acacia et coquelicot

RIP Pincushion Hakea

Here are some photos of this weekend's garden antics. This is in lieu of a photo of the third pincushion hakea I have murdered in six months. I am now sulking and have sworn off hakeas for life. This one turned up its toes in record time. Three weeks ago I popped it in the ground, glowing with health and then yesterday I took it out, a shrivelled shadow of its former self, destined for the compost.

I really thought I had got it right this time. I chose my site carefully, enriched it with native friendly compost, blood and bone and slow release native fertiliser. I did not over water, I found it a gentle slope to aid drainage. I gave it the teeniest dose of iron chelates. Dammnit, I did everything bar sending it off for a spot of psychanalysis. What's a girl to do? Did I mention I am sulking?

On a brighter note we had a whale of a time in the garden this weekend. It was one of those serendipitous moments when the offspring decide that gardening chores are fun. So they set to work chopping up the comfrey for compost and mulching the garden beds. Kipper felt he had found his calling as a mulch-spreader, proceeding to distribute it to the four winds, but one shouldn't complain.
This last photo is a little bit of ego stroking after the Hakea Incident. Behold the bounteous supply..now if only we weren't heartily sick of tomatoes!

Herein Lie the Seeds

The seeds of change, that is.

Go forth and plant, Mr President!

Tournesol

To turn with the sun. I much prefer the French name for Sunflower, infinitely more poetic.

This is one of the 'tournesol' planted by my children a few months ago. The cockatoos have been having a field day with most of them but this one remains as yet untouched except for a couple of bees going about their business. We planted masses of them this year and have been delighted by how easy they are to grow and how fascinating for kids to follow their life cycle.

My soft spot for sunflowers stems back to when the Frenchman and I first met. When we would have a barney, he'd bring me sunflowers and then when we were in France we frolicked in the fields of sunflowers in the south. I also carried them when we got married so they are very much a part of who we are. How nice to finally be able to grow our own.

A Nasturtium-Filled Weekend

I hope your weekend is lovely and you get time to spend in the garden. My plans include coming to blows with the nasturtiums which are currently doing their own rather convincing interpretation of 'The Day of the Triffids'. I've also got my hands on Monty Don's 'The Complete Gardener' and I am looking forward to a quiet moment with it under a big shady tree sometime over the weekend.

Jusqu'a la semaine prochaine!
x

Hollyhocked

Lordy, I have fallen seriously in love with this gorgeous double hollyhock. There is something so frightfully Enid Blyton about hollyhocks - making me think of midnight feasts of strawberries with lashings of double cream, bossy matrons and lacrosse sticks.

I bought this beauty from Frogmore Gardens in July and nursed it through frantic attempts by earwigs to disembowel it. The champagne splendour has more than repayed me for my attentions. And look how delightful it looks against a swathe of achillea. I'd like to take full credit for this plant combination but I am a completely clueless gardener. Luckily, there are times when the planets align, horticulturally speaking.

Chives

 
A thoroughly satisfying herb, I like both the look and the taste of chives. Here is one of my all time favourite chives recipes from my mum. Serve these as a little starter with some brutally cold champagne. Fast to prepare and bloody good.

Smoked Salmon, Horseradish and Chive Rolls

200g smoked salmon
a couple of good dollops of horseradish cream to taste
100g marscapone
cracked pepper
a handful of chives, chopped and a few longish pieces

In a bowl mix the marscapone and horseradish cream together. Taste to check if it has reached the appropriate level of creamy, piquant deliciousness. When satisfied give the mixture a good grind of cracked pepper and sprinkle in a third of the finely chopped chives.

Taking a small piece of smoked salmon, spread a heaped teaspoon of the marscapone mixture and roll into a small parcel. Continue with the rest of the marcapone mixture and smoked salmon.

Arrange the rolls on a lovely plate, sprinkle with the rest of the chopped chives and artfully arrange a few of the longer pieces.

Voila, Bon appétit!

Off to Weed

Thanks for stopping by this week. I hope you have a brilliant garden-filled weekend.

Me? I've got some seedlings to plant and muchos weeding. That is if I can find my other gardening glove last seen in the mouth of our new puppy!
x

Acacia melanoxylon

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down!

~Afternoon on the Hill by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Discovered via Sarah

Glut

Gorgeous, jewel-like orbs of glut. I'm nothing if not enthusiastic having planted thirteen tomato plants to date. One might be forgiven for thinking we are a family of fifteen with voracious appetites. Particularly as I refuse to accept the sensible advice of the gardening world to pinch-out the lateral stems.

So we have tomatoes coming out of our nostrils. I think it might be time to purchase a Fowler's vacula for a spot of old-fashioned preserving but I live in fear of repeating my grandmother's spectacular preserving moment when a jar of chokos spontaneously combusted in the larder.
Tomatoes anyone?

Zea mays var. saccarata

My first crop of sweet corn is wending it's way to fruition. In typical style I planted without reading the fine print and have since discovered that corn should be grown in a series of rows to aid pollination.

Despite my mistake, I am greatly taken with these sculptural spires. Even if the produce is poor they are worth it for their aesthetic value alone.

And they are a handy climbing frame for scarlet runner beans. Speaking of which, any recipe ideas are warmly welcomed!