chutney cools and stays down so you know the seal hasn’t been broken.)
  
  
• Label and store. Ready to enjoy in 2-3 weeks.

  I made a batch with 3lbs tomatoes – everything else pro-rata - and made 5 and a half 300g jars.

  Download pdf of Tomato & Chilli Chutney recipe >>

  (from my other website!)
  

   

Evening sun on the walnut trees

 

Autumn approaching

First week of September gone already. There is definitely a feel of Autumn in the air - cool wind, even when the sun shines, and earlier evenings of course. Lots of trees are showing yellowy or brown tinges and Autumn colour in the garden comes from the lords and ladies, pink autumn-flowering cyclamen, rose-hips and rose flowers. The big pink sedum, which the bees and butterflies love, is beginning to open.

View from the greenhouse across the veg plots & rhubarb

Sedum beginning to flower, rose-hips and a carpet of pink autumn-flowering cyclamen

Lords & ladies glowing proudly

Missing my Tuesday fix!

It's Tuesday and I'm missing my fix - my usual weekly session at Men and Women in Sheds in Loughborough.

Like most other activities its been put on hold because of the Covid thing, though hopefully opening again soon. See what we get up to at www.charnwoodshed.co.uk

Pottering around the garden I see some of the things I made:

Garden table and a store for all those awkward bamboos and stakes.

Staging for the strawberries and seed trays in the greenhouse.

A-frame to support climbing rose

Potatoes

Desiree potatoes harvested August

2020 has been a pretty good year for potatoes. As usual in Jan and Feb I started several pots in large containers in the conservatory and then several more in big pots and compost bags in the greenhouse. They provide a tasty early crop before the outside potatoes are ready. Santes, Desitees, Robintas saved from last year and some shop-bought organics that had started sprouting.

The rather wet spring meant the potatoes went in late March and end of April, not quite as early as I'd have liked. But even then we had a light frost in May which knocked back the early growth a bit.

First plantings were Orla and Pentland Javelin - both white earlies - followed  a couple of weeks later by the Desirees. I bought fresh seed potatoes for the Orlas and Pentland Javelins and some Desirees, but I also used some Desiree tubers saved from last year. 

As well as these deliberate plantings a reasonable number of what we call "feral" potatoes emerge from the vegetable beds where potatoes or bits even have been missed when we harvested last year. These actually provide some useful additions to the crop.

After harvesting I let them dry off for a couple of days, well covered with thick cardboard to prevent them going green. Then I sort into small or damaged ones - which go into the kitchen cupboard to be used right away - and good, medium and large ones which I store in sealed cardboard boxed in the garage (nice and cool). Wine boxes are great because the inside cardboard bottle spacers keep the potatoes apart and prevent any mould or rot spreading.

Very little by way of underground damage, worms ir slugs. There are some decent-sized Desirees that I'm looking forward to baking.

Carrots

Royal Chantenay carrots

I've never had much success growing carrots. I've tried sowing them direct in the veg plots and I've tried in large pots. This year I sowed some Royal Chantenay carrot seeds in the green plastic troughs that we used to use as window boxes with geraniums in the summer. They are just the right size and the Chantenays don't need a great depth because they are small conical-shaped carrots. I raised the trough up on a double row of bricks to get them above carrot-fly range (so far so good!).

The carrots are delicious! Excellent steamed or gently microwaved. So two days ago I sowed another batch. Jo Hashman (Dirty Nails) suggested a late sowing was worthwhile, especially in a container that could be taken into the greenhouse when the weather gets wintery. I'll let you know how it goes!

On-the Plot - a week-by-week journal wandering through his garden with hints and tips and philosophical musings.

Bats

Went for a gentle saunter "around the block" this evening and walking along the footpath down from the Rec I was delighted to see a couple of bats.

I got back home about 10pm, made a cup of coffee and sat outside the greenhouse for a while. Several bats out hunting. Seemed to be two types, small and slightly larger.

A couple of nights ago I met a couple looking out over the meadow at the bottom of the road by the brook. They had a device that slows down the frequency of the bat calls so humans can hear them. They identified different bat species by their calls.

Good to know the bats are still around after the building up at the old school and at Yew Tree House.

Around the vegetable plots

After the frantic Spring digging, sowing, planting out, the vegetable garden is producing the goods.

Everything seems to be coming along nicely, even the runner beans are catching up after suffering from frost, slugs and rabbits. This year I've been careful to protect the sprouts and cabbages from butterflies and pigeons, using frames made from plastic cable ducting and fine-guage netting. The cable-ducting was an idea picked up from the garden at the Men & Women in Sheds at Loughborough.
 

Middle bed has peas, broad-beans, celery, cabbages, brussels sprouts
- and poppies

Through the poppies - view of broad beans, coming to the end now,
and across to the walnut trees and up to the old school.

Celery doing really well - and tasty!
First time we've tried growing celery, but the shop-bought stuff is full of chemicals.

RH bed with rhubarb, horseradish, potatoes and runner beans on the frame at the top

Goldcrest

Beautiful sunny morning - Spring is here!

and a tiny Goldcrest tapping on the window. He (or she) was feeding off the small aphids that are already covering the climbing rose around our front door.

I have never seen a goldcrest here before - only seen the pictures in bird books. Hope he brings his friends.

Walnut Trees

What to do with Walnuts

We have two walnut trees at the top of our garden. When we arrived in 2006 they were fairly modest, quite dainty trees. Now they are very large.

They don't come into leaf until June and have shed all by mid October so they must have pretty efficient constitutions.

We have had a few nuts in previous years but this year they have gone crazy. I've picked up off the floor 3 buckets-full and could probably find more in the long grass and under the raspberries. We were told by the previous owners of Froggarts Cottage that they aren't English walnuts, I think she said Italian. The leaves are thinner than English walnuts and the nuts inside the hulls are ridged lengthwise rather than rippled and smooth as the English nuts are.

Thought I better do a bit of research to find out what I can do with all these nuts. Turns out they are likely to be American Eastern Black walnuts."junglans nigra".  They have smaller kernels which are tricky to get out, which is what we've found with ours.

Earlier in the year when the first nuts formed I tried pickling some but haven't yet tried eating them. For pickling walnuts need to be under-ripe with the inside shell still soft. Problem is the nuts grow high up so if this appears to be a good use we'll have to use the tall ladders to reach them.

Once they have fallen from the tree Googling suggests bashing the green hulls with a wooden mallet and peeling off by hand. Will need to wear gloves because they stain fingers black.

Spring?

The warm weather continues - 15deg C and sunny today. The nights are cold and a big, bright moon - but no frost thankfully.

Its tempting to start sowing, but we've been caught like that before! However, broad beans are frost resistant and its good to get them going early. Sowed 8 pots of 6 beans in each. They should be fine  in the unheated greenhouse. These are seeds saved from last year's harvest - masterpiece green longpod.

The peas I sowed a couple of weeks ago have just started shooting also the Navarro lettuce and the Bedford onions in trays in the conservatory.

Start of the year

We've had unseasonably warm weather for a week or so and its due to continue for a few more days. Mind you, along with balmy sunny days we've had some early morning frosts. The rhubarb that was beginning to shoot nicely has got zapped a bit. but it will recover.

The snowdrops are a joy - bringing elegant brightness to the borders and all over the lawn.

Trying to get an early start with potatoes in the last few days of December I planted up 2 large pots of Pentland Javelins, saved from last year's harvest, and have them in the conservatory. It's too cold up in the unheated greenhouse. They have just started to show some green shoots. Last weekend I potted up some shop-bought Maris Pipers that had gone a bit green and were displaying some impressive shoots. They were not fit to eat but may make some nice new potatoes around May before the outdoors ones are ready.

I've also sowed onions and lettuces in trays in the conservatory.  The lettuces over-wintered in the greenhouse have pretty much finished.

So the seasons move on. This will be our 14th summer at Froggarts Cottage.

Lettuces

This year the lettuces have been quite successful.

I sowed Little Gem and Navarra (curly, red-tinged leaves) in trays in the greenhouse.

Mainly because of lack of space in the veg plots I decided to plant out the seedlings into some green troughs which had held bulbs and winter flowers.  I have to say that apart from a couple of complete losses of the small plants right at the start they have grown well and provided the kind of small young tender lettuces we like.

I came across this article about an experiment the RHS did to test out theories about popular anti-slug remedies. .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45652170

Their conclusion is that none work - but that growing lettuces in pots reduced the damage. That's definitely my experience. I think that with the very dry summer the plastic troughs helped to retain moisture and it was easier to water them anyway.

I did two batches this year and both have worked well so will definitiely do this again next year. I may try and keep some going in the greenhouse during the winter.

See also "Do slugs drink beer?" July 2016 post >>