Book Review – Veg Street by Naomi Schillinger

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community food growing, Naomi Schillinger, Out of my Shed, Veg Street

I was delighted last week when I received a book through the post. It was fellow blogger Out of my Shed’s first book and Naomi had kindly sent me a copy. I’ve known for a while now that Naomi was writing a book and I had the chance to meet her a month or so ago, so I was excited to see the finished product.

It has been a hectic week and I already have a stash of books beside my bed which I have read a couple of chapters of and then never got back to them. Anyway, I finally got the chance to sit down and peruse Veg Street. If anyone follows Naomi’s blog they will know that it not only features great growing tips but also lots of inspiring stories about community growing. It was her own experience of getting people involved in growing, in the area around her home in London, that inspired this book. I’ve often read Naomi’s posts and thought how amazing it would be to live somewhere where people are brought together through plants. What started with some packets of seeds is now over a hundred neighbours growing fruit, vegetables and flowers in gardens, window boxes and even the ground around the base of trees.

Veg Street shows just how much you can grow, particularly when space is tight. The book covers most of the popular crops, although, as Naomi says, it is not a definitive guide. It is about inspiring people to see their local community in a different way and what is possible when people come together. Although the book is written about an urban area there’s no reason why the ideas in it can’t be applied anywhere, even if you live suburbia or a small, rural village. I found the book easy to navigate and was informative. Some gardening books can be off-putting to beginners because of the amount of information but I thought Naomi pitched it just right.

Not only did Naomi write the book but she also took the photos. They certainly seem a happy bunch of people and it’s great to see young and old alike united by plants.

The book is divided into months, with guides of what seeds to sow and tasks to be getting on with. It’s the perfect book for anyone thinking of starting up something similar. I’ve just joined my allotment committee and there’s a feeling that the allotment site needs invigorating. The passion for growing your own seems to have waned in my village. There are no families on the allotment site and I’m the youngest there by about 20 years. It’s a real shame and if the future of the allotments is to be safeguarded we need to encourage younger people on to the site. The other problem is that the site is divided into two by a road and the two sides rarely mix. There are ideas in Naomi’s book that I’m hoping we can use over the next few years to make the allotments a more welcoming and social place to be. There’s a section at the back of the book which gives advice on how to set up a ‘constituted group’ and tips throughout the book on how to get help and funding from your local council.

Hopefully, Veg Street will inspire more people to transform their neighbourhoods into bountiful and blossoming places to be.

Veg Street is available to buy from the 7th March.

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Memories of France

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French Gardens TV programme, Jean de Florette, Marcel Pagnol, Monty Don, Patrick Blanc, Robert Miles, Versailles

The recent French Gardens programme by Monty Don has been a real treat. Stunning gardens and scenery and an engaging presenter . . . oh, and lots of sunshine. For an hour I was transported to somewhere warmer and sunnier. In fact, the only downside to the programme was that when it finished, the reality of it actually being February returned. I can imagine bookings of French holidays have increased as a result of the programme.

I’ve been captivated by France for a long time now. I studied French at A’ level and was introduced to the delights of French literature and film. I was less enamoured by French TV which my teacher would record and make me watch in class. These programmes were generally hosted by Antoine de Caunes, (he of Eurotrash and Rapido fame), and were bizarre to say the least. It didn’t help that I only understood every few words and the content was generally so distracting I don’t think it did anything to boost my vocabulary.

Gardens at Versailles

Despite being fascinated by the country I’ve only ever been to France once. My one and only Gallic experience was whilst at university. I was nursing a broken heart and a couple of friends invited me along on a short break to Paris to cheer me up. Admittedly three days in the capital city of romance with three platonic friends, visiting the classic tourist sites and being surrounded by loved-up couples might not seem like the obvious way to get over heartbreak. It did the trick though.

Monty’s programme brought back happy memories. Back then, at the age of 20, gardening wasn’t the all-consuming passion it is now but two of the strongest memories I have of the trip are plant related.  I was so surprised that Paris was such a green city, which wasn’t my experience of British urban areas. There were trees everywhere you went, lining the boulevards and giving Paris a light and airy feel even in the heat of summer. It seems, thanks to the imagination of botanist and garden designer Patrick Blanc, who creates incredible green walls, Paris is now even greener than when I visited in the late nineties.

Gardens at Versailles

My other memory is of Versailles. Our visit there hadn’t been planned. We were at a Metro station and discovered we could get to the palace from there and for a few francs. So off we went.  It was a blisteringly hot day and for some reason we didn’t actually go inside the Palace, instead we wandered around the back and were greeted by the jaw-dropping sight that stretched out in front of us. It was the sheer scale of the enormousness of the clipped hedges, the boating lakes, the planting,  everything. It was as if the garden had been created for giants. It took our breath away and it all went on for miles and miles. People were dwarfed by the vast proportions and looked like ants. Since then, I’ve seen gardens that are more beautiful than Versailles, but for sheer grandeur nothing has matched it.

Gardens at Versailles

It’s strange how some memories stand out. I dug out some old photos when I thought about writing this post and couldn’t remember other aspects of the trip but that afternoon at Versailles has stayed with me. The blue skies, the heat and lying on the grass of the vast avenue listening to a French radio station on my Walkman. I had one earphone, my friend Faiz had the other and Children by Robert Miles was playing as we stared out across the scene in front of us. When I hear that track now I’m immediately transported back to Versailles.

Monty’s series has awakened a desire to return to France and particularly to Provence. I read the books Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol for my A’ level. Set in Provence, Pagnol captures so evocatively the sights and sounds of the countryside. He was born in the area and his love of the landscape and flora and fauna is obvious from his descriptions. Jean de Florette, and it’s sequel Manon are tales of struggle and revenge and follow a man and his family when they move back to his home village to farm the land. They are wonderfully crafted stories which were turned into films in the 1980s.

Directed by Claude Berrie, the cinematography is sublime. You can almost smell the lavender and the sun-baked ground. Gerard Depardieu plays the title role, Jean and with the poignant music , they are perfection for me, in terms of film. I don’t want to give away the story for those who may want to watch the films or read the books but everyone who has grown their own will understand something of the struggle Jean faces. There is a scene in the film where Jean is tormented by the rain and the effect it is having on his crops. It’s a scene all growers will empathise with. Ever since I read these books it has been my dream to visit the area. Nearly 20 years later and I have yet to go, but maybe Monty’s programme has ignited the desire enough for me to actually start planning a trip. Wellyman quite likes the idea of hiring a 2CV but is less keen on copying the youthful Monty wearing a beret.

English translations are available of Marcel Pagnol’s books and the films are still available on DVD. They have subtitles and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

One final recommendation. For a witty and cheeky take on Monty’s recent series take a look at The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy blog, it will make you giggle.

All Spruced Up

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Cuprinol paints, Fence painting, Woven hazel panel

This was the kind of weekend I had been waiting for; dry, sunny and, dare I say it, quite warm. Well warm for February anyway. I was on a mission to make a dent in my ‘to do’ list, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in wanting to make the most of the good weather. Gardens and allotments across the country must have been hives of activity.

It wasn’t a promising start as we tried to find somewhere that sold the paint we needed. I did have that sinking feeling it was going to be one of those frustratingly unproductive days. I need not have worried as my aching muscles now testify.

First on the list was replacing the woven hazel panel that had been a victim of the winter storms. We put the panel in about 4 years ago to screen off an area that is used for storing wood and composting from the rest of the garden. It had started to fall to pieces and time was of the essence as I have a spring-flowering clematis growing up it. With buds starting to appear I didn’t want to have to move the stems once any significant growth had started. A new panel had been delivered during the week, so I set about delicately removing what was left of the hazel stems of the old fence, trying not to damage the clematis. We manoeuvred the new panel into place and then tied in the clematis. Quite a few of the hazel stems were still in good condition so I’ve gathered them up and I’ll use them on the plot for plant supports.

Then we started on the painting. The garden is surrounded by fairly typical wooden fencing. They were plain and untreated when we first moved in. I didn’t particularly want to paint them as it’s one of those jobs that once you’ve started it, it needs to be maintained but the wood needed some protection. Colour doesn’t often feature as a backdrop in British gardens and when it does it often doesn’t work. I’m thinking fence panels which look like they have been spray-tanned. In other parts of the world, such as the Mediterranean and Mexico, colour is used with much more confidence providing a striking contrast to the plants being grown. An azure blue door with red pelargoniums is such a quintessential scene from parts of Greece and southern Italy. It probably has something to do with the light. Bright, vibrant colours work well when the sun shines for the majority of the year and the light is a warm light but the further north you go the light becomes cooler and strong colours have a tendency to look dull. With a propensity for grey, overcast days, even in summer, bold colours don’t really work in British gardens. There is also the danger your garden can end up looking like a children’s playground. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use colour it just means we have to pick the right tones to work with our light levels.

We first painted the fences several years ago and it was a harder decision choosing the colour than any of the interior decoration choices we had to make. I thought I had settled on one but after painting a panel I got cold feet. It was such a strong block of colour and I was painting in late winter when there was so little in the garden to soften the look. Several tester pots later and an adjoining panel which now looked like a multi-coloured chess board, we decided to sleep on the decision. All that I really needed was time for my eyes and brain to adjust to the change. When we’ve become accustomed to something looking or being a particular way it can take a while to accept the ‘new look’. The next day we went with, as is so often the case, the first choice, ‘Wild Thyme’ from the Cuprinol Garden Shades range. It doesn’t bare any resemblance to any wild thyme I’ve ever seen but the blue-green is a lovely foil for the plants in the garden. Rather than the dull, weathered wood which didn’t do anything for the plants growing in front of fences, this colour makes the plants stand out. It’s a fresh colour which works so well in spring and I particularly love the crab apple blossom, white tulips and forget-me-nots combo against the blue-green background.

Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenllian’

Fence painting is an awkward job though. There tends to be a short window of opportunity in which you can get the job done. Before December and there is still too much foliage around; December and January are generally too cold and too wet. February is the perfect month. Delicate new buds which can be so easily knocked and damaged have yet to open and hopefully there will be a dry spell. There is a certain amount of contortionism required to get in behind trees and bushes and, inevitably, some plants will end up sporting some interesting variegation to their leaves as a result of paint splashes. It was worth it though, and it has made the garden look all spruced up.

The shed didn’t escape our attention either. Everything was emptied on to the path, pots, trays and planters were washed and neatly stacked, plant labels and cane-toppers gathered from their various resting places and spiders were shepherded off into the garden. This is normally the point where some piece of gardening kit that went missing last year is now rediscovered. This time it was all of Wellyman’s Phillips screwdrivers which I had hoarded in the shed for some reason which eludes me now. I even found 3 jiffy pellets, which is puzzling as I’ve never used or bought any before.

So a big dent was made in my long list of jobs to do but there’s the allotment to tackle next so some more weekends like the last one would be nice. I’d love to hear how you made the most of the glorious weather.

Perfection and Plant Theft

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daphne, Highgrove, Prince Charles' garden, RHS Wisley, witch hazel

I love the gardens at RHS Wisley in winter. It’s such a boost at this time of year to see winter flowering shrubs and the early spring blooms. Last year we made the mistake of visiting on a Saturday during half-term when there butterflies in the glasshouse. We had no idea it was school holidays, that there was a special event on or that this combination would prove so popular with visitors. Blissfully unaware we turned into the car park and immediately our naive thoughts that it would be quiet at Wisley in February were dispelled as a sea of sparkling metal greeted us. We had never seen the gardens so busy.

This time though we were prepared. The butterflies were back so we were going to go during the week. I didn’t, however factor in the fact that Wisley seems to be the hub for every mother and toddler group in Surrey. Fortunately though, it was the cafe and coffee and cake that they had come for, and once we were in the gardens it was blissfully quiet.

For me, Wisley is the plant equivalent of wandering around an amazing deli where everything is so temptingly delicious and, greedily, I want to eat it all . . . well maybe not the patés. Here at Wisley it wasn’t long before I’d said to Wellyman, “I’d love a daphne”, followed by, “it would be amazing to have a witch hazel”, and “I wonder if we’ve got space for another hydrangea?” Of course, the answer to the latter is no. I’ll often get a raised eyebrow from Wellyman or notice a slightly worried expression on his face as he works out how to point out that we’ve got no room for those sorts of plants. Seeing such a rich diversity of planting does make me want to grow it all, even if reality is a smaller than average garden and not vast acres.

Everything is so well done at Wisley; plants are properly staked, beautifully pruned and mulched. It all looks so perfect but then I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less from the showcase of horticultural expertise. It does however make me feel quite inadequate when it comes to my own attempts at gardening. And, as the photo shows, even the sheds are temples to organisation.

Daphnes and witch hazels were the stars of the show on this visit. We could smell the daphnes before we saw them, walking around a corner to be greeted by evergreen bushes pumping out a sublime and potent perfume.

It was a pity to see a sign that said they were suffering from plant theft in particular parts of the garden. I’m not sure why I was so surprised, I suppose I think of gardeners as being more respectful but I realise this is a rose-tinted view. I’ve heard plenty of stories of people helping themselves to plants when visiting gardens. Several years ago I was lucky enough to visit Highgrove, the garden of Prince Charles, with a group from college. One of my fellow horticultural students was very keen on coming away with a plant souvenir. It was only when we were given a security briefing on the coach and told about the security cameras dotted about the gardens and he realised he may be manhandled from the gardens by Special Branch that he left his carrier bags and secateurs behind on the coach. I suppose all gardeners like to get plants for free but most of us know when this is appropriate and when it’s not.

I did come away with some plants but these were legitimate purchases from the incredible plant shop. I had planned to while away some time in the bookshop but we never even got there. The budget wouldn’t stretch to the temptation of books as well. I have got some plans for a bit of a garden redesign and I came armed with a list of potential purchases. Face with all that choice it wasn’t long before I had dispensed with the list though . Wild carrot, apricot coloured foxgloves, some euphorbia and primulas all came home with us and will hopefully add to the naturalistic feeling I want from the garden this year.

Hotting Up

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growing tomatoes from seed, heated propagator, peace lily, Two Wests and Elliott

I’m not sure the courier delivery people that visit my home understand the levels of excitement that greet them. The other day I felt the need to explain what was in the parcel to justify my reaction. Strangely when I told the delivery man it was a heated propagator he still didn’t seem to get why I should be grinning so much. I did start to tell him about the benefits it was going to bring but, as he started to inch away from the door, I realised he wasn’t a gardener.

It’s funny how I just assume everyone is as into plants as I am. For me it’s such a fundamental thing. I look at gardens that are just bare lawn, or worse, and simply cannot understand why you wouldn’t want to run out and fill it with as many plants as possible at the first opportunity. Then there are the times when I’m at a party and I start chatting about plants and I can see eyes start to glaze over. I’ve recognised they haven’t got the bug before they then say something along the lines of, “I don’t do gardens”.

Fortunately though I discovered blogging; a little late, admittedly, since some of you out there have been at it for 5 years now. At least here I can rabbit away about plants and gardens and know there are people out there that understand why I would get so excited about a heated propagator turning up on my doorstep.

I have toyed with the idea for a while now but wasn’t sure how much use I would get from it. But, after a difficult spring last year trying to get some seed to germinate I decided to go for it. Window sills can get quite warm, even at this time of year when the sun is shining on them, the problem is it isn’t a constant temperature. Whilst a lot of seeds, particularly hardy annuals, don’t really need much heat to germinate, half-hardy annuals such as tomatoes and chillies prefer a constant temperature of around 20˚c to spring into life. They also require a long growing season if they are to fruit successfully in our climate and need to be sown in February. It’s not impossible to grow these plants from seed if you don’t have a heated propagator but it does help.

It’ll be interesting to see, over the course of the next couple of months, how much of a difference the propagator will make to germination rates and the choice of plants I can grow.

On a completely unrelated subject but which caused a similar amount of excitement was the discovery that my peace lily has produced a flower. I bought the plant 5 years ago, and apart from the flowers that were on it at the time, it hasn’t flowered since. I can’t say I’ve done anything differently recently that might have triggered it to finally produce a bloom. In fact, after years of TLC producing nothing remotely flower-like I resorted to a level of care just above neglect. Maybe that’s the key, perhaps I have to treat this peace lily a little bit mean.

I bought my propagator from a company called Two Wests and Elliott. It was recommended to me by my college tutor a few years ago. We were all intrigued by the name when she told us about them. The company was established by husband and wife, Christopher and Josephine West; Elliott was their dog.

Hip Hip Hip Hooray!

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Anemone coronaria, sowing pea shoots

I swear if I’d woken up on Wednesday morning to find it was raining AGAIN I’d have crawled back under the duvet and stayed there until it stopped. Forget all the jobs I had to do, I would have stayed put. After two days and nights of non-stop torrential rain I was going stir-crazy. Fortunately Wednesday morning greeted me with blue skies and the sun had got his hat on and he was definitely out for the day. It might have been blowing a hooley outside but I was determined to get out into the fresh air. I’ve spent way too much time in front of a computer recently and needed to garden. Even if the garden had looked pristine and there wasn’t a single thing to do (is that ever the case?) I’d have had to find something to do, the urge was so strong.

Luckily the garden didn’t look pristine. In fact the weight of all the snow and then the subsequent thaw meant that the garden looked a bit sorry for itself so there was plenty to get stuck into. My neighbours’ cats have this annoying habit of sitting on my grasses and herbaceous plants, using them like a cat bed and in the process squishing them to a pancake. Well it appeared that the snow had had a similar effect. Grasses and their seed heads that had looked lovely pre-snow now just looked a mess and the brown foliage of the irises and the crocosmia had become big soggy piles. In amongst all this decaying plant matter though were the first new shoots tentatively appearing. Armed with secateurs I snipped and cleared. The snowdrops are in full flower, as are the hellebores and I can see buds swelling on the tete-a-tete daffodils.  I only have small feet, size four, but sometimes I think I’m possessed by an elephant as I clumsily step through the borders. I do try to be careful but it wouldn’t be spring if I didn’t accidentally step on something emerging from the ground. On Wednesday it was narcissi. Luckily though the flower stems survived intact even if the leaves are now growing horizontally rather vertically.

The best bit of the day though had to be my first afternoon spent in the greenhouse. We constructed it back in November and although it has been home to several plants over the winter I haven’t really had the need to do anything in there. It was disconcerting to be in there as the wind pummelled the sides; I’m so glad Wellyman screwed it into the patio.

I’ve never had any luck growing Anemone coronaria as the corms rot in the ground and, although at the time I didn’t realise the winter would be quite so wet I thought, fortuitously as it turns out, that I’d try them in pots and then plant them out in spring. Well instead of non appearing as has happened before they have all emerged but, they’ve all grown too well and it’s too wet to plant them out so I’ve to pot on into bigger pots. I’m not sure whether it will work as some plants don’t like root disturbance but I thought it was worth a try. If it doesn’t work I think I’ll have to accept defeat on the windflower front.

I’m resisting the temptation to sow most of my seeds but I did sow a few pots of winter salad leaves, some pea shoots, spinach and sorrel. It’s exciting to be able to start plants off this early but the best bit about the greenhouse is being able to sow standing up. I know it’s a pretty prosaic reason but after years of sowing whilst sat on a compost bag outside my shed it’s a real joy. My shed has always been too full to have a proper potting area and with no window it’s so dark I can’t see what I’m doing. Sitting on a compost bag was never particularly comfortable and chasing seed packets that had blown off or knocking over a pot I had just sown meant something I should have loved was quite a frustrating process. So it’s bliss to now have a dedicated place to stand, out of the wind and rain and still be able to get on with gardening jobs.

So it’s the 1st of February today. We’ve got through January and although I’m sure we’ve still got some of winter to come there’s a feeling that we’ve broken its back. The first seed sowing and the appearance of flowers in the garden has filled me with positivity. It’s a feeling I’d like to maintain. Best not look out the window then, that sounds distinctly like more rain.