Dorset Garden Diary - Cooking, Freezing, Bottling and Pickling

Good evening all,

I hope you've had a good week. It's been a bit of a mixed bag with the weather, almost a heatwave and almost autumnal at times. There's been plenty happening in the garden but it's all mainly picking crops, cooking, freezing, bottling and pickling.

Monday - 17C 63F, gorgeous sunrise and sunny all day. I had intended to tidy the front garden but it didn't happen as I was working most of the day, but I did pick tomatoes, runner beans, cucumbers, gherkins, carrots, spring onions, fennel, swiss chard and blackberries. I froze the latter along with the plums that had ripened in the greenhouse, pickled the gherkins (jar no.4 started). Had the salad for lunch and the veg for dinner. I watered the flower pots and the veg.

Tuesday - a much cooler 14C 58F but developed into a hot and windy day. I was working all day so didn't get chance to get in the garden until the evening. I picked more cucumbers and tomatoes and fed the greenhouse plants and the garden tomatoes, gherkins and squash. The chillies are ready for picking later in the week. The pottering shed is still tidy (surprisingly)

but outside is a jumbled mess which I keep meaning to sort out. The 'for your eyes only' rose is in flower and looking good

Wednesday - another sunny day up to 21C 70F but felt hotter. Strong winds forecast for the next few days so the priority job today was to tidy the side of the pottering shed and secure everything. I stacked the bags of garden rubbish for him indoors to take to the recycling centre; put the soil from the potatoes into two of the large bags and a large container (I will dig this into the garden eventually!); sorted out all the flowers pots, threw some out and cleaned others. It's looking much better

I switched on the pond pump for a couple of hours to oxygenate the pond, the water is looking clear and the fish are happy and eating well. The garden was full of butterflies this afternoon, mainly red admirals and cabbage whites. Picked more plums to ripen in the greenhouse as they are still going mushy on the tree. The pears are coming on but not ready for picking yet. Picked more runner beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, gherkins and carrots - took the cucumbers and tomatoes round to the neighbours.

 The carrots are Amsterdam 2 amice grown in a pot

 The cucumbers are beth alpha

and one giant gherkin

Thursday - started at 15C 59F and developed into a hazy, autumnal-feeling day and humid. I went out the back to pick blackberries. It is becoming overgrown under foot so I put on my blackberry-picking clothes...where's the fashion police when you need them!

I picked just under a pound and froze them. More plums have ripened so they were frozen as well. The fish were very busy in the pond this morning (errmmm..where else would they be??). They obviously had their own agenda, darting about. I was mooching about thinking there's not much to do when I noticed that some of the leek leaves had garlic rust (a fungal infection). I removed the offending leaves but, as it's so windy, the spores had probably been transferred to the rest of the crop so I chose to pull them all up before I lost them. They are still small, unfortunately.

I blanched and froze them. I would like to have seen this one fully grown - wonder if it would have kept twisting

Friday - same temperature as yesterday, cloudy and drizzly then some proper rain. Humid again. I was working all day but I did pick the chillies and more tomatoes and cucumbers. So far the tally is:
tomatoes - 5.5lb, cucumbers - 17, gherkins - 4 jars, runner beans - 1lb and blackberries 1.5lb.

Saturday - 16C 61F and extremely windy. Sunny with intermittent heavy showers. I tidied up the leaves on the outdoor and indoor tomatoes

and the cucumbers

The late cucumber plants I re-potted a couple of weeks ago are not doing as well outside as in the greenhouse but they do have flowers on them

The next batch of lettuces are coming on

and the chilli and mini pepper plants are thriving

And talking of chillies, these are the ones that were ready for picking

and this is how they ended up - chilli oil

Sunday - 16C 61F sunny but still very windy. Him indoors out early working on his list. Next week I am away so he will be in charge!! He has two lists - his and the one I will be giving him later. He's under strict instructions to take before and after pics, when to water the pots, the veg, the greenhouse etc etc etc.

Well, I have run out of time this week, just not enough hours in the days. Watched Countryfile and it looks like a good week for him indoors to be out in the garden although thunderstorms coming in late Wednesday/Thursday. I didn't get round to watching this week's Gardeners' World so the jobs for this weekend will have to wait until next weekend.

But, before I go, here's a couple pics of the cottage garden - the colours and textures are blending wonderfully

and a meditating carrot

 

Well, that's it for this week, you can find out how him indoors got on next Sunday.

 

Regards,

 

DD

 

Follow me on Twitter @DaisyDigga

Dorset Garden Diary - Heatwave on the way and Reaping What I've Sown

Evening everyone,

I hope you've all had a good week. A chilly start here but it's ended gloriously and I've been reaping the benefits of all my hard work.

Monday - 16C 60F and partly sunny to start only rising to 19C 66F which is not good for august. It's also very windy again. First thing, I watered the greenhouse and fed the fish - the fishlings are growing rapidly. While I was in the greenhouse I heard the geese fly over, that's the first time I've heard them this year. I planted out the next batch of little gem lettuce then spent ages trimming off the excess leaves on the tomatoes in the greenhouse and in the garden

Watered the cottage garden this evening as it's looking a bit tired.

Tuesday - a chilly 13C 55F but a stunning sunrise. The forecast was for hot sunshine all day but by mid afternoon the clouds appeared and it was quite chilly in the shade. Jobs to be done are - finish clearing the path of grass that has taken hold and clear the beds on the right-hand side of the garden

and tidy up the top left-hand side beds which have gotten out of control

I decided to tackle the above which took nearly two hours to dig out the plants that had taken over. I've left some which I will shift around at a later date but it looks much better. I also emptied the small cauldron pond as, unfortunately, it has been neglected (slap hand) but I have plans for it. Something had died in it and a small part that was left rose to the surface...gross! But there's no point in filling it again until we have rain forecast which isn't this week. I'm going to put bee and butterfly attracting plants in the lower bed and shrubs in the upper. Looks much better already

I pruned the cherry tree (after reading up to make sure it was the right time, and it is) as I kept getting whacked on the head when I walked past. I'm quite pleased with my efforts

Picked more blackberries, two large gherkins and more runner beans - they are stringless (Desiree) and so much nicer to prepare and eat

Last jobs of the day were feed the greenhouse plants and outside toms, cues and gherkins and give the fish their supper.

Wednesday - a slightly warmer 14C 57F and cloudy. Stayed chilly all day - fish were hungry today. I deadheaded the perennials and collected seeds from the geum, ladybird poppy, delphinium black knight, flax and the burgundy Echinacea. Gherkin jar no. 3 now full! Noticed these chillies in the greenhouse...

Thursday - 16C 60F and cloudy. I think I mentioned that as soon as the plums start to ripen they go off? So, I picked some today and put them on the mesh in the greenhouse - hopefully because it's hot and dry in there they will be eatable when they've ripened. Picked more blackberries and put them in the freezer for jam making. I watered the greenhouse, pots and veg garden. I've tied up the parsnip leaves as they are spreading across the bed, suffocating other veg trying to grow.

Friday - turned into a balmy 21C 70F. Unfortunately I was unable to enjoy it as I was working. I watched Gardeners' World this evening and jobs for the weekend were: collect seeds (done), pull out peas as they've now finished (sort of done, some are still growing). Picked up some interesting tips though - pots only need a good soak once or twice a week; keep celeriac moist so it won't bolt and harvest between October and December when the size of a tennis ball; to maximise fruit on the tomato plants remove all the leaves that are covering the fruit (already done) and the side shoots (already done): put leaves around the base of the plant, this will feed them potassium; to break down clay soil plant potatoes in it. Amazing sunset

I stayed up to see if I could see any of the Perseid meteor shower. Although it's not totally dark here as we have some street lights, I did see a couple and the sky looked like it was studded with diamonds.

Saturday - 16C 60F started sunny then clouded over then started to drizzle after I'd watered the veg but it wasn't much, put together not enough to make one decent raindrop. I finally emptied the last bag of spuds (maris peer grown in peat free with added garden compost). The potatoes were bigger than the others but only 4lb yield

So, the best variety yield this year was the all rounder pentland javelin coming in at just over 14lb, with the maris peer at 13lb. 27lbs of potatoes from 12 seed potatoes...I'm happy with that! Whilst clearing away the dying peas I found more shallots. Some were big enough to keep, the others I'm going to dry and plant out next year to see if they'll grow. Picked gherkins, cucumber, tomatoes, runner beans, chard and beetroot. The beetroot isn't doing as well as last year but still, not bad

Sunday - 19C 66F start to the day - it's going to be a warm one. The squadrons of geese went over again, they're on a different flight path this year. I fed the fish. Not quite sure what ecological benefit pond snails have, but the fishlings spend their days playing with them. The sparrows are back in the garden and the 'for your eyes only' rose has recovered from the sawfly attack and is back in bud.

 Also...how did I miss this yesterday!

Two more areas that need working on are the pond area which I want to turn into an alpine garden

and the side of the pottering shed area which I want him indoors to help me clear...

The carrots are proving an anomaly - straight

not straight...

But...I do have a perfectly formed mini pepper

They are doing well along with the cucumbers and chillies

Watched Countryfile this evening and the heatwave is set to continue until the middle of next week then we may have rain but we need it now so I'm off to water the garden then have an ice cream. Have a great week, hope the weather stays good and catch up next week.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @DaisyDigga

Dorset Garden Diary - A Plethora of Gherkins and a Brilliant Day at Countryfile Live

Evening everyone,

How's your week been? Not too bad here, we had some much needed rain then summer came back and looks like it's here to stay for a while...big smile. But we will need some rain, preferably overnight please.

Monday - 15C 59F with spits and spots of rain in the breeze. I had a list of things to do in the afternoon but, finally, rain stopped play. It started just as a light shower then by the evening we had proper rain which the garden desperately needed as the water butts had run dry. I had potato salad for my dinner, all from the garden (not the sultanas!)...very tasty and healthy apart from the copious amount of mayonnaise

Tuesday - started at 17C 62F and still raining. The garden is quenched and the fish are happy because the pond is full and cleansed. We had over an inch of rain from yesterday afternoon to this morning and the water butts are now full again. Unfortunately, some of it found its way into the pottering shed.

The rest of the day remained dull and this evening the fog rolled in, it was more like autumn than an August's summer evening. I fed the plants in the greenhouse, checked to see if any veg was ready for picking and pruned the yellowing leaves off the cucumbers and gherkins.

Wednesday - 16C 60F and more rain overnight. Very windy today, almost gale force and tiring to garden in. I picked most of the chard and froze it for soups and picked fennel for my salad and stir fry. I also picked the ripe tomatoes and cucumbers and took them next door with some potatoes as we are going away for a couple of days and won't be eating them. I pulled up a couple of the carrots that I've been growing in pots to see how they're doing - small and sweet (as in taste not cuteness - although...). These were growing next to each other, so why aren't they both straight!

I realised today whilst working in the garden that there hasn't been any sparrows or blackbirds around for a few days...strange. I trimmed the tomato, cucumber and gherkin plants both in the greenhouse and outside. The turnip and swede seeds that I've sown in pots are starting to appear.

Thursday - 15C 59F and sunny but still windy. As we are going away for a few days I saturated the plants in the greenhouse and put the seedling pots in seed trays and left them standing in water. Thankfully I didn't have to water the garden because of all the rain we've had...good timing weather! We drove to Woodstock, just past Oxford, to visit Blenheim Palace and gardens. It's very grandiose and impressive. We had a sandwich and drink then did a tour of the house; there's plenty of interesting information and pictures about Winston Churchill's life.  Unfortunately much of the house is out of bounds. We then went outside to the water terrace where it started to rain. As soon as we'd put our waterproofs on it stopped. We walked through the grounds to the rose garden. Now, I'm not really a rose person like him indoors, but I did like these

 Iceberg - very pretty plus the added benefit of being thornless

 Troika - orange

Peace rose plus bee

I will have to show the rest of the Blenheim Palace garden pics in another blog as I have a slight technical hitch. The Blenheim Palace folder uploaded onto my laptop doesn't contain the Blenheim Palace pics in the same folder on my phone (still with me here?)...I have no idea why but glad I haven't lost them. I just need to find out how to get the correct pics off my phone.

Friday - 16C 60F rising to a lovely 23C 74F mostly clear and sunny day with a just a hint of a breeze. Today we went to the Countryfile Live roadshow in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. We had a great day looking at traditional craft stall like blacksmiths, wood carving and basket making. We watched dog training, shire horses and a falconry display and listened to a discussion about the weather with Carol Kirkwood and John Hammond from BBC news. There were numerous stands from kitchen gadgets to designer garden wear to wacky socks, live music entertainment and a funfair for the young at heart (notice I didn't say kids). One of my favourite parts of the day was the animals

Mid afternoon we made our way to the Co-op cream tea pavilion and had high tea - sandwiches, cake, scones with jam and cream, a cup of tea or coffee and a glass of prosecco for only £6 each with the proceeds going to charity...very impressed!

By this time we'd been walking round for over 5 hours. We had a great couple days and were very impressed with the roadshow.

Saturday - when we arrived back home (nearly 2 hours longer than it should have been thanks to the holiday traffic) the first thing I did was go out and feed the fish, check the plants and water the greenhouse and veg beds. The courgettes have grown and so have the cucumbers and gherkins. More tomatoes are now going red although not as quick a I thought they would but just as well, otherwise that's all we'd be eating! Him indoors fixed the pond pump so that the water doesn't fall out of the pond from the fountain, removed more oxygenating weed as it has spread too far across the pond then started clearing away the coarse grass that's suddenly started sprouting up in the cracks of the path near the pond and veg patches. He's done a great job.

Then he picked the first of the blackberries, there weren't many but enough for a decent crumble. The runner beans have grown over 5" since Thursday! The squash is thriving

- last year it just fizzled out. Late afternoon there was a cloud of flying ants rising out of one of the flower beds.

Sunday - 17C 62C and foggy. Stayed murky most of the morning then the sun came out and warmed to 21C 70F. I picked veg for lunch and dinner

lettuce, cucumber, courgettes, spring onions, carrot (note it's straight, think I'm finally getting the hang of it!), runner beans, mini peppers and a green chilli which is deceptively warm. I pickled the gherkins, that's the third jar started

There were quite a few blackbirds in the garden early this morning, don't know where they've been hiding but good to see them back. The swede, turnip and lettuce seedlings have grown

I watched Gardeners' World and the jobs for the week aren't relevant for me so that takes a bit of pressure off. The Countryfile weather is becoming coolish then hotting up by the end of the week, rain debatable. Lucky the water butts are full, I could be doing a lot of watering this coming week.

Well, that's all from me, plenty to do in the coming days namely deadheading and clearing the algae from the edges of the pond plus I've been meaning to weed the shade garden and re-do the small cauldron pond...it's on my list! Have a good week everyone, hope the weather stays good for you and catch up next Sunday.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @DaisyDigga