Today's flowers - winter pansy

Winter pansy (Halloween) looks down from my hanging basket.

See flowers of all seasons at Today's Flowers.

 

More frosting

We had more frost at the beginning of the week.  Monday morning I think this was - it's been a busy few days. A fine dusting of silver on the plot.

I love the details that are picked out by frost.  It just seems to add another dimension to this  fallen leaf.

Or some fine lace edging to this Pentland Brig kale.

Black Tuscan kale gets a more pearly makeover

And the leeks go for the full diamonte effect.

Even the humble pineapple weed shows her delicate filigree off  with a touch of frost.

Remembering.

Those who fell.

Time for leeks again.

Some of the leeks have been looking a decent eating size for a week or two now, so today we dug a couple up for dinner.


The thing I love about growing my own is the indescribable freshness. These babies were so crisp and juicy. With homegrown leeks you can use every bit of the leaf - right to the end.

James makes sure they are nice and clean.

And straight into the pot to make a wonderful risotto with rosemary and butternut squash.

November notes

Any quote or poem that mentions November usually includes the words damp, dismal, foggy, or dull. Well, I suppose given the last few days they may have a point. Emily Dickinson, whose poems I have never seemed to take to, despite thinking that I should, describes November as "the Norway of the year". Has the Eurovision Song Contest been going that long? I have never been to Norway, but I would like to, and I imagine it is a fine place during this month of Remembrance, Thanksgiving and my birthday.
So - instead of a trip to Scandinavia, I offer you a trip around my garden on this bright(ish) November afternoon.
Above is my front door, complete with my new planters. I also bought a couple of juniper trees to put in them, with a vague image of a Country Living magazine cover in mind. In a year or two - decorated with homespun twiggy stars, dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks maybe?


We are lucky to have a large conservatory which looks right out onto the fruit trees. It's a great space, and we always feel in part of the garden. I bought some new bird feeders and a nice selection of seeds, nuts and fat balls for the coming winter. The window feeder was a great success last year, and much time is spent sitting watching the birds going about their business.

A shy violet primrose peeks out from under the plum tree. What an uplifting sight!

Some pea shoots - escapees from the summer harvest, poking up in the new garlic bed.

A robin in a pear tree.

This is my bean trench for next year. Kitchen waste goes in, some soil goes on top and big fat beans will come out in the summer. Simple!




Glorious orange calendula. I always grow this, and intend to harvest the petals to make an infused oil. Somehow, though, I can never bring myself to pick them - I love to see their cheering colour when I walk down the garden.



My intended asparagus bed. Definitely a work in progress as you will note. All weeds will be eliminated and kept out by a weed suppressing membrane. Seaweed has been collected and will be dug in to the bed ready for the crowns to be planted in early spring. They can grow it in Perthshire, so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't grow here. Watch this space.



Just one raspberry plant escaped the clutches of the hens. It almost escaped me too, but I spied it in beside a clump of tall nettles. Gardener's perks ;)

Still seeing red!

Gorgeous tomatoes picked from the greenhouse today. Mostly Roma, but a couple of Sioux in there too - the ones that made it to the kitchen that is. There are still quite a few on the vine just turning pale orange, so a few Indian summer days and there will be even more passata!

First Frost

We had our first ground frost last week.

I like a winter that has some hard frosty weather.

It makes the kale taste sweeter and kills off all the pests.

Bean yesterday - garlic tomorrow.

I had lots of help clearing the bean bed today.

James really worked hard and we had a great time. He put his new (to him) trike and trailer to a lot of use.

He loved helping to fill the wheel barrow with mulch.

And now we have a beautiful bed ready to plant our garlic as soon as it arrives. Once again I have ordered from The Really Garlicky Company. I was so pleased with my harvest this year - definitely the best I have had. The bulbs are strong with nice fat cloves and they taste great. I have sent away for 40 bulbs this year, so should get around 150 cloves from that.
I love gardening - there is always something new to look forward to. With 3 of us now working the plot who knows what we can achieve next season!

Winter Wheat - a straw revolution

I've decided to try growing some winter wheat, so we combined the two beds used for alliums earlier this year and broadcast the seed today. I was very inspired by reading Masanobu Fukuoka's short book - The One Straw Revolution, so I also sowed green clover seed before covering the bed with a straw mulch. The theory, at it's most basic, is that the straw, clover and wheat will act as a weed suppressant, and later when the wheat is harvested the straw is laid directly back on the soil and another crop sown with a green manure. The late Mr Fukuoka planted rice followed by barley, so I am unsure really where I am going with this experiment. I have discovered this wonderful website which I will be perusing over the winter, an hopefully emerge next spring with a clearer idea. Meantime, I just need to keep those hens away from what must look like paradise over their fence!

Mixed beans

We have had a mixed result with our beans this year. The broad beans (super aquadulce), earlier in the year were a great success. The runner beans (Scarlet Emperor) are still coming in thick and fast, although getting a bit stringy now. When they get to this stage, I pod them and cook the beans in their candy pink coats, removing them later to reveal the tender beanlets, which are then turned in some olive oil and garlic. A wee bit more work, but definitely worth it.
French beans (Aguillon) have been OK - a few delicious side dishes have been provided but I did not plant enough, and my successional sowing plans did not quite get going. Also, I put them in the wrong place and they became overshadowed by the runner beans and the peas - oops! Next year they will be given a lot more space.
Climbing beans (Barlotta lingua di fuoco) looked very promising. As with all the other beans, i started them off in root trainers in the greenhouse. Normally with borlotti beans, I have trouble even getting any to grow at all, so I was very happy when my 16 plants were ready to go out. Very slow growth though and the harvest has been very disappointing. Many of the pods were empty and it looked like some kind of weevil had got to them. You can see in the photo how skinny they are, but we did add what we harvested to a risotto today, so they didn't go to waste. James helped me pod them and I told him the story of Jack and the Beanstalk as we worked.
Maybe I should be like Jack's mother and just throw the beans on the ground next year!