Yesterday, probably about the time that Town Mouse was out taking these superb piccies, I was out in Thurso getting thoroughly soaked. It rained proper bouncing off the pavement rain, making little miserable me mope twixt shop and emergency crap coffee in a cafe.But this morning was glorious. Still, sunny and just a wee bit cold. If I'd had my camera when I went up to get the girls carrot* I could have captured some wonderful rising sun glinting off hills type piccies. Well I could have tried anyway.
After morning coffee, with freshly charged batteries camera and I went for a walk.
Look a cat.
Some of you may remember this. Yesterday, before I got soaked in Thurso, I wandered around with flat batteries and counted 14 thriving young willows
- pretty good I reckon - and I found nothing like 46 dead willow sticks so there may be other living willows, but I've forgotten where I planted them. Maybe.
I forget to take piccies of the Scots Pine.
But a couple of them are limping on, a couple are distinctly dead-looking. The limping ones are
in soaked soil in an exposed place
(but we've had a dry summer) and the dead ones in a shaded spot in dry soil (but close to a rhodie - I didn't have the heart to dig it out - I mean it flowered in Spring and was such a delight of colour - it's possible the young and tender Scots Pines found the soil a bit toxic).
We have lots of fennel, but despite lots of good foliage, the bulb - the bit I was growing it for - is disappointing. Maybe I should have put more effort into earthing up.
They all have good carrot-like roots but I suspect this part isn't considered edible and trying to find an answer to whether or not the root is edible is confounded in google by lots of people referring to the bulb as roots. Silly people.
Meanwhile - we await in great anticipation for the apple harvest.
This single apple - Stirling Castle - is the only fruit we'll get from the 'orchard' this year - but still infinitely more than we expected. It's a cooker - and I worry how I can cook a apple for three and ensure the taste of the apple wins against anything else I put in to make the dish big enough for three.
But when should I harvest it? It is still firmly attached to tree but I'm starting to feel greedy by leaving it on the tree. I check it daily. It's time is soon.
Maybe tonight.
The other great point of anticipation is the weather - forecast 60 mph+ gusts tonight. Not quite as bad as 96 kph but still scary enough.
And we'll be eating fennel tonight - cos apparently it's good for wind.
* I go up to the garden to get a carrot for her pack lunch most mornings
9 comments:
Whaune the heddere (adder) is hurt in eye
Ye red fenel is hys prey,
And yif he mowe it fynde
Wonderly he doth hys kynde.
He schall it chow wonderly,
And leyn it to hys eye kindlely,
Ye jows shall sang and hely ye eye
Yat beforn was sicke et feye.
It is mentioned in Gerard (1597), and Parkinson (Theatricum Botanicum, 1640) tells us that its culinary use was derived from Italy, for he says:
'The leaves, seede and rootes are both for meate and medicine; the Italians especially doe much delight in the use thereof, and therefore transplant and whiten it, to make it more tender to please the taste, which being sweete and somewhat hot helpeth to digest the crude qualitie of fish and other viscous meats. We use it to lay upon fish or to boyle it therewith and with divers other things, as also the seeds in bread and other things.'
William Coles, in Nature's Paradise (1650) affirms that -
'both the seeds, leaves and root of our Garden Fennel are much used in drinks and broths for those that are grown fat, to abate their unwieldiness and cause them to grow more gaunt and lank.'
So tuck in if you feel that you've 'grown fat'.
We grow our fennel for the leaves as a herb. I don't think the bulbs are growing well enough to cook in their own right anyway (and I don't like aniseed). The seeds are good in curry.
I think they look nice in the garden (height and structure in the border and whatnot) and the insects love the flowers.
Ta for the plug. But the rhodie must die - terrible invasive things.
We had strong winds here on Saturday. We haven't had a downpour for weeks though.
i've read a few of your posts about trees. What's your secret? How do you keep the goats from eating all the trees? Between me and my BIL we've planted about 2,500 trees here. He used to keep a lot of goats till moving up here but, he thinks they'll destroy the trees if we get any. He says impossible to fence them in. Any suggestions?
Florence fennel will grow big hearty bulbs to eat but they're so, so fussy! What cultivar are you growing? I've had good results this year with both of these http://www.realseeds.co.uk/fennel.html
Thanks Chris! Poetic as ever. Fennel also gets a big plug in the Nine Herb Charm part of the 10th C English work Lacnunga. But I suspect your quote is confusing the root with the bulbous stem - but there's no way of knowing.
Sarah - height? seeds? Too early for the seeds but it never grew to the height I expected. It's very pretty though.
TownMouse - I know ....sob sob
Jo - maybe you should try fennel too. It seemed to work for us.
gealbhan - Our goats don't seem to want to escape - just as well cos I'm sure the crofters would give us merry hell if they did (forget the fact that their sheep often escape onto our land - that's traditional!). Those trees planted close to fences that the goats can reach have been wrapped in chicken wire. 2,500 trees! Wow - that's going some - what species? what's doing well?
Liz - Di Ferenze - you'll not be as impressed as I am that I know this. Local growers have told me that I probably let them dry too much in the summer - but really it's just not Italy here is it?
grey alder, italian alder, downy birch, silver birch, elder, rowan, oaks, horse chestnut, lime, hawthorn, field maple, amelanchier, myrobalan plum, hazel, wild cherry, larch, pine, apples, pears, plums, gages, damsons, 17 varieties of willow, beech, holly, cedar, aspen, ash, blackthorn, sea buckthorn, crab apple, poplar a few weird ones like strawberry trees and lots of shrubs too. Ok, you did ask! Lol easier to tell you which aren't doing so well... Horse chestnut and strangly elder. But, yea, good ones are oaks, birch, alder, hawthorn, hazel and the willows. Goats that don't want to escape huh? Who'd a thunk it. At this point don't think my bil dares to get them again... Feared for the trees..
Gordon Bennet! Flaming Ada! Bloody Nora! Basil Petigrew!
Impressed or what!?!? Good to hear what's growing well for you too. I have a 'neighbour' who refers to Alders as water pumps - something we are in dire need of.
But where did you get all those trees from? Anywhere local?
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