Tag: Apples

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers2 Comments

Novembery

Reclaiming Paradise

After all the unseasonalness of the last couple of weeks, today felt proper Novembery. The forecast is for the temperature to dip below freezing tonight so I got out in the garden to do some tidying up and harvest a few bits and pieces. The Wonder of Four Seasons lettuces are living up to their name, with a few juicy looking plants still growing nicely: I harvested one and covered the others with some plastic sheeting in the hope that this will keep them going for a bit longer. the lettuces were already covered with freezer baskets to keep Bella … Continue reading Novembery

Why I garden4 Comments

Freebies

Reclaiming Paradise

Who can resist a freebie? I try not to be consumerist but free stuff is always hard to resist. After this year’s bumper apple harvest, several neighbours and people at the allotment having been offering free apples. Although my harvest has been pretty good I can always find uses for more. So I’ve picked a few from the boxes in the street, now waiting to be cooked and eaten for breakfast, baked into cakes or stored in the freezer: These all claim to be cooking apples. I don’t have a cooker in the garden (although the Howgate Wonder is supposed … Continue reading Freebies

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers10 Comments

Sixtyish on Saturday

Reclaiming Paradise

In a small departure from the Six on Saturday rules, today’s post celebrates my challenge to harvest sixty different edible plants from my garden and allotment this year. Last week I hit my target, with the wondrous Howgate Wonder apples coming in at number sixty. I’ve now gone over the target and you can read all about what I’ve harvested since January here This year the Howgate Wonders are bigger than ever. I weighed one and it was 1lb! Not all are quite that big but there have been about thirty of these lovelies on the tree. So far they’ve … Continue reading Sixtyish on Saturday

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers6 Comments

Disappointments and monsters: Six on Saturday

Reclaiming Paradise

I don’t know how everyone else does their #SixonSaturday posts? I often struggle to find time to blog every Saturday but I do try and post six nice things on the twitter hashtag. My process is to go out into the garden and see what strikes me as interesting, beautiful or particularly photogenic. I’m often in a bit of rush and some weeks’ photos are better than others. Anyway, today I followed my usual process: wandered round the front garden, looking to see what was there, while hauling up a few weeds, deadheading some roses and chatting to my neighbour … Continue reading Disappointments and monsters: Six on Saturday

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers6 Comments

Harvest

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve been away from home for a week or so, walking and swimming in the rain. We had a bit of a plum glut just before we left, so we took the plums with us. I also made an emergency supply of plum jam the night before we left, rather than doing any packing, getting my priorities right, as I was worried they wouldn’t survive till we got home. Some of the tomato crop also joined us on our holiday, including a double Costoluto Fiorentino and the first of the impressively coloured but decidedly small ‘Indigo Blue Berry’ and a … Continue reading Harvest

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers2 Comments

Red and purple

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve just had another week away from the garden and returned to all sorts of joys. The bees are very happy on the buddleia and the lavender in the front garden. The rowan berries and the wild roses have beautiful red berries. There’s not a huge amount to harvest – mainly peas, lettuces and some frighteningly early autumn raspberries. However, the French and runner beans are coming along nicely and there was a pile of windfall Howgate Wonders on the grass – don’t worry there are plenty still left on the tree. Most excitingly, a tomato has appeared on the … Continue reading Red and purple

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden10 Comments

The joys of home – six on Saturday

Reclaiming Paradise

Earlier in the week I blogged about the joys of tomatoes and my envy at my friends’ ability to grow them so easily in the south of France. Today’s #SixOnSaturday celebrates what’s growing in my Scottish garden today. Peas – these are Prussian Blue – or at least I think they are. They are from saved seed and I seem to have got the varieties mixed up a bit. Anyway, they taste great. 2. Overwintered broad beans – Aquadulce Claudia I think . They’ve been superb this year. These are the last of a massive crop. I’ve also had a … Continue reading The joys of home – six on Saturday

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden4 Comments

Blossom Season

Reclaiming Paradise

For #SixonSaturday this week, here are six beautiful fruit blossom trees in my garden just now. Bird cherry Or at least that’s what the label said when I bought it – I’m growing it as part of my hedge rejuvenation project. Apparently it produces bitter fruits – for the birds. My theory is that the birds eat this one and not the edible cherry in the front garden but that is probably wishful thinking. Pear I know, I’ve blogged about this before but I am very excited by this tree producing its first ever flowers and, I hope, its first … Continue reading Blossom Season