Loving the sun in the garden

 My toilet roll experiment for growing the carrots in has failed! They're as bent and curly as ever!

 But I don't think Baby Wild cares, apparently they're "YUMMY"!

 And don't get her started on the peas. We had a full on tantrum today when she could no longer reach them, despite having eaten what seemed like her weight in them.  I really underestimated the support they would need this year and one of them has managed to collapse into a bit of a sprawling heap.

 The shells have been making great fairy boats in the paddling pool, and a rather relaxing way of munching and tossing over your shoulder whilst sunbathing.

 The carrots are so bent that this one has managed to poke back up through the soil again!

 And then there are the "illegal immigrants" as I think of them.  The seeds from the compost heap that have decided to make their home wherever tickles their fancy.  This tomato plant actually looks far healthier than those in our wee greenhouse. We'll wait and see how it fairs once the heat wave comes to an end I imagine....

Guessing its a bit too late for this strawberry plant to flower, but I decided to leave it be and see what happens.  Who knows?

July notes

It appears I am still not learning how to be patient with my garden.  I have sown to much and now having a bit of a time taming sections, fixing broken supports, giving away gluts of lettuce to neighbours to make way for the next batch and eating bolted veg!  On the plus side the front garden is really starting to come together and needed taming following the hot weather we've been relishing. So my house is full of flowers all from my garden. Swoon.

SO next year, I promise to-

• Grow more veg in the front garden with the flowers.  Chard, spinach, rocket & radishes grow pretty much anywhere so they'll be fine there and also have pretty flowers when they bolt.
• Give up on carrots, my soil is too heavy and they are taking up valuable space needed for more expensive veggies.
• Build bigger and stronger supports for the peas and climbing beans - do not underestimate the size they can grow too!
• I'm also going to introduce mint to the ugly patches to cover them!
• Start a small raised bed near the house for lettuce and sow less of it! My problem is that I can't bring myself to throw out thinned seedlings and end up growing them all. Daft.  This raised bed can also be the new home for the twisted hazel tree which is growing fast and will make an attractive feature in the winter months.
• Grow more crops for autumn and winter months.  The sprouts and broccoli plants are doing well, although less than half of what I planted.  I'm going to try and sow some cabbage & onions to join the salsify, celariac and brassicas for winter.  I've also got seeds for pak choi, mibuna & celtuce from Simply Seeds.  Not sure about the celtice - a new one on me.  Actually, I think I'll try and grow all of these winter crops!

Besides all that we have grand plans taking shape for landscaping the garden which I'm really excited about!

Raspberry feast!

 We went foraging yesterday in Spiers Garden, Beith in the sun and found hundreds of ripe raspberries to gather!

Baby Wild wasn't much use at the gathering process however, she gobbled everyone she picked, leaves and all!  We had set off with hopes of finding some mushrooms following the earlier downpour. but all I found was this ugly looking specimen below.  I'm not sure whether it is Jews Ear or not, so I left it alone.

I still managed to take home a full punnet of raspberries though and we've been eating them ever since.  I think we need some recipes to use them up.  I've had enough jam making to last a while so fancy something new....

Possibly Raspberry Cake

Or a Berry Cocktail

and I really fancy this Iced Raspberry & Basil Creme Brulee

and also this Raspberry Rose Sorbet which would be great in the garden in the sunshine this afternoon since I'm off on holiday!

Spiers Garden is pretty toddler-tastic and we had lots of fun running around and finding hidden paths.  The whole place just smells sensational just now with all the wild flowers in bloom.  I loved finding this wishing tree which local kids from the after-school club had hung their Christmas wishes onto some time ago.

I shall leave you today with this Wild Raspberry poem, which sums up our Raspberry bounty!

How June faired....

June faired well, it was a mixed bucket load of weathers, which overall seemed to please the garden.  My moods seemed to match this, swinging from happily pottering and weeding to full on panic gardening and sowing of seeds all over the place scared that I'll never have anything to harvest!

 So there was quite a lot to record here this month, in the hope that eventually I shall make more sense of what works for us and what to leave behind in future.  I'll start with the veggie patch, my favourite piece.  It's really starting to kick off now.  We are eating mangetout daily, the pea pods are huge and starting to swell now. 

 It's a bit mad looking, sure, but I know where everything is, it's not that big after all.  To me I see order, a soft ordered chaos of little future meals all at different stages.  Some things have bolted in the hotter days, but I've decided that's no bad thing - the flowers are wonderful brightening up the back garden. 

I'm probably most excited about how happily the salsify is growing.  The sharp looking spires or bright green contrast nicely against the chaos of the rest of the patch!  Although the broccoli I planted in the rows to the right of the salsify are not fairing so well. I'm not sure whether they are being eaten by beasties or not liking their patch for another reason.  There's a few babies there so I'll keep an eye on what survives and do my best by them and see how it goes.

The long patch has been a battle ground with weeds, but is throwing up lots to eat regularly all the same.  I'm leaving some of the radishes that are growing in between the celeriac to mature and go to seed so that we can eat the seeds later in the year.  Alice Fowler reckons they make a great beer snack - sounds like a plan to me!  And there is a patch of wee beetroots, which I hope to make my chocolate birthday cakes with later in the year.

Things are also looking up in the much less established front garden.  Everything is still quite young and needing another year to properly fill space etc, but I'm slowly starting to understand my soil a bit better I feel.  Although am still at a complete loss as why my best poppies all committed suicide, whilst others grow nearby.  I still worry why the peonies won't flower - too much nitrogen apparently?? It still looks a little granny-ish, but it's a huge improvement from when we moved in!

I've been steadily making regular sowings of rocket, beans, beetroot and salad leaves. It still makes me so

excited to watch them all sprout!

I'm not quite sure about my curly sprouts, and whether we'll have enough for Christmas dinner or not as they too are disappearing mysteriously.  I think I'm gonna need to net the brassicas tomorrow to stop the attacks!

And finally, June ended with a lot of insects.... We've been cursing the midges lots of late, it seems they are LOVING this summer.  They are sure loving me.  I am being eaten alive some days, and am running out of Skin So Soft.  Anyway, that was nothing compared to finding this baby in the shed after a week away in Ireland.....

The white stuff is the remaining wasp & ant powder/poison.  We killed the nest ourselves as I decided I wasn't forking out 50 bangers for the council to come remove it when browsing the Internet would tell me all I needed to instruct Daddy Wild with!

And while it had to go, and was a major pain in the ass, especially keeping Baby Wild indoors until we were sure there were no gangs of seriously pissed off wasps waiting for us out the back, I must admit that there's an odd beauty to it don't you think?  I felt rather mean disposing of such a clever and painstaking creation.

Growing wild in July

Lots of mushrooms starting to appear including Cep,Chanterelle, Field mushroom, Giant puffball (you GOTTA check out the link for that one!!), Horse mushroom, Parasol mushroom & Shaggy cap if you know where to look.
Sea beet
Green walnut (this link actually takes you to one of Fergus Drennans articles with lots of great wild recipes). I'm not actually sure if I would recognise a green walnut tree, if such a thing even grows in Scotland!
Raspberries are starting to form thanks to the warm weather. I'm looking forward to checking out my secret raspberry patches locally.
Strawberries are everywhere! My wild strawberries are amazing, if only they weren't so tiny! I don't manage to harvest many of my other strawberries though as the wild life are beating me to it every time!
Wild rose flowers still in bloom here, and yes I'm still making jars of jam
Lime blossom
Elderflower
Meadow Sweet blossom - my favourite flower of all, like puffs of cloud growing along the roadsides

WOW Wild Rose Jam

Get your shoes on, grab a bag and hit the hedges - the wild roses are in full bloom and my but they taste fine!  A great way to pass half an hour with a toddler too, I may add, who loves the permission to pick flowers for once.  I know it's a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but I am making this jam in batches and hiding the jars from myself so that I can give them as gifts in the depths of winter as the runny jam is pure summer in a jar.  I can't wait to open it when summer seems a far too distant memory in the dark and wet Scottish winter.

Making the jam couldn't be simpler - I used this recipe here, as posted in an earlier post.  The smell of the petals is almost overwhelming, a little reminiscent of a sweet granny in fact!  I spent a very happy 20 minutes sitting in the sun checking my huge bag of petals for bugs and separating them. 

 I've kept the white petals I collected to make rose water (see photo below) as I want a clear liquid so it's safe to spray around the house.  Then I used only the beautiful pink petals for the jam.  I didn't cut off the white bits at the base as this would be too much hassle and it hasn't made a bit of difference I can assure you.

I couldn't resist keeping some petals to dry in the sun and store in a jar to preserve the scent

So get out there and fill a bag whilst the sun is shining and the flowers are adorning pathways and roadsides.  Be careful to dodge the bees that are also having similar thoughts and enthusiasm!

Today we shall be collecting elderflower and (oh my favourite flower ever!) meadowsweet blossom and rushing them home to make cordial before they wilt.