It’s 28 years since my Mum died on this day and I still want to tell her stuff that excites me or that I need her wisdom on. It doesn’t go away.
Today I want to celebrate her life by recognising some of the gifts that came from her – my love of gardening and of cooking.
She would have been delighted with us having an allotment so here are a couple of the flowers from there today.
After she retired, she used to fill in forms that asked for her profession not as ‘Retired Teacher of the Deaf’ but as Head Gardener.
She was a brilliant cook too so here is a coffee cake I have made today for the cake stall at the Redruth Butter Market stall tomorrow.
Daughter No 3 and LiveWire No 4 are visiting tomorrow! The pie is for a picnic lunch on a coastal walk somewhere and the roasted vegetables will have chicken thighs added tomorrow for Roast Chicken with Mustard, Marmalade , Carrots and Orange. It is so long since we have all been together.
Cheese and Onion Pie x Felicity Cloake
For Roast Chicken with Mustard, Marmalade , Carrots and Orange
We have yet another storm blowing through so I have rescued most of the last tulips and put them in a jar with some purple pittosporum. The bonus is that when indoors we can smell their perfume.
Inside one of the blooms was a tiny snail. I’ve left it there.
I’m going to a creative workshop tomorrow and have made a Heligan Pineapple cake to take along to share.
Last night’s full moon was magical. We’d had cloud cover for most of the day so I was hoping against hope that there might be a break in the clouds as the moon started rising – and there was! The photo is of the moon rising over our back hedge. It’s called the Pink Moon around the time of April, when the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, is in blossom. The name was used by the Algonquin tribe, as well as by colonial Americans.
I had always thought allotments were for the growing of vegetables and fruit. I hadn’t realised how many flowers there would be all over the place. We have flowers planned for our patch too.
We picked rhubarb today, some from the main plant and some from the forcer which is such a pretty pink. It’s all in the dish here ready for the topping to become Different Every Time Pudding.
Coming home from having my second dose of the vaccine today, the Clematis on the front fence was catching the sunlight and looking lovely. The Stihians Showground vaccination operation is brilliant and staffed by friendly and efficient volunteers.
I made Blueberry Muffins this afternoon – very quick, can be eaten warm and were delicious in the sunshine with a cup of tea.
Spring has certainly sprung in our garden with the promise of more to come. We’ve had sunshine this week but still very cold winds and not really enough rain. (We don’t often say that in Cornwall.)
1. The tulips in pots are magnificent.
2. The Sweet Pea seedlings are coming along nicely. We have popped fleece around them when frosts were predicted. It’s almost time to tie them in.
3. To accommodate the new Amanagowa Cherry tree, the lovely Mr S has re-designed the lawn and the curve is very pleasing.
4. The buds on the tree are almost ready to burst.
5. Baby plants arrived today from Sarah Raven, ordered with Christmas and birthday vouchers from family. I have potted up the Cosmos and the Osteospermum, some of which will be in the pollinator border at the allotment and some at home. The tulips above were also bought with birthday vouchers. It’s really lovely to have presents that keep on appearing. We’ll be able to eat some of them too as we also bought vegetable seeds and baby plants yet to arrive. .
6. Because we now have the allotment, I am having one of the raised beds in the garden for cutting flowers. There is already a line of Sweet Peas by the trellis and today we have dug the last of our leeks to make space for my flower garden. So, not strictly garden, here is the Leek and Chicken Pie I made for supper tonight.
Chicken and leek filling
Golden pastry crust
If you’d like a peek at other gardens, pop over to The Propagator who invites folk to join in Six on Saturday, and follow the links in the comments to see gardens all over the world.
Our lovely neighbour is an artist as regular readers will know. She is in the middle of a project making very special swimming hats for local sea swimmers. She needed a model today to set the angle correctly so here is one of her designs. The others so far are a bunch of flowers, a sailing boat and a pineapple.
There is just one rose left from my Mother’s Day bouquet, four weeks after delivery.
Last one standing
We have friends coming round tomorrow for a much longed-for catch-up in the garden so I have made cake. You can find the recipe for this delicious fruity cake by clicking on the red link.
There is so much happening in the garden now as Spring really takes hold. There is plenty of work to do too, both in the garden and in the allotment.
1. Today I have moved lots of Snowdrops ‘in the green’ to go around the newly planted Amanagowa Flowering Cherry.
2. The tulips are beginning to give us colour, some very short as I commented earlier in the week and some the height I was expecting.
3. It’s lovely to see shoots and buds, anticipating the loveliness to come. The Clematis Montana has lots of buds.
4. The Lily of the Valley are sprouting well with tiny flower buds just beginning to show.
5. We are still harvesting the Flower Sprouts / Kalettes and enjoying having fresh greens. We are astounded by how regal they look and how tall they are in their raised bed.
6. Tonight I made two more Little Puddings as the ones I made the other night were so delicious with Blueberries. These I made with slender pale pink stalks of Rhubarb from the plant which we inherited on our allotment – our first produce from Plot 30.
If you’d like to look around some more gardens, pop over to The Propagator where he gives you Six on Saturday and there are lots of links in the comments.
