In the Garden - February

We've been fairly lazy in the garden during February with not much activity taking place at all ...... and it's not that there's nothing to do.  There's definitely plenty of tidying we could be getting on with.  We can't really blame it all on the weather but that really hasn't helped.

We did have a bit of a splurge on one job right back at the beginning of the month and we sorted out the strawberry bed.  Last year we had two random strawberry plants that had survived from previous years and we planted them up properly and, at the end of the season, Martin potted up the runners.

When we went to do our tidy up early this month we found we've now got 30 healthy looking plants.  Wow!!  15 from each plant.  So if the same thing happens this year with our 30 plants we could end up with 450!!  If that's the case I'll definitely be setting up the paste table in the front garden next spring and trading as Dunhill's Nurseries.

In spite of the weather we are starting to see the garden slowly coming back to life with lots of green shoots starting to appear in all the old familiar places.

In flower we have Hellebores, Snowdrops and some miniature Daffodils.  We also have a pot of Spring bulbs, which was a birthday present from our close friends Jo and Steve about 3 years ago.  This looks like it's going to make another great show this year.

Hellebores

The Hellebores are about the first thing to flower in my garden.  My Hellebores hold a special meaning for me, as do so many of the plants in my garden.  My Hellebores came from my oldest friend's mum's garden, who is sadly no longer with us, so every time I look at them I think of Beryl.  Lesley, my friend, and I were at school together and, apart from a shaky year, when we were at college, we have remained firm friends ever since. 

When Lesley lost her mum and her dad, a couple of years ago, we thought it would be good to take some memories from Beryl's garden, which she loved and spent many hours looking after.  Beryl was the mum that let you do things your own mum wouldn't and I used to spend lots of time at No 10.

Anyway, I've kind of gone off track a bit here but hey!!  My Hellebores are a purple colour (my favourite) and as there are 3 of them, all planted individually in a border, with not much else showing at the moment, it is quite hard to see the flowers.  I don't know what I was thinking of planting them all separately.  After all, anyone with any gardening sense whatsoever knows you should always plant in 3s or 5s!  As such I have decided that after mine have finished flowering (I might not even wait) I am going to dig them up and put them all together in a big pot.

Perennials in pots are great - very low maintenance.  For years I messed about with annual bedding plants such as Bizzy Lizzies or Petunias, which gave a fabulous show for the summer, but were mucho effort.

Once the flowers on the Hellebores have gone, the leaves will stay nice and green, right through till the end of the year, so the pot will still look interesting, especially if arranged with others with more colour.

My own mum has just bought some white Hellebores - I'm sure these will show up lovely in the border!

Snowdrops

I've lived in my house for over 20 years.  I know 20 years here, 30 years at work, you can't say I'm not stable!!

My front garden is tiny, it spreads the width of the house, which is a Edwardian semi-detached, but is only about 7 feet deep, as the house is quite close to the road, walled off by a red & blue brick wall.  As well as being tiny, the planting area is even more restricted, just two narrow strips of border in a concrete slab base - sounds horrible, I know!  Anyway, one of the only remaining bits of planting from before I moved in is the Snowdrops. 
They are prolific, having spread like crazy since I moved in.  Last Autumn we had a really good tidy up out the front and we collected up all of the Snowdrop bulbs to try and plant them in a bit more of an orderly fashion - though not too orderly.

We actually had so many that we scattered handfuls in the top of the Bay pots, which sit either side of our front door. They are all now in full flower and look great.

We also planted some clumps of miniature Daffodils and Tulips, so hopefully we will have colour out the front all through the Spring.

Top Tips

• When planting out, plant in groups of 3 or 5
• For low maintenance pots, plant with perennials or bulbs
• The best time to split Snowdrops is when they are 'in the green' - that is when they have finished flowering, not when we split them

Pottering - Week 3

Martin has been off to London with work this week and was away for a few nights, which made for a fairly quiet week. You will have seen that I made my acquaintance with Davina and we kept in touch for four days.  I am planning the same for this week and have already had the exercise mat out again this morning!

I managed to have a good sort out of a couple of boxes of stuff that I'd brought home from work, including appraisals going back to the 70s!  Boy, things were different back then.  We always used to say that you could knit the sleeve of a cardi on a Wednesday afternoon on the counter - can you imagine?

One benefit of Martin being away was that I had the car for a few days and managed to make a bit of an effort to visit some friends.  I saw Jackie, who just lives round the corner and doesn't work on a Wednesday, not that I really need the car to pop round there!  I came home with a big bag of books, mainly Erica James, an author that is new to me.  I've nearly finished my first one already - it was definitely a quieter week!

I also visited Martha, as it was her 7th birthday.  She had a great time visiting the hairdressers with her friends where they all had their hair and nails done.  They all then went to Frankie and Benny's for tea.  Whatever happened to musical chairs and jelly and ice cream?  She is really growing up fast - it doesn't seem like five minutes since she was born.




Martin and I have spent ages looking through more of Peggy's treasures and have been fascinated by the postcards and cards from his granddad, William Preston Sidney, to his gran, Ethel Walshaw, in WW1.  It has inspired us to do more research and to try and put together an account of his war years, which I am sure we will be sharing with you all over the coming weeks.

This week my plans include another day in school, where we will be interviewing for a new teacher, more time with Davina, lots of research into Will Sidney's war and booking a big cottage for a family holiday in November to celebrate my 50th birthday.  I'll also be able to let you know how I'm getting on with 'making my money go further' and what's been happening in the garden this month.

I'm amazed at how quickly I've adapted to my new 'Life of Pottering' - long may it continue!

Mustardy Sausages with Apple

I'm always collecting recipes from magazines and I have tried to keep them organised, so they are easy to find.  I have a ring binder full of recipes I have collected, all stuck on white A4 paper, in plastic wallets (wipeable!). They are all categorised into sections, just like in a real cookbook ........ I know, a bit of OCD creeping in! 

 

It amazes me that we keep finding new things to try out and this is one that we had been meaning to try for ages.  We had a second go at it this weekend, camera at the ready, so we could share the results with you all.

 

 

Serves 4

Preparation time: 25 minutes

 

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

8 sausages (we always use Lincolnshire)

1 medium onion, sliced

1 apple, cut into medium sized pieces

As many mushrooms as you fancy, cut into medium sized chunks

1 rounded tbsp redcurrant jelly

300ml chicken stock

1 tbsp grainy mustard

Rosemary sprigs (from the garden)

Cornflour for thickening if required

 

2 tbsps double cream stirred in at the end just before serving is not mandatory but does really give this dish a lovely creamy consistency and turns an already nice dish into something quite decadent.

 

 

1.  Grill sausages and cut into chunks
2. Heat the oil and fry the onion until it starts to go golden brown
3. Add the sausages, mushrooms and apple to the pan, toss together and continue to fry for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked
4. Add the stock, redcurrant jelly and mustard to the pan and let bubble madly for a few minutes to make a syrupy gravy
5. Lower the heat, add the rosemary and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes
6. If the sauce needs to be thickened, mix 2 teaspoons of cornflower with a couple of tablespoons of water and add to the pan, bringing back to the boil
7. If using double cream, bring the pan off the boil and stir this in now

This is a great dish as you can make it up earlier in the day and then just re-heat when ready to serve. Don't you just love it when the clearing up is pretty much done before you sit down to eat?   We served this in individual Yorkie Puds, with carrots.  

 

We were hoping to be able to share the recipe for perfect Yorkie Puds with you today, but unfortunately they didn't turn out to be that perfect, so you will have to wait for another day to see that one!

Me and Davina

Well, I bet you're all dying to know ...... have I?  Haven't I?  Well, I can tell you, I most certainly have ....... 4 times in fact, and actually, it's gone very smoothly.  I would even say that I've enjoyed it.

I got up Monday morning, nervous, and a little excited, if truth be told.  The cellophane was off and today was the day!

The lounge curtains were very firmly closed, I had my pyjamas on and I found the right remote for the DVD player, which hasn't been used in about 5 years.

I decided to start with the cardio session - it promised 15 minutes and I would be pooped!  I was!  I felt quite proud of myself, as well has having a mouth and throat that felt absolutely parched.

The cardio session is led by Jackie, who follows a lower impact version, so whilst Davina and Mark were bouncing all over the place, I have to confess to going for the more sedate version.  After all, I didn't want to have to call out the emergency services if I over-did it or to shake all the ornaments off the shelves.

The session includes a warm up as part of the overall 15 minutes. You then need to do a separate stretch session afterwards, which takes about another 10 minutes.  This was almost as hard as the cardio itself for me, but in a different way.  It's been a long time since any of my muscles have been seriously stretched.

As I was doing my exercising in the lounge, I had to consider all the potential risks, such as knocking the light fitting for six when waving my arms about.  I also got a bit concerned about the impact on the particular part of the carpet I was exercising on, it didn't know what had hit it!


I did the cardio session again on Tuesday and Wednesday and fancied a change for Thursday so I headed off to Argos for some 1kg weights and an exercise mat, to try and protect the carpet, and have given the arms session a go this morning.  I was a bit concerned that 1kg weights may be a bit light - I needn't have worried, they were just about right to get started with.

It was a bit more complicated to co-ordinate arms, weights and legs in the confined space of the lounge and I didn't keep up all of the way through, but I am sure a few more sessions will help with my technique.

That's it for this week as mum will be here on Friday and Martin will be around at the weekend and I'm certainly not ready for any form of audience.  Hopefully the break won't make it hard to get back into the swing of things on Monday.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I've tried it, I liked it, I'd recommend it.  Got to go though, my arms are aching ......... and it's ironing next.

A Potterer's work is never done.