15/03/2015 Hellebores and the March Hare.

March is marching in...

Longer days, light and Spring are settling in. 

The most enjoyable thing is to watch the small changes happen everyday: A seed sprouting from the ground, a plant cut back springing back to life, roots giving  healthy shoots.

Plant a pea. It is so simple and easy. Three weeks later, I have the 'Tendrilla' to a good start. 

I will keep it indoors until there is no frost outdoors. Hopefully with a right frame and care it will pay off. 

I will use my lessons learnt from growing 'Firetongues' beans last year, if they can apply. 

The plan is simple: get some pods, break them open and eat, raw or not, like in my childhood.

Last week, I cut back the Clematis. This week the growth on them was amazing. Buds are bursting from the stems. It just spells a starry colourful Summer in perspective. I just love Clematis. The windy winter made it hard to protect them. However, I managed to save my two Clematis, many times, moving them about. Being in big pots rather than ground helped me do so. However I aim to frame those Clematis this year in order to give them more growth for next year. I hope for a star flower show from this year onward. 

Today I planted the Hellebores in a big planter by the door. Pink Lady, yellow ones and blue Hellebores will give a nice show every year. The door and front of the house was so neglected plant wise compare to neighbours, it had to be corrected a little. I just love hellebores, the sight of them but never grew them before. This front door planter is a big plan to learn how to. I am a fuchsias and tomatoes addict  and could add hellebores to my addictions if I follow my inclinations. Year after year going back to them for pure visual pleasure. I just need to learn all about them and then... I will be Hellebore to the next plan...

The March Hare is jumping about.

Sheila Williams's painting.

The Saints are marching in. 

Happy mother's day.

XXX

08/03/2015 Happy Birthday Lanou.

Another Sunday, not like any other: it is the birthday of my niece which is now 20.

Wanna say time flies before you know it, but I rather say the 8th of March marks the birth of life in my household. Like marking Spring, it is the day where we go planting outside big time.

First,  I planted sunflowers this year to mark Orlane's 20th birthday: 'Ruby Sunset', a dark red sunflower, but also 'Starbust Lemon Eclair'  an almost lime yellow variety. Big statement flowers for a grown up girl grabbing her life in both hands will be a delight to see grow fast, tall and larger than life. I went colourful for Lanou is not your common sunflower. She is very special.

Second, the potatoes starters, Désirée and King Edward have been planted. I am looking forward to this year potatoes crop. Last year I  planted potatoes in late April  which was a bit of a total disaster. Also the quality of the stater seed was overlooked. I had the belief that it will still give an abundant outcome which was far from being the case. This year my starters are not home made but bought. I went for two renown varieties with great hope. Only one alberto bartlett seed, an Apache potatoe, red and white, was also planted. It germinated in the potato bags outdoor all winter. I didn't have the guts to say 'no, you have no room in there this year'.  For all it's growing effort I kept the odd one in with a bright smile.: The surprise in the bag. Let's see what it has to deliver.

One of the main task today was getting on with the last of the pruning. Cutting the raspberries right back down, the kitchen herb like mint down to their new shoots, clematis down to near their growing buds, and the fuchsias, all done with hope and faith that it made space for new growth, from fruits, scented leaves to flowers.

I can only recommend strongly for anyone to grow kitchen herbs. It is fairly easy. Left unattended all winter, I discovered young growth and strong growth to almost all of them: Chocolate mint, spearmint, rosemary, sage, purple sage, curled parsley and chives. This year I plan to increase my range of herbs with flat leaf parsley, thyme and lemon thyme, Greek basil and basil. Tarragon and chervil are also on the map if I get some pot space. I tried to re-pot, shop pot live basil but it is just an experiment. Touch and go.

Fourth came the sowing, planting. The jasmine is growing nicely and I put its best out-shoot in a pot, still attached to the mother plant, to root and grow.  The mother plant was bought two years ago in Wilko for not much. Nicely scented, giving lovely small white flowers, it has been a sturdy plant although kept untamed. Given the chance to have a second one from an off shoot was an opportunity not to miss out. I am planning to have a gorgeous planter by my main door yet I am still totally undecided to what to plant in it. Starting with a white jasmine background, structure is a tempting idea.

Then I sowed romanesco pepper seeds. I grow chillies, lots of them. Sweet pepper is a new thing. I grew found of eating baby sweet peppers last year. This year I am growing them. The long red romanesco are one of my supermarket best buy as a cook. It made sense to start growing them. Cross fingers, in a few months, I will see romanesco and sweet mini peppers aplenty.

Sowed twenty seeds of  'Baron Solemacher' strawberry. A small kind that looks like wild ones, hopefully they taste likewise. And that would be just a big yeehaw!

Last of today's trial is a Coquina butternut squash. I love squashes. I am growing pumpkin ( a giant kind) and normal butternut squash this year. The Coquina is just a fancy trial on the side. Yet that would please me tremendously if it works out.

Seeing the tulips and daffodils growth in the patio garden made today a Spring day: a birthday of life.
                                                            Happy Birthday my Orlane.

01/03/2015 Happy Days.

March!

It feels like Spring is marching on.

Seedlings are growing: well, most of them. The tomatoes and chillies are doing fine.

The novelty of the bunch the Goji berry is harder to grow. Out of 3 seeds, 1 made it. It will take a year and an half before it can make it to the big outdoors. The dream plan is a little bush of healthy Goji berries to be picked in 3 years. Patience is the essence. Like asparagus it is not something you can enjoy the very same year you plant them. It's a future investment. The Baby that is making it so far will be very tended, I can assure you.

Last week I had to sow again the tender stem broccoli for all the seedlings grew long, drooped, and wilted. Now, I am trying a prop: Toilet paper tube as a frame, cut to specific length. All the seeds of broccoli done something so fast, that I put their frame on today. Hopefully they will carry on growing strong this time around.

I replanted some winter lettuce again today for the same reason. I also gave a try to little gem lettuce, which was planted outside. Cross fingers. In a slug plagued garden, I shall grow lettuce. The fight and dream is on.

However the main sowing happened outdoor with Root veg: Two types of carrots, Nantes 5 and Chantenay, Beetroot (Crosbys-Egyptian), Parsnip (White Gem). Lots of anticipation and learning to be had: I never grew any of them before. I am a pack instruction learner so far until I can adjust that to be an experienced grower.

Last but not least are the fancy trial: I am giving another chance to the 'Pea Tendrilla' which totally fail to appear last year. Just a single pea in a pot. We will see. The other is a cucumber: Marketmore 76. A gift. The surprise in a seed.

Spring means renewal. Leaving behind the harsh winter.
I had a hard winter, which I cannot wait to leave behind me.
Never lose hope for better days. For they do come.

There will always be a bug in your path.
Let's call it whatever, locust, slug, or humbug!
They love snacking on your roots and leaves.
They love what you have and want it.
They will do whatever to get it, regardless of morals.
Let's say I was plagued, yet survived.

For they just had to knack it off.
Call it:  bad karma biting tails.

Oh Happy Days!

15/02/2015 Chilli Warmth.

I have been growing chillies for two years now.

I did it my way...

I just kept the seeds out of shop bought chillies aside, planted them around December, January time and crossed my fingers and toes that they would do something.

They did: in such a way each times that I had the chilli glut. A bountiful harvest is filling an entire compartment of the freezer, along with the raspberries. The great divide goes 3/4 chillies, 1/4 berries: Enough to lift off a dining menu for an entire winter and more.
















Menu examples:

Chilli Con Carne.
Raspberries Triffle.

or

Jamaican Chicken Curry.
Raspberry Panacotta.

etc, etc, etc.

The list is endless. The tip of the iceberg goes as far as your imagination can go. Last year, I got myself a book full of Chilli recipes. I never found one dedicated to raspberries though, but I trust someone is passionate enough about them to shout about those little gems out loud, and it is out there.

Let's demystify the mystifying: chillies are easy to grow in the UK: just give them a window sill with plenty of sunshine. I put some plants outside which kept giving chillies until October, yet our Summer wasn't the brightest not the hottest on record. I grow  all my chillies from seeds and the outcome has been so rewarding that I will carry on doing so.

From the first variety I grew, I developed my range over the years. I am trying two new kinds this years: a Zimbabwean Black and a Hot Cayenne. Last years Jalapeños were a definite come back on the window sills as a reliable cropper.

The hot iceberg of a chilli is as deep as you want it to be from pot to pan.

How to deal with a chilli glut?

First stages:

-You can give the excess of growing plants to your friends and their mums. Spread the love: A growing chilli plant is a bountiful treasure, The plant itself looks lovely to be a drawing room feature. Full bloom or with its chillies, it is a winner.

Last stages:

- Take all the chillies. Do them justice. Store them, eat them, sow their seeds.

Storage comes in all sort of manner from freezing to drying.

Freezing allows your gluts to go a long way. For Chillies, lots of heat to add on to simple winter dishes or let them shine through bespoke ones, like the Jamaican Chicken Curry I had two days ago.

Drying them was an experiment to make Chilli oil. Big massive rewarding project.

Just allow your imagination to sing and thrive to their hot chilli pepper tune.

08/02/2015. House Plants: Home Sweet Home.

Sometimes when you have so many seeds waiting to be planted in March, April, and May, you are pinning for those months to come fast forward. Having put all my January seedlings in their propagators, February seemed like a long empty wait.

It is far from one.

First, the seedlings need tending. Not much, just keeping them at the right temperature, and at the right moisture level will do just fine. I tend to turn the pots as well so their stems get a good strength all around rather than just where the sun light was. Anyway that is the theory. Plants play the contortionist to grab the most sunlight, well not all but most. And here they are in the spotlights grabbing a bent stalk. I do not mind bent, but with a little manual work, I might just get that nice straight strong stalk I am after. Making sure the head of the seedlings  do not reach ground level is a must to prevent their young leaves to prematurely rot away. Gently firming the earth below the stem, making little mound, all help correcting its level and direction.

Then they are the early rewards. The tomatoes seeds are going for it. From the black Indigo Rose, RHS prized, a bit expensive, the three seeds I sowed gave me  three strong seedlings within a week. Within two weeks, I am very happy with their growth. To the 'Yellow Stuffer' , a beef tomato variety, yellow like it says on the packet, and big like I love them: three seeds gave three seedlings. I am looking forward to see those tomatoes and taste them as much as I do for the black ones. I planted some red 'Moneymakers' just in case I didn't have any success with my trendy ones. I grew them before with a fair success, which made them a reliant cropper in my books. Three seeds= Three seedlings, yet one wilted away in the second week: the Touching the ground thing. Just let the heads reach the sky: manual help required. A little surprise was the Artisan Bumble Mix cherry tomatoes I planted only a week ago, which I have 10 plants out of 12 sowed  out of a packet which  was supposed to have 9 seeds.  So it is a definite winner of a packet. I have no idea how many purple, pink and sunrise cherry tomatoes I will have in that mix but I plan to grow them in my hanging baskets this summer. In my dreams, it is lush thing, cascading down, it is hot outside not like right now. My fancy cherry tomatoes are ripe, and I pick them as I water the garden just as a treat...

The Chillies are doing great: Hot Cayenne pepper, Jalapeños and the giant ones all showed up. I am expecting another glut of chillies this year, like last.  

The disappointment were the Zimbabwean black chillies which just failed to show up and the Tigerella Tomatoes: out of three, one showed up which wilted soon after.  Two years ago, I had been disappointed with a strong plant giving me just one tomato. I replanted some Tigerella seeds, not losing hope, yet compared to other tomatoes so far this one does not stack up for me.

Second, just take a look around the house. There were plenty of house plants screaming in their pots that they needed more space on my stroll in mine. Today was all about re-potting, re-positioning, and taking cuttings out of some to decorate some spaces in the house that lacked that bit of friendly green in their corners. I must say it is like giving a cherished plant a second lease of life. It makes you feel good. It made this Sunday afternoon very fulfilling.  Sometimes you have little gems, like my African Violets that keeps on giving year after year. Yet a change of pot, let them go on from day to day, year after year, from blossoming from strength to strength. All the African violets had their overall today.

Getting a couple of cuttings from a neglected 11 years old palm tree and re-potting a cutting from it of 5 years ago, which turn out to be a lovely straight little thing, along with giving a new bigger pot to the mother plant was the most charitable thing I had to do to living plants this afternoon. I carried those plants for so long from flat to flat, that they have a sentimental value. They live alongside me and I enjoy the sight of them. They are making my home a sweet home.

One of the massive palms in the hallway died from repeated cat attacks. Today, was the time to let it go and give one of my oldest plant a new big planter. Cramped in a dark corner of the living room, I noticed it kept growing no matter what.

Putting that plant in that planter, and giving it a prime position in the house made my day. The plant came from a cheap and cheerful combo plant mix of three which I bought from less than a tenner back in the day when I was living in Romford, twelve years ago. Seeing it looking so stately by the stairs, just by a single re-potting made my Sunday special. It gave my home that instant posh uplift. Yet it only costed just watering TLC  from my part all those years and a new pot today.

February = Make your Home the sweetest place for you.

01/02/2015. Bumble Bee happy.

Sometimes, there are a lot of things buzzing in your head.
Sometimes, you are going through tough times.
Sometimes, the day you are in is the birthday of someone you loved that passed away.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is share their love of life to the grounding earth.

Grounding, just like planting a seed that will sprout to life and feed you later.
Grounding, just like carrying on no matter what.
Grounding, just like you are free to do what you want any old time.
Grounding, just like feeding seagulls on your window sill and let them love you forever.

Feeding a seagull until she becomes almost your pet,
Feeding the ground until it makes you hope for the summer,
Feeding your hopes with whatever it takes to keep you going.
Feed in your soul the seagull that will fly free for you....

Until your soul is free from all grounding matter...
Happy birthday to my RIP Pa,
Happy I am to have been yours.
Until our souls meet again, I am grounded and your are not...

Forgive my poem, it is my Pa's birthday, today.
I put a few seeds in the ground in his memory, for he was a dreamer.
I put a few seeds in the ground for he was just an unbeliever.
Forgive him for he knew how to grow things from science.

Forgive him for he will make me smile endlessly all my life.
For he loved it.
For his seagull is.
For I love it too, no matter how hard it is.

25/01/2015. I am Happy. First sowing.Today

Enjoying a full Sunday has been a thing happening far and few between. Today I enjoyed one fully with the prospect that: My future now means I will enjoy everyday as I wish and want. From this day onwards I am solely my own boss.

You can imagine my grin from one ear to the other: I am out of the rat chase, who ripped each others necks to get each others out of a job, or the other's job.

To settle to the bliss of being the boss isn't hard at all and went rather smoothly, I must say. First, I had to let go of the last few days and their sheer stress. The silence and total ostracism made it worst and easier. As they do not bother: I will not bother either: but hell, will they have to answer publicly. Heck, I am a publisher, after all. I shout with published words any wrongs done out loud.

Today was a busy day, after finishing writing a tense chapter, I went to clear the patio for the new year. Chucking the dead plants away that were a one off, clear as much of your space as your mind. It makes space for new growth. As a gardener, I have that many planters available, that much square metres of space as my leeway, so logistic is key yet the heart makes your garden your patch.

Recognising your dormant plants, fuchsias, begonias, jasmines, clematis and roses is a must, in a big clear out. Recognising your bare pots with your fancy tulips, irises, and saffron crocuses is key, for they are the ones that deliver  year after year constant joy, from visual to scent.

Today was the first day of sowing and planting. Always one to celebrate with a little glass of dry white wine from the Loire Valley which will keep you singing all Sunday... Beside it keeps you warm while pottering about outdoors.

Yep, my father did have an allotment. When he felled upon hardship, he used it to feed us. It was a lifeline, not for long for the skilled worker he was, was soon snatched away again to big engineering project to the next.

However pumpkin soup remained a souvenir that fed us for a month which we never found the heart to joke about ever after.  We found it tastier than the leek and potato soup that replaced it afterwards for a few days. We sailed through as a family our hardship.

A patch of veg and flowers tenderly cared for during weekends and evenings made it possible. If you see me looking after my few planters, it is because they do mean more than I can say.  It's kind of a legacy now: 'Tu peux etre autonome quand tu veux ma pupuce'.

'La Pupuce' a planté des tomates noires et jaunes, des rouges et des tigrés, et pleins de chillis et elle ne sait pas ce que cela va donner mais elle croise les doigts que cela va etre super cool à manger.'

Translation:

Pupuce: My dad's nickname for me. It does translate literally as the Flea-flea. As I was a copper headed kid jumping about him, I got stuck with being called 'Flea-flea'. Bugging him with plenty of questions made my nickname stick to my adulthood. I was forever his Pupuce.

I sowed my Indigo Rose black tomato seeds, yellow beef tomatoes and Tigerella ones, with the more red and normal moneymakers ones. I planted the chilli seeds too: Zimbabwe Black, Cayenne pepper, the giant ones and the Jalapenos.

Lots of hope went in that Sunday sowing.

Lets give all the seedlings their TLC so they turn out allright like the Pupuce.