Archives: journal

Just harvested some Courgettes and Spinach and have decided to make some soups as I have too much produces.  Its gives  us great pleasure just to go into to the garden and pick your own home grown veg.

I cooked a courgette soup which Dave likes and tried a new one chick pea and spinach. which turned out really well.  I have frozen some to use during the autumn. 

Went to a friends garden this morning. Had to use roundup of docks, thistles and dandelions growing in through her perennials. It was a delicate job and I had to convince her I would not kill her plants. I have tried to dig these plants out manually over the last two years to no avail. At least I had the sun for it but used washing up liquid through the solution in case of rain. I also planted, staked and weeded so she is all set for her American visitors on Thursday. A lot of my plants are in her garden.

As reluctant as I am to admit it, I have spent the last week talking to one of my lily plants. No idea what it is called. I bought it a couple of years ago at Chelsea. They had it growing up through lots of other plants and I fell in love.

For the last week, I have been watching, waiting and asking it please to open before I go to Wexford (off tomorrow for a week). I would have been sick if I had of missed it bloom. 

It is the most fantastic flower. It is pale green on the outside. The blooms hang down.- but inside it is stunning. Pale green at the outside of the petals and deep deep purple/brown in the middle.

I came out on the deck this morning and there it was opening in all its glory. I wish you could see it as the photos don’t do it justice!!!

Now I can to to Wexford happy!!!

i am still here but on night duty, and i have hardly seen the garden all week .

work is so busy i just fall into bed.so i ran out in my pj to have a look. lillies are gorgeous ,still more to come . rachael note the seeds of honesty i will bring them

with me to mullingar.

also can you see the damage to my skyrocket , all the bark has been scraped off, bet its a badger who wrecked my veggie bed. 

 have put up some pics got to run time to get ready for work

Whoever invents hairspray for gardens will make a fortune. You know, something you can spray on the whole shebang to make it stay just so.

Today I did a lot of work in the garden again and I can honestly say it is now as good as I can get it at this point in time. That’s why I want the hairspray – to stop the grass and weeds regrowing and the flowers from falling. Of course, plants would never mature but… you know the feeling!

Will take lots of photos tomorrow, but for the moment here’s a photo of the stone circle.

this is its 1st year in the garden and has triumphed since it was planted after st patricks day when it was only about 5-6inches tall. it is now over 3ft tall and the 1st head is nearly ready to be picked.

when i worked in  paris in the 1990’s i remember tasting these plants for the 1st time. they were bland enough if i’m honest. i always remember not knowing how to eat the things when they were put on a plate and left in the middle of the table with a vinaigrette drizzled over them. i had to wait to see how others ate them. 

the individual leaf-scales are pulled off and dabbed in the vinagrette and then the fleshy end part is sucked. the discarded leaf is left nearly entirely intact when finished. 

interestingly it is a member of the daisy family!!

Had 2 friends out today who picked 2.6 kg of beautiful blackcurrants for me and a few for themselves of course. So I got a chance to fix the lawnmower with superglue and it worked. What a relief ’cause right now is the time when you need it most.

In the evening I made 11 jars of the most beautiful jam. And here’s my recipe:

Put washed berries in a large pot, leaving room for it to expand when boiling.

Add juice of 1 or 2 organic lemons.

Heat gently and cook for a while, about 10 minutes.

Turn heat to the highest and add 1.8kg (multiply the amount of fruit by 0.7) of organic raw cane sugar (granulated) bit by bit while stirring and letting it dissolve.

When it starts bubbling keep stirring and don’t lower the heat for another 4 mins. 

Fill to the brim into hot sterilised jars (10 minutes in the oven on Gas 5) and close the lid immediately.

It’s as simple as that and it keeps. I’m eating the jam I made 3 years ago at the moment. A glass of homemade jam with a nice homemade label makes a lovely gift when you’re staying with friends.

Well good luck to all you jam makers!

3 years ago i bought some lily bulbs and was so unused to them that i was very nervous that they would shrivel up in the car on the way home. i had the pots ready, filled with a mixture of peat and soil awaiting the arrival of the bulbs.

i planted them up immediately and they have never failed to take my breath away with their scent. this evening i was out for stroll and i got the scent on my way out and back and i couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from…it permeatted the air and at first i thought it was honeysuckle or some other plant that exudes a heady scent that stops oyu in your tracks..

i thought that the flowers would not be that good this year as the stems were exhausted and starved-looking..but thankfully i was proved wrong. this is a variety that excels in pots, even ones that are not very well lookekd after…i’ll have to administer some tlc to the plants when flowering is over. i’m hoping that that will be a long way away!!

The sky looked very ominous this morning. It didn’t look like I would have a very productive day in the garden. It was such a horrible sky, I felt like a child who was stuck indoors and bored to death.

However, I was treated to dinner out this afternoon. Then we headed off to Ratoath again. Steve wanted to get more fish for the small pond. So, we bought 7 more goldfish and 10 koi. Wahoo. The pond is teaming with life. Just the way I like it. After all, what’s the point in having all that water with nothing moving around.

I also bought a Canna and Musa. These plants are going to be great for creating impact, because I am having my whole family over on Saturday week for a barbecue. I need to make an impression. I also bought Penstemon ‘Garnet’ and another Astrantia. I can’t remember which one it is. The label is still stuck in the pot. And it’s lashing outside. It can wait.

When we got home, I tackled weeding my yellow and red border. I have dahlias, red, yellow and orange. I also have geums and asteriscus maritimus. And I have a lovely rose ‘Tequila Sunrise’ which has yellow blooms tinged with orange. That should be flowering any day now. I planted 2 sunflowers. That was all I had left after all that seed-sowing weeks ago. I just didn’t get the time to look after them. When all that was finished, I covered it with bark chip. This was a job that I had been putting on the long finger. I’m so glad it’s done. Now I can concentrate on the task of replanting my triangular border. Major indecision there.

Showers were numerous and very heavy today. But at least I can go to work tomorrow with an easy conscience knowing that I got a decent bit done in the garden on my weekend off.

Oh and I also sowed salad leaves. They were already positioned on a strip of tape for ease of planting. My God, how lazy is that? Great though!