Hello my dear gardening friends,

Children embrace the ordinary with enchantment reminding us, in stillness and simplicity, what is worth having and what we were intended to be. - Victoria Dixon

What are we intended to be, or wish to be? Gardeners, of course. The sun has been so warm these past few days I can scarcely believe that the summer is almost officially over. The flowers are still growing, my little clematis is blooming its heart out, even the impatiens are “hanging in there”.

Did you go and purchase your bulbs ? I hope that you are going to try something a little different this year. Although the leaves have started to turn already, and the nights are positively cooler (cold) and Spring seems a very long way away, mid-September is a perfect time to start planting your bulbs. Think about the delight that awaits you as the snow recedes and the warmer days return. Here are a few pointers on planting bulbs for you:

• Plant bulbs with the pointy ends facing upwards to the sky, in sunny areas and also under trees.
• Plant in groups; odd numbers are always the best way to show off the pretty flowers.
• Use fertiliser that is labelled “bulb boosters”. Pop some into the holes as you plant. Try any of the garden centres or order on-line if time is tight. It is so easy make a hole (not in straight lines please) drop in some fertiliser and then the bulb, cover with earth and a little blood meal (to help keep squirrels from digging up your bulbs for snacks) and presto, you are finished.

To my dear friend in Australia, I misled you, yes the tulips do have to go into the fridge for 6 weeks before planting; however, you tell me that your daffodils are blooming very well right now – good for you Brian.

Some attractive plants are too tough for pests to bother with, and a few have developed a defence against some of the common destructive insects. Good choices for your garden are: the strong and silent Rudbeckia family (cone flowers, black-eyed Susans), Sedum, Daylilys (providing that they escape the lily beetle) and perennial Geraniums, which are also called Cranesbill. The more that you have of these, the healthier your garden and less work for you.

This is from a small “story” called Indian Visions by E.V.D :-

“Is it not tiring this idea of the planning of garden effects, and so long before the time? So many books to read, so many people to see. So often the long description of well arranged colours in a garden, where all the colours come out just right. I am afraid that the colours here are very often wrong. That does not pain me much, I merely feel that the flowers chose to do it - it is no fault of mine. If they’re happy, no matter that pink does at times mass unkindly against magenta, or if two different lilacs clash, or even if scarlet and crimson come together. Dear flowers! We know they can never really look wrong, or like a mistake, as often bad contrasts in women’s gear. We only say to ourselves or to the gardener when flowers come very much amiss, “It is unfortunate!! That is all.” Crimson and scarlet by choice would hardly mass together. Therefore there was sorrow when a grand glow of scarlet Oriental Poppies began to flame around the dazzling crimson of Carmine Pillar, most brilliant of red roses. But when I began to speak this thought and to say besides that of course another season the Poppies would have to be moved away somewhere else, the remark of a visitor in the garden opened my eyes as with the force of revelation “Is there not” he said, “a certain barbaric pomp about so strange a contrast? The hint was enough. When I looked again, what Indian visions steeped in glory visions of Delhi and last year’s Durbar floated through fiery brilliance of border flowers. I think that the Poppies will not be moved. That very day their great silken petals began to fall and wind and weather scattered them away.”

I loved this story. I could feel her nostalgia, for perhaps England, – one of the wives of the Raj, trying to create an English country garden in such an exotic land.

Someone asked me about edible flowers:

There are many flowers that can be eaten in safety; some, such as herbs have medicinal properties. Most do not have a great flavour, but a few flowers or petals on a summer salad give colour and a different texture. Do not overdo the flowers in salads, just one or two as decoration is sufficient. Pick them just before you are ready to serve that particular dish; be sure to wash them well. Zucchini flowers can be dipped into a batter and fried; I suspect it is the batter fried in oil, especially a really good olive, that makes the flavour!! Those orange daylilies are good too.

Flowers can be candied; my mother used to use violets, to decorate cakes and puddings. Flowers can be frozen and used in cold drinks, or frozen into an ice bowl as an attractive container for a chilled or frozen desert. To do this, fill a bowl two thirds full with water, add the flowers, then place another slightly smaller bowl inside it, weighted down to keep it from floating. Put the whole lot into the freezer overnight. When it is frozen hard, remove the inner bowl. If you use a deep bowl, then you can flip it over, and place on top of a small tea light to create a pretty centrepiece; you will need to place both candle and ice dome on a dish with a small lip to catch the drips.

Q) How do I know when it is time to pick my grapes?
A) Depending upon the type that you have grown, grapes are normally harvested in early to mid fall. Generally, they are fully ripe once the stem has started to turn slightly brown. The bunch of grapes is cut off the vine with a 2 inch stem to act as a handle.

Q) Is it possible to eat grape leaves and how are they prepared??
A) Yes and they are delicious. Take 6 vine leaves, 6 small goat cheeses or cut up a larger one into 6 pieces, 3 tablespoons of a good olive oil and 12 cherry tomatoes. Wash and dry the vine leaves, then blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Dry them again and place one piece of cheese in the centre of each leaf, make a parcel of the leaves, wrapping it and tying it with raffia. Place them on a cookie sheet, pour the olive oil over the pockets and cook in a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes, giving the cheese chance to melt – serve decorated with halved tomatoes. They are really very good!

I will be teaching wine making at the ecology garden again on the 3rd of October; this is family day, with all kinds of exciting things happening. Rachel will be showing you how to make wreaths and the Master Gardeners will be there to answer your questions. Cathy will be very pleased to see you all, come and play in the maze!!

Q) What do I do with the zucchinis that did grow and why have some of the plants not produced any fruit?
A) If no fruits set – cold wet weather stops insect activity and thus natural pollination – you will have to hand pollinate. The female flower has a tiny thickened section of stem, just behind the flower. Pick a male flower, remove the petals, and brush the male organ against the centre of the female flowers, being as careful as possible. Sex in the garden!! Pick the zucchini as soon as they are about 4 inches long and keep picking, unless you want some to grow like marrows, which are good for stuffing. The first fruits will be from roughly 10 to 12 weeks after planting.

You can eat very small zucchini raw, sliced in salads – covered in walnut oil - mmm good. Slightly larger ones are very good lightly cooked. One of the best ways, I have found is to slice them lengthwise fairly thin, and cooked very briefly in boiling salted water. Drain and then fry them in oil with crushed garlic and parsley for a few minutes, until they are brown. Larger ones can be baked in the oven with some of your sliced tomatoes. Slice the fruits in rings and layer them in a greased oven proof dish, dot with butter, cover with breadcrumbs and fresh mixed herbs or your choosing and bake for about 20 minutes in a 400 degree F oven.

For a quick and easy zucchini dish: slice into rounds, boil until just soft, drain, add a little butter and grated parmesan cheese, stir and serve. Ready in about five minutes.

As I have told you before, I am a bookaholic and have found another one for you. It is called the The Gardener's Atlas, by Dr. John Grimshaw with consultant Dr Bobby Ward. It is a Firefly book, printed in Willowdale, Ontario. It has the origins, discovery and cultivation of the world’s most popular garden plants with the most beautiful pictures. The price of tulip bulbs for example, “In the early 1600, Dutch gardeners began to spend increasing sums on the finest broken forms. In 1623 a bulb of the cultivar ‘Semper Augustus’ sold for the then fortune of thousands of guilders. This encouraged not only plant breeders, but speculators, merchants, traders, financiers and the nobility to try and earn some instant wealth from tulip dealing.” Rather like to-days lottery by the sound of it!! Soon bulbs were passing from one owner to the next, often without being removed from their beds. Each buyer paying an ever higher price and not necessarily in cash. The selling price for one bulb of ‘Viceroy’ white flowers streaked with bluish pink, was 2 loads of wheat, 4 loads of rye, 8 fat pigs, 12 fat sheep, 2 hogshead of wine, 4 barrels of beer, 2 barrels of butter, 1,000 lbs of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes and a silver beaker…” – and you think that $5 each is expensive??? I am really enjoying this book and finding out all kinds of things. Do try and find one locally, or through the GreatGardenStuff.com website, or contact your local library – I know that you will enjoy it too. A good Christmas gift for a lucky person.

The soil in your special beds, unsatisfactory or new perennial borders, or other garden plots that are to be replanted next spring should be prepared now. Give the soil a liberal dressing of well rotted manure and dig this in.

Seed pods from some of the better specimens of your flowering plants should be collected and stored in paper bags, where they will soon release their seeds. In a few weeks discard the pods and waste. Place the seeds in an envelope and store carefully until planting time next year. This is a good time to try planting some seeds of the hardier annuals in the garden. While you cannot guarantee that they will survive, good results can be obtained with ageratum, calendula, cosmos, delphinium, poppy, petunias and sweet alyssum. This plan has an added advantage in that the shoots come up before they are covered in snow, and if they survive the winter they produce flowers at a time when seeds planted in the spring are just starting to sprout – a good experiment if nothing else.

Well my dears, that is about all for this week – I hope that you enjoy this week’s offering. I thought that I would give you a little rest from all that work, go and sit outside in the sunshine, enjoy these wonderful days, a real gift to us all.

Hats, gloves, especially - be careful – the poison ivy is still around and viable – sunscreen and bug off.

Lovingly, Beryl