Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Luckily the garden just gets on with it...

You may have noticed that it's a while since I last blogged about the garden. Well, that's mostly because the weather has been so filthy this summer, that everytime I've had an afternoon to spend out there doing some work, it has chucked it down and I've stayed indoors.

Lucking the garden doesn't seem to have minded too much, and I popped out on Thursday morning to pick some produce...

These are aubergines from plants in the greenhouse. There are heaps of them, and this lot got cooked up into an Ottolenghi recipe with tofu, soba noodles and mango - absolutely delicious!

Earlier in the year, my cousin Dan sent me some plants. Among these plants were some lemon crystal cucumbers. I didn't know what this caviety would produce, so we were delighted to discover these beautiful lemon-shaped cucumbers on the plants last week. Sandwiches anyone?

This year we only planted 2 tomato plants, but luckily they are producing plenty of fruit!

I don't think it will be long before I need to cut down the sweetpeas - they are rather taking over the top bed...

Delicious eating apples - Laxton Superb - this is the first year that we have had a good crop from the tree. I think we'll be having an apple a day for the foreseeable future!

And finally, what could go better with apple, than some blackberries? I think there is crumble on the horizon...

I was pretty pleased with my haul, as it has been ages since we've done anything more than pick things. I think we will have a busy autumn trying to get things tidied back up again, but at least there's plenty of food to fuel us in our gardening!

Cathedral in silk

It's half-term, so with Jen up to her neck in shawl charts, I thought I'd hijack the blog again.

Last week we had a bit of an invasion at school. We weren't exactly sure when this started, but by Wednesday, these bushes had been completely stripped of their leaves and the leaves replaced by silken spires. You can see the scale of the infestation in this shot from the staircase. Unfortunately, by the time I had the opportunity to take some decent snaps, wind, rain and accumulated caterpillar droppings rather spoiled the effect from earlier in the week. Nonetheless, it is a truly impressive sight.

So what caused this destruction? The simple answer is that it is the work of caterpillars. I think that it is most likely the larvae of the ermine spindle moth.

The prevailing wind last week was coming towards the camera and there were caterpillars making their way onto the leaves closest to me.  We wondered whether the combination of wind direction and available food cause the affliction of only these few bushes.

You'll see that there are two colours of caterpillar. Not being an expert lepidopterist, I can only presume that they are males and females.

Samples were sent away for identification as there was a concern that the webs could be frm brown tail moth larvae.  Comparison between my pictures and those from the link pretty much confirm that they're not.

You can see the extent of the damage here.  Not only have the leaves been eaten, but also the growing tip of each shoot and even the bark on the stems.

Obviously, the best thing about this is that it has enabled us to bring students out to see a wonder of nature. And unlike some media scientists, I didn't have to travel all over the globe to do it (coughPBCcough).

I'm sure you're wondering how many moths will come from this infestation. I have to admit to being somewhat concerned that next year every bush and tree within a mile radius will lose all of their leaves. However, I have been reliably(?) informed by the Head of Biology that these invaders are susceptible to a bacterial infection (Bacillus subtilis) that causes them to explode, coating their nearest neighbours with infected caterpillar guts, so the vast majority of them will not reach maturity. It does make me wonder whether HG Wells' inspiration for War of the Worlds came from this phenomenon.

Jim

A planting treat

You'll be pleased to hear that I finally finished the back of nephew's jumper, and I'm now 12cm into the front. Yes, I'm still measuring it every 5 minutes and it still isn't growning very quickly. My finger's still quite numb, and I find the cables tricky to do with the yarn in my left hand. There's only one solution to that though... To practise!

I had a very exciting parcel in the post yesterday...

If you happened to be on Twitter at the time, then apologies! I got quite carried away with tweeting my excitement!

As I unwrapped it, I discovered that it did indeed contain some beautiful live plants, all the way from my cousin in Cumbria (you'll read more about him here at the end of June after I've been to visit him)! They had totally survived being posted, and arrived safely in perfect condition.

Excited unpacking moved to the greenhouse, and the cucumber plants went straight into the greenhouse beds.

They are a variety called Crystal Lemon, and I can't wait for them to start fruiting.

I potted up the other treats - from bottom right to top left they are... Lemon bergamot, Russian kale, Mexican Marigold (whose leaves taste of apple - beautiful!), then there's a tray of my own radicchio that needs planting out, followed by two perfect Lovage plants, and a tray of my own chard (again, in desperate need of pricking out)!

I think it's going to be a busy weekend in the garden, if the rain holds off...

While I was out, I also snapped a pic of the Eremurus himalaicus (Foxtail lily) that is finally in full flower (a whole month behind last year). It's a bit wonky thanks to some brutal snail damage earlier in the season. Behind it you can also see a rose, which I think is Harlow Carr. It smells lovely.

Fingers crossed for some rain today and maybe tomorrow, and then a fine weekend. A girl can hope, right?!

Garden Highlights

Just a quick post this morning, before I crack on and whip this to do list into touch. I've just spend a wonderful 45min running round the garden doing odd jobs, and it really was the perfect start to a Friday morning. Here's the round-up:

Gave the greenhouse a good watering, and thought about picking a lettuce to take to London later. I must make carrot and coriander soup next week, or the coriander will take over the world!

I popped in some pea sticks around the pea plants. They are a bit short, but hopefully better than nothing. I also gave the beds a good drench as well.

Popped some stakes next to the second batch of broad beans, and added netting to the sweet pea wigwam. These all had a good drink as well.

We had some landscaping work done last week, to tidy up the vegetable garden, so I took a moment to admire how much better it now looks. I'm really finding the garden inspiring now that it feels more manageable. All of the watering was done from our waterbutts. We have 6 in total - you can see one next to the greenhouse at the top right of the picture above. It's more time consuming, but very therapeutic to keep pottering back and forth to refill them.

I then took a few moments to admire the flower end of the garden (which needs a bit more tidying - but that can wait for another day). The Siberian Irises are in full flower (they don't look that impressive in this picture, but they're lovely in real life.

The Persicaria is as rampant as ever...

And the geraniums are in full flower.

I love to take a moment to enjoy how the garden is looking - it's all too easy to only spend time in the garden working on it, and never actually enjoying it. We're celebrating littlest nephew's 1st birthday this weekend - where has that year gone?!? I hope that whatever you are doing, you have a good time.

All the fault of the weather

While I was busy, being busy, I missed my one year blog anniversary (which happens to coincide with my birthday). I can't believe that I went as long as I did without having a blog. I so enjoy keeping track of my projects and looking back to see what I was doing last year. Here's my very first post: A great birthday present

In terms of the garden, there is a huge difference between where the bulbs were then and where they are now. The fox tail lilies were in full flower last year, but they are nowhere near out this year. Such a difference in the weather we have had!

In fact, much of the garden is being eaten alive by a plague of slugs and snails. The wet weather has made them so happy! The pot of pinks below was covered in baby snails...

The only upside of the vile weather is of course that I can happily wear as much knitwear as I like. Today I've got 2 sweaters, a shawl, socks and a hat - thus keeping myself just under the maximum 5-item limit for avoiding crazy-knitting-lady status. Not that I'm bothered if it's keeping me warm!

Guest post: Spring Explosion

One of the great delights of this time of year is the sudden profusion of new growth in the garden. The dry and warm weather of a few weeks ago has really kick-started the whole thing,  although I am now shivering in two jumpers as the icy rain pours down outside.

With Jen spending so much time in London, I thought it worthwhile hijacking her blog to record some of these fleeting moments.

When we first laid out the garden, we made sure that there was plenty of potential for height by planting various shrubs and trees.  The buds of the Euonymus latifolius are just starting to burst and you can just about see the developing bracts that will give a colourful display in the summer.

With everything a bit early this year, I almost missed out on admiring the sight and smell of Viburnum x bodnantense. This is about the last of the blossom. 

Within a week, all that will remain will be a sogy brown mess, to be replaced by apple blossom.

This is our Bramley's Seedling, which is still young enough that the blossom is almost the most exciting thing about it.  We'll probably only get five or six fruit from it as leaving more would risk damaging the spindly branches.

Also waiting for their big moment are the three Eremurus himalaicus (horse-tailed lily).  These  flowering spikes will grow to almost 6ft with hundreds of tiny white flowers by early May.  They are pretty amazing plants all round as they start off as bulbs that resemble starfish, much like asparagus.

We do have some shorter plants too.  I found this tiny (Blue Flower) at risk of being overwhelmed by the rampant Stipa tennuissima and Hemerocallis (and the weeds).  In common with many of our spring plants, these are too easily overlooked.

The front garden is probably at its best at this time of year. The Camelia is in full bloom and the three small Helleborus plants we put in a few years ago have really filled out the space and self-seeded everywhere.

While it's a pleasure to admire the plants that should be in the garden, the spring explosion does have a massive down side. The weeds we didn't catch last year have had a growth spurt of their own, most notably a creeping grass that plagues one half of the garden.  The fight against the invaders is probably a story best told another time though......

 Jim

Seasons change

I'm not sure why it always seems to happen, but just as the seasons change, I'm more than usually susceptible to colds. A stinker wiped out most of last week, and it's taking me a while to get back up to speed.

In the meantime, I'm also saying goodbye to the last orchid flowers of the year.

This is a beautiful Oncidium orchid that a friend sent me for my birthday around 5 years ago. The flowers look just like ladies dancing, wearing beautiful yellow dresses. It's been in full bloom for around 4 weeks, and the flowers are just starting to drop. I will mark the days with impatience until the Cymbidiums come out in January!

Revisiting the garden

I thought it might be nice to revisit some of the plants I blogged about earlier in the year. Jim is on summer holidays, so he has been tidying and cutting back in the garden and things are starting to look tidy again. They got a bit out of hand for a while there!

Unchopped Sedum

So this is the Sedum that didn't face the Chelsea Chop back in early June. It's quite tall and the flowers are just starting to turn pink. Very pretty!

Chelsea Chopped Sedum

And this is the one that had the chop. It's more bushy and compact, and the flowers are developing more slowly. So I think that this one will stay in flower much longer. They are both looking lovely though - a sign that autumn is round the corner.

Though my favourite plant in the garden at the moment is this delightful native tree, Euonymus latifolius, also known as the Spindle Tree. We purchased this specimen back when we first laid out the garden in 2006 from Junker's Nursery.

It's a small tree that can also be grown as a shrub, and at this time of year the seed pods turn bright pink and open to reveal bright orange seeds. The leaves colour beautifully as well, and it's a really pretty sight in front of the greenhouse. I could look at it for ages - it almost doesn't seem real.

Where has summer gone?

All it has done is rain here for more than a fortnight. The winter duvet is back on the bed and we have had the fire on more than I would like. It's June for goodness sake!

I'm pleased that the garden still thinks it's summer, even if I don't. These asiatic lilies survived the lily beetle infestation, and are now looking glorious.

Come back sunshine! We miss you.

Giving the Chelsea Chop

There is a technique called the Chelsea Chop. It's not, as you might imagine, anything to do with reality TV shows based in London, but actually a garden pruning technique used on certain herbaceous perennials.

In the weeks following the Chelsea flower show (24th-28th May 2011), gardeners cut back plants such as Sedum, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Helenium and Golden Rod. This makes the plants more compact and delays flowering into the later season. If you don't cut back all of your plants, you can create a progression of flowering that lasts longer.

I've got a well-established Sedum in the garden that responds well to the Chop.

Sedum prior to cutting.

You want to take the height of the plant back to about half of what it is at the moment. So take some sharp secateurs and cut the stem, just above a leaf.

Make sure your secateurs are clean and well-sharpened.

Work across the plant, cutting all stems at a similar height (and removing any snails that have been hiding amongst the leaves!). Once complete, tidy up the cuttings in the compost, and clean off your secateurs (the sap is sticky and will make a mess if you leave it to congeal).

Chelsea chopped Sedum.

Once complete, you may notice that the leaves in the middle of the plant are a bit yellow and weak-looking. These will soon perk up now that they can get some sunlight, and in a few weeks time there will be small shoots growing all over this plant.

I've left two other Sedums un-cut. One is a young plant that needs to get established before I start to hack at it! And the other will provide some earlier colour while we wait for the later flowering of the chopped specimen. We will come back and visit the chopped plant in a few weeks time.