Prepping the garden at the start of spring

"How goes the work?" is a favourite phrase from the Farmer Duck book. Having read the book numerous times to small children, it's become a rhetorical question - a sort of milestone to judge progress - or maybe just a pat on the back - that gets asked when I've spent time working in the garden ... or elsewhere. 

The answer after yesterday's toiling in the soil, is Yes, the work is underway.  But there's still a lot to do, especially in the veg garden. 

Yes, this IS the 'veg' patch - covered in self seeded pollinator attracting flowers. 

Having spent most of last year ignoring the veg patch garden (no time, no tap, dry summer, excessive heat, dry water butts), it was all just too much overwhelm. So much easier to buy food from the shops. 

But that's missing the point, for me anyway.  The satisfaction gained from ticking off a long list of jobs to do is huge.  Plus the excitement of watching seeds become leaves become veg become something tasty. And just being outdoors, working, watching, listening - it's hard to beat, especially when the sun is shining and bees are buzzing.

So do we see the garden as hard work ... or ongoing surprise, gently unfolding? 

I guess it depends.  I'm trying to be realistic about what I can get done in the time I have.  Work/Life balance as they say.

An egg box of chitted potatoes, broad bean seeds and onion sets stared accusingly at me every time I opened my car boot (aka the travelling shed).  I'd put them there so they were available to plant whenever I had five minutes to spare. Hah! - who am I kidding! (It was definitely not a five minute job.) 

So I finally cleared my diary for a day to be spent in planting, digging (yes, I know ... No Dig, etc, but I have to break up the lumps in my clay based soil), and sowing seeds.  No distractions - well, nearly none but a small yellow breasted Great Tit popped in now again to feast on bugs.  Hard to resist standing still to watch.  

It was glorious.  

The sun peeked out occasionally, as did the rain clouds, but I was determined not to lose focus. I worked and worked and then when I knew I'd exhausted my energy levels, I worked some more - fetching a can of water and sowing a few rows of beetroot and carrots before closing the garden for the evening.

The potatoes were planted in the space where I had grown Jerusalem Artichokes.  Just to be certain, I dug over the patch again just in case any tiny moochers had escaped my previous forensic excavation. They had ...

... and all starting to sprout.  

I'm tempted to replant a fair few - this time in a raised bed so that they're more controllable. They are delicious after all! 

But I also have a small bag of Dwarf Jerusalem Artichokes given to me by Suttons at the Garden Press Event earlier this year.  These are allegedly less invasive than the ones I've grown in the past - obviously a popular choice as they're now sold out online.  Mine are now planted in a marked bed; it will be interesting to see how they grow and taste, but I'm most curious to see if they flower! 

And just in case they don't, I'm pushing a few sunflower seeds in as well. Not in the same spot though!

What's Next?  Back to the seed box, clearing weeds in the Veg Trug garden and filling those water butts as there's dry days ahead (allegedly).

It's all go! 

I'm late, I'm late ... (as the White Rabbit said)

There are buds on my Fritillaria imperialis, the tulips are flowering, violets are awash with purple scented flowers and here in London, a week of fine weather is forecast!  I’m allowing myself to believe that spring has arrived. 

It's time to get on with important gardening stuff, like sowing seeds and planting potatoes (probably should have done that already) but I haven't yet. Hence, late. Will it matter? I'm not sure.

The Spring Equinox is next weekend and so far I’ve spent more time deciding what to grow this year than actually sowing seeds.  March is usually a very busy time with a few seed packets lined up in readiness (chillies, leeks, peppers, tomatoes) but, forgive me for pointing out the obvious, weather has been up one day and then sliding back down to unfavourable weather conditions the next. Woe is the gardener (me) with no greenhouse or clear windowsills.

But never one to admit defeat, I've ordered a couple of LED lit propagators to remedy the lack of light. These are also self-watering from a water well underneath which allows seeds to soak up just enough water - how cool is that. That should prevent the over zealous watering of tiny seeds. I'm irrationally excited by this and, if anyone is interested, will monitor indoor progress of said tiny seeds.

When it's cold, grey and damp outside, with no respite in sight, it's hard to drum up the enthusiasm to get outside. It never used to bother me, I must be getting old! A whiff of sunshine however will do the trick, if only there was more of it. I'll regret writing that if we have another relentlessly scorching summer. 

In the meantime though, there is food to be had from the neglected veg garden. The 4 year old Purple Sprouting Broccoli is reliably sending up tasty looking shoots and the last of the Cavolo Kale needs to be picked before it flowers. I'm wondering if the flowers are edible? No doubt I'll be nibbling a few on my next foray into the Veg Patch.  

And the Red Champagne rhubarb is looking healthy. Last year I moved it from under the apple tree where it had produced very few tiny stalks last year; it's now in a more open space and flourishing. That gives me the excuse (hardly needed) to dust down my Rhubarb Crumble cake recipe - if it's got fruit in it, it goes towards my 5-a-day, right?

Until next time, happy gardening!

Caro x

Fresh Fungi! Easily grow mushrooms at home

Review: Merryhill Mushroom kits.

Ad. Gifted mushroom kits, words are mine. 

My Dad was a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy and, as such, had access to the airfields at Culdrose in Cornwall.  One of my earliest childhood memories is of Dad taking me and my siblings out on those airfields in the misty early mornings to forage for field mushrooms for breakfast ... 

Show me a small child who doesn't love going out with a parent on a treasure hunt! It was a weekend treat to look forward to and inspired a life long love of mushrooms and being outdoors in nature.

So when I was asked if I would trial a couple of home growing mushroom kits, the answer of course was yes.  This is how it worked out for me as a total novice - mistakes, corrections and successes. 

(Disclosure: I was sent the kits for review and have not been paid.)

A large box duly arrived from Merryhill Mushrooms a couple of weeks later.  The outer packaging had a clear instruction to 'Open Immediately', which I did. Inside were two boxes, one primed to grow Lion's Mane and the other producing the more familiar white mushroom, and a set of clear notes on setting up them up ... including starting the Lion's Mane off as soon as possible.  (Somehow I overlooked this important fact - I blame Christmas.)

Mistake number one: I gave the notes a cursory glance and popped both boxes to one side on a shelf, earmarking them as a project for the new year.  My bad, the Lion's Mane was primed and ready to grow!

This was discovered a week later when I spotted the first fruits emerging, unaided. 

Oops.

This was swiftly and easily remedied. The box just needed humidity, a constant temperature (10℃ - 20℃) and an indirect light source to thrive.   

All was easily remedied by setting the box up in the large plastic bag supplied, together with moist wads of kitchen towel to create a damp environment, and importantly, keeping those towels moist by squirting them with water twice a day - necessary to combat the occasional blast of central heating, even though my flat is usually around 17℃.

Mistake number two:  To my way of thinking, humidity is created when a space is warm and damp. I couldn't stop the plastic bag from flopping inwards over the mushrooms so used small paper clips to create a canopy around but away from the box sides. I have since learned from watching Ben of GrowVeg YouTube channel that he used chopsticks to hold his bag up; wish I'd thought of that.  

Wrong!

I still had to regularly pull the plastic upright and away from the mushrooms (important that the bag is kept clear) so discarded my Heath Robinson tactics after learning from Merryhill's customer service team that the mushrooms need a fresh exchange of air to thrive, ie. keep the bag open at the top! 

Some of the mushrooms had started to develop a pinkish coral like texture. Again, Customer Service proved helpful in reassuring me that this was probably due to lower light levels and that the fruits were still perfectly edible. 

Success! 

From then on, it was easy.  

The mushroom box was moved to a slightly brighter position, the bag was kept upright and open above the level of the box, the kitchen towels were kept damp - and away from the sides of the box - and beautiful 'lion's mane' teeth grew.  

I'm holding these upside down and probably should have picked them a bit sooner.
The slight yellowing is my fault because of earlier mistakes. 

Within a few short weeks I was able to carefully lift off a big handful of mushroom. Lion's Mane has quite a meaty texture and absorbs flavour really well.  MerryHill recommend cooking slices with butter and garlic; I fried mine with olive oil and soy sauce which proved very tasty! 

Storage:

Any mushrooms not used straightaway can be stored in a paper bag in the fridge for up to a week. Alternatively, they can be dried in a dehydrator or very low oven and stored in an airtight jar for future use. 

Benefits:

As if taste wasn't reason enough to eat Lion's Mane, this fungi is reputed to boost brain power, memory, mood, mental health, immune system, support heart health and is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. Wow. 

I also thought that a kit would be an intriguing present for a curious child as it's quite fun to watch the mushrooms grow .. so, educational with a sense of anticipation, just the sort of thing I'd have given my (now adult) son in his formative years. 

Recycle:

And when the last fruit has been harvested, what to do with the compost?  Recycle it! Fellow mushroom growers on YouTube tell of breaking the blocks up and burying lumps of spent compost in their garden soil or raised beds.  It boosts the health of the soil and may even produce more mushrooms in the months ahead. 

So, to summarise:

• Easy to grow. Pay attention to setting up the kit for ambient light, moisture and temperature.
• The kits don't take up much room.
• Everything you need is in the box except for a spray bottle. 
• Lion's Mane has excellent health benefits. 
• Just in case, there's a helpful and friendly customer service via email or phone.
• It's a good way to try unusual mushrooms like Oyster, Shiitake or Lion's Mane.
• Would make a useful and fun gift for both adults and (supervised) children.
• A fun way to watch mushrooms grow!
• And a bonus boost for your soil or compost heap if you have a garden.

My kit was supplied by Merryhill Mushrooms who are a family-run business based in Sussex, UK. 

https://www.merryhill-mushrooms.co.uk/ 

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PS. British chef Jamie Oliver made a delicious looking autumnal curry using his home-grown mushrooms, some from MerryHill mushroom kits.  Watch from 15 minutes into the programme on the link below. 

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamie-what-to-eat-this-week/on-demand/74532-003

Reset! The garden awakes and so do I

What a difference a day makes! The first thing I do every morning (even before coffee) is to look out of the window at the sky and my garden area below.  

Just a basin of bulbs popping up

Yesterday it was predictably another day of grey skies and rain. Today, the garden seemed to sparkle under the early morning weak sun. Hurrah!

The sky shows promise of a good dry day ahead, perhaps even a hint of sun. Days like this lift my mood instantly - the potential to get things done and, even now in early February, there are seeds to sow (sweet peas, chillies, peas for balcony pots) and beds to mulch ready for this year's veg and flower seeds.

But first, I have to apologise for neglecting this blog and, in part, the gardens.  I had every intention of returning to a regular writing schedule last year but, as you can see, it didn't happen. There were just too many distractions in the real world not least of which was a neighbour who wanted my* garden cleared of plants and shrubs so that he could sit on a bench in the sunshine.  All this despite him having a south facing balcony.  

(* garden areas here are allocated to any tenant who wants to look after them so, strictly speaking, not my garden but land belonging to the housing association who have allowed me to take responsibility for it.)

The garden in question was one I have been custodian of during the past eighteen years. I have dug, chopped, reclaimed, redesigned and planted. It has plants brought back from my mother's garden after she died ... so, no, I was not going to let it go easily and stated my case.  The garden is now firmly back under my control. Whew.  (Sorry but, wow, that felt good getting that off my chest!)

It's the start of a new season but allow me a brief look back over last year. 

There were far too many failures in the veg garden - newly planted peas and kale were munched, tomatoes didn't ripen in time or were hit by blight, herbs languished, carrots didn't plump up ... shall I go on? And I spent most of my time helping others in their gardens to the detriment of my own spaces. And, yes, I did get totally sidetracked by flowers while my planted veg were decimated by heat, drought, slugs or just sheer neglect. 

But, as they say in Moominland ...

My gardening mantra

So ... slug defences at the ready (beer traps not pellets), seed box sorted (fresh seeds only), and compost bought.  Weeds have been tackled on a regular basis, perennials like gooseberries and roses have been pruned, strawberries have been tidied, lots of self seeded plants (foxgloves, calendula, forget-me-nots) are gradually being transplanted or ruthlessly cleared to make space for future veg.  

I still have to sort out my Hotbin composter; that was another sadly neglected area last year and any compost left in there is likely to be anaerobic now and too acidic.  But it's definitely worth saving; in the past (yes this has happened more than once, oops), I've spread the compost out on top of one of the beds and then tickled it in after a few days with no disastrous results.  In fact, I've read elsewhere that plants such as squash thrive on it.  Sounds exciting!

So, whether you're new to this blog or a returning reader, will you join me on my journey this year? 

Caro x

Nature abhors a vacuum

It seems such a short while ago that I donned thermal layers to weather the cold outside and watched not very patiently for signs of growth in the garden. At last we had some warm hot weather, a tad earlier than expected while the veg patch was still in spring mode, covered in forget-me-nots and daffodils. 

It looked wonderfully frothy ... mainly because it was too early to plant anything. 

Move on a few weeks and I now have to steel myself to ruthlessly remove (some of) the flowers in order to make space for some veg. The forget-me-nots can be pulled out once they've seeded themselves (thank you May winds) but the calendula, linaria and foxgloves will be keeping the bees and pollinators happy for a bit longer. 

I did actually make a start clearing and mulching this area in late winter ... tidying the strawberries, removing some of the raspberry canes that had crept too close to the path, and digging up last year's Jerusalem artichokes (somewhat optimistically hoping that I did actually find them all). 

And having waited patiently for the gentle warmth of spring - ie keeping late March or April in mind to start sowing seeds - a tiny heatwave jump started the heat of summer and denied us any much needed April rain. The hosepipe came out, the water butts were topped up. 

The result? A veg patch of self sown forget-me-nots, calendula, linaria, foxgloves, feverfew, ox-eye daisies and a host of identifiable weeds.  And a windowsill at home full of veg waiting to be planted out. 

On the plus side, the quince tree canopy has spread providing a nice shady spot for spinach. At least, that was the plan but when I walked around the patch this morning, a small meadow seems to have sprung up in the shade of the quince. Very pretty but oops. 

It all looks rather beautiful to my mind - I absolutely adore the zingy oranges, peppermint pinks and purple hues - and love the sounds of bees making the most of this early season bounty.  I admit I've spent more hours admiring the flowers than working in this plot.  

But now it's time. The forget-me-nots are starting to seed all over the garden for next year, last year's pink chard and Cavolo kale have finished and need to be removed, as does the garlic that never bulbed up. 

And, no, I didn't get all the sunchokes out, there seems to be a fair amount of those popping up again. Oops. (But maybe not.)

Tulips and a grand Day Out in Sussex

Spring is such an exciting time and every day there's something new to see in the garden. But there was extra excitement for me this past week as this town mouse went to the Sussex countryside on a day trip to Gravetye Manor.  

Gravetye is the historical home of William Robinson, a renowned gardener/writer of the late Victorian era who pioneered wild gardening during a period when formal bedding-plant style prevailed. Gravetye Manor is now run as a rather grand hotel and Michelin starred restaurant but Robinson's gardens have been maintained in keeping with his ideas on natural beauty. As expected, they are a visual delight all year round.

Why was I there? Well, the occasion was a talk from award winning garden designer Jo Thompson about her latest book 'The New Romantic Garden'. This was followed by a delicious lunch* and a stroll around the gardens where thousands of tulips, euphorbia, forget-me-nots and fern-leaved Sweet Cicely gave that spring sparkle to the borders in the Flower Garden.

I'm rather envious as my own stalwarts of spring, the hefty amount of tulips planted in previous years, have more or less vanished. There's a reason for this as I was to learn. Allegedly the tulips that can be bought in bulk from the nursery or garden centre are not as robust or dependable as those ordered from specialist bulb suppliers. No prizes for guessing where my bulbs were from. 

Or it could have been that mine just rotted as a result of torrential rain last year. 

So there's my lesson.  Now I know that if I want to keep the best ones, they should be lifted, dried and stored. I'm wondering if I can be bothered. And some species of tulip are more perennial than others as we learned from Tom Coward who, let's face it, knows.  

Tom has been the head gardener at Gravetye for the past fifteen years and imparted much wisdom to us about managing the gardens and, especially, tulips. We were told that 5,000 tulips had been planted in just three days last November (no, they don't have a vast team of gardeners) and that the best time to plant the bulbs is November or December.  (I sort of knew that, but not why.)

But notably, (pay attention please), if the bulbs are planted when the weather is still mild, the bulbs get warm and rot. (Note to self: don't store the bulbs indoors! And don't be tempted to plant while the weather is still relatively pleasant. And, yes, it's okay to plant the bulbs in January, they'll just flower later.)

Tom also mentioned Anna Pavord's book, 'The Tulip', as a jolly good read on the subject; my copy was retrieved from the bookshelf forthwith.

Another surprising revelation came when Tom showed us a small pot of tulips that he had grown from saved seed. Wow. Big respect. This is definitely one for the extremely patient gardener as the seeds take four years to grow. Impressive ... but not something I'll be trying any day soon. Although, as Tom pointed out, if you do this every year, after the first four years you'll have new tulips every year. 

To round off the tour, Tom took us up to the famous, and very large, oval walled kitchen garden. Built by Robinson on a slope to catch all available light, the symbiotic relationship between the kitchen and this garden continues.  Menus are planned to make use of what's growing there. Obviously there's not much that can be harvested at this time of year but an edible posy of wild garlic was included with our meal. 

In the garden long rows of beans are fleeced against pheasants, flowers for the house are starting to grow, herbs spill over the path edges under step over apples and broad beans and winter veg stood ready for harvest; it all looked very pretty. And, just outside the garden gates, who wouldn't want a hut like this to work from?

So, after this and to end the day, we were left to wander through the rest of the gardens, admiring blossom and camassia in the Orchard. This would have been the perfect end to a perfect day ... if we hadn't got stuck in traffic for two hours in the heat behind a road traffic accident. Ah well, you can't have it all.

Let me leave you with this lovely view walking down from the kitchen garden in Gravetye.

William Robinson's spirit lives on .... 

* 'lunch'  doesn't convey the fabulous meal we had; tasty, beautiful and locally sourced fine dining with delicious wine would be a better, if more wordy, description. 

A natural way to control slugs and snails

A baby snail exploring the flower stalks of my Wild Garlic plants.

If you've got a garden, you've got slugs and snails.  Fact.  The little blighters lurk everywhere - behind walls, around pots and under planks of wood. I've even found one behind a pot on a top floor balcony! But they're also an essential part of the eco-system that our gardens need to succeed ... but possibly not in such large numbers.

Slugs come in all shapes and sizes ... and names.  A quick google search gives me banana slugs, ghost slugs, leopard slugs, pancake slugs, Spanish slugs, brown field slugs and a rainbow of slug colours - black, yellow, red, ash-grey and pink. And there's also a range of rather cute sea slugs.

They're hermaphrodes so both sexes can lay hundreds of eggs several times a year after mating. Once hatched, tiny slugs become adults within a year and then start the cycle again.

They'll munch on dead leaves, sick plants and, in the case of leopard slugs, they'll also eat each other.  And when that food source runs out, they'll head straight for your newly planted lettuces and legumes. Pity the poor gardener who persists in trying to grow hostas, lupins and delphiniums!  (There is a way round that.)

Putting aside their natural aptitude for destruction, slugs are also an important part of the garden eco-system, providing a food source for birds, foxes, beetles - and, if you're lucky, hedgehogs, frogs and ducks. So the methods I've tried and tested in my veg patch and other gardens are more about control than total annihilation.

When I wrote about natural slug deterrents in 2014, I hadn't yet tried wool pellets or Strulch. But both worked for me in subsequent years keeping slugs and snails away from beans and strawberries.  

This year I'm going to try Grazers, a natural spray recommended by garden designer Jo Thompson.  I can't report on its effectiveness yet as we haven't had much wet weather so far. (Ha! I wrote that yesterday, today it's raining.)

And I've not tried drowning slugs in pots of beer (I prefer to drink it myself) but heard from a neighbour that he'd had some success with a yeast based concoction but was unable to provide me with a recipe. It seems that it's the yeast that gets the slugs attention.

But, happy days, I've since found the magic potion online and have stored up the recipe for the next bout of expected precipitation. (Recipe at bottom of this post or watch here.)

Two more ways of protecting your veg plants; try surrounding them with plants that slugs dislike. Or, secondly, plant into pots and smear a good slick of grease such as a Vaseline around the rim - slugs will arch over copper tape but sticky grease deters them.  It certainly worked with a client's delphiniums last year!

A few plants that slugs don't like are strong smelling plants like nepeta, sage, thyme, lavender and the hairier plants like borage, foxgloves, salvia, astrantia.  I've noticed they also leave calendula alone.  All of these are also good for attracting pollinators. 

But, of course, the best deterrent is to go out during the evening with a torch and bucket of warm salty water; you'll find many molluscs feasting on your plants. Pick them off, drop them into the bucket; the salty water will kill them. Cruel but effective. But put the bodies into the compost, I'm not sure that birds would benefit from eating salty snacks. 

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A recipe to capture slugs

• Approximately one cup of lukewarm water (not hot)
• 2 Tablespoons of plain flour
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar (fine sugar like caster sugar will dissolve faster)
• 1 teaspoon of dried yeast
• A jar to mix it all in.

Add all the dry ingredients in the jar, add the warm water bit by bit stirring as you go to avoid clumps. 

Make this mixture an hour before using. The mix will be active when you see foam on the top.

Pour into tubs or containers sunk partly into the soil, away from your precious plants. Check on the tubs in the morning and expect to find several slugs have found their way there. 

A few pointers on making slug traps from recycled pots can be read here.

Worth a try, eh?