Month: October 2017

Flowers in a Vase

/ karen / 57 Comments

We all need more sunshine and smiles. And these multi-headed sunflowers have provided both this summer. Regular readers will know that I grow flowers for my mother in law Joan as a way of keeping her connected with me and my garden. Joan, who is 88, can’t come to visit as often as she would like, and so each week I run round the garden and gather a sample of everything in flower. Joan enjoys flower arranging. She did the chapel flowers for 65 years. She loves arranging my bundles of flowers and filling every window ledge and hall cupboard with colour.

I’ve had the best year yet with these sunflowers from Mr Fothergills seeds. Some of the multi-headed varieties provided 9 flowers per stem. Almost a bouquet in themselves. I will be growing varieties Halo, Buttercream, and Solar Flash again next year. I’ll start them off in the spring and plant out in May, using Slug Gone wool pellets to protect them from being nibbled. This year I grew morning glory up the stems, and under-planted them with calendulas.

I have been in love all summer with new Calendula Snow Princess. In truth, it’s a very pale cream, not white. But so frilly. It reminds me of a tutu. And so prolific. Every time I’ve walked up the plot there’s been a handful of stems to pick. Such a pretty flower, and accommodating as it didn’t mind being planted under sunflowers.

No two plants are alike, but I particularly love this one with the delicate caramel picotee edging. Lasts for 7 days in a vase. I’ve just planted out some for next year. If you have a spare bit of ground or a few large pots, there’s still time to sow some from seed. There’s also time to sow other hardy annuals- cornflowers, nigella, larkspur, poppies. They will grow slowly over winter and provide early flowers next spring.

in just about every bouquet of flowers this summer I managed to include one of these white water lily dahlias. This tuber cost £1 from Wilkinson’s in the spring. I started it off in a pot in the greenhouse and planted it out end of May. It grew to nearly 5 feet and has been smothered in flowers. I will pay better attention to earwigs next year, putting plant pots of straw or corrugated cardboard on canes amongst the plants. As I don’t like to kill anything, the straw etc will be shaken out in a wild part of the garden every morning. Interestingly, the earwigs didn’t attack a deep red cactus-flowering dahlia growing right along side.

Another stalwart of my summer cut flower garden is rudbeckia. These were gown from a packet of seeds called All Sorts Mixed from Thompson and Morgan. I love the twisty edges of this one, and the lime green stripe on the back of the petals. Truly scrumptious.

Rudbeckia Marmalade from Mr Fothergills seed has beautiful shiny, chocolate-coloured centres.

Rudbeckias last for at least 7 days in a vase and brighten any posy of flowers. I grow mine in semi-shade under a plum tree, as that’s the only space I have. Seed packets cost just a couple of pounds each, and Mum and I share a packet between us as there are too many seeds for one garden.

Fitting in with the daisy theme are these Snow White asters which flower reliably every October under my old plum tree.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this gallery of photos of my MIL’s flowers this week. I love to join in with Cathy and her meme In a Vase on Monday. But my flowers are always picked on Saturdays and Sundays when we go over to the in laws to do their gardening, shopping and look after them. However, I always read what the others are growing and picking in their gardens- all over the world. Go over and have a look. It’s fascinating to see how many are growing the same plants in different climates.

Do you grow cut flowers for your home or friends and family? I have 10 1.2m by 3m beds with little paths between. Four of them are filled with flowers, and the others are packed with kale, beetroot, chard, onions and strawberries. There’s quite a few weeds too! Leave a comment and let me know what you are growing right now, or what plans you have for next spring. Flowers have certainly kept everyone cheerful here this summer. And you can never have too many smiles, can you.

Paperwhite narcissi for Christmas – and my apple cake recipe

/ karen / 31 Comments

My wonderfully wise Welsh grandmother used to say speaking before thinking would get me into trouble one day. And she was right. The predicaments I get myself into! I’m always agreeing to something, without thinking it through first. If she was here now, she would be having a good laugh.

Just one of those “now, why-did-I-agree-to-do-that” moments came earlier this year when the BBC rang and asked if I would sit in on the gardeners’ phone-in for local radio.

All I would have to do was sit in a studio, answer a few questions, they would play a bit of music, and job’s done. Easy as that, I think they said. I should have known better, as my grandmother would have said. Since then, every other Wednesday morning between 11 and 12, I’ve been in the hot seat. It’s live – and there’s no time to think about the answers. Anyway, if you want a good laugh- and we all need more laughter in our lives- have a listen in. And you can feel sorry for me if you like, I won’t mind, as I struggle to remember the name of that illusive plant, or I try to identify some pest or disease, by mere description only! I can tell you, the headphones are always falling off my head, the studio chair is too high -and my feet are dangling in the air. But the people who work there are so cheerful and a delight to be with, and it’s a complete change from what I do all week. So I’ll keep going- until they find someone who can speak a bit faster and not um and ah quite as much as me!

This week I talked about home-made Christmas presents and promised to put the details on the blog. So here’s everything you need.

It’s time to plant Paperwhite narcissi if you want them to flower by Christmas. You don’t need to use compost. You can simply put the bulbs in a glass jar, vase or tank, and they will grow and flower in about nine weeks.

I used Shingle Beach decorative chippings by Meadow View Stone from my local garden centre. A large bag costs about £5 and I used about 1kg in the bottom of the vase.

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The gravel fills about one third of the 25cm x 12cm glass cylinder vase. Similar vases can be purchased from Oasis floral supplies.

Simply place the bulbs on top of the chippings, making sure the bulbs aren’t touching. Fill the container with water to just below the bulbs. The roots will grow down into the gravel.

Paperwhite narcissi have a habit of growing tall and floppy. If you decide to plant some in compost, you have to use thin canes to support them. You can also use willow or hazel twigs, which look pretty. But the beauty of growing them in tall vases or tanks is that the glass sides help to support the stems.

You won’t have to feed the plants. Spring bulbs are like mini-batteries, packed with all the power they need to flower in the first year. So there you have a money-saving present you can make now, and stand in a cool, frost-free, bright place to grow on. I can promise you, the scent will be amazing.

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Apple and Raspberry Crumble Cake.

Each week, I take in something I’ve made using produce from the garden. My aim is to spread the message, you don’t need a huge space to grow food. The autumn raspberries were a bumper crop this year. It’s nice to have something for us all to eat at tea break time. Here’s the recipe. The cake can be served hot or cold and is perfect for a picnic- even one in a radio studio.

You will need :

4 eating apples – sliced and cooked for several minutes in 1tspn butter or margarine in a frying pan. Put to one side.

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For the cake base- mix together

175g margarine

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

60ml or 4tbsp creme fraiche – or full cream milk

Stir in :

200g self-raising flour

5ml or 1 teaspoon baking powder

Spoon cake mixture into a 23cm Pyrex dish, or 12 hole silicone muffin tray.

Top with the sliced apples and 150g of raspberries and the crumble mixture.

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To make the crumble mix

50g margarine

75g self-raising flour

50g demerara sugar

Cook for about 1 hour at 180c or 350f gas mark 4. Check After 40 minutes. Cover with foil if the top is browning before the centre is cooked. The muffins will cook more quickly than the larger cake.

The best autumn raspberries are Autumn Bliss More information from the RHS here.

Look out for new varieties Malling Happy and Malling Passion from Lubera. Let me know how you get on with the cakes. Do you have any ideas or tips I might be able to share on the radio? I’d be grateful if you would let me know. I’m only really doing this because it might just prompt even one person to have a go at growing fruit and flowers. And you never know, I might eventually be able to identify the odd pest and disease now and then.