First Asparagus

Yummy look what I've just picked for supper. I only have about six plants which have been in for a couple of years now and the warm weather this week has really brought it on. Cheated and bought some hollandaise.

bon apetit

Busy Bees - On The Importance of Bee Suits

Plucked up courage and opened the beehive last night. I needed to add some more storage space before the blossom appears in the orchard and the honey flow starts in earnest. I have invested in a full bee suit this year having tried the slightly more glamorous jeans and jacket approach which led to multiple stings in sensitive places. I also made sure I was wearing a thick layer underneath! The smoker has new fuel this year as the dried grass and cardboard approach wasn't working well and you do tend to panic if you are surrounded by angry bees and the smoker has gone out whilst being stung.

The girls have glued the hive together with propolis and it took some prising to get the lid off. Propolis is derived from plant resins and sets hard, the bees use it like a glue to plug any gaps in their hive - its very effective. I had a quick look in the hive and all seems well with lots of bees and stores. The storage I have added is called a "super" - a shallow box full of frames of foundation wax from which I hope to harvest honey this year. 

Tulip Festival - Leeds Castle

Had great fun yesterday arranging Tulips at the castle. Here is the arrangement I put together in the Queen's Gallery - In my defence I would say that tulips continue growing after they have been picked and yesterday this looked completely different! Over 10,000 tulip bulbs have been planted and you can find further details here.  Many of the tulips have been grown in the gardens here and its been nail biting waiting for them to flower given the extremes of weather this year.

My favourite tulips are the Darwin Hybrids as they are almost unbelievably huge and this arrangement in the castle library features Pink Impression which is an enormous flower and I will have to order some bulbs for my garden. The bulbs were supplied by deJager bulbs.

Colourful Containers & Chooks

Ranunculus and Aubretia

I went plant hunting at my local Homebase and found some purple Aubretia and dark pink Ranunculus (both reduced). I have used them to replace the dead french lavender in a couple of containers. One by the gate to the Kitchen Garden is a lovely dark blue pot, and the colour combination is very rich. The second is the focal point at the end of the path sitting in front of a black elderflower (black beauty).  Last year this was planted with purple penstemmon and trailing geraniums, the penstemmon has not survived the winter either (fortunately the cuttings have). Also found in Homebase were some cottage garden perennials for the bee border and some bargain strips of veg plants (globe artichokes, mini sweetcorn, peas and leeks.

Spice the poorly hen has recovered from her eye injury, though sadly has lost the use of the damaged eye. She has decided that my job is to provide her with lots of lovely slugs and snails and now follows me around the garden hoping for a handout. She comes and hides behind my legs in the hen run as a couple of the other girls are picking on her (hopefully this will sort itself out as she becomes more confident).

Today in the Kitchen Garden

Oh dear, the North wind doth blow, and blow. Its cold still despite some lovely sunny days, the wind is whipping across the Downs and keeping us chilly. Things are stirring in the kitchen garden, although slowly and evey day something new is appearing. Looks like there might have been some losses, the myrtle bush is looking very dead, although I haven't given up hope as it is always slow to come into leaf. I have also lost several potted french lavenders and the Rosemary bushes have taken a beating and are not covered in masses of flowers this year. No signs of life from the Olive trees either but the small cutting in the greenhouse is beginning grow away.

Positive notes are the greens under the cold frame are looking very well, here is an updated photo. The Hispi cabbage are beginning to form hearts and the radishes are well on their way. I have just pricked out another tray of cabbages in the greenhouse to provide a succession.

I also have seedling little gem lettuces waiting to be planted out, won't be too soon as they are attracting greenfly in the greenhouse.

Lady birds have been appearing with the sunny days and I have transferred a few into the greenhouse salads! The grapevine which I put in the greenhouse last year is now coming into leaf and is covered in flower buds. Last year when I planted it, this vine was just 12 inches high, I am training it across the greenhouse roof to provide summer shading and hopefully, some grapes. 

I have bought the strawberry tower into the greenhouse and its starting to grow away. It has a mix of varieties including Florence, Hapil and Cambridge Favourite. I am planning on digging up the strawberry beds in the fruit cage and making a strawberry table instead using the folding staging and a couple of grow bags. Last year the strawberries growing in containers produced much better fruit and it would help my back to raise them off the ground. I could put brassicas in the strawberry beds for the autumn and they would be kept free from the dreaded cabbage white butterflies which can sniff out the cabbage family wherever I hide them!

Broadbeans are starting to develop flower buds and the crimson flowered broad beans have just starting appearing in the greenhouse. I think its still to cold to start off the tender summer veg such as courgettes and squashes but I have started tomatoes to give them a long growing season and some have started germinating.

Flower Arrangements in Vintage Containers

I often use antique china for table decorations in the house. My latest find has been a vintage bentwood sieve which would have been used originally in the kitchen for flour. I have waxed the wood and lined it with plastic then filled it with potting compost. So far I have planted it with narcissus and hazel twigs and plugged the gaps with moss I dug out of the meadow. These were followed with coloured primroses. I have now acquired a few in different sizes and am planning to fill them with roses and marguerite daisies in the summer - when it finally arrives. 

I have a collection of tureens which I have acquired over the years since student days trawling junk shops in Southampton. It doesn't matter if they are in vintage - ie damaged - condition as long as they don't leak! Here, I have used a pretty turquoise and white footed tureen which has certainly seen better days being stuck together with glue in several places. However, planted up with pink daisies it looks lovely. Put some gravel in the base of the container to help drainage and don't overwater.

Rhubarb, Rhubarb Everywhere

I have Timperley Early in the garden (and also in old dolly tubs) which I have started picking for stewing and crumbles. Mind you, "stewed rhubarb" sounds very institutional - how about "rhubarb compote" instead! I blast it in the microwave for a couple of minutes until it has collapsed and add brown sugar to taste. You can also make a very posh rhubarb & custard flan by baking a rich egg & cream mixture flavoured with marmalade in a short pastry case, on top of which you have artfully arranged rhubarb pieces. If you really want to impress, when cooked, you can brulee the top of the tart with brown sugar and a blow torch (beware: I have discovered to my cost that the blowtorch in Himself's toobox is much fiercer than the kitchen variety!).

My neighbour is the jam & chutney company Sugar & Spice, and they use any rhubarb I can't cope with. The recipe below is yummy, one of my favourites, and something to keep the rhubarb mountain at bay when its no longer a novelty. I'm afraid I use this in cheese sandwiches too as a chutney alternative - sweet tooth - moi?

Rhubarb & Ginger Jam

Ingredients
1kg trimmed rhubarb, chopped , 1kg granulated sugar
Juice of 2 lemons, 25g root ginger, roughly chopped
100g crystallised ginger, finely chopped or experiment with preserved ginger

Instructions
Layer the rhubarb and sugar alternately in a large bowl, adding a sprinkling of lemon juice to each layer. Cover and leave overnight for the sugar to draw out the juices of the rhubarb. Put the rhubarb and sugar in a preserving pan. Tie up the root ginger in a piece of muslin and add to the pan. Bring the mix to the boil, skim off any scum, then boil rapidly for 15 minutes. Remove the muslin, add the crystallised ginger and boil for 5 minutes more or until setting point is reached (to test for this, drop a blob of jam on to a cold saucer, push it with your finger and it should wrinkle). Pour into sterilised jars and seal with jam pot covers or screw lids.

UFO found in Kitchen Garden

Whilst keeping an eye out for bees in the garden over the weekend, I happened across this rather peculiar flying beastie. Furry like a bumblebee but with long spindly legs and with slightly sinister looking bat like markings on the wings. Having a lance like proboscis and drinking nectar like a hoverfly or hawkwing moth. Initially I thought this was a hoverfly but further investigations via the trusty Interweb has identified this UFO as a Greater Beefly (Bombylius major).

Rather alarmingly they are parasitic on solitary bees which we have plenty of in the garden. I hope they don't have a negative effect on the rather healthy population of bumblebees in the garden.

Found Objects - glass insulators

I am always on the look out for quirky objects, either for the home or garden I recently found these glass insulators in Lenham and they I believe they are from USA. They are a lovely rich turquoise blue and I can see them topping hazel or copper poles in the kitchen garden perhaps so the light can shine through them. I have a few other decorative items in the garden and I'll write about them soon.

NEW - Book of the Month

Carol Klein - Grow Your Own Vegetables

I have just added a "Book of the Month" to the blog. Not necessarily newly published books, but ones I have been reading or referring to in my quest for knowledge and self improvement - or else just ones with yummy pictures!

As I mentioned previously, my friend Sian designed the book and it has scrummy photography and is really inspiring. She used to work for Gardens Illustrated, so you can imagine how wonderful the book looks. I caught some of the series on telly last year and tt has fired up my enthusiasm for propagation. It turns out not nearly as complicated as you might think, especially following Carol's step by step instructions (and all those free plants - so satisfying).

These are some other books by Carol following the grow your own theme which I have and would recommend. I don't know if the following links will be of use as I can't seem to get this to work on the UK site of Amazon - however the link in the RH column will take you to the right page for the book in my Amazon shop along with a few other suggestions.

More from the Kitchen Garden

I managed to charge up my phone and take some pictures around the kitchen garden today. First project was to plant a perennial sweet pea - a pink one and construct a hazel peastick wigwam as a support. The chickens were happy to help! I have chosen the middle of the comfrey bed for the sweet peas. 

I planted up this bed several years ago when I was short of ideas and now the comfrey is here to stay - it is remarkably vigorous and has even regenerated from cut leaves used as mulch on a potato bed. It puts down very deep, fibrous roots which are very challenging to dig out of clay soil. Still, it is another plant which is full of bees when in flower and can be cut several times a year. It is high in nitrogen and makes a great addition to the compost heap. I keep meaning to make compost tea with it but am too cowardly as it is supposed to stink - perhaps this year.

In the background are some of the galvanised dolly tubs I use as planters. last year they had potatoes in them followed by courgettes.  The bottoms have rusted through but that doesn't matter. I have one still intact which I use for Horseradish as it likes wet conditions. Rhubarb and mytle are both planted in barrels.

I potted up some dog's tooth violet bulbs at christmas and they are nearing flowering now and are in a coldframe waiting to be planted out. Also with them is a frame full of cowslips which I bought cheaply from B&Q (3 plants) and divided up to make 12 plants. Beyond the cowslips are some 5 inch pots of sweet peas. 

Two of the pots are dwarf sweet peas sown from seed I saved from last years plants and three pots have overwintered from seedlings which potted up in the autumn. By the way, these lovely victorian style cloches were presents. The latest one was a Christmas present and came from Crocus - I love browsing the Crocus website see http://www.crocus.co.uk/

I also put some hazel twigs around the broad beans which I planted out last week. I have now sown in the greenhouse (in loo roll tubes) some seeds of the Crimson broad bean to provide a succession. I first came across this variety from the Heritage Seed Library as they were donated to the library by a lady living in Kent, just down the road from here. They have proven so popular they are now available from several seed companies.

I have just harvested some carrots for dinner. I planted these last august in a barrel with some old growbag compost. I like using multicoloured carrots - have a look at the picture of the ones I pulled up today. I just broadcast the seed on the surface of the compost and lightly covered with vermiculite. The carrots then grow to fill the available space - they vary in size but you do get a whole barrel of them and best of all - no carrot fly. The carrot fly flies close to the ground and up in the barrel the plants are out of reach. You do tend to pull more carrots than you need as its a bit like playing lucky dip! 

I have finally given in and bought some organic slug pellets. The slugs have a particular fancy for my pansies and violas and some have found their way into the greenhouse and are having a go at some emerging shoots.

April in the Kitchen Garden

Hooray some sunshine this afternoon and I spent some time in the garden. I lured the hens into the fruit cage where they happily spent a couple of hours turning over the ground and hopefully finding some slugs. I spent some time weeding raised beds and transplanting seedlings into the new bee plant area as well as scattering seeds on bare patches. I put down some crimson clover and tufted vetch seeds in the meadow. I bought some mixed viola plants during the week and have edged the beds with them and also used them to plant up a lovely purple glass container for the house.

The bees were out in force and finding red dead nettle in flower as well as a speedwell and lesser celandine. I walked around the meadow and the violets are out and some self heal. Cuckoo flower and cowslips are on their way. Suddenly all the fruit trees are in bud and the hawthorne is showing green. I saw a couple of ladybirds (of the English variety), the continental ones are still crawling around the window cills in the house.

I planted out little gem lettuces which have been growing on the greenhouse. I have a raised bed (6ft x 4ft) with an integral cold frame made to the Geoff Hamilton plans (gardeners world).  Follow this link to the HDRA Garden Organic website for instructions on how to make one using timber, water pipe and plastic sheeting  click here  Under here from left to right, I have mixed leaves, radiccio, little gem, hispi cabbages and radishes . There are also lots of corncockles appearing under here which I will move. I planted a couple of roses, a Charles de Mills and a David Austin lucky dip from the bargain bin at Notcutts - it didn't have a label so I have no idea of the variety.

My friend Sian has designed Carol Klein's new book - Grow Your Own Garden and it has inspired me to divide perennials and take cuttings for the first time. I potted up a whole tray of hardy geraniums divided up from a small clump and also taken softwood cuttings of sage and garden pinks. Last autumns penstemon cuttings survived the winter - unlike the ones planted in the garden - and are now growing away happily.

I have separated the poorly hen from the flock and she is now in an ark by herself. She has damaged an eye and is not coping well with only one eye working. Today she looked a bit brighter, I am dosing her with Baytril and bathing the eye with aloe vera so fingers crossed.

Here is a picture of the potted up geraniums in the greenhouse. Behind them are lavender Hidcote plugs which I am growing on. They arrived as mini plugs a couple of weeks ago from Thompson & Morgan (84 in total).

More tomorrow as I plan to spend Easter Sunday in the garden if the weather is not too bad.

Growing Plants for Honey Bees

I thought you might like to know about the easy plants you can grow to encourage bees in your garden. Since putting my hive in last year, I have been sowing hardy annuals and perennials to provide them with a rich source of nectar and pollen. As a rule, simple flowers are easier for the bees to access the nectar although early compositae such as dandelions are in important early food source - so leave them to flower if you can.

I am raising crimson clover and sainfoin in modules to plant out and have also been scattering seed on bare soil on an area we have recently cleared by moving the compost heaps. I read in the British Beekeeping magazine that bees are highly attracted to these plants so am trying them. They germinated really easily and are often used as a green manure so the seeds are readily available. visit the bbka website to find out more. http://www.britishbee.org.uk/

Phacelia is an old fashioned garden plant which seeds itself easily and flowers for ages. I have sown lots of seed using last years flower heads and have also transplanted seedings appearing in the vegetable beds. This plant can also be used as a green manure and dug in before flowering - which seems a shame. Borage is also self sown. If you are growing comfrey for making compost or plant food, these flowers are also very attracting to bees. I also have corncockle which seeds itself freely around so have added this to the mix. A traditional wildflower of the cornfields, its is a highly decorative plant, 2-3 foot high with magenta flowers.

Later on in the season, alliums are also popular bee plants and I leave some of last years onions and leeks in the beds to provide some useful food sources. I have included a picture of a bumble bee on a garlic flower taken in the kitchen garden in July. I also have californian poppy seeding around and young echinops everywhere which are popular with the bees.

Even in the smallest of gardens you can dedicate a corner to growing flowers to help the bees.