End of April

The fine weather has been wonderful over the last few weeks, it has helped keep one’s spirits up as well as getting the garden going early. The crab apple blossom is a magnet for bees, we have honey bees nesting somewhere in the garden as well as lots of bumble bees and solitary bees. I am contemplating investigating becoming a bee keeper, time will tell. The bush fuchsias are covered in blossom, such cheerful flowers and it won’t be long before the roses really go for it, there are a few flowers out but mostly they are in bud, roses like this garden and we have a lot. It is predicted that we will have rain next week, we have gone from floods to overly dry and the ground is very hard so it will be welcome for the garden and is a good excuse to work on the Historystore.co.uk website.

The greenhouse is looking wonderful with plants growing and geraniums in flower and it is lovely and warm even early in the morning. The first bed of broad beans is beginning to flower and the first early potatoes have sprouted, it is such an exciting time in the garden with so much growth going on. The mange tout are begging to climb up the canes and the dwarf peas are looking very happy. We have to keep an eye on the beds and net the plants especially when they are newly planted as the pheasants have a habit of digging them up or chopping their heads off. 

Mrs Duck appeared yesterday with eight little balls of fluff, they are so small at this stage and vulnerable and few make it to maturity. The birds are busy with their nests and the air is busy as they fly around getting food, having a drink or a bath. Yesterday I watched a wagtail and three goldfinches lines up and have a good bath. The ducks sometimes come up to the top pond for a bath but usually they make a lot of noise and splash about in the lake, it looks great fun. The carp have appeared after the winter, I don’t hink all the youngsters have made it but we have quite enough. 

We are lucky to have the garden at this time, to keep us active and give us fresh air. When we go to the farm shop where we get our sausages and bacon for breakfast, we stop off at the woods and take the dogs for a walk. The farm shop has done a wonderful job of getting in dry goods and extending the range of fruit and vegetables so that the locals can avoid the supermarkets. Asparagus has just come into season and he is supplied from a local grower, it is delicious. Seasonal freshly picked vegetables always taste so much better, the sprouting broccoli season has just ended, sadly, they were wonderful. I found a recipe for an asparagus and gruyere cheese tart which I plan to make next week. He has some lovely ripe English tomatoes at the moment which are so sweet, and it is lovely to be able to buy English tomatoes in April. The ransoms are in flower which makes the leaves bitter so I have picked the last. I made pesto last week and with the latest I am going to whizz them in olive oil for use in dishes through the year. I also whizz them with butter which I cut into oblongs and freeze, so useful.

It won’t be long before the elderflower comes out when it is time to make cordial, homemade is more refreshing than the bought ones as I put less sugar in so that you can taste the elderflower. I discovered a bottle of elderberry cordial in the back of the cupboard, it is also delicious. Experimenting can be fun. Cooking different recipes has been a good thing during this time. With the extra time I hope people will rediscover the pleasure of cooking and how quick and easy it is to prepare a meal especially with in season local produce and how rewarding it is. John makes delicious pizzas and I found a recipe for Spanish casa, their equivalent, one of the toppings had spinach, anchovies, pine nuts and soaked currants. We tried it and it was lovely so will do it again. John usually makes a large quantity of dough and then freezes balls of dough so that when he fancies making one, he just has to defrost the dough and off he goes. 

I hope you are finding interesting things to do and are keeping safe, busy and sane. We look forward to the day when we can reopen and welcome you to share the view and the garden.