Hardy orange trees: Calamondin
We are trying to become less dependant on imports to the UK. One key ingredient that we lack at the cottage are easily grown citrus fruits. We have a greenhouse which is chock-a-block in the winter so an ordinary citrus tree would have to live in the cottage for the winter months. We reckoned that our tiny windows and poor light would make a citrus tree suffer and go straggly. Ages ago I bought what can only be described as an expensive lemon twig on Ebay. It was given the affection that only a proper bountiful tree deserves. Kept in the...
read moreStrawberry companion planting dilemma
I love the idea of companion planting and really want to get the best out of my strawberries this year. Most companion planting charts state that strawberries hate potatoes and cabbages. A lot of charts declare that onions and strawberries are incompatible and a few declare that they are friends. I have a patch of alliums (Christophii) in one of my fruit cages – left over from the days when it was a herbaceous border. So when I discovered that strawberries this incompatibility on the companion planting charts I whistled down the garden to...
read morePropagating fruit bushes by mistake
Last year I used the prunings from my gooseberry and currant bushes as pea sticks for my overwintering crop of peas. Those six inch pea shoots were guzzled over a matter of just a few days by mice during the freezing winter weather. The mice had everything going for them as the wooden mouse traps froze too! This spring when I pulled away the cloche half of the ‘pea sticks’ had rooted. I had no idea that fruit bushes germinate so easily. All I did was push them into the soil around the peas. The only problem is that I’m not sure...
read moreRhubarb: memories and plans
Stock photo by Ayla87 As a child I remember being given a stick of raw rhubarb and a saucer of sugar. The trick was to dip the rhubarb in the sugar and munch. The sharp acidic taste of the rhubarb remains with me still. I can still see me and Seraphina sitting on the grass in the sunshine wearing smocked summer frocks and Startrite sandals (big enough so you couldn’t feel your toes in the shop) . The awsome privilege of being allowed to take china saucers outside. The love hate marriage of the rhubarb and white sugar crystals that...
read moreStrawberries, spuds and pelargoniums
I stared at the dinky little pelargonium plants on my mother’s sunny kitchen windowsill. “I will never grow them again,” she announced. “Why on earth not? They’re so cute” “They have taken ages and ages. I’ve got fed up with them.” My Waterloo was growing strawberries from seed this year. Suddenly I understand how she felt. I’ve begun to loathe my five surviving plants (a pack of fifteen seeds cost £4.19). Sown late January they germinated quite quickly in the electric propagator. Since then they have developed their...
read moreSoft fruit, chickens and rose petals
“Wow £4.19 for 15 strawberry seeds. Is it really worth buying these?” Danny shook the seed packet pensively. “We couldn’t buy 15 plants for £4.19. Even at the church fete. I want to grow enough for wine and jam this year.” “Won’t we get enough from the 12 plants that arrived yesterday?” I am deeply into getting a good harvest of strawberries next year. Today I am planting out my new strawberry plants in the overhauled soft fruit bed that sits beside the chicken run. I know that the chickens will stand patiently...
read moreStrawberries
One of the best cakes that I’ve ever tasted is my mum’s sponge cake with a wicked filling of strawberries and whipped cream. In fact when she was making this filling she discovered how to make butter with double cream and an electric whisk. So I was doubly blessed. Many varieties of strawberries with the best flavour don’t travel well. So you won’t find them in the market or supermarket. Waitrose tried stocking some old English varieties one year but the shelf life was so limited that they gave up. The great thing about growing...
read moreNow’s the time to plant Summer and Autumn raspberries
John was horrified when I decided to turn half of one of our vegetable beds into a raspberry and soft fruit cage. “It’s taking up so much space!” Close questioning revealed he didn’t like raspberries. I love them. A small dish of raspberries sprinkled with a little vanilla caster sugar is the perfect end to a meal. And of course there is the delight of raspberry jam, jellies, wine, gin and vodka. The health benefits of soft fruit such as raspberries make them an essential part of a balanced diet. But if you have to buy them they are...
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