FATTENING APPLES

If you’re harvesting apples (or even if you buy them) try this yummy, but  very fattening, way to use them.  Peel, core and slice one and saute gently in a little butter.  Meanwhile unwrap a small camembert (those that come in the little wooden containers are good), heat the oven (med setting), place the cheese back in the box and arrange the apple slices on top and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the cheese is lovely and molten.  Serve it as a sharing kind of starter, or snack with some crusty bread.  As I mentioned, it’s very fattening, so please don’t do what I did and eat the whole thing yourself...

HELLO MY LITTLE PUMPKINS

The Hooligan pumpkins have been halted in their tracks too - luckily I harvested the fruits earlier this month.  They’re a great size for baking whole and stuffing with risotto, or just oven roasting with herbs and butter.  I’ll grow them again next year - but not as companion plants this time as  they aren’t remotely companionable.  Like most hooligans they need space to run rampantly around.

PEARS

If your pears are hard as rocks and then the next minute they’ve turned to mush (there seems to be only an hour in the life of a pear when they’re just right for eating) then poaching them is a good solution.  Use hard pears and poach them in red wine with some cinnamon, vanilla and a little sugar.  Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or thick cream for a dessert that looks all complicated sophistication, but is actually a doddle.

S A D

Getting out as much as possible and enjoying plants like this Verbena bonariensis - which has been flowering its roots off (they don’t wear socks) since June, helps if you’re suffering from the Change in the Season (I shan’t call it SAD anymore).  Also, getting exercise by clearing the veg patch is good, if you can gather the strength to go out there. I’ve usually acclimatised (or sunk without trace) by the time the hour changes at the end of the month, so not long now...

LAST CHANCE BALLOONS

It really is the end of summer now and the balloons that sometimes float over us on still summer days - usually early in the morning, or in the late afternoon - won’t get many more days like this.  It’s also the last chance for sowing winter veg like spinach, kale and chard and for salad leaves and hardy lettuces.  You will be able to sow oriental greens for stir fries until October, but don’t expect them to race away. Growth is slowing noticeably and many plants are thinking about hunkering down to wait out the winter.

SPIRALLING

I’m very proud of this ‘Romanesco’ cauliflower, but have to say that the plants took up an enormous amount of space in the veg patch and were beacons for the cabbage white butterflies - another thing that’s flourished this year.  It tastes (and in fact is) more like brocolli and was almost universally accepted by the family, but only because of the shape.  I’ve been feeding the stalks and leaves to the chickens - they are wildly appreciative, but I’ll only grow it again if space allows.

CUT FLOWERS

If you have got some space - either in the veg patch in the border, try to make room for some cut flowers.  Annuals like sunflowers, cosmos and dill (yes, I know it’s a herb, but it is great as a filler - try fennel too, esp if you prefer the smell...) are easy to grow and dahlias are reliable if you take a little care to protect them from frost over the winter.  I find it really hard to deplete my borders of blooms, but having a space to grow flowers just for that purpose makes it really enjoyable.  Home grown flowers make lovely gifts for friends and family and will save you money too,

ROSY CURTAIN

We have 2 huge old apple trees in our orchard that have never been pruned - I keep meaning to but each year I can’t quite face it and they look lovely when they’re covered with apples.  This year the early eating one (pictured) is completely weighed down with bright red fruits -
like a wonderful apple studded curtain.  These early to ripen eating apples won’t store though, so we must use them all up as quickly as possible.  If you have the same problem, remember that they freeze well, if peeled, sliced and lightly cooked.  Arduous, but worth it.

LODGERS

These eggs belong to a Bullfinch and the nest is in a small standard bay tree in the middle of the veg patch - I’ve not been in there much recently (except to pick things) and the little bird must have thought it was a nice quiet spot to make a nest.  Oh dear.

ps All hatched and fledged safely and are now busy eating sunflower seeds - 'phew

EASTER SLEET

Chocolate - in large amounts is what is called for this Easter.  Normally I try distraction from chocolate with Easter crafts - hollowing and painting eggs, making mini gardens, sowing seed and looking forward to spending more time in the garden.  But as we’re still in the depths of winter, despite the hour springing forward the only solution is chocolate.  At least it won’t melt this year.

I shall be sowing flowers a riot of them, as the only flowers in my garden at the moment are Yellow - Primoses and Narcissi and Lime green - Euphorbia characais and Helleborus foetidus and argutifolius, and a tiny bit of blue from the anemones. It’s still much too cold to sow anything yet.  Potatoes are traditionally sown at Easter, but that’s more because of the moon than the religious festival, so we’re better off waiting until the next full moon (no howling).