Flowers Of Scotland

The side garden round the raised bed is a bit of a desert. The grass is brown and crispy, there are a few determined dandelions showing their sunny faces. The apples and pears are ripening on the trees. The raised beds are looking decidedly sad. I'm watering and harvesting the odd lettuce here and there, and a few beans - but general there is not much happening. Until Saturday...

This huge thistle sprung up from nowhere, in the shade of the pear tree, with spiky green foliage, and its purply pink petals pointing heavenwards.

A pop of glorious colour in the arid surroundings. I am leaving it there, in honour of Josh Kerr and his Miracle Mile. I'm not really into sport, and I am not Scottish, but this was such a lovely story. I am so glad he won the gold, on his home turf, and that they played Flowers of Scotland for the win, not God Save The King!! 

Have a good week, everybody!

Spud-U-Like*

The potato plants were looking awfully sad - and it is the middle of July, so I felt I should harvest them. 

It is not difficult when they are in pots, and in two rows of the raised bed. But they were somewhat varied in size, and rather earthy. I washed and dried them very carefully, then decided to sort them.

I am sure that the commercial potato growers have some sort of mechanical process for grading spuds. 

I used my rubber egg [which was mysteriously laid on my front drive about 15 years ago!] The potatoes were put into 4 groups thus:

• Bigger than the egg
• Egg sized
• Smaller than the egg
• Marbles [just a cupful of these]

I normally keep the potatoes I buy from the veg place in their brown paper sack, on the bench in the old garage. But it is baking hot in there at the minute. So these are all stored away, in separate containers, in the fridge. I found a fun pic on the internet

What does I Papiassos mean? Sounds like a Greek potato pun

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with the marble sized ones? 

If I can't think of a good way to cook them, they'll go into the compost bin.

*Back in the 90s, the family always pronounced the name of this fast food outlet as Spudoulikae, having decided it was a small village on a Greek Island in the Aegean Sea, famed for its tubers!

A Blind Cat, A Found Cat, And Six Headless Mice

 Rosie adores the Studio Ghibli Cat purse which her dad brought back from a trip abroad. It has suffered of late- it is rather grubby, and sadly the pupils have come away from the eyes. "Grandma, please do you have any black felt?" She emptied the purse and left it with me  I climbed up into the loft.
🥵It is absolutely swullocking up there🥵

I took my phone with me, as one of my tasks was to photograph the electric socket for Bob. And as I got it out, I spotted a message from Katie regarding another Mouse for the Museum. So I grabbed black and yellow felt, the whiskers wire, and a few other bits. I was just about to come down when I spotted a long thin yellow fabric bag - It was my missing Hockney posters! I've found the cat!

Mr & Mrs Clark [& Oscar] are on the spare bed, looking up very suspiciously. The only space I could find for my Bigger Splash print is on the wardrobe door. It just fits above the handle! It can stay there for a few weeks in honour of Mr Hockney

I hope that Julian, George, Jacob and other overnight guests this summer will appreciate it! Right now I would quite enjoy a pool in the garden. But I am content to have my raised beds and two fruit trees there - much more useful!

A box of half a dozen half-completed mice. Fortunately Katie only needs one new one this summer. I should be able to sort that for her quite easily. The colours are wrong in this photo, mice #4 and #5 are not really Trump Orange!

PS I know nothing about football, but I am very, very pleased that Belgium won their match! 

Busy With The Ewoks

No, not this sort of Ewok, I mean the Egyptian Walking Onions from Kirsten. They have been quite splendid this year, rampant across the garden, escaping from the trough in the back garden into an adjacent corner, and marching across my second raised bed. Some of the Shedmen and another friend have requested bulbils so that they can try and grow them in their plots. I love their freaky triffid like appearance.

I haven't actually done  much with my ewoks except admire them, and occasionally trim some of the young green shoots to use in place of chives or spring onion tops in a salad.

There is a wonderful article here about their uses, so I decided to harvest all the ones which are taking over Raised Bed #2

I ended up with a bowlful of roots and stems, and a smaller bowl into which I trimmed all the bulbils. The bigger onions have been trimmed and gone into the fridge, and I decided to pickle the bulbils. I found a recipe online.

The whole process was very fiddly and time consuming. I picked through my bowl of bulbils, taking the largest, trimming and peeling them. It took nearly an hour to get to 6oz. The tub of 'debris' was large. As well as salt for the soaking brine, I needed sugar and white vinegar for the pickling solution, along with strips of lemon zest and lightly crushed juniper berries.

I ended up with one small jar of onions. These need to sit in the fridge for a week to allow the flavours to infuse. They should keep for some months.

Allegedly you can use these sweet/sour pickles in sandwiches and salads, as a topping for grilled meats, garnishing a cheeseboard or as cocktail onions [If you prefer your Martini with an onion, not an olive, it is called a Gibson. But I never drink Martinis...]
I will let you know how they taste

🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅

The leftover bulbils which were about the size of my thumbnail were replanted back into RB#2. And all the rest of the trimmings went into the compost bin.

Harvest Lunch

On Friday, Kirsten posted about the few broad beans she had harvested which formed part of her lunch. On Sunday I was able to harvest one yellow courgette, and just a handful of strawberries. My mint is thriving [at last] so we enjoyed courgette and carrot coins with our 

gammon and potatoes after church, followed by a slice of cheesecake, garnished with a sprig of homegrown mint, and some chopped berries. The apple and pear trees look like they should have a fair crop, the figs are coming along slowly. More courgettes are on the way, also some pea shoots. And my potato tubs are looking very healthy. 

How does your garden grow?

Will I Be Shot For Treason?

Julian gave me some little resin models of Sir David A to guard my orchids in the bathroom. On his birthday, [David, not Julian] I decided to move them all to the top of their sticks in celebration. 

But disaster struck. I caught my sleeve, on my favourite one [seated with the butterfly]Is decapitating a centenarian National Treasure a capital offence? Fortunately Bob came to the rescue. DA is restored. 

Sadly no restoration possible for my fabulous moth orchid - shown here in May 2022. Over the winter it just...died. But good friends Rick and Angela who visited recently brought me another plant. There are now four plants, all in shades of pink/purple, all in bloom. Beautiful. And the mended Sir David is carefully seated on the new one, low down!

These look good photographed against the white tiles - but they cannot stay there, on my glass hob. I have carefully replaced them in the bathroom.

Orchids have become my favourite houseplants I think.
Which houseplants do you enjoy?

Aliens And Alliums

The EWOKs [Egyptian Walking Onions from Kirsten] have gone crazy in some corners of the garden this summer. Bobs ShedMen have had a few of them to try and grow their own, but I have not actually harvested any to eat yet.

The other members of the allium family I've grown have been chives, and also those giant alliums which I bought back from Manchester in 2022.
Except they each year the blooms have been smaller and smaller.
The first year they were about 9 cm across. I dried some for the bedroom.

In 2023 they were about 7cm across. people said this was not unusual

In 2024 they were smaller

This year, smaller still - here they are with the 2023 heads.

Next year, the allium blooms will probably be the same size as my chives!!

Getting back to the EWOKs - do you think it would be possible to harvest and pickle the bulbs? I like regular pickled onions, and silverskin ones...

Occasional Tables And Other Musings

Lenny Henry once asked "What are 'occasional' tables doing the rest of the time?" A good question**. When we first met, Bob was surprised by the number of little tables around my tiny flat. This was the 1970s, and preIKEA. but Tricia Guild and Terence Conran were everywhere flogging cheap chipboard table kits plus round cloths... I confessed to Bob these were not tables - under the fabric were piles of plastic crates, full of school worksheets, Sunday School resources, haberdashery, tools etc. Hidden storage everywhere.
Nowadays we have cupboards, a loft and a workshop. But occasionally I relapse. Like when the family are coming, and I clear everything hurriedly into a stack in the spare bedroom. And throw a quilt over the top. And I warn Jess and Rosie - please do not go under there, as there are sharp things and breakable things which you mustn't touch. Bless them, they are very good about it. 

But they are back in London now, and Tuesday morning was spent tidying. It was a very productive exercise! Whilst tidying up, I found

• my box of vegetable seed packets [which I have been hunting for more than a fortnight] 
• my box of felt pieces [mislaid after the French Hen Project] 
• my packable waterproof jacket [I had to take a heavier coat to Bewilderwood] 
• my folder of small cross stitch designs

The sun was shining so I abandoned tidying briefly and planted some seeds, then came back to the task in hand. Whilst I worked, I listened on BBC4Extra to "Growing Solo", about retired journalist Max Cotton and his year long food self-sufficiency experiment [2024] . It was interesting - he only ate food he had produced himself, or found growing wild. So no tea or coffee, no Worcester sauce or exotic spices... Spoiler alert - this was not Tom and Barbara in the garden of a suburban semi. Max lives on a small farm in Somerset, with an attached vineyard, whilst his brother runs a nearby small-holding. So he had room to grow wheat, keep cows, pigs, chickens and a beehive...as well as producing veg and fruit [and grape juice] I am not sure he would have achieved his goal without the support of his wife and family.
I am never going to achieve self sufficiency with my little plot at Cornerstones. But I hope to grow plenty of veg again this year, and I am pleased to note the fig tree has dozens of tiny figlets.  
**Lenny says that "the rest of the time, these tables are dining or nesting"

New Life, Fresh Joy

I love the signs of spring everywhere - the 'volunteer plant' primula which has randomly popped up in the back garden, the buds on the trees, the sense of new life, and hope. I love the fact that Easter happens in Springtime.
We are certainly celebrating new life in our family - my niece had a baby last week, her second little boy. I have a new great-nibling!*

A good excuse to knit a hat and bootees, and make a Spring-like card. Primrose yellow seemed an appropriate colour, the bootee pattern from my favourite Zoe Mellor book. 

God bless this little bundle of new life, may he bring great joy to the family, and be always surrounded by love

[*if sisters and brothers are siblings, nieces and nephews are niblings]

They've Bin And Dunnit!

They've dealt with my wheelie bins, that is! When we got Cornerstones in 2009. we had two bins - regular, and recycling. The regular one was 20 years old [it said 1989 on the top] but in good working order.

The recycling was slightly newer, but had a couple of small cracks in the lid. We started paying for a garden bin. Four years ago, I stopped paying for that, as I was getting into composting properly, and felt it was £60 p.a. I didn't want to spend! I pushed that bin out of the way. Recently I realised those cracks were major splits, and my recycling bin was filling up with water in all the rainstorms. So my 'clean&dry' recycling was useless.
Last week [3rd March] I rang the helpful woman at Breckland Council. She made a note that I wanted the redundant garden bin collected, and a replacement for my damaged bin. "Don't worry if there is anything in them, they will deal with that, Should be dealt with inside 10 working days" And sure enough, early on 9th March, I got up to find the garden one gone, and a smart new recycling bin outside.

This was made in Telford [I remember Pauline telling me once that many of the UK bins are made there] and has 2026 imprinted on the lid. All I need to do now is stick my spare "4" numeral on the front, and spray-paint a recycling symbol on the lid. It can be quite confusing for visitors from other parts of the UK, when they helpfully offer to put stuff in the bin. 
One site lists "Common UK Recycling Bin Colours" thus...

blue Commonly used for "dry" mixed recycling, including paper, cardboard, and sometimes cans/plastic.
green Often used for garden waste, but in some areas, it is used for dry recyclables.
red/orange Often designated for plastic bottles, pots, and, in some cases, food waste.
brown: Typically used for garden waste or organic waste. 
But then it says "It is essential to check with your local council for the specific, definitive colour system in your area, as they can vary significantly."
Here in the Breckland region of central Norfolk, regular is green, recyclable is black, and garden is brown - totally  different from both Leicester and Dorset. I wonder what colour our food waste bins will be when they arrive?

What colour are your bins?

 

Spinning, Strimming, Trimming

Tuesday was a pleasant day and for the first time this year, the whirligig dryer went up in the back garden. Always a cheerful sign, spring is on the way. And later Bob strimmed the edges of the lawn, and mowed the grass. The grass was just a bit loo long. I'd better get a move on with my 2026 garden notes.

My hair was also a bit long, so I drove into Norwich and went to Supercuts. Shelley cut quite a lot off, but I am pleased with the shorter cut. I can show off my dangly earrings! I think my last cut was in September, but Steph trimmed my fringe in the Christmas holidays.  A one length bob needs minimal maintenance, but once it gets a bit too long and the weather warms up, I like to go shorter again.

I am still unpacking bits and pieces from the Manchester trip. I thought I had left Bob's slippers behind. I hadn't - but I had failed to pack my little red Icelandic beauties!

Today should be a lot of fun, I am meeting up with my old friend Elisabeth in Newmarket - we have been friends for 44 years. We are going to the racecourse together- but for a Quilting Show, not to bet on the horses! There will be a full report later...

Two Little Dickey Birds...

 

Two years ago, on my birthday, Steph, Gaz and the boys sent me a corn plant from Bloom and Wild. It has thrived in the lounge, and doubled in size. I may have to repot it soon. 
It has glossy green leaves, but was looking a bit uninteresting. I decorated the compost with the flowers and cross from Rosie's 2025 Easter garden...

Then when I was in the garage recently, I found something unexpected in ,y bag of silk flowers.  Two cute little orange birds with clips on their undersides. I have popped them onto the corn plant. I think they are fun - I shall wait to see if Jess and Rosie notice them when they next visit.

Blue Planet, Green Planet, Cornerstones Bathroom...

My orchids are spending the winter on the bathroom windowsill [waiting, like Eliza Doolittle, for spring to creep over]

If you look closely, you will see a little person in each pot. Despite his advancing years, Sir David Attenborough gets everywhere. These cute little resin figures were a gift from Julian. "David Attenborough will look after your plants" it said on the box. I thought maybe they were waterers or feeders or something. No, they are just little figures on spikes.

Julian admitted that he too thought they would do more than just stand there...
I'm not sure which one I like best. Top left with the butterfly is sweet. I think top right is a chameleon [but if so why is it still dark green?]  They one with the binoculars is looking for a better orchid, as the leaves on his are going yellow. And the pose with the camera looks a bit formal. I think butterfly wins.

It reminds me of the legend of St Kevin, an Irish monk who lived very close to nature, and all the wild creatures came and lived round his hermitage back in the 6th century
He is said to have been sitting in his monk's cell praying when a blackbird settled on his hand. The bird proceeded to build a nest and lay an egg - and the saint sat perfectly still until the egg had hatched and the mother and fledgling flew away. David Attenborough has been sitting on the bathroom windowsill for at least 8 weeks now, and his butterfly has not moved!
My beloved Auntie Peggy [Julian's Grandmother] almost met him once [that's DA not StK] He came to a bookshop in Romford to sign his latest publication. She spent about 30 minutes plucking up the courage to speak to him, but was so nervous, she never actually got to the front of the queue. I think she always wished she'd been more confident. 
There are a few buds coming on the orchids, so I hope for blossoms before too long.
Do you enjoy DA's programmes?
Which have been your favourites?

NOT Feeling Jaded

The word jade  has three different definitions - A verb, jade,  meaning to wear out, leading to the adjective jaded -  exhausted, lacking enthusiasm, often through being satiated. From the Middle English jade/chade for a worn out horse [and later, disreputable woman

A noun jade from the Spanish piedra de ijada  which means flank-stone. Centuries ago, people believed this lovely green semiprecious stone would cure ailments of the flank or kidney.

The jade plant, crassula ovata. Also known as the money plant or friendship tree. Liz has a very large plant, in summer 21, just before Jess was born, she gave me a small cutting, I put it in a coronation mug . Look at it now, three times the size. I am quite excited by this growth.

Later that year, Liz gave me a small Christmas cactus, to replace a much larger one which I had for years, and which died when we lived in Kirby Muxloe. I know it survived to 2023, as I blogged about it just two years ago. But I think it must have died. I cannot find it anywhere! I may treat myself to a new one.

How are your Christmas Cacti plants coming along?

Do you do the darkness thing, to encourage blooms on cacti and poinsettia?

Do you have any jade jewellery or ornaments?

Thrifty Thursday

 My apple peeler is still at my friend's house. Her family are using it daily and eating more apples than usual. The youngest particular likes the fact that the apples are corked [ie cored!]  So I am back to using my traditional corer and potato peeler.

But last week I saved the bits into a lok'n'lok which I kept in the freezer till it was full. Then I used them to make a true ZeroWaste preserve; "Compost Heap Jelly" This recipe comes from HFW's 9 years ago on Sue's Blog [THIS Sue - there are so many Susan's in Blogland] Thanks Sue

I made four little jars of jelly from the cores and peelings which would normally go into the compost. That's Thrifty Tip #1

I do the initial stage by putting peel etc in a pan, covering with water and bringing to the boil. Then I tip everything into the slow cooker, and simmer for a couple of hours. TT#2

And when I finished, I put the resulting slushy brown purée into the compost anyway! TT#3

You need a jelly bag to drain everything. Spend £10 or more on a metal one from Tala or a red plastic one from Lakeland. I make jelly about once every five years - so I have improvised my own jelly strainer from stuff in the house. No cost! TT#4

Begin with an old, clean teatowel. Place a stool upside down on the worktop, and drape the teatowel over the top, fastening the fabric  securely over each leg with an elastic band. Put a bowl underneath. Let it drip for a minimum of 3 hours.

Do be patient [500ml came through in first hour - but by the evening, it was almost 700ml. Do not be tempted to squeeze or push - that will make your jelly dull and cloudy.

Final kitchen tip is about vinegar bottles. I like my Sarsons 'table' bottle with its sprinkler cap. But that costs five times as much as vinegar in a large bottle with a plain top. Unfortunately the Sarsons cap does not unscrew. The trick is to stand the empty bottle upside down in a jug of boiling water for 5 minutes. Then wrap it in a teatowel and carefully ease off the plastic cap. Refill the bottle and pop the cap on again.

This is such a simple thing and can save you £10 or more per litre! Thats TT#5

And now - totally unrelated - I enjoy flicking through glossy magazines - especially ones relating to recipes, gardening or crafts. But they cost upwards of £5 a time. And I don't want to keep them. But because I belong to Norfolk Libraries, I can download the Libby app free and borrow loads of magazines to read on my tablet or phone. 

A different free magazine every week = £300 a year saved. And not just magazines- there are books and audiobooks too. 

Absolutely brilliant. TT#6

That's half a dozen tips to help you save money this autumn.

Have you got any good moneysaving tips to share?