Author: Reclaiming Paradise

Garden blogger
Books I like, Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers2 Comments

More autumn wonders

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve been away on a trip to Higland Perthshire – a birthday treat for my husband to traipse around various historic sights and take in some autumn mountain air. As well as history and landscape there were plants. We visited the Fortingall yew tree: 5000 years old but with tiny signs of new growth and full of tweeting birds. We went to the Loch Tay Crannog Centre, recently damaged by fire but with a vibrant visitor centre and information about prehistoric vegetables, of which there were very few it seems. Nearly everything seems to have been introduced by the Romans … Continue reading More autumn wonders

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden6 Comments

Autumn delights

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s been a glorious autumn day, with a slight nip in the air but lovely sunshine and leaves beginning to fall from the trees. As I cycled to the allotment this afternoon, leaves blew in my face and conkers fell from trees. It felt a little scary but also quite exciting. I dread the end of summer but when autumn really comes, it brings its own joys. One of these joys is planning next year’s crop. At the allotment, I got down on my hands and knees and hauled strings of couch grass from the soil. We’ve had a bit … Continue reading Autumn delights

Cooking and eating from the garden, Why I garden8 Comments

Apples and raspberries

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s October which means apple season. The apples are in full flow – pictured here a couple of giant Howgate Wonders, with a sensibly sized Sunset for scale October is also birthday season at Reclaiming Paradise which means the apples are put to good use in a variety of cakes. My mother’s is the first birthday of the month, so I used these monsters to make a chocolate apple cake – recipe here . Since she was 85, candles seemed excessive, but I wanted to decorate it with something special. This handful of raspberries, fresh from the garden, seemed the … Continue reading Apples and raspberries

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers2 Comments

Every one a winner

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve fallen a wee bit behind with the blog but here is an update from last week’s allotment show. It was a joy to take part after last year’s was cancelled. It threatened to rain but in the end the sun shone. I arrived in good time in the morning to rush round the plot and harvest my vegetables, piling them up outside the shed so that I could choose and polish any prospective winners. Here was my initial harvest: raspberries, apples, ruby chard, courgettes, potatoes, sweet peas and a huge bucket of runner beans. You can also see my … Continue reading Every one a winner

Cooking and eating from the garden8 Comments

Start of the preserving season

Reclaiming Paradise

The jam making season has started here at Reclaiming Paradise. I’ve got a glut of green tomatoes, plums, runner beans, courgettes, a couple of marrows, apples on their way and one giant cucumber Where to to start? Some of the tomatoes are ripening but a few of the others have blight so I reckoned I need to pick some and start the preserving season. Whether to make plum jam and green tomato chutney, or green tomato marmalade and plum chutney? I decided on the marmalade first – it’s simmering away as I write: See here for the recipe – green … Continue reading Start of the preserving season

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden10 Comments

Bursting with colour

Reclaiming Paradise

I was taking photos in the garden for a couple of Twitter hashtags: #SixonSaturday and #GardensHour. I had far too many photos for these, so decided to upload them here instead. So, just to cheer you up in case you have the Monday blues, here is burst of colourful flowers, fruit and vegetables from my garden. First of all here are some flowers in the rain And here are some multi-coloured vegetables: rainbow chard, purple peas, nasturtium flowers, tomatoes beginning to ripen, plums, multi-coloured lettuces, broccoli, more almost ripe tomatoes And finally, some glorious autumn berries. The rosehips and rowans … Continue reading Bursting with colour

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden5 Comments

Weighed down with apples

Reclaiming Paradise

The apple trees in the garden are collapsing with the weight of fruit – it looks like it’s going to be a good apple year. Well most years are but this one looks exceptional. The Howgate Wonder is looking particularly impressive. I had to prop it up with some sticks and remove a few apples to prevent the whole thing collapsing. The Red Falstaff is also looking quite prolific though not very red yet. And the Sunsets are having a good year too. The plums are coming along rather nicely, though not so overladen as the apple trees. I harvested … Continue reading Weighed down with apples

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers5 Comments

Raindrops on roses

Reclaiming Paradise

I set out to do this morning’s #SixonSaturday and everything was covered with raindrops. So Raindrops on Roses it has to be. I’ll start with the wild roses, Rosa Rugosa, which have been blooming their hearts out all summer: These came from a cutting from the caravan site by the beach where my parents used to have a caravan and I used to take my sons in the summer. They bring happy memories of those summers, often also in the rain. Now they rampage all over my front garden, sending their roots under the paving stones and appearing in unexpected … Continue reading Raindrops on roses

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden14 Comments

In praise of peas

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s time for the annual pea admiration festival. For this week’s #SixonSaturday I’ll tell you about my six (so far) favourite peas. This undervalued vegetable is nice enough though a little boring when it comes out of packet in the freezer. When you grow your own in the garden though, it grows fast, climbs quickly, produces magnificent flowers and tastes devine – almost a different vegetable. I discovered growing peas almost by accident. I had always grown mange tout and thought they were pretty ok – usually I grow ‘Norli’ which provides a sturdy if unexciting little pea Until I … Continue reading In praise of peas

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden3 Comments

Welcome harvest

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve been away for a little while, catching up with family, swimming in lakes and stretching my legs rather more than I intended. It was nice to get away from some of the everyday stresses but it was also nice to get home to see what was happening in the garden. Here are some of the joys I came back to: peas – green and purple, broad beans, raspberries and a few strawberries, lettuce and the last of the redcurrants. Quite a feast. The red currants have been a bit of a disappointment this year as the best of them … Continue reading Welcome harvest