New Years - January

Here we the second week of January already, the temperatures have been so warm, today as I type it was 13.5 degrees, warm enough to go to the greenhouse without a coat or jumper. So much is growing that should not be and will not cope with a big freeze should we suddenly get one.

The vegetable garden continues to provide leeks, rainbow chard, swiss chard, cavolo nero and kale. The garlic, onions and shallots are all growing well as are the autumn sown broad beans.

The greenhouse has been quite toasty and I have done the first sowing of the year, leeks, chervil, purple sprouting broccoli, purple basil, broad beans and spinach beet. I love it when the weather is right to start sowing seeds, it makes it feel as if spring is just round the corner even if it is a couple of months away I reality.

We have at last found some help with the garden, Lynn. It is wonderful as so much more can be done by three people and John and I are often busy doing other things and can’t garden every day.

A number of plants which flower in the winter have the most glorious perfume. Right now, the sarcococca is wafting its perfume around the garden. As you approach the house there is a winter flowering honeysuckle, again with a wonderful perfume. The mahonia’s in the gravel garden are looking magnificent covered in yellow perfumed flowers. Lots of winter flowers are really nothing much to look at but boy do they make up for it.

The cornus around the garden are putting on a brilliant display of colour. The midwinter fire in the front garden is underplanted with tulips of the same colour and mixture of yellow and bright red, mimicking flames, the two together are stunning, a planting that has really worked and the tulips return every year and are slowly spreading.

Hellebores do well in this garden and underplant shrubs in different areas. They come in such a wide range of colours these days and are well worth growing.

Indoors the South African hyacinth’s are strutting their stuff. They have gorgeous glossy wavy leaves and then a flower spire appears, which initially is green, slowly the tubes drop downwards and gradually turn pink. A really easy plant to grow. My paperwhites have been a complete disaster as all of the new bulbs were blind, very disappointing. The hyacinths that were planted to flower at New Year have sulked and are only just beginning to show their flowers. But that’s gardening for you.

At new year we had a delicious beetroot roulade, it was so easy and looked very festive being red, one of those recipes which I have been asked for and which I will definitely do again. The filling was cream cheese slackened with mascarpone, then lots of herbs finely chopped and folded in. I will also try it with yellow beetroot and see what that looks like. It’s always fun trying new recipe’s and experimenting.

The New Year is also welcomed in with a local vintage car rally, John took along his 53-year-old Volvo, the type the Saint had for those who remember the program. Sadly, it rained but it did not deter people and was great fun, a lovely way to start the year.