Leeds Castle Homes & Gardens Fair

Sorry for radio silence, I have been busy getting ready for the Homes & Gardens fair at Leeds Castle this weekend and have been making candles and planting up tureens etc in readiness. The weather looks great and there will be loads of stall holders and plant nurseries there as well as yours truly.

We also have another project on the go in the kitchen garden, making some raised beds with crates used to import oranges from Uruguay. I thought I was buying old orchard crates but never mind. Will post some pics over the weekend.

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.

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.