June Agretti

 With growing your own food you get the chance of trying the more unusual foods, often only available at smarter restaurants.

This year we are trying Agretti.

I did try it many years ago but it would not germinate.

I thought I would have another go this year and bought seeds from Chiltern seeds. The seeds have a very short shelf life and can not be bought after April/May.

Soak the seeds first and then I sowed them in trays.

Brilliant germinations rate, transplanted them into a raised bed and water well.

We have already cut some for 4 meals and they continue to regrow so frequent cuttings are best so the stems are always new and tender. A bit like samphire.

How to cook? well I either steam them or plunge them into boiling water, serve with olive oil or butter and lemon juice.

Great served with fish or any other vegetable.

I

May

 After a very dry April, May did not produce much of the needed rain.

Just 14mm fell in May, it was also very hot and plants were shrivelling up, much too soon for that heat.

It is now 7th June and we have had more rain than all of May.

Along with the heat in May the roses have been flowering well and look stunning this year.

                                                Tottering by Gently

                                                    Chandos Beauty with a wonderful scent

Joanna Elise

    

                                                Unknown red

Mme Alfred Carrier

                                                                   Anniversary rose

Also the asparagus has been growing well picking about 2kg every day. The crop can only be harvested for 6-8 weeks so it will soon come to an end.

We now have the rain, a lot cooler though so hopefully there will still be plenty to see when we open our garden for the National Garden Scheme at the end of the month, this will be our 10th year of opening.

April showers!!

Well the April showers did not put in an appearance this year.

After the very wet February, 90mm here, March was very dry only 8mm.

Then April came but no showers and another 8mm fell in the month.

The water buts are getting empty now so we do need more rain to fill them up before the summer.

Good news is that after nearly 10 years my tree peony has finally flowered, beautiful pink.

Lots of other things growing and coming quite early. We started harvesting asparagus early April, a couple of weeks earlier than expected. the daffodils came and went, the bluebells are now going over and alliums flowering well.

The Lily of the   Valley has been exceptional this year and the smell is wonderful.

Also the tulips were great.

We have been busy, the potatoes are growing well so all being earthed up now.

Broad beans growing well, broccoli and cabbage in the raised beds and sweet peas are starting to climb.

A new crop being tried this year, Agretti, lets see how that fares.

March 2026

 What a change, the rain finally stopped, after recording 90mm rain during February we had just 8mm in March.

Spring is on its way and the spring bulbs look great on the berm.

The forced rhubarb is pushing through ready to eat. This is lovely and pink and stays so when cooked, delicious. We have covers on just a few of the rhubarb crowns and once picked the pots are removed and the plant is left to recover. It will be a few years now before that crown is forced again.

The magnolia is in flower too, just hope we do not get a late frost as that will blacken and destroy those lovely pink flowers.

Lots of seed sowing happening now but as we do not have heated greenhouses they all go in a small heated propagator, temperatures need to get more consistent and warmer so the space in there is getting  tight. Daytime  temperatures in March have fluctuated from minus 0.3 to 19 degrees c and the green house is not much warmer

2025

 Well what a year!, so hot in the summer, in fact too hot to garden middle of the day over the summer.

We had lots of rain rain on and that helped a lot of the perennial plants and trees.

The biggest apple and pear harvest ever, probably due to the wet early and heat later.

Biggest success, after several years of trying, was the luffa.

As with all gardening we have successes and failures but still managed to harvest plenty of produce, see the table below. Also picked but not recorded were plums, pears, apples and herbs.

 

Lets see what 2026 brings.

April

 A hot dry April and there is a lot of blossom on the trees and bushes. 

The weather has been dry and not too windy so hopefully the pollinators have been busy and the blossom is pollinated so that we get a good harvest of apples and pears, plums and cherries, blueberries and apricots later in the year.

The winter rains have helped the trees and perennial plants with established roots so the hot dry spring has not been a problem. As long as we do get some rain now!

    

                                                        Pear blossom

                                                        cordon apples

                                                      Sops in wine, lovely dark blossom and dark foliage.

March

 February has been and gone and we are over half way through March.

We have had very cold nights and some days well below freezing but warmth in sight.

Very little rain in the last 6 weeks so the clay soil which got very wet earlier in the winter, has now dried enough to make it easier to weed.

Very happy to say the garden is looking good for March, by tackling the weeds early we will hopefully have an easier time as the months progress and weeds will not be too established.

The Berm is looking lovely at the moment, and more new bulbs will appear over the coming months.

The snowdrops have finally gone over now. I always deadhead the special ones to keep the variety true. This will prevent seeding  if they have been cross pollinated. I am not able to identify all the minute differences that make up each one.

Coming up now are daffodils, trillium and lots of buds on the trees and bushes, just starting to burst open.

January

 Another year, lets see what happens in the garden in 2025.

Still harvesting carrots and parsnips, they were very slow to get started but now we have plenty to see us through the winter.

There are no leeks though. Very poor germination and those that did failed to grow.

The chard is very sparse at the moment, the early frost and snow, before Christmas stopped that. But when the weather warms it should start to grow again giving us lovely fresh leaves until (depending on how quickly the weather warms) they finally go to seed.

A big disappointment is that there is no purple sprouting broccoli , one of my favourite early vegetables.

As with the other brassicas last year they failed to grow.

Hopefully 2025 will be a good year for growing.

In the garden now is plenty to see and give hope for the year.

Snowdrops a plenty are coming up and some special ones are really interesting and other flowers open now are:

                                                        primroses

                                                
                                                                    Hellebore

                                                                    Clematis, Freckles

                                                                Clematis Jingle Bells

                                                                    Snowdrops

December

 We have lots of old apple trees in the walled garden with a lot of mistletoe growing on them. 

This year the mistletoe was getting too dense in the tops of the trees and too high for us to remove. So earlier this year we had a tree surgeon come and remove all the mistletoe that was growing above a height that we could safely collect from our ladders.

There was still plenty left that we could pick.

Each year we harvest some of this and sell it to raise money to give to our chosen charities. 

2024 has been a good year for our mistletoe, lovely big berries and we have raised £140 from the mistletoe so a great boost to our charity donations in January.

I always make my own wreath for the front door, using all materials from the garden.

Here is the 2024 wreath.

This year I used a willow base which I made in a willow weaving workshop the other year.

From the garden I collected; holly, ivy, mistletoe, rose hips, yew, spotted laurel, rosemary, Phlomis seed heads and sedum seed heads. Can you spot them all?

It is the beginning of the snowdrop season now, the first early one I have is Mrs McNamara, she is up and flowering now, will last for many weeks and gradually all the others I have will start to appear.

A great sign of 2025 coming.

November surprise, going, going, gone!

Monday, despite the nights getting colder we still have warm days so the dahlias are still flowering and the grass is still growing. Nearly 10 days without rain so I managed to mow the grass again, it was getting very long, a bit damp from overnight dews but I manged to get it done.

Tuesday, woke up the find all is white, paths roads, garden, all covered in about 3 inches (7cm) or more of snow. The dahlias have all gone black so time to cut down and mulch, when the snow melts.

                                                            There is a path there somewhere!

Wednesday, nothing much changed, the overnight temperature in the garden averaged -2 and daytime was 4 degrees.

Thursday, it was warming slightly -1.4 overnight but 3.6 daytime, so the snow was ice on top and not going anywhere.

Friday,  I can see the garden now. Overnight we are out of minus figures with an average of 1.4 and during the day 6 degrees.

Saturday, the white has all gone, overnight temperature 6.1 and during the day a blistering 16.1. Snow has melted but it is raining. 

Sunday, in the last 2 days we have had 28.73mm of rain.

October colour

I love this time of year for all the colour in the garden and countryside. The colours are actually always in the leaves but can not be seen because of the green chlorophyl . This goes as the leaves begin to die and all the beautiful colours can be seen.

                                                    Blueberries put on their autumn colours

                                                        Cherry

                                                        Liquidamber

                                                        Hornbeam hedge

                                                        Penstemon Black Tower

                                                     Spetchley red vine

September

We have been growing squash for many years and love cooking with them, especially the butternut type which have a lovely flavour.

The problems come when they trail all over the ground, some reaching great distances. The fruit first has to be found, the large leaves do a great job of hiding the fruit.

The early green colour of most fruits and indeed the mature colour of many varieties is a great disguise amongst the green leaves.

Many varieties will mature to a range of orange and red, indeed some blue too.

It is important to raise the fruits on a brick or some straw to keep them from being damaged, causing rot.

This however provides a lovely plate for the slugs to both hide under and to come onto for a nice squash dinner.

For several year we have been experimenting how to train the squash up.

No real solution until this year, success at last!

In May, with the help of friends, we constructed a frame using old fruit cage poles and attached jute netting across it.

The plants needed at bit of encouragement to climb up. tying in for  a bit. But then, up they went. The fruits hang down through the net, over the slope, keeping them clear of slugs and the sun can shine on them helping the fruits to mature.

Gardens with wildlife

We are asked to garden for wildlife with bug hotels, plants for pollinators. 

Keep the grass longer and encourage all area to welcome the wildlife.

We do all that and are blessed with  lots of birds, butterflies, insects and other pollinators a plenty.

We have a high wall around the garden so thankfully we do not suffer from attacks by badgers, rabbits or deer.

We do have to protect some groups  such as a fruit cage for the soft fruit. Covered raised beds for strawberries. Insect mesh on brassicas to keep out the cabbage white butterfly and pigeons.

But Sunflowers?!

We had about 8 lovely sunflowers this year, growing well and looking great.

Then overnight they were attacked by squirrels. They removed and took the flower heads of all but one, I expect that will go tonight!

I always leave the seed heads over winter for the wildlife, but these were still in full flower.

The frustrations of gardening!

                                        one of the sunflowers at the beginning of the week.

yesterday

FIGS

Towards the end of July each year, one of my favourite fruits begin to ripen in the walled garden.

When we bought the house and garden there was an enormous Brown Turkey fig against the south facing wall. Each year we have had lots and lots of lovely juicy figs. 

I took a cutting from the fig which had rooted itself in the ground and I now have another fig on an east facing wall in the fruit cage.

These plant do need controlling a bit with pruning in June and July to prevent the new growth from getting too long.

Last year the one on the south wall had grown so much that it was blocking the way into the greenhouses, so a rather drastic prune was required over winter.

Last week I picked the first ripe fruit from the smaller tree in the fruit cage, it weighed a whopping 77grammes, then picked 3 more equally large this week.

Plenty more to come over the next 5 or6 weeks

A new experience

The garden is just over an acre, with many different areas including the vegetables and flowers, shrubs and trees. I have also put various art works in the garden, some I made myself, stone carved owl, willow hare various constructions made from old clay plant pots. There are also others artists work from the local potter, a galvanised leaping hare, a huge metal cow parsley and the latest, a wonderful cuddle seat made by Nik Burns.

                                                                Ramsey and Baa'bara

Last week a new experience. We were videoed in our garden, I was talking about 5 of my favourite areas in the garden, I could have included at least double that!.

The video was to promote the wonderful gardening trousers from Genus. I bought my first pair six or more years ago and have worn them almost everyday since. I now have several pairs, different colours and summer as well as winter ones. Soon to be on you tube and instagram!! a slightly scary prospect.

This weekend is our open garden with the NGS another chance to show others our garden. 

Garlic

Each year we grow garlic, planting the tiny cloves in October.

They do like moisture but not drowning or they will rot. This year we grew Provence Wight garlic and elephant garlic. This is not a true garlic but from the leek family, but looks like giant garlic bulbs. A much milder taste than normal garlic.

The garlic should be ready to harvest when the leaves turn yellow, this is in June, much earlier than the shallots and onions which were also planted in October.

With the very wet winter and alternate days of very hot then much colder weather this Spring/ early summer , we wondered what they would be like.

It was a good harvest, decent sized bulbs and the elephant garlic are the biggest we have ever grown.

We probably should have harvested a couple of weeks earlier as many of the cloves are separating but they will still taste as good.

                                            Elephant garlic

                                            Garlic Provence Wight, plaited to store.

                The soft fruit is ripening really quickly so picking every few days