THE MIRRORED BOXES

More time spent at home means more projects and at this house they are lining up and waiting to be done. The mirrored wall boxes were in need of some refurbishment as the wood had begun to rot on a couple of them and one mirror was cracked. I'm sure our feathered friends who spend much time staring at themselves and pecking the glass would appreciate it. The original boxes were on the outside of the front wall where they give the impression of windows looking into the garden. 

I had come across the idea many years ago in a Sunset magazine and kept the clipping in my file of Garden Ideas. Here was the perfect opportunity to use the boxes which would play off the upper windows of the house. I'm so glad that David has become handy with the saw during retirement. They are a simple structure of mitered 2x4s backed with a mirror and plywood. Some years later I requested 3 more to put on the inside of the walls.

 

This fall we took down the Lady Banks rose that was in the corner of the garden. It was more than 20 years old and I will have to admit poorly pruned. This rose needs a lot of support and I had permitted underlying dead branches to remains as the support framework. It had spread several feet over the top of and along the wall and was becoming unmanageable with dead twigs constantly falling. This and the fact that the rose had never recovered from the terrible hail storm that occurred in April a few years ago, scaring the branches and taking every new leaf, its bloom considerably reduced, made the decision to remove easier. It took David a full week to take it down little by little.

Now suddenly there was a bare spot extending around the corner. I suggested that we add a couple more boxes to fill in the space. 

And at the same time change the color of the boxes to match the gate and the overhead beams. My plan is to plant a Hesperaloe on the corner. Something that will not take any maintenance and will do well there. 

And there is a fig ivy climbing back up the wall. I will allow a delicate tracery of this vine and not let it turn into a hedge! My job was to repaint the wooden bench and the cactus theatre. It is amazing how a coat of paint can breathe a few more years of life into an old bench. In fact all our benches are getting a similar paint job. Those relegated to places outside the walls suddenly find themselves inside the garden. 

Not that there is much time to sit around! 

KALE AND CALAMONDIN

This time of year two wonderful garden crops are ready to bring into the kitchen. In the heat of summer I was anxiously awaiting cooler days and the vegetable garden rewards of our mild winters. I sowed seeds of kale, chard and pak choi in 4" pots in my laundry room moving them to the potting shed and under lights when they had a few leaves. This gives them a head start and a better chance of surviving the ravages of the decollate snail and pill bug decimation. I chose the curly kale because we like the slightly bitter taste. Not only do they have a high germination rate but they stay viable for a number of years. 

 

The packet I used was packed for 2017. The leaves are now of a good size for picking with 6 leaves enough for a meal for the two of us. I find kale much easier and more worthwhile to grow than spinach. If you are going to grow kale it pays to find some good recipes. Yesterday morning, in a chapter on winter greens, in a 2006 edition of Bon Appetit magazine, I found the following recipe. 

Other than the fact I did not have the more exotic mushrooms (I used baby bellas) I had all the other ingredients to hand including the thyme which I also grow.

It looks exactly like the photo in the magazine and was absolutely delicious. A definite keeper. We had it for dinner but it would make a really great special lunch dish too.

 

Later on in the day I went into the garage to make the first picking of calamondin fruit. The plants were wheeled into the garage a week ago because of an impending freeze. We were far more sensible this year keeping the pots on the driveway all summer and then using various wheeled carts to bring them in. They are now permanently on a variety of carts for the winter so we can easily transport in and out. 

When we lived in Hong Kong we saw hundreds of these trees at Chinese New Year. They are given as gifts and represent good luck and wealth. The Chinese word for the tree is very similar to the word for wealth. But they are more than just decorative trees they make the most delicious marmalade.

Making this marmalade is a real labor of love but so worth it for the absolutely delicious sweet/tart combination of flavors which we love on our toast at breakfast. And there is absolutely no waste as every scrap of the fruit is used, even the pips! Here's how to use your calamondins.

Cut the oranges in half.

Squeeze each half, to remove all the pips and juice, into a sieve over a a bowl. Then slice all the fruit peels thinly and add to the juice. Tie the pips in a muslin bag. For each cup of fruit add 3/4cup water into a large non-reactive pan tying the muslin bag so it is in the mix. Boil for 20 minutes. Cool and leave overnight in the fridge to allow the pectin to develop.

Measure the fruit again and for each cup add one cup of sugar. No pectin needed.

I like to use the spoon drop method for testing readiness but you can also use a cold plate or even the candy thermometer to jelly set, 220°

Pour into sterilized jars. No need to can. First batch completed. Lids popped and a good set achieved.

So incredibly delicious on my morning toast.

SISSINGHURST The Dream Garden. A book review

While visiting gardens has become more difficult in the last year and travel to far-off lands out of the question there is still one thing that gardeners can do and that is read about gardens. Here is a book that has me dreaming about a return visit to the gardens at Sissinghurst, armed with even more knowledge about that garden and its makers.

 Sissinghurst is surely one of the gardens that is top of the list when visiting gardens in England. The first time I visited I looked at it only as a garden, wowed by the garden rooms, those views from the Tower, the White Garden and a very brief introduction to Vita Sackville West and her husband Harold Nicolson, the makers of the garden. Before leaving I purchased the National Trust book Sissinghurst. Portrait of a Garden so I could learn a little more. Since then I have purchased several books written by both garden writers and family. I was captured by this couple, their unusual marriage but mostly how they, with different ideas about how to garden managed to pull off such a wondrous place. My feeling is that you will never truly understand this garden unless you know something of its history, even though that history is less than 100 years.

At the very start Richardson says "I am not going to make any excuses for the wilful intermixing, in this book, of sturdy horticultural description with biographical detail and speculation regarding Harold and Vita's intellectual and aesthetic motivations." In this respect the book offers a newer look at the garden and its makers.

After a short introduction to the garden makers and how they came to purchase Sissinghurst, you  begin to understand why this garden is so important. Each chapter takes you on a walking tour of the garden. moving from one garden to another learning, if things have changed, how it was in Vita and Harold's time, what happened after their death when it became part of the National Trust. It begins in the entry garden where, like the visitors in Vita's day, you now pay your 'shilling' to enter.

"And then the visitor gains a first proper glimpse of the tower directly ahead, framed by Sissinghurst's gateway. It is a a transfixing moment, especially as the tower has not loomed particularly large until now. "

If you love roses then you will enjoy the chapter on the large collection of roses in the Rose garden before moving to the lime walk and a complete change in character. The one area of the garden which Harold not only designed but also planted. The walk takes you through the nuttery, the herb garden (about as far away from the kitchen as you could get) the orchard to the famous White Garden, and finally to the new Delos Garden. There is a short chapter on the new Delos Garden which was the name Vita gave to the Mediterranean garden she tried unsuccessfully to create at Sissinghurst. Dan Pearson was the designer given the task of designing and implementing the garden in the rather cold and inhospitable winter climate. I wonder if Vita would have been happy. The garden has seen many changes since taken over by the Trust and Tim Richardson admits he thought he knew the garden well until he undertook this project. 

Whether you have the chance to visit the garden or only in the pages of this book you will be sure to leave with a sense of what makes the garden so important and visited by thousands from all over the world every year.

I was offered this book to review and have really enjoyed pleasant days of reading during these Covid times. 

Sissinghurst The dream garden by Tim Richardson, foreword by Dan Pearson, Photographs by Jason Ingram. published by Frances Lincoln.