What are we doing in the garden 2025

@Sian in Belgium just the flowers picked today and added to the hot water for infusing....the colour is golden. When we then move to the next stage, it has wine yeast added and the sugar. Then left for at least 6 weeks for the fermentation to stop, decanted and left to settle. A lovely colour remains and you can "just" about smell primroses.
We wont be able to do elderflowers this year as we have had to cut back the tree (which will regrow) but elderflower wine really really does have the scent of the flowers. We will have this again next year.

 

Tried to do a bit of cutting out the old canes of the cultivated blackberries, but i only stayed out for half an hour my hands were getting too cold.

 

Thank you for the detailed reply! I’ve made a lot of “hedgerow” wine, especially elder x2 and dandelion, but have not tried primrose….

 

@Sian in Belgium we used to do dandelion wine as well but for some reason over the years it just didn't work. We also do elder berry (when we haven't pollarded the elder) and it is a lovely deep red colour. Wild damsons which grow here are also good for a lighter red colour. When we have surplus of gooseberry and blackberry (after jamming, bottling, freezing) we also make wine from them. The same with the surplus apples and pears from the orchard. We have 2 quince trees and a medlar again surplus used for wine. Then we have white grapes outdoors for wine and red in the greenhouse for eating and ...yes again...surplus made into wine. More like a rose colour. We give many bottles to family and friends but do enjoy having our own tipple.

 

Lovely, @On the Levels !
When I was young, we used to be very selective on our elderflower selection, as we found the sweet-smelling heads made better wine. Those that smelled of cats-pee were left to berry up - there was no difference in the quality of berries.
Have you tried making elderberry syrup? I love the stuff, and it’s packed with vitamin C…

 

Cut back Cornus, Philadelphus & Weigela and shredded it all down.

 

Digging today to try to reduce the raspberry empire - a shame to pull them out, but I don't need so many and need the space for beans.

 

In between a busy working day observed the soil from my two pots of Anemone Blanda being dug up. The first excavations happened over the weekend but stopped.

Initially I blamed the mice/ rats but today's daytime activities plus a visiting card directed the finger to Mr Blackbird.

Found some metal mesh and in the fading light created a makeshift barrier for now.

On the positive note, Mr Blackbird had discovered a rooted corm ready with the lovely bent neck and leaflet so hopefully I'll get a nice display in a couple of months.

Potted up the Mango stone in spite of having years of disappointments with the straggly plants that die on you just when they start to look a bit more presentable. But the stone is so alluring!

Inspected seedlings under the growlights, Festuca Glauca is ready to be potted on in clumps this weekend. Pennisetum Rubra is rather alarmingly vigorous- perhaps I started it too early...

Next batch of Premierseeds direct seeds is expected tomorrow

 

Almost finished the land drain this afternoon, thought I'd double up on the membrane seen as i could which made it far more difficult than I'd imaged. I got there in the end but I am 2 bags short of gravel , I don't know how well its going to work but surely it be better than before . Need to pull my finger out and get sowing some seeds I think

 

@Sian in Belgium no don't know about the syrup. Tell me

 

It’s basically a cordial, made with elderberries
This BBC Good Food recipe is v similar to my handwritten one (can’t remember where I got it from!)
Elderberry syrup
I added cloves to my mix. I found that it preserves well with less sugar than stated. I add 1/2 a campden tablet before bottling (lots of yeast in the kitchen!) as a precaution, and put 3-5 cloves in the bottom of each bottle before filling. It keeps well for years, rather than months.
Great on ice cream, as a hot drink if you have a sore throat, drizzled over chopped apples for a crumble, and also to add a richness to mulled wine.

 

Nothing today have other things to do.

 

Today I removed a Fargesia from the corner of the sloping bed above the steps in my lower garden. It always looked as if it was struggling with permanently curled leaves. Not enough water and too much competition from my neighbour’s laurel hedge I think. I replaced it with a Griselinia which does well in my garden and can be easily kept under control. This time I used a variegated one to lighten up the corner. I then topped the border with bark and finished off by sweeping the steps and jet washing them and the adjoining paving. After three hours in the cold, that was enough .

 

Biting cold today, but managed more raspberry removal, and shifted Szechuan pepper (thanks @noisette47 !) to somewhere safer - it kept getting bashed by our trailer

 

Got home from work yesterday with an hour left of daylight and made a start on planting out the snowdrops that arrived in the week. Did another half hour this morning before heading off to the dentist for a filling, then had a good session this afternoon to finish off. Was working in the rain for the last half hour. I had cold hands yesterday and this morning but this afternoon was much milder.

I was fascinated by how many worms came up to the surface whilst I was working, even before it started raining. My planting action must have had a "worm charming" effect.

100 singles and 50 doubles now in, mainly planted on the slopes under the trees.