A Book Review – Brew It Yourself

Tags

Brew It Yourself, home brewing, home made alcohol, Two Thirsty Gardeners

My first introduction to the world of home brewing was my dad’s concoctions bubbling and burping away in the corner of the living room – a strange soundtrack which accompanied our TV watching. Demijohns of wine were placed in this spot because the warmth of the nearby fire aided the fermentation process. On one occasion it aided it rather too much as red, winey bubbles exploded one evening as we watched Corrie*, peppering the wallpaper with frothy red stains. After this wine making was banished moved to the bathroom airing cupboard.

Fascinated by the whole idea I decided aged 5 or so to undertake my own brewing. No alcohol was actually involved, just a rag-tag collection of dried fruit which had been lingering in the cupboard from the previous year’s Christmas cake making, various bits of fresh fruit, some sugar and a bucket of water. Oh, and I vaguely remember an enormous wooden spoon. The stirring of this weird mix kept me amused for a while but it never made it to the bottling stage.

Then there was the inevitable tasting of home brew at university. A friend would bring back supplies of pea pod wine from her family’s farm in Shropshire, it was very much like The Good Life** and was potent stuff to fuel a party.

In recent years more successful forays have included the fabulous jewel-coloured damson vodka which was opened with some ceremony on Christmas Eve in front of a roaring fire.

Spruce bitters and spruce martini

All this brings me to the book Brew It Yourself by the bloggers Two Thirsty Gardeners otherwise known as Nick Moyle and Richard Hood. There was a time when making your own booze was seen as the height of hippyness, all knitted sandals and face-puckering attempts at creating your own alcoholic drinks, but Nick and Richard have made it their mission to bring home brewing to a whole new audience. They’ve taken their two loves – gardening and alcohol – and created a book of over 70 different recipes which shows that home brewing can be fun, quick, inexpensive and tasty.

Well, I loved it, as did Wellyman who kept disappearing off with the book if I put it down for any length of time. It’s well thought out with a good mix of recipes for those who want something quick and easy such as liqueurs which can take minutes to concoct, to those for the more experienced or adventurous brewer such as India pale ale which needs a few hours of your time. Nick and Richard take you through all of the basics you’ll need to get yourself started including how to use a hydrometer to measure the percentage of alcohol – you don’t need this or much other equipment for many of the simpler drinks. The different sections cover wine and mead, cider, beer, ale and lager, sparkling drinks, liqueurs and cocktails. Alongside the recipes are interesting snippets and tips which makes it a thoroughly enjoyable read. I loved the design and stylish photography but most of all I thought the writing was engaging and witty.

 

It was fascinating to discover how drinks that are part of our heritage are made, such as the fabulously named Lambswool traditionally drunk when wassailing. Inspiration from further afield has also been included – there’s Sima a Finnish drink using lemons or rumtopf from Germany among others. And for those who want to dip their toe into home brewing there are suggestions for liqueurs where you can buy the basic alcohol – either whisky, brandy or vodka – and then give it a home spun twist using fruit, herbs and spices. Nick has included a recipe devised by his mum, Julia’s Orange whisky with its star anise and cinnamon, which sounds just perfect for a Christmas present.

And now’s the time to be using up gluts from the allotment and scouring the hedgerows. I do love the sound of the wild bramble brandy and the damson and fennel vodka, then there’s the cherry fortified red wine (you can use shop-bought wine). To be honest they all sound delicious. Not only could you create a variety of home-brewed bottles to impress family and friends with as Christmas presents but the book itself would make a fantastic present (sorry for mentioning the C word).

*Coronation Street otherwise known as Corrie – a soap opera set in Manchester which has never surpassed its peak of Derek with his travelling gnome and car with a huge paperclip on top of it.

** The Good Life – Seventies TV comedy based around Tom and Barbara Good who decide to become self-sufficient in their suburban garden. Felicity Kendal who played Barbara did the seemingly impossible by looking gorgeous in dungarees whilst splattered in mud.

Brew it Yourself is available to buy now. Thank you to Nourish Books for my review copy.

 

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My new book – The Crafted Garden

Tags

cut flower patch, Frances Lincoln, homemade wreaths, inspired by nature, natural crafting, seasonal crafting, The Crafted Garden

My new book ©Jason Ingram

A heavy envelope which felt like it had books in it arrived the other day with the postmark of my publisher on it. It’s funny how after nearly two years in the making, and the pulling teeth process of editing which can make even the most committed of authors fall a little out of love with their book, the excitement is still there when you see all that work come together for the first time. It’s not as if the content comes as a surprise, you spend hours in front of a computer writing the words, there’s the time coming up with the ideas, in my case growing the plants to provide the material and there’s the photo shoots. Finally there’s the editing process. Time spent working with your editor and the designer marrying the photos and text together, and the juggling of it all to fit the layout and design of the book. Weeks and weeks of looking at PDFs and going through edited text can strip you of most of the passion and excitement you had when the book first started to form as an idea.

Fortunately there is a breathing space when it all goes quiet, the emails from the publisher stop and you return to a life no longer dictated to by your book. You stop waking up early, usually with a sudden jolt, worrying about whether you’ve spelt someone’s name correctly in the acknowledgments, or whether you remembered to send that urgent email about the photo that’s in the wrong place.

A spring project – The Crafted Garden ©Jason Ingram

Several months later the emails start again – publication date is drawing closer. Then a package, a book-shaped package, arrives and that excitement you felt all those months ago when you first starting working on the idea returns. It’s a little odd seeing all those long hours, the frustrations but also the fun times, staring back at you in book form. It’s a team effort to bring everything together and it was a delight to work with the very talented team behind my last book, editors Helen and Joanna, photographer Jason Ingram and designer Becky Clarke. Wellyman is also rather chuffed that some of his photos have made it into the book too.

The Crafted Garden brings together my love of gardening, crafting and nature. For me these three loves go hand in hand. Why buy a fake wreath to adorn your door when the natural materials to make a gorgeous seasonal wreath can be grown so easily in your garden or foraged from the hedgerows? Why buy Christmas decorations shipped in from the Far East when simple ways to festoon your house can be made from cones, lichen-covered twigs and evergreens collected on a winter woodland walk? They can be thrifty, fun to make, connect you and your home with the seasons, and they can be composted when the New Year arrives.

The Crafted Garden ©Jason Ingram

I think more and more people have grown tired of mass-manufactured products that have little or no charm, made in vast factories and shipped from the other side of the world in massive container ships. Many of us are rediscovering the pleasure in making our own or seeking out skilled craftspeople who make bespoke pieces. I think this is all a bit of a backlash against the homogeneity of the high street. Being creative is also good for us. Neuroscientists are looking into how creative tasks impact on the brain. It’s believed it can have an impact similar to meditation, and increasingly crafting is being used as a way to help people suffering from stress or mental health problems. Why do gardeners and florists regularly top the lists of people happiest in their jobs? Because there’s a real connection between a task and a visible outcome and in many cases the chance to be creative.

I’ve found crafting with natural ingredients has broadened my ideas about what I might grow in my garden or on my cut flower patch. I now regularly include flowers which dry well alongside those I pick fresh. I also look out for plants with great seed heads which I can save or pretty leaves for pressing.

The Crafted Garden ©Jason Ingram

For me it has also been a great way to beat those winter blues. Projects give the mind something to focus on as the light levels drop and by creating projects based on the seasons it has made me learn to appreciate what each season has to offer. I’ve always loved the weeks before Christmas and decorating my home but I can’t be the only one who really feels the gloom of January, the house bare after the winter festivities. But if you have some pots of paper white narcissi and flamboyant hippeastrums waiting in the wings to decorate a dining table or windowsill it’s amazing how they can lift the spirits and remind you spring isn’t far away.

The Crafted Garden is divided into the seasons with projects inspired by the plants and countryside of each. And, because I’m a gardener and plant lover, each project includes details of how to grow plants which could be used in the project with some other recommendations too. The projects range from ways to make your home look pretty, to floral fascinators perfect for a wedding or festival, with some ideas which would work as presents too. And there are ideas on how to craft and arrange flowers in a more environmentally friendly way. I’ve included a range of projects; some are very easy, others a little more complicated but still achievable. Lots of them are fantastic for crafting with children and inspiring them to appreciate nature.

The Crafted Garden is published on 3^rd September by Frances Lincoln and is available to preorder now from Frances Lincoln, Waterstones and Amazon.

Where to start?

Tags

Anne Wareham, Fern Verrow, Jane Powers, Jonathan Hession, Lunar and Biodynamic Gardening, Mark Diacono, Matt Jackson, Outwitting Squirrels, Stockton Bury Gardens, The Irish Garden

Tropaeolum tricolorum (Bolivian nasturtium) taken at Stockton Bury © Ian Curley

The problem with having a break from writing my blog is I never quite know where to start when I come to writing it again. Plants are probably the best place as it’s their fault I have so little time for blogging at the moment. I have plants everywhere. Every windowsill is being utilised, the cold frames are full to bursting, as is the greenhouse. It’s all one big juggling act of staggering sowings, moving plants about to harden them off and then moving them on to their final planting spots. I seem to spend quite a bit of time just staring at things and scratching my head wondering what the next move is going to be, like a horticultural version of chess.

Stockton Bury Gardens © Ian Curley

I have quite a few exciting projects on the go which require me to grow and nurture plants for photo shoots. This is on top of the plants for my own garden, the vegetable beds at the allotment and the cut flower patch hence my home being transformed into a forest of greenery. There are plenty of times when I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but I’m trying not to dwell on that thought. Then there’s writing, all the usual stuff that goes into keeping day-to-day life ticking over and a husband in the final weeks of a degree. Who knew geologists were so interested in the bottom parts of fossilised creatures? Oh, and throw in a gum infection so one side of my face resembled a gerbil and the gnawing pain of toothache. It’s all very exciting (well, apart from the toothache, obviously). It’s just an overwhelming time of year when it feels like twice as much work has to be squeezed into the same amount of time.

Stockton Bury Gardens, Herefordshire © Ian Curley

There was a chance on Saturday though to spend a few hours at a nearby garden to give Wellyman a break from his revision. Stockton Bury is a bit of a hidden gem, tucked away in Herefordshire. It’s a bucolic landscape, a sleepy county where the pace of life is still governed by the rural economy and the seasons. It’s a place I’ve been past many times. I have no explanation as to why we haven’t visited at some point, but as the saying goes ‘better late than never’. And what a stunning garden it is; a real plantsperson’s paradise. There was lots to see with plants I’ve never come across anywhere else. The garden covers four acres and is full of the most photogenic buildings you’ll ever see, from oast houses and a pigeon-house to fabulous ancient barns surrounded by cider apple orchards. The whole place reminded me of the nineties TV programme The Darling Buds of May. Despite its size it didn’t feel grand or ostentatious, and there were plenty of ideas and inspiration for the visitor. The plant highlight of the day had to be the fabulous tree peonies. I’ve never seen so many in one place. They had me drooling and wondering if I could shoehorn yet another plant into the back garden. We didn’t come home with one – I need to do some more research first, but pots of the German catchfly Lychnis visicaria and a hardy native orchid did come back with us.

Stockton Bury Gardens © Ian Curley

It’s not the ideal time of year to try to indulge in a spot of reading. My eyes don’t stay open for long on a night and my New Year’s resolution of reading in my lunch break has been postponed for now. A couple of books that have come my way recently which I’d love to mention are a bit of an eclectic bunch – Outwitting Squirrels by Anne Wareham, The Irish Garden by Jane Powers and Lunar and Biodynamic Gardening by Matt Jackson.

Outwitting Squirrels by Anne Wareham

Outwitting Squirrels is actually the perfect book for this time of year – short chapters which can be read in bite-sized chunks. It’s a wittily written take on the gardening problems Anne has encountered over the years from pests and diseases to noise pollution and the weather. You’ll find yourself nodding in recognition, wryly smiling to yourself and laughing out loud. For example, “…midges are attracted to dark clothing, possibly HRT, gloomy, wet places and carbon dioxide. The cure, then, is to stop breathing and wear a white shroud.” Anne shares her tips in an honest and self-deprecating manner. It’s by no means a definitive guide to pests and diseases, but it never sets out to be. Perhaps a book to stash in your luggage for your summer holiday reading and a contender for the best gardening book cover?

The Irish Garden by Jane Powers

The Irish Garden by Jane Powers, the gardening correspondent for The Sunday Times in Ireland, is an epic work and clearly a true labour of love. At 400 pages this isn’t one for the suitcase and I’d be lying if I’d said I’d read it all, but what I have read so far I’ve loved. The book covers over 50 gardens across Ireland, all captured with stunning photography by Jonathan Hession. Jane’s research and writing are fascinating. I knew little about Irish gardens which is a real pity a) because my grandparents were Irish and b) because there are some stunning gardens which deserve attention. I was happy to discover I had at least visited one of the best in Ireland, Powerscourt, on a visit to Dublin several years ago. Dipping in and out of the book I have been most drawn to the smaller gardens and the section on edible spaces. June Blake’s Garden in County Wicklow is stunning, as is The Bay Garden in County Wexford. I loved the chance to see the garden of the Ballymaloe Cookery School and to read the story behind the Dunmore County School and the garden created with Gallic flair by its French owners. A book that is surely essential reading for anyone with an interest in the evolution of Irish gardening, garden history and for those plant lovers planning a trip to the Emerald Isle.

Lunar and Biodynamic Gardens by Matt Jackson

Biodynamics and gardening in tune with the moon are topics which have intrigued me for a while now. That’s as far as it has got though, so I was fascinated to read Lunar and Biodynamic Gardening. I have heard great things about biodynamics and lunar gardening, from this article by Mark Diacono to the story of a market garden in the Welsh borders which supplies top London restaurants. The author of this book, Matt Jackson, practices what he preaches using the principles in his own growing space. With over 20 years of gardening experience for the National Trust Matt describes his epiphany moment when he visited Tablehurst Biodynamic Farm in East Sussex. There are elements, the potions and tonics for instance, which will possibly take a certain suspension of disbelief for 21^st century sceptics, but the case studies and photos of abundant growth do a very good job of persuading the reader. Personally I’m not sure whether I’m sold on the idea or not. I certainly feel passionately about organic growing and about nurturing the soil which are fundamental tenets of biodynamic and lunar gardening. I also think that we’ve lost many connections with the natural world since the industrialization of agriculture and our move away from rural surroundings, and in our highly technological world it’s easy to dismiss ideas like this. For me I’d certainly love to visit somewhere that grows on these principles or, even better, try to follow the suggestions in the book to test it out for myself. Matt’s book is a good introduction to both ideas and perfect for a gardener who wants to dip their toes into this world.

Reawakening

Tags

granny squares, helelbores, Michael Pollan, seed sowing, snowdrops

A shy hellebore

Slowly but surely the garden is emerging from its winter slumber. On gloomy, grey days the nodding heads of snowdrops glow; on gin-clear days they sparkle and glisten. Hellebores hang their flower heads as if they are too shy to display their beauty. The slender green shoots of crocus bulbs are appearing. One lone crocus is ahead of the pack, its buttermilk-coloured petals opening to the first hints of warm sunshine.

I, too, am experiencing a reawakening. I feel a bit like a bear poking its head out of its winter hibernation home, sniffing the air, rubbing its eyes and deciding whether it’s warm enough to emerge yet. Up until Sunday I would have said no. If I was a bear I’d have retreated inside, had a good scratch and eaten lots of marmalade. That’s what bears do, isn’t it? As I’m not, I put more logs on the fire, I read, I crocheted, I wrote and I ordered seeds. Too many seeds, as usual.

Then it was if that first tantalizing hint of spring arrived. Sunday was a stunner. Crystal clear skies and warm sunshine. Well, when I say warm it was 8⁰C, but that felt positively tropical now there was no north wind to add windchill to the freezing temperatures of the previous week. After weeks of wondering whether my garden mojo would return I was outside filling seed trays with compost and preparing for the first seed to be sown. The compost was cold. Cold enough to make my fingers numb. No seed would be encouraged into life in this, so the seed trays and modules have spent the last few days warming up on the heated propagator and near a radiator. It’s imparted an interesting smell to the kitchen, but hopefully it has created a much more welcoming place to sow my seeds this week.

There’s a lot written at this time of year about whether to sow or not. Most of us are so eager to start growing. The conditions aren’t ideal yet for many seeds and sowing too early can lead to problems later on with a backlog of plants too big to look after indoors but it’s not quite warm enough for them to be planted outdside. Some plants however do need an early start. They can be slow to germinate or just need a long growing season to do their thing. For me this includes flowers for my cutting patch such as ageratum, statice and antirrhinums. Any plants which say on the packet they will flower in their first year from an early start are worth sowing in the coming weeks. They’ll need a bit of warmth in order to germinate and as much daylight as you can give them. But, as we’re only six weeks away from the spring equinox and seven weeks from the clocks going forward, light levels are definitely improving. I also like to get sowing now as I know how frantic March can be. I have limited space so starting off some plants now is one way of staggering the seed sowing demands on the horizon.

Warming up the compost

Obviously a few sunny days in February doesn’t mean we can shake off winter just yet – as I’m writing this post, the gloom of winter has returned, with an impenetrable grey sky looming over head. But I’m going to embrace the last few weeks (hopefully) of winter and savour any time in front of the fire. My winter project – a crocheted granny square blanket – is nearly completed. It’s been an epic. All 208 squares are finished and I’m in the process of stitching them together. Then I just need to edge it with a border. The aim is to complete it for the start of March. I hate having unfinished projects lying around, so I know it needs to be completed before the garden grabs my attention.

Granny square blanket coming together

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read in my lunch break. As work has been a bit crazy over the last few weeks (the pattern of freelance work is very much like the frequency of buses) my utopian idea of reading every day hasn’t come to fruition. But my resolution hasn’t been a complete right-off and I have managed to devote some time to this gem of a gardening book.

Michael Pollan – Second Nature

Second Nature by Michael Pollan is a fascinating and wittily written book by this American author. It’s worth reading simply for the hilarious description of his war with a woodchuck which sets up home in his garden – I laughed so much I snorted my tea. One of the benefits of working from home is that nobody saw that moment of inelegance. The book is full of deeper, thought-provoking ideas too – our love of roses, a gardener’s relationship with trees and man’s desire to tame nature – with each chapter following the creation of his own garden. I would heartily recommend reading it. Stop drinking your tea though when it comes to the woodchuck bit.

 

A Christmas Read – Snowdrops and Edibles

Tags

A Plant Lover's Guide to Snowdrops, Colesbourne Park, galanthophiles, Gardening books for Christmas presents, Groundbreaking Food Gardens, Michelle Chapman, Naomi Slade, painswick rococo gardens, snowdrops, Veg Plotting

The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops

Time for reading this year has been hard to come by but when I have managed to grab a moment the two books by bedside have proved to be fascinating reading. A Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops by Naomi Slade is perfectly pitched as a present for gardeners this Christmas. It’s the fourth in a series of books by the publisher Timber Press which focus on a particular genus – the others include dahlias, sedums and salvias. Naomi’s book is an enchanting mix of her love affair with these plants, a botanical study, potted history and guide to growing. Most of all I loved the approachable style of the writing. Sometimes books which are focused on one plant don’t hold my attention and can feel quite dry. Naomi has struck a great balance between being both informative and accessible.

The gallery of snowdrops – a selection of hybrids, species and cultivars – is a fabulous showcase for this plant and it includes a guide to how easy or difficult the various snowdrops are to grow. A particularly good idea, as some snowdrops can be quite expensive. I visited a snowdrop day several years ago and was gobsmacked to see the price tags – £10, £15, even £30 – on tiny pots with no more than a small cluster of leaves and a tiny flower stalk appearing. I would want to know my investment stood a good chance of establishing in my garden for those sorts of prices.

Seductive snowdrops

The diversity of the genus and the sometimes tiny, almost imperceptible, differences have made snowdrops a perfect plant for collectors. Galanthophiles as their known are incredibly passionate about these little flowers. I have always loved them. They’re the plant which brightens the January and February garden and they give hope that the winter will come to an end. Seeing them planted en masse at Painswick or Colesbourne is my first garden visit of the year and gives me the chance to escape outdoors. But I would say that I’ve never considered myself a galanthophile. I have slowly built up pockets of snowdrops in my garden but they are all simple Galanthus nivalis, or the common snowdrop. Having read this book though I am considering expanding my collection to at least more than one type of snowdrop. I was very taken by ‘Blewbury Tart’ and ‘Boyd’s Double’ but as both don’t include ‘easy’ in the cultivation section I think I might start with ‘Wendy’s Gold’ with it’s striking yellow markings.

The book is peppered with interviews from snowdrop experts, nursery owners and collectors and fascinating snippets on topics from snowdrop theft to how the bulbs increase using a kind of natural mathematics. It was interesting to see that galanthophilia isn’t just a British phenomenon with the power of this little plant to capture our hearts reaching across Europe, America and Australia. The information on how to grow is comprehensive, as is the guide on where to see snowdrops in the UK and further afield, with lists of snowdrop related events. And, if you’ve been inspired to branch out and add a few other snowdrops to your garden, Naomi has included a guide of where to buy.

Groundbreaking Food Gardens

The second book Groundbreaking Food Gardens is a really interesting concept. It consists of a collection of 73 garden designs created by passionate growers, from community gardeners and professional horticulturalists to garden bloggers and TV presenters, all based around the theme of edibles. The book is published by American publishers Storey so there is a bias towards North American contributors but it does include gardens designed by British bloggers Michelle Chapman of Veg Plotting and Emma Cooper. There are gardens to inspire whether you have a tiny balcony or the space for a biodynamic farm and everything in between. There’s an edible hedge, a terraced hillside, a design based on Asian vegetables and a cocktail garden.

Veg Plotting’s edible garden design

Our very own Michelle Chapman has taken her 52 Week Salad Challenge, which proved to be so popular on her blog, and designed planting plans based on the idea. Successional growing and making the most out of a small space are challenges most gardeners face, both of which Michelle neatly combines in her suggestions. Certainly if you’re fed up of soggy bags of salad leaves from the supermarket this is the design for you. Emma Cooper’s idea is based around creating a self-sustaining garden with an emphasis on space for recycling nutrients including composting, comfrey and chickens.

Initially I thought that because the book was mainly aimed at the American market it wouldn’t feel relevant to my own growing conditions. However, as I read on, I found it is the inspiration it offers and the insight into how growers in another part of the world view gardening and growing edibles that are the attractions to this book. It would have been nice to have had some photographs – the book is illustrated instead – but I understand the logistics of this, with so many gardens included and over such a large geographical area, that this would have been difficult and expensive to do.

So, if you’re starting to think of gifts for gardening friends this Christmas or compiling your list for Santa then perhaps one, or both of these books is just what you’re looking for.

Both books are available online or from your local bookshop.

Many thanks to Rebecca O’Malley at Storey Publishing for these review copies.

Frustration and Inspiration

Tags

Beetroot 'Chioggia', Cinead McTernan, colourful carrots, Jason Ingram, Kitchen Garden Experts, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Raymond Blanc, sea kale

Lettuce ‘Freckles’

My computer bit the dust the other day. It didn’t come as a great surprise, it hasn’t sounded healthy for a while now. The noise it was generating had become so loud I couldn’t concentrate, it was like I had an old diesel car under the desk. I had hoped it might limp on for a few more months and Wellyman had replaced a few parts. Then it took to shutting down without being asked to, but the final straw was the chequerboard screen of pinks and yellows which looked like a punk Harris Tweed – I knew then that the game was up.

I’m not a complete technophobe but getting a new computer is such a faff, why you would do it voluntarily I don’t know. We’d had this one for ten years and it’s incredible how much stuff ended up on it. All I can say is that thanks to Wellyman I’m up and running again but if it had been left to me, well I wouldn’t have known where to start. I’m embarrassed and frustrated by this. I’m generally a practical, can-do type of woman but when it comes to IT I can get by but if anything out of the ordinary happens, well I’m stuck. It’s rather worrying that so much of life is becoming ever dependent on technology that requires the brain and dexterity of a teenager to get through all the setting up stages and glitches that inevitably appear. And don’t get me started on the thought process behind the creation of Windows 8.1. It took 20 minutes and a phone call to Wellyman to find out what they’d done with spell check. Still at least the new computer is quiet – I barely know it’s on as it purrs gently like the most contented of cats. The Welly household must be a bit of a technology black spot at the moment as my ‘not so smart’ smartphone keeps having a hissy fits too. This particular problem has left even Wellyman, who spends his working days fixing IT problems, perplexed.

Green and red mizuna seedlings

At times like this I crave a simpler life. The closest I’m going to get to getting away from it all, for the moment anyway, is escaping to the allotment. There can’t be many better antidotes to the frustrations of modern life than a few hours weeding, tying in sweet peas and picking flowers. There’s a simplicity to growing which is good for the spirit which might explain why I have got a bit carried away this year with my growing. When I took on the allotment the plan was to keep all the veg growing there. It’s funny though how there is no longer enough space there for my ambitions and veg crops are now creeping into the garden again. Part of this is can be attributed to the idea that we may not have a plot or garden at all next year if we move so I’m going all out this year for a bountiful summer.

Kitchen Garden Experts

Inspiration has also come in the form of a book I bought a few weeks ago called Kitchen Garden Experts. It’s the creation of Jason Ingram, who took the photographs for my own book, and his wife, garden writer and editor, Cinead McTernan. They travelled the length and breadth of the country last year photographing the kitchen gardens of some of our top restaurants and picking the brains of the chefs and the gardeners who provide them with top-notch produce. I’ve found it a fabulous read. A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet one of the growers included in the book, Jo Campbell, who at the time was growing fruit and vegetables for Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Talking to her about how they work with the chefs to decide what to grow, how they can make the most of the produce when it’s brought to the kitchen and how they’re always looking for new crops, whether that’s seeking out inspiration from other countries or rediscovering forgotten native foodstuffs, was fascinating. It’s this relationship between the chef and grower which is the basis for this book.

Vallum Farm – Kitchen Garden Experts

Kitchen Garden Experts cleverly combines two topics close to many of our hearts – food and growing. It’s a combination of restaurant guide and gardening and recipe book. You could easily use this book as the basis for a foodie pilgrimage to top eateries but it’s not short on horticultural information. Cinead has packed it full of tips and techniques gleaned from experienced growers. I liked, grower for The River Cafe, Simon Hewitt’s policy of growing tomatoes originating from northern Italy as they are more adapted to our own cooler growing conditions. Dan Cox of L’Enclume in Cumbria recommends placing your veg crops into a bucket of cold water as you harvest, it helps to preserve their freshness, especially on a hot day, and makes cleaning easier once you get them to the kitchen. I will certainly be consulting the book when I make future seed orders, seeking out the recommended varieties, and growing home-grown sea kale sounds an intriguing prospect. But for now it has inspired a few last-minute pots of colourful carrots – purples and yellows, some yellow heritage tomatoes, which I might just squeeze into the greenhouse, and a sowing of stripey beetroot ‘Chioggia’.

The Star Inn at Harome – Kitchen Garden Experts

The recipes range from the simple but delicious sounding rocket pesto, squash soup and plum and almond flan to the dinner party type wet garlic barigoule and leeks vinaigrette. There are some recipes I probably wouldn’t attempt, but even these recipes provide inspiration in the form of flavour combinations and crops I’d like to try to grow in the future.

What I really loved about Kitchen Garden Experts is how it encapsulates how far British food has come in the last 10 to 15 years. Once derided by our European neighbours for our poor quality produce and indifferent restaurants we now have world-class eateries, chefs and artisan food. We’re learning to care about seasonality and appreciate the effort which goes into quality food production. Jason’s photographs are incredibly beautiful, not just capturing the stunning food but also a sense of place for each of the kitchen gardens. If his photographs don’t have you drooling your way to the kitchen, reaching for the seed catalogue or picking up the phone to book a table at one of the restaurants I don’t know what will.

 

Finding Inspiration

Tags

Alan Titchmarsh, Carol Klein, Cleve West, Dr Hessayon, Garden Media Guild, gardening books

What are your favourites?

It seems that the speech Dr Hessayon gave at the recent Garden Media Guild awards has created a bit of a stir. He wasn’t very optimistic about the future of gardening books, and in particular reference books, suggesting that the internet is killing them off. It was a statement that a substantial part of the audience, the assembled writers and publishers, probably didn’t want to hear. Then came a feature on the Guardian’s website entitled ‘Why are gardening books so boring?’ by Lucy Masters.

I LOVE books and always have, well, apart from a period of about a year after my degree when I couldn’t get beyond the second page of any book I picked up. My year at university had been a case of book overload and had taken the pleasure out of reading; I needed a break. It was gardening books that got me reading again. Wellyman bought me a set of Alan Titchmarsh books. We had just moved home from living abroad. I was stuck in a hotel on my own before we could move into our flat and all of our possessions were still in storage. I devoured those books in a day, mentally planning out a garden.

I advise anyone I know who takes on an allotment to spend the winter months reading as many gardening books as possible, taking notes and formulating ideas, then they can start the growing season with confidence and a plan. That’s the brilliant thing about gardening, you don’t need to go to college to be able to learn enough to have a beautiful garden and productive allotment. But are there the books out there to teach and inspire gardeners? If anyone has been to the RHS bookshop at Wisley it would be hard to say there isn’t enough choice. Some subjects have been covered more than others in recent years. The popularity of urban gardens and allotments mean there are container books and grow your own fruit and vegetable books galore. But this isn’t unusual, it happens with anything that has become popular, authors and publishers are simply capturing the zeitgeist of recent times.

I don’t think there is much doubt that the internet will have an impact, if it has not done so already, on gardening reference books. I’m much more likely whilst I’m writing to search online if I need information quickly. But, when I’m in the garden and I’m not sure how to prune a particular plant or I’m wondering which pest is chomping on the leaves in front of me it’s a book I’ll turn to. When my hands are covered in soil, I need some tips quickly and I’m gingerly tiptoeing through the kitchen trying not to shower everywhere with compost a book is much more forgiving than a computer keyboard. Perhaps the reference book’s days aren’t numbered just yet.

Complaints about gardening books seem to focus on the idea that many books are ‘celebrity’ driven, that books are aimed at too broad an audience and books are too often pitched at the non-experienced gardener. All these factors are driven by economics; is a book commercially viable? Perhaps it’s unpalatable but the reality is that publishers need to produce books which will sell well if they are to at very least recoup their costs. It shouldn’t then be any surprise that authors with a TV presence prove to be popular with publishers. They already have a large audience of fans and potential buyers. There are books by well-known faces which make me wonder what else are they offering but a ‘celebrity’ author doesn’t have to mean a lack of substance or knowledge. Alys Fowler and James Wong are both hugely knowledgeable and have inspired young and old alike to look at food and plants in a different way. Some of my own favourite gardening books are by Carol Klein, a gardener and writer who exudes enthusiasm for her subject, and Monty Don writes thoughtfully about connecting with the soil and nature. To dismiss these writers simply because they are on TV would mean missing out on some great reading.

Go to a publisher with what they consider a niche idea for a book and if they can’t make the figures add up then you’ll be unlikely to get it commissioned. There’s the option for an author to self-publish but it isn’t an easy option. New avenues are opening up such as Unbound but to get the money you would still need a profile of some description to gain funding from the public.

Working out where to pitch a book can be tricky too. Don’t write about the basics and you could exclude those new to the subject and not provide a comprehensive coverage of a topic, include the basics and you risk annoying the more experienced gardener who thinks ‘Blah, blah, blah, I know all this already’. Certainly what I have learnt from gardening is that no matter how experienced you are someone else may have a tip or sliver of information, however simple, that you haven’t thought of or come across before.

The other problem is the value put on writing itself. In a world where free content is increasing are people willing to pay for creativity any more? Few people would probably say they like advertising but it makes paid for content possible in magazines and newspapers. I remember an interview with Ian Hislop where he explained why Private Eye hadn’t gone down the route of free online content. He said he had explained to his children that if they ever wanted a job in the creative industries how would they ever earn a living if their work was given away for free. The perceptions of worth seem to be changing too? I overheard a couple complaining about the price of a book in a shop recently. It was the same price as the the bottles of wine they had in their trolley but they obviously didn’t see the value in a book they could go back to again and again. Creating a book is time-consuming, in some cases it can feel as if it has taken over your life. Unfortunately advances don’t cover the true time spent creating the book and so the author waits, hoping they’ve made something people want to buy. The phrase ‘deferred gratification’ couldn’t be more apt than for writing a book. More knowledgeable gardeners may crave specialist books. But the more niche a book the less of an audience and the less likely the author is ever to be rewarded for their efforts. And so, in the immortal words of ABBA ‘Money, Money, Money’ is the driving force. Whether it’s authors needing to make some sort of living and having to make compromises, whether it’s publishers needing to turn a profit and whether it’s consumers making choices with how and where they spend their own cash.

It’s quite a gloomy prospect, particularly for a new author but I didn’t want to end on such a negative thought because I do think there are some fabulously interesting and inspiring books out there. So here are my suggestions for useful and inspiring garden reading:

• I love all of Carol Klein’s books but my favourite is ‘Grow Your Own Garden’. A subject which could be dry and dull but this is neither. Informative and enjoyable with useful tables at the back for quick reference.
• Monty Don’s ‘The Jewel Garden’. He writes with a passion and eloquence about the making of his garden, the depression he suffers from and how the connection with the soil helps to heal him.
• Cleve West’s ‘Our Plot‘. A celebration of allotments this isn’t a ‘how to grow’ book but with a plethora of those to choose from anyway this is no bad thing. Should be required reading for planners who should understand how important spaces for growing are in our communities.
• Alan Titchmarsh ‘How to be a Gardener’ and the ‘Complete Gardener’. I would recommend these to any first time gardener. Packed full of information to start you on a lifetime of gardening.
• Anything by Alys Fowler and Mark Diacono for their fresh approaches to writing and growing.
• Charles Dowding’s ‘Salad Leaves for all Seasons’. This man knows his stuff. Ditch the supermarket salad bags of soggy leaves and grow your own.
• Other favourites include Val Bourne’s Ten Minute Gardener books, any of Anna Pavord’s books and Elspeth Thompson’s writing.

I’d love to hear what you think about gardening books. Which are your favourites, the authors you love and what books you would like to see published in the future?

Book Review – The Ethicurean

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Barley Wood Walled Garden, Bristol, Jason Ingram, seasonal food, The Ethicurean

The Ethicurean Cookbook

I’m passionate about local and seasonal food. If I can’t grow it myself then I’ll try to source it from a farmers’ market or at least look for British food at the supermarket, When it comes to eating out the provenance of the food is equally important. Years ago we went out with a group of friends to a restaurant which, as we were to discover, was a very loose description of the place. Chosen by another member of the group it wasn’t somewhere we would have ordinarily picked but we persevered. Unfortunately it was one of those eating establishments that helped to give British food such a dreadful reputation. One of our friends on the table muttered under their breath, as he attempted to cut the slab of insipid looking meat on his plate, that the chicken hadn’t had a happy life. It ended up being one of the most soul-destroying meals I think I’ve ever had.

In complete contrast is the Ethicurean. A restaurant just south of Bristol it’s based in the Victorian glasshouse at the heart of a productive walled garden. The team of young chefs behind the restaurant are passionate about local, seasonal food and they have built up an impressive reputation in a short space of time for tasty, inspiring food.

I first heard about the Ethicurean about a year ago and have been lucky to eat there a few times. Initially, the location in a walled garden was probably as much of a draw as the food. I have a bit of a thing for walled gardens, there’s something so magical about them. The location is impressive with views from the restaurant out across the south sloping garden and the Somerset countryside beyond. The food didn’t disappoint either, being inventive but not in a snail porridge sort of way and, most importantly, it was delicious. And now the foursome, Iain, Jack, Matthew and Paula have created their first cookbook.

First impressions on receiving the book were good. I loved the design. It’s unusual to find a recipe book without a picture of food or some celebrity chef adorning the front cover. Immediately this said to me that this book might be something different. The photography by Jason Ingram is beautiful. Images not just of the food but also of the walled garden, the team and traditions such as the wassail all give the book a real sense of place. There’s a feeling that the team really do have an affinity with the landscape, nature, the seasons and the walled garden and that it hasn’t all been conjured up by a TV producer.

Seasonality is crucial to the chefs making them ethicureans and not just epicureans. Gardener Mark grows fruit, vegetables and herbs and the chefs seek out other ingredients from the growing number of small-scale producers in the local area, whether it’s goat meat, salt-marsh lamb, water buffalo or local cheeses. They also forage and make use of the abundant game in the countryside. Reflecting this seasonality the book takes us through a year at the walled garden. I loved this element. The descriptions of the frost clothing the vegetable beds and apple trees, the first signs of spring, the abundance of summer to the fruits and fungi of autumn. In the days before air-freight, cooking was inextricably linked with growing and the seasons and the team at the Ethicurean are trying to rekindle these connections.

The food looks and sounds delicious and I can vouch for the goat meatball recipe which I have sampled at the restaurant. I would say this is a book for more adventurous/confident cooks though. Some recipes include techniques such as smoking and there are quite a lot of ingredients that won’t be so easily available to everyone or will at least need some tracking down. Having said that the nettle and squash soups, the milk stout and chocolate steamed pudding and the Eccles cakes all look easy to make.

It’s impressive to discover that the chefs are self-taught and they’re generous with their hints and tips throughout the book. They extol the virtues of pressure cookers (I’ve always been nervous of them since my mum’s exploded!) to pickling nasturtium seeds to produce something akin to capers. And it’s not just food that’s covered. The Ethicureans love their drink, from the cider and apple juice made from fruit from the garden and pressed on-site to their tempting cocktails. You get the feeling these guys know how to party.

I’ve already earmarked a patch of newly emerging nettles for some soup this weekend and Wellyman is eyeing up the apple, pear, cardamon and chocolate cake. For me the only real disappointment about the book was discovering that they already have a flower gardener. Growing flowers in the Barley Wood walled garden with all that tasty food so close-by, now that would be a dream job.

Thanks to Sarah at Ebury Press for a copy of the book.

The Ethicurean is out on May 16th.

For more details about the restaurant visit the Barley Wood Walled garden website. http://www.walledgarden.co.uk/cafe1.html

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.

Book Review My Secret Garden by Alan Titchmarsh

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Alan Titchmarsh, Ebury Publishing, Gardeners' World, My Secret Garden

Alan Titchmarsh ‘My Secret Garden’

Perhaps the most famous gardener in the UK over the last two decades, Alan Titchmarsh was used to sharing his own garden with the public. For 6 years, as host of the BBC’s Gardener’s World, Alan allowed the viewers into his garden known as Barleywood. Then, in 2002, he left the programme and his home and garden of over 20 years. His latest book, My Secret Garden, is the story of the new garden he has created over the last decade. A space, until now that has not been shown to the public.

I was looking forward to receiving this book. I used to avidly watch him on his BBC gardening programmes, even though I had no garden of my own at the time and I’ll often refer back to his gardening books for ideas and advice now I do have a garden. And, to be honest, I’m quite nosey so the idea of being able to see the garden he has created appealed to me.

It’s quite a hard book to pin down. There are lovely photographs by Jonathan Buckley showing the garden in all its glory which gives it the feel of a ‘coffee table’ book but there is also text from Alan as he talks you around the garden. This is a book about the raison d’etre of his own personal garden. He avails us with the thoughts behind his design ideas and his planting choices.

I don’t think I’ve read a book like this before. It is described as a gardening memoir. I’m not sure that memoir is the right word but then I’m not sure what is. I did enjoy hearing the reasons behind the ultimate look of the garden and where his inspiration came from. He shares his triumphs and disasters and doesn’t feel the need to hide elements that haven’t worked so well, for instance the use of box and the subsequent blight attack. It makes those of us with less experience feel better to know that someone as knowledgeable as Mr. T can still make mistakes.

I liked the photographs taken from the same angles throughout the seasons. These particularly highlighted the value of evergreens and structure in the garden. And, whilst the book is not so much about passing on gardening expertise, I did think it was possible to take elements away from the book to possibly use in my own garden. Certainly by studying the photographs you could take inspiration for planting combinations.

If you like cutting edge design this won’t be the book for you but then Alan is probably not on your radar anyway. The garden surrounds a stunning Georgian house and the garden he has created is classical in style but there is a relaxedness about the space that came across in the photographs. It’s certainly a garden I would like to spend time in. There are elements of the garden that I loved, the topiary lining the terrace, for instance, and his stunning greenhouse but there were other aspects that were less to my taste such as the Union Jack flying from a flag pole. However, I like the fact that he doesn’t feel the need to hide these from the ‘design police’, this is after all his own garden.

I would have liked a few ‘before’ shots of the garden showing what it was like when he first moved there, to give the creation of the new space some context and I was disappointed there weren’t any pictures of the vegetable garden. It was a shame this area wasn’t given any coverage.

If you’re a fan of Alan’s then you’ll love this book. It’s interesting to read about the formation of a garden and the reasons behind it. So many gardens seem to evolve quite haphazardly over time or are created in one fell swoop by a design team. It was good to read about the problems he encountered with his new garden. It wasn’t a blank canvas as so many gardens aren’t and yet this seems to be only rarely touched on in features about gardens. Having someone describe their garden is a interesting idea. It’s quite easy to pick at someone’s personal taste but I wonder how many gardens would stand up to such scrutiny. I think it’ll make me question ideas I have about my own garden in future and the plans I have for it.

Alan’s book is available to buy now from Amazon and all good independent bookshops.

Thanks to Claire at Ebury Publishing.