Living a contented creative life.

Summer winding down now but perhaps a last fling of warmth and colour to look forward to before Autumn begins.

A busy time in the garden with falling fruit and beans galore. I’ve made my Apple and Cinnamon Squares, frozen apple slices for later and lots of French and runner beans. Best to place the apple slices in salted water to stop them browning while preparing them. It works far better than lemon juice.

The wind is bringing down apples and pears daily. The problem is that they bruise when they hit the ground. It means they won’t keep for long and need to be used as quickly as possible.

I’ve given away some of the windfall cooking apples because I have plenty more to be harvested when the time is right. They’re so versatile. They are great for adding when making mixed fruit or strawberry jam. The apples are rich in pectin and this is what makes the jam set to a good consistency. They’re brilliant of course for the classic crumbles and pies but they also make lovely cakes, apple sauce and chutney.

The sweeter “eating” apples don’t fluff like cookers and hold their shape, so they make a lovely Tarte Tatin, the classic French dessert. They’re also brilliant chopped finely in the food processor to make my Nutty Sausages and Sausage and Apple Flan.

I managed to make a few jars of chutney with the last big courgette, apples, onions, beans and other tasty things. So good in the winter with satisfying meals. Especially good with potatoes mashed with tinned fish and browned in the frying pan. Delicious, filling and nutritious, served with some favourite vegetables.

The rudbeckias are lighting up the cloudier days. Their golden petals contrasting beautifully with their dark central cone. I planted Alstroemeria a few weeks ago. New to my garden, not grown them before. They are now bursting with buds and the bright flowers are opening. The label showed pink ones. Slightly disappointed that they’re not but they’re lovely all the same.

Among the mixed lilies I planted in spring I’ve been delighted to find that two of the plants are “Stargazer” lilies and have several flowers on each. I love these. Dramatic, elegant, colourful and fragrant. The scent wafting around is fabulous.

Lots of weeds mixed in which I haven’t been able to remove but I tell myself they’re benefitting the insects. It’s never a tidy garden. Too old to keep on top but as long as I can produce beautiful flowers, delicious fruit and vegetables I think that’s what’s important. Plus my time in the kitchen means I can either do that or garden jobs but I can’t always do both. The garden is still a pleasure.

I’ve sown seeds for “Spring Hero” cabbages and “All the Year Round” cauliflowers to grow in the tunnels over winter. They’re just beginning to germinate. I’ve also sown French beans because if the weather stays warm I might have another crop in the tunnel before frost starts. They have been so productive and tasty so I’d love some more if possible.

Other pretty things which caught my eye over the last two weeks.

Lots of wildlife in the garden. I don’t mind spiders as long as they don’t crawl onto me. They have their place and eat some pests.

I had a family visit coming up so I made a Victoria sponge cake with my own favourite recipe. So easy to do. No need for all that old-fashioned creaming the butter and sugar together and trying to work in the eggs without curdling.

Sponge Cake

4 large Eggs
200g Caster Sugar
200g Self-raising Flour
2 rounded teaspoons Baking Powder
200g Sunflower Oil

Grease two 20cm/8inch sandwich tins. 
Heat the oven to 180C/ 160C Fan oven.
Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat thoroughly.
Put mixture into the tins evenly.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Press the centre gently. If it springs back it's done. Or push a skewer into the centre. If it's done it will come out without any sticky mixture. 
If necessary, bake for another couple of minutes. 20 minutes is usually enough.
Allow to cool slightly then turn out of the tins onto a wire rack.
When cold spread butter cream over one half, then place the other layer on top.
Jam can be used instead or whipped cream. The top can be left plain or iced.
 

I finally got back to painting. I thought I’d use acrylics this time because I wanted to use glass as a subject and acrylic paint would perhaps achieve the best effect. I call this picture “Trio”, for obvious reasons. Not entirely satisfied with it. Glass is challenging to portray. Difficult to observe the way the light is reflected and to convey the transparency in the painting. Enjoyable to try though.

That’s all for this post. I hope you’re enjoying the last of the summer days. With you again in a couple of weeks. Bye for now.

August so far has been a mixture of sunshine and showers. Warm days and wet nights. Ideal for the flowering plants and the fruit trees. Better too for the old gardeners who don’t need to water as much.

The phlox and lilies are fading now but other late summer flowers will soon be taking over. Still some pretty things to see as I walk around.

The apples and pears will be ready in a week or two. Looking very promising. I lift the fruit in my hand to see if it’s ready to pick. If it snaps away easily then it’s time. If it clings to the stem it’s best to wait a while. Pears need to ripen in the fruit bowl. They soften from the inside so although they may feel firm it’s important to check now and then. Usually the colour lightens from dark green to a bit more yellow when they’re ready.

I also have a tiny fig tree in the greenhouse which has some fruit. One of my favourites when they’re ripe and sweet. Not ready yet but something to look forward to.

The beans are producing well and I’ve frozen some for winter meals. It’s very easy. Only takes a few minutes to wash, chop into small pieces, blanch in boiling water for a couple of minutes, cool quickly, dab dry, then separate the pieces of bean on baking trays. Place the trays in the chest freezer to open freeze. When they’ve frozen scoop them into containers to store until needed. Open freezing like this means you can shake out as many beans as you need instead of a big frozen lump.

Runner beans are very prolific so I only grow a few plants. There’s always a surplus and they’re not good if the beans are allowed to grow big and stringy. Small, tender beans are delicious and good for adding when making chutney or picalilli.

I also have green French beans and yellow ones in the polytunnel and kale growing in an outdoor bed. Very tasty.

My practical husband has patched up one of the compost bins with bits of old wood he had stored away. It’s good to go again. Although we have several plastic bins this one works really well and is easy to remove the compost from.

I’ve had to give away courgettes. They grow a mile a minute and even though we love to eat them I can’t keep up with the supply.

They’re good sliced and drizzled with olive oil, then microwaved for four minutes. A sprinkle of salt and pepper and they’re lovely eaten while they’re warm. Or if they’re bigger I stuff them with the scooped out flesh, (squeezed to remove surplus juice), chopped onion and frozen cooked rice. I added a tiny chopped chilli but it wasn’t hot. A grapefruit spoon with a serrated edge is useful for scooping out the flesh.

I normally make chutney and pickles from courgettes but I haven’t been able to do it this year. Perhaps in autumn if they’re still producing I might have a go.

I have two good chutney recipes and one for picallili in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook, with step-by-step instructions and practical tips. Lots of delicious cakes and other items as well. Here’s my link if you’d like a copy.

https://geni.us/eANQu

Summer evenings have a special quality. A walk around the garden is a pleasure at this time of day and inspired me to write a poem.

Summer Evening in the Garden

The scent of a summer evening lingers on the air.
Honeysuckle and the heady perfume of lilies mingle
With roses and lavender adding their share
While the blackbird trills his lovely jingle.
The setting sun casts a golden glow over the scene,
A stillness softens the ending of another busy day
And leaves the garden fresh and clean
As evening shadows start to play.
The pending hours when darkness robs the light
Have a tranquility which restores my restless mind
And the promise of a peaceful night.
A better pleasure would be hard to find.

With you again in a couple of weeks. Enjoy the best of the Summer. Bye for now.

The garden is flourishing with this mixture of sunshine and showers. The phlox are lovely this year. The leaves have stayed fresh and green. The veronica are attracting the bees with their spikes of tiny flowers and add height to the borders. Lots of colour to enjoy.

The lilies have survived attacks from scarlet lily beetles. I’m a bit ruthless with these because they destroy the plants if left unchecked. Now I’m enjoying the summer show.

Marigolds are lighting up the garden with their vivid gold and orange petals. Such a cheerful, generous and trouble-free plant. Good for insects, self-seeding and always put on a show. These are calendula known as pot marigolds. My favourite kind.

In one of the borders I discovered two wood pigeon eggs. Still intact even though I’m sure they fell from one of the big conifers. At first glimpse I thought they were fungi but when I moved the leaves aside I saw what they actually were.

Little frogs are hopping about. So nice to see wildlife in the garden. I’m happy to share it with little creatures. Grasshoppers pop up here and there and I saw a lovely blue beetle or fly land on a leaf.

I love rudbeckias. They flower for weeks and brighten up the dullest day. I have “Goldsturm”, a lovely bright yellow with a black central cone. I bought some new ones with stocky stems and large flowers with bronze tints. Plenty of buds and now they’re planted there should be a lovely show for the next few weeks.

A few other pretty flowers have been a pleasure.

In the greenhouse, the “Roma” tomatoes are just beginning to turn red. At last! It does take an age for my tomatoes to ripen but it’s so worth the wait. The chillies are ready with their shiny scarlet pods and my sweet peppers are flowering.

In the tunnels I have lovely carrots ready now. The celeriac are growing well and the dwarf French beans have delicious yellow pods.

Slugs ate my new lettuce seedlings so I had to resow. While I wait I need salad alternatives. I made one of our favourites with beans. I emptied a tin of baked beans into a colander, rinsed off the tomato sauce and allowed them to drain. Then I mixed in a grated apple and snipped spring onions with a little salt and pepper.

It might sound wasteful to throw away the tomato sauce but it would make the mixture too wet and spoil it. Plain haricot beans wouldn’t have the flavour needed. Thinly sliced onion would do instead of spring onions but wouldn’t have the colour to give eye appeal. I often add tiny bits of celery as well. This makes a nourishing and tasty salad or side dish.

Someone was giving away two old oak dining chairs which I could find a use for. So I embarked on an upcycling project.

When they arrived they were splashed with paint and had horrible old seat covers. I stripped the seat covers and binned them. I rubbed down the frames with surgical spirit to remove paint and a little of the years of polish and old varnish. Then I polished them. When the chair frames were ready I covered the seats with new foam and fresh fabric. I’m pleased with the result and they go well with with my other old chairs.

I think old furniture is under-rated. You just don’t find the lovely wood and character with modern furniture unless it’s extremely expensive. I love old things.

Back to the garden now for a little TLC. The roses need deadheading to encourage them to flower again, I want to sow more vegetable seeds and there are many jobs to be done.

Back with you again in a couple of weeks. Enjoy all that Summer has to offer. Bye for now.

Well, all I can say about the weather is that the garden is enjoying the rain! A little sunshine and plenty of showers are suiting the flowers and most of the vegetables. Not so much the gardener who can’t do much in these conditions.

Much to be thankful for though. The roses have been better this year. They usually struggle in our poor soil but are flowering more and looking healthier.

The pond has a build up of algae so it needs some barley straw extract but the tadpoles seem happy and the water lily has sent up one beautiful flower. Another bud is poking upwards so I’m hoping for more.

My other lilies have survived the ravages of lily beetles and are beginning to open. I planted some mixed Asiatic lilies in spring and I’m hoping for some pretty colours. So far, only the white ones have opened their faces to the sun and rain but they’re looking good.

A couple of years ago we had a small wildflower bed which was lovely but I haven’t been able to reproduce it since. However, surprises still pop up. We had pink campions in Spring and now two chicory plants have grown. The chicory are very tall and have the most beautiful blue daisy flowers.

I scattered marigold (calendula) and cornflower seeds in another bed. Sadly, only four cornflowers have grown but the marigolds have germinated well and will soon be a golden show.

Talking of gold, the yellow loosestrife ( Lysimachia) are flowering now and I can see them when I’m near the kitchen window. A cheerful sight, even on a dull day.

These have a variegated leaf. I noticed that one or two stems are plain green. This reversion to plain green sometimes happens with variegated plants. Usually it’s best to cut out the plain parts but I don’t mind with these as the flowers are the important feature.

Here are some other little treasures which caught my eye.

I have a clematis which flowers on the top of a bushy tunnel. I think it’s called “Comtesse de Bouchard”. Because of its position it’s difficult to fully appreciate the lovely flowers. So I was really pleased to see that the woody stem has grown new shoots which bear flowers lower down where I can see them properly. Here’s a photo of two of them.

I feel way behind with my vegetable growing this year but I’m trying to catch up. I’ve sown peas again and “Autumn King” carrots in the polytunnels, more basil, lettuces and radishes.

The tomatoes are doing well but nowhere near ripe yet. I have kohlrabi to use,  broad beans, Spring onions, carrots, potatoes and courgettes, as well as onions and garlic I harvested earlier. Parsnips, leeks, kale and sprouts are coming along for winter. So we won’t starve!

A warning to anyone growing brassica plants ( cabbage family). It’s time now to closely cover them with fine netting to keep out the cabbage white butterflies. They should be about very soon although butterflies are noticeably scarce this year. As much as we want to encourage butterflies we certainly don’t want caterpillars on our sprouts, cabbages and the like. Put them in place before the culprits show up.

The garden is untidy. The paths need sweeping and there are plenty of weeds in places. The weather and old age are significant problems. Not ready to give up though.

Next year will be our 60th wedding anniversary! In that time we have experienced many different homes, gardens and jobs. Little money early on encouraged us to be resourceful and to use our imagination. Make do and mend became a way of life.

I’m by no means an expert on anything but with all this experience I’ve picked up lots of tricks over the years. I have always tried my own way to do things. Too often ideas become fixed and go unchallenged. I look for simpler or more effective ways and try to pass on these useful methods in my blog as often as I can.

From gardening to cooking my home-grown food, preserving, inventing recipes, upcycling old furniture, sewing and knitting, writing poetry and painting. I’ve had a go at all of them and try to be innovative and practical.

I hope you’ve found some of my ideas interesting and enjoyed the photos. Please feel free to comment. I love to hear from readers.

With you again in a couple of weeks. Bye for now.

Summer has arrived at last! Warm days, sultry nights, an abundance of food in the garden and flowers to lift the spirits. The garden is scented with honeysuckle and roses.

Hmm! Since I wrote this the weather here has turned cold and drizzly! But never mind, it will pass and the garden needs it so I’m celebrating the good times.

I have been busy with strawberries. The season is short but so generous. Lots of delicious glowing scarlet berries for now and plenty squirrelled away in the freezer for winter desserts and my favourite strawberry jam.

I love all summer fruits but strawberries are a special treat. The colour, the shine, the flavour! So appetising and announce Summer like nothing else can.

I have two small rectangular raised beds with lots of strawberry plants which have gradually converged to form a tangled mat. The beds have a dressing of homemade compost in Spring when the leaves begin to grow. Then I put a mulch of coir around the plants and apart from watering, that’s it. No fertiliser needed. A few snails help themselves but don’t take many fruits. I carefully wash and trim the berries and any nibbled ones are cleaned up and frozen for cooking. For the last few years I have harvested kilos of strawberries. Organic methods do produce results.

I made strawberry ice-cream. Just a small amount to enjoy straight away because it freezes really solid if I put it in the freezer to keep. I made custard from whole milk, custard powder and sugar. When it was cool I stirred in some stewed and sweetened strawberries, chilled it in the fridge then put it into my ice-cream maker for thirty minutes. A bit soft. I could have churned it for a while longer but very nice. Delicious and no harmful additives. I should do it more often.

I use baskets a lot for harvesting fruit and veg but I also find them good for other things. Not only are they useful but there is something so pleasing about a basket. A perfect shape, a comfortable handle and lovely materials from natural fibres. I bought some from a Pound Shop years ago and they’re still doing good service and I’ve picked up others here and there or had them as gifts.

I’ve planted my squash in boxes of homemade compost in a sunny spot where they can sprawl across a warm concrete surface. Sadly, neighbourhood cats have found the boxes and soiled them. So annoying. We’ve tried putting holly leaves on top but they have been swept aside.  Now trying sticks poked into the soil as well as the holly. Fingers crossed.

I have two squash  plants for my favourite “Buttercup” variety and this year I’m also growing some “Little Gem”. The “Buttercup” are so tasty but they are a bit big for us so I thought I’d give the others a try. I hope they will match up in flavour and storing qualities.

Winter squash are a handy vegetable because they will store for about three or four months without having to process them in any way. Roasted or in soups they are delicious treats.

Courgettes are coming on nicely. Our neighbours very kindly gave me two plants and they’re doing well. I hope to have a good supply later on for pickles and chutney.

Apples and pears look promising. The June drop is taking place at the moment. This is when the trees shed excess fruits after the exuberance of the Spring blossom. The paths are littered with baby apples and pears but enough will grow and at the end of Summer I will be gathering in the harvest.

A kind friend on Facebook sent me some oriental poppy seeds last year after I admired her lovely photos. I sowed the seeds, kept the plants in the greenhouse over Winter and planted them out in Spring. Finally, after much anticipation, I have beautiful flowers. I already have scarlet poppies in another part of the garden but these pink ones are such a romantic colour in my border.

So many lovely flowers to enjoy at this time of year. Here are a few I captured with my camera as I walked around the garden. Mallow, red “Flower Carpet” roses and Feverfew, blue Scabious, Campanula, white Antirrhinum, yellow flowers of the shrub Brachyglottis, “Handel” roses, scarlet Salvia and not sure about the white daisies, perhaps Mesembryanthemum.

Here’s a lovely feather I found on the path.

Our tiny lawn was reseeded in Spring and we’ve let it grow to strengthen it and hopefully to benefit wildlife. Some lovely flowers have appeared. Yes, they’re weeds, but they’re lovely.

Been enjoying new potatoes, broad beans or peas with mint sauce. Peas are almost finished. I will sow some more in one of the polytunnels. Keeps the pea moth away so we don’t have any annoying little grubs inside the pods. Had black fly on the broad beans but, as I said last time, it isn’t a big problem. Ladybirds have benefitted from the feast.

I haven’t painted for a while but here’s one I did a while ago. This Still Life is one painted with acrylics on a canvas board. I enjoy trying to capture the light and reflections on shiny surfaces.

I hope you’re enjoying the sunnier days and warm, scented evenings. With you again in a couple of weeks. Bye for now.

Well, the weather has not been kind! June is usually a month of sunshine, warm evenings and summer pleasures but not so far this year.

The garden has not let me down however. There is still much to enjoy and lovely colour to brighten the dull days.

I have a rose called “Vielschenblau” which is very temperamental and usually sulks but this year it’s splendid and giving me great pleasure. It scrambles through one of the pear trees and is a picture right now. The flowers are an unusual purple colour fading to pink with an open centre which is good for bees. Arranged in clusters they look very pretty.

Campanulas are putting on a show around the garden, flowering freely wherever seeds have been blown by the wind. I love them and leave them to flower wherever they choose. Most are a deep blue, possibly purple, while others range from palest lavender to white.

My “Sarah Bernhardt” peony has disappointed this year. Only two flowers. Lovely, though and I will enjoy their fleeting beauty.

Outside one of the tunnels a large verbascum, also known as a mullein, has grown right beside the door. It’s not easy to open the door but I’m reluctant to move it because it’s full of lovely mullein moth caterpillars.

It’s so important to preserve such creatures because they’re sadly declining rapidly. I’ve seen hardly any butterflies so far this year. Perhaps when the weather improves they will reappear. I hope so.

Other treasures are dotted here and there. The pink campions are still flowering and look pretty with blue geraniums. The yellow flowers of the herb Rue are a lovely contrast to the bluey-green foliage. My “Patio” rose has pretty pink flowers and even the hawkweed pleases me with it’s orange “fox and cubs” flowers.

At last the peas are yielding fat pods. Many of them don’t make it to the pan because I love the taste of fresh raw peas straight from the pod. One of the summer garden’s delights. Along with the first of the new potatoes and home-made mint sauce, they’re a special treat. Especially when strawberries are ready too.

As usual black fly have found the broad bean plants and are clustered thickly around the tops. I’ve pinched out the top few inches and discarded them to get rid of this pest. I never use sprays in my garden. It really isn’t necessary. A few old tricks can solve most problems. The plants will be fine now and produce lovely beans for a few weeks.

I held back from planting my outdoor cucumbers because the night time temperatures were so low. Now it seems to have warmed at night just a little, I’ve put them into the garden to grow on and hopefully in a few weeks I can start to enjoy them. I grow a variety called “Marketmore”. Small, juicy cucs full of flavour once the bitter peel has been removed. I also use them for pickles and chutney. I’ve always found them good reliable plants for our climate and they don’t require the fuss of greenhouse cucumbers.

A glimpse of the ornamental parts of the garden.

With my cooking head on, I had an idea for a savoury flan with the flavours of a pork pie but lighter in texture and with an added ingredient. It’s really delicious served cold with a salad or some chutney. Here is my recipe.

Sausage and Apple Flan

Make pastry for an 8 inch/22.5cm flan dish, with 1 cup of plain flour, one third cup of sunflower oil, one quarter cup of cold water, whizzed together in a food processor. Press into the greased flan dish, making sure the surface is covered. Place in the fridge while the filling is made. Or, use your favourite pastry recipe.
350g Sausagemeat with onion and herbs
2 Sweet Apples
1 large Egg
50g Bread (crusts can be used)

Peel and core the apples.
Heat the oven to 190C/170C for fan oven.
Slice the apples into the food processor.
Add sausagemeat, the egg, bread pieces and salt and pepper. Whizz to combine well.
Fill the pastry case with the mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes.

If only plain sausagemeat is available, add a small onion and a pinch of dried sage.
Although we enjoyed this straight from the oven it was even tastier  served cold. Can be frozen if it's for another day.

Here’s a little poem I wrote a while ago, inspired by the weather. Putting a positive spin on our disappointing June.

Garden in the Rain

Rain splashes on the paving
And brings up unexpected shades.
Drenched leaves are gently waving
With glistening drops on grassy blades.
The sky is dull and overcast
Yet the garden sparkles in the rain.
Such a pleasing contrast,
Why should I complain?
Diamond droplets drip from flowers,
Astonishingly beautiful to see
And those life-giving showers
Refresh the blooms and also me.

I hope you have your own lovely flowers to enjoy and perhaps the sun will shine for us all very soon.

Bye for now. With you again in a couple of weeks.

June! The beginning of Summer. A month of roses, strawberries and peas fresh from the pod. So much to enjoy. Sunny days and warm evenings to look forward to.

Meanwhile, there’s much to do in the garden. Slugs and snails are a problem this year. Just managing to keep on top of them but they’re having a feast on my lupins. Weeds galore! Lots of loveliness though.

The “Veilschenblau” rose is scrambling prettily through one of the pear trees. It has an unusual purpley flower and although it’s a bit temperamental I love to see it when it performs well. “Paul’s Scarlet” is also blooming now with rich red flowers and my favourite campanulas have self-seeded everywhere with their wonderful blue bells.

I have planted celeriac, “Prinz”, in the polytunnel to grow for next winter. I don’t give them much space as I haven’t enough room but I don’t need big vegetables. I’m only cooking for two and we don’t eat big meals. Tennis ball size is fine for adding extra interest to food. I’m not aiming for super-size veg. Taste and texture are the important things to go for.

Potatoes are looking good. By the middle of the month I will scratch the soil away to find delicious small new potatoes. Fabulous with fresh mint sauce. Planted “Ulster Sceptre” in March. The leaves look healthy and the flowers are lovely.

Bit disappointed with my garlic this year. I had just a small harvest and about eight bulbs had rotted. The remaining ones will not last for long. Gardening is always a gamble even with care and attention. The few I have will taste good though. They have a fresher, sweeter taste than shop-bought garlic.

I used the last of the cabbages. I made my cheesey potato bake. Steamed the cabbage over the boiling potatoes then made mash with Cheshire cheese crumbled in with a spoonful of soured cream. I spread the cabbage in the dish, sometimes I add onions sauteed in the microwave first, then I spread the mash on top. Baked in the air-fryer for 15 minutes at 150C. The topping is crisp and toasty. Lancashire cheese is also good for this. Cheddar can be used but needs to be grated before mixing into the mash. A simple, satisfying and economical meal. One of our favourites with some chutney.

Foxgloves have been wonderful this year. I even found three growing in one of the polytunnels. Couldn’t bear to throw them out, so they’ve flowered. In the garden a lovely collection sprang up from seed blown by the wind.

Poppies are putting on a show. The Welsh poppies have been abundant this year, in glorious yellow or orange. Their silken petals shine out on even the gloomiest day. The oriental poppies are fabulously dramatic with their scarlet and black flowers.

Other lovely things have caught my eye.

On a wet day, I tried my latest idea for cakes.

These are another variation of my Sweet-Treat Squares. I’m so pleased with them. Here is my recipe if you’d like to try them. You will need a large, greased, baking tin. I use a roaster, 30 x 25cm (12 x 10 inches).

Orange and Sultana Squares

1 small Orange
80g Sultanas
4 large Eggs
200g Golden Sugar
215g Self-raising Flour
2 rounded teaspoons Baking Powder
15g Bran
200g Sunflower Oil


Grease the tin with a little oil.
Boil the kettle. Place sultanas in a heatproof bowl or jug and pour boiling water over them. Leave to soak.
Scrub the orange, then grate onto a chopping board.
Heat the oven to 180C or 160C for a fan oven.
Put all the other ingredients into a mixing bowl.
Add grated orange zest.
Mix well.
Drain the sultanas and add to the mixture. Mix again.
Spread in the greased tin and bake for 25 minutes.
Check it's baked in the middle by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean, it's done.
Or press the middle gently, if it springs back it's done.
Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Delicious orange flavour, juicy sweet sultanas and a lovely crumby texture. They freeze well if you need to keep some.

I love my Art Deco pottery. Bits I’ve collected over many years from charity shops and flea markets. Lovely colours and patterns.

I hope the weather will be kind to us now. Enjoy whatever comes your way and cherish every moment while the sun shines.

With you again in a couple of weeks. Bye for now.

Halfway through the month and the lovely hawthorn flowers which grace the beginning of May have shed their petals. The garden is bursting with new life and the promise of more to come.

The polytunnels are giving us crisp lettuce and tasty radishes for delicious fresh salads. If I just nip out the crinkled leaves from around the middle and leave the central leaves they will keep supplying new growth. No need to pull up a whole lettuce. I always do this with “Little Gem”, our favourite lettuces.

The garlic is ready to harvest and has just sent up flower shoots. These, known as “scapes” taste of garlic and are a tender alternative. I nipped them off to prevent the plants from bolting and I used them in our favourite Italian-style salad.

Normally, for this I rub a little crushed garlic around the bowl to flavour the olive oil but as I’m waiting for my garlic harvest I snipped some of the scapes into the oil instead. Lots of flavour. It was very tasty.

For this salad I use basil. I’ve sown the seeds with the tomatoes in the greenhouse, so will be enjoying it soon. When it’s out of season I buy a pot from the supermarket. I can keep it going for weeks if I give it a drink of cold tea every day.

Outdoors, the kale is sending up flower buds and is almost ready to come out. Not yet though, because the buds are a treat, either raw or cooked. If I keep pinching them off they grow more and I can keep this going for a couple of weeks. Very nutritious and a pleasure to eat.

I’ve also discovered that if I remove just the head of a cabbage and leave the outer leaves, sometimes the stump will make new growth if it’s kept watered. This cuts down on space as less plants are needed.

I normally sow my runner beans this month from seed I saved from last year’s pods. This time though I decided to cut down on work so I bought some plants from a garden centre. I also bought Brussel sprouts and lettuce to save time and effort. Because I’ve grown from seed for many years I feel almost as though I’m cheating by buying plants but I’m not getting any younger and the garden is a lot to manage. I don’t ever want to give up gardening but I need to make life a little easier.

The roses have started to bloom. Although they struggle in our sandy soil I usually manage to coax them to produce a few flowers.

Tulips have finished but I captured the evening light on a lovely one before it finally dropped its petals.

The Aquilegias are wonderful this year. Beautiful shades of pink and purple are giving us such pleasure.

Comfrey is flowering now. It makes a great plant food, especially for tomatoes. It’s smelly but easy to make and very effective. Just cut it down with leaves, stems and flowers. Chop them up. Put it all in a bucket and fill with water. Leave for a couple of weeks then pour off and dilute as needed. Costs nothing, resourceful and organic. According to the organisation, Garden Organic, the variety of comfrey called “Bocking 14” is the best for this purpose.

On a wet day I baked my banana and cranberry loaves. I had four small ripe bananas to use up and it was an ideal day for working indoors.

Delicious served as buttered slices. My very easy recipe is in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook. Follow this link if you’d like to find it.

https://geni.us/eANQu

I hope your gardens are full of tasty food and glorious flowers and your days are filled with pleasure. Bye for now. With you again in a couple of weeks.

The merry month of May! Such a lovely time of year with longer days and more sunshine. So much to enjoy with blossom, birdsong and Summer yet to come. Lots going on in the garden and kitchen.

Delicious mint was ready to use. I love  mint so I made five small pots of mint sauce and froze them. Easy to do in my food processor.  I normally just use apple mint. It has a sweeter taste than spearmint but I hadn’t quite enough so I used a mixture of the two.

I just wash and strip the leaves from the stems, dab them dry, put into the processor, cover with malt vinegar and sugar and whizz them until the mint is thoroughly chopped and flavours combined. Fabulous taste to have with new potatoes and lamb in Spring and just as delicious with old potatoes and bacon in Winter. It’s just like fresh when it thaws.

The apple blossom has been wonderful. I think, of all the fruit blossom, it’s the loveliest. Sadly, it doesn’t last for long. The petals are scattering like confetti around the garden. Not a problem, they soon disappear.

My Clematis montana “Elizabeth” is sprawling around the tops of the fruit trees looking romantic.

Underneath the fruit trees this year a lot of self-seeded Campion, a wildflower, have sprung up and are looking so lovely right now. Such pretty flowers. The little orchard looks like a woodland garden.

At Christmas my son gave me a bag of mixed bulbs. By the time I could plant them I thought it might be way too late but I put them, pessimistically, into the ground. I needn’t have worried. They have come up beautifully. Lovely tulips which are now in flower and some daffodils which are still in bud.

These warmer days and damp evenings are ideal for growing. The broad beans are flowering well and promising to produce some tender beans in a few weeks. The blueberries have lots of blossom so will provide some delicious berries later on. The little wild strawberries which grow all over the garden have pretty flowers and will bear tiny red strawberries for the birds and mice to enjoy. We will have plenty of cultivated berries for ourselves.

A few more beauties which caught my eye.

On a very wet day I baked a new cake recipe which came to me one night when I couldn’t sleep. Here it is.

Sweet Apple Squares

2 Sweet Apples
4 large Eggs
200g Caster Sugar
225g Self-raising Flour
2 rounded teaspoons Baking Powder
20g Bran
200g Sunflower Oil

Grease a large baking tin. I use a roaster, 30 x 25cm (12 x 10")
Peel and core the apples.
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan oven.
Grate the apples coarsely into a mixing bowl.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Put mixture into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes.(It took 27 minutes in my oven.)
Cool and cut into squares.
They make lovely puddings either warm or cold with custard, cream, yoghurt or ice-cream.
Even better when they're a day or two old, if you can resist them for that long. They also freeze well.

More of my Sweet-Treat Squares are in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook. All very easy to make and very satisfying.

I hope you’re enjoying the season with lovely flowers and birdsong. Bye for now. With you again in a couple of weeks.

April is a busy time in the garden with seed sowing, planting and cutting back. I’ve sown French beans, kohl rabi, carrots, parsnips, celeriac, peppers, radishes and Spring onions. Enjoying fresh cabbage and kale. More about the garden later.

You may remember I’ve been experimenting with making homemade yoghurt and was deciding whether to buy a yoghurt maker. I was reluctant because I like to be self-sufficient if I can but began to wonder if it would make it a bit easier. The milk has to be brought to the boil, then cooled to about 43C. It’s a bit of a faff, to be honest, so I thought perhaps there might be a better way. So I gave in and bought a yoghurt maker.

Unfortunately, to my dismay, when I read the instructions the heating of the milk still had to be done in a separate pan beforehand! The so-called yoghurt maker simply holds the temperature throughout the hours it takes to develop. It doesn’t make the process any easier, after all. Plus it didn’t improve on the quality of the yoghurt I made with my own method.

Perhaps there are extremely expensive machines that do all of it. I don’t know but I’m not prepared to fork out that amount of money and have another large gadget cluttering the kitchen. Not to worry. I shall probably carry on making it now and then.

A few sunny days soothed my disappointment as I could work in the garden and enjoy lovely flowers.

Apple blossom is opening on the trees. My favourite fruit blossom. Rosy buds opening to a beautifully delicate shade of pink.

My clematis “Freda”, a kind gift from my sister, is opening her lovely flowers.

The hellebores are still producing a few flowers and the self-seeded wallflowers have been such a pretty sight.

The berberis has grown tremendously and is putting on a wonderful show. It grows a bit too fast and it’s extremely prickly but it looks so fabulous in Spring and it’s evergreen so I forgive it and enjoy what it has to offer.

Here are some more Spring delights.

Wildlife is busy in the garden. Tadpoles are whizzing about in the pond, ladybirds are mating, shield bugs around on the leaves and bees buzzing everywhere.

My “Roma” tomato plants were growing like mad in the windowsill but the nights have been very cold so I was wary of putting them in the greenhouse. My husband came to the rescue and fixed up a heater to prevent frost damage. So I planted them in the greenhouse bed where I hope they will thrive and produce their delicious tomatoes for us later in Summer.

We’ve had some atrocious weather though. One day it was far too wet to work outside so I gathered up all my bits of frozen fruit to make jam. I had strawberries and plums which I’d harvested from the garden and frozen and some blueberries I’d bought which were disappointingly tough.

Weighed them, stewed them and added an equal amount of sugar, stirred to dissolve then boiled rapidly until it was setting. Apples would have been a useful addition because they’re rich in pectin which helps jam to set. I couldn’t find any but I suspect there are some lost in the mysterious depths of the chest freezer! It took a while to reach setting point when a spoonful on a cold plate begins to wrinkle. Got there in the end.

Jam may not be a nutritious food but one of life’s real pleasures is a slice of freshly baked bread, slathered with butter and homemade jam. Delicious!

Not much I care to watch on television these days so I painted another picture. This one is “Sunlight and Shadows”. When I saw the photo I’d taken in the garden I loved the way the sun was highlighting the poppy petals but the camera gave intense shadows among the leaves. I’ve tried to capture that with my painting. Drawn first in pencil then painted with gouache.

Let’s hope the weather will now improve and we have many enjoyable days in the garden or out and about. With you again in a couple of weeks. Bye for now.