Rebuilding a nursery - Copton Ash

[Tim Ingram]

Arnold/Robert - thanks very much for those links. No we haven't done this properly although the idea of an apple that has gone slightly brown is not so appealing (we have plenty of apples that go slightly brown!!). But I take your point, we should experiment with them. A friend in our local market had some from us last year to make a liqueur with, and she does the same with other fruit - the results are pretty good!

[Robert]

Tim,

I know what you mean that bletting does not seem very appealing.    I view the whole idea of bletting in terms of green Hachiya Persimmons. We all know what a "green" Persimmon is like!    However, after bletting a Hachiya Persimmon is soft as mush and looks very unappealing, but taste divine. 

[Tim Ingram]

Arnold - just looked at that second reference you gave and couldn't resist this description of medlars  . Never heard this before, it puts a whole new complexion on the fruit!!

"One of the goofiest fruits I’ve ever come across, they’re a member of the rose family and are prepared similar to rose hips, or 'backside-scratchers', which doesn’t make me want to eat them. And my trusty fruit-searching sidekick made a snide remark about their bilious taste. I think the fruit gets a lot of derision because I’ve been told that in England, they’re referred to as dog’s backsides. (No comment about English humor…although I did read that the French call it cul de chien.) However, I am nothing if not a man of great class and distinction, and I can’t resist free fruit – no matter what it’s called – so I decided to pick a bucket of them and make medlar jelly."

[ArnoldT]

Here's a couple of the Medlar fruit ready for bletting.

[Robert]

Arnold,

Nice looking Medlars!

Have you ever tried leaving a few fruit on the trees and let them be frosted like a persimmon?

[ArnoldT]

I think the cold here is too deep for that and if they drop off very hard to find among the leaf litter.

I blet them indoors they're  easier to keep an eye on.

[Robert]

Arnold,

Thank you for the information. Yes, I guess things are a bit different here in California. We even let the late apples hang on the trees until they get a good frost on them. They become sweeter and have better flavor.

[Tristan_He]

Tim, don't know if you still have some of those Orleans Reinettes left. But if you do, this is a great recipe for them - Appeltaart (Dutch Apple Tart). My grandmother always used tomake it when we went to visit her in Holland as a child, and I generally make one about this time of year. You need a reasonably firm eating apple that will not turn to mush when cooked - I generally use Egremont Russett as it's usually available in the shops at this time of the year. Coxs may work too.

Appeltaart

About 1kg of firm apples, such as Russetts, sliced.
380g flour
250g butter
175g sugar (can reduce to about 100g for lower sugar version)
Cinnamon
Raisins
A little rum or brandy


Make pastry by mixing flour, sugar and butter. Chill for at least 30min .

Soak the raisins in the rum or brandy.

Preheat oven to 175C, Gas 5. Grease a large cake tin with a removable base. Roll the pastry out and cut out a circle to fit the tin, and strips for the sides. Reserve some pastry for lattice on top.

Slice the apples fairly thinly and arrange in layers in the tin, interspersed with the occasional dusting of cinnamon and some of the raisins. Continue until the tin is full.

Cut the remaining pastry into thin strips and make a lattice on top of the tart.

Cook in the preheated oven for15 min at 175, then turn the oven down to 150C, and cook for an additional hour or until golden brown.

Serve with clotted cream.

[Tim Ingram]

Tristan - many thanks for that recipe; we have plenty of Ashmead's Kernel, which should work well. At last we have a new computer to replace the previous one which had given up after ten years a few weeks ago! Hope this one will do as well.

These are a few highlights from a month or so ago which gave welcome colour and interest until the first and so far only frost we have had a short while ago. The two Impatiens are remarkably hardy given their African homes but are cut down at the first frosts; I. rothii came from Cally Gardens a few years ago and I. tinctoria has made a substantial plant over a decade or so. The saxifrages are from WHG Mann and Son (and originally from Ray Drew); we haven't grown these for long but also have a few nice cultivars bred by the Peters nursery in Germany (when they came to Great Dixter in October 2014). Malcolm McGregor's article in the December 'The Plantsman' suggests more we should try. (They are vulnerable - like heucheras! - to vine weevil in pots, and these were treated with nematodes along with other nursery plants, but might be best planted out in the garden next year). Something rather amazing about having flowers like these so late in the year.

[David Nicholson]

I think the Saxifraga fortunei cultivars could be addictive Tim. Most of mine came from Edrom, with one from Aberconwy ('Conwy Snow') and one other I can't remember where I got it from. Only yesterday I was looking at Peters Web Site and have listed another a dozen I would like to get.

Some pictures of mine here, replies 67 and 68 http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12730.msg344070#msg344070

[Lawrence]

Hi David
I have just been looking at Peters website, ( I have not come across them before ) , what a fabulous selection of Saxifrages. Have you ever had mail order plants from them before and if so what are the postage costs like?
Lawrence

[David Nicholson]

Hi Lawrence, No I haven't ordered from Peters before. Their Web Site only says that mail order costs will be in relation to the quantity of plants ordered. I think, when the time comes, I would email them my order and ask them to indicate mail costs for that order by return.

I'm pretty certain that they attended a plant sale earlier this year somewhere in Tim's neck of the woods. They have a smashing catalogue.

[Tim Ingram]

What is it about a group of gardeners? They work best on the small scale which is why a Forum is more effective than an Encyclopaedia. The reason I say this is because of the Christmas Party our Hardy Plant Group has just had in Kent which seemed a good deal more fun than the wider politics of the gardening world (let alone the world in general!), and was in no way lacking in an understanding of plants!

Rachael Castle probably captured the reason for this best when she talked about Auriculas and the way small groups of 'Florists' (the specialist plant societies of the day) got together in local pubs and shared their passion for this particular group of plants - along with beer and good food - and grew the plants as an extension of their craftsmanship in other ways. Bennett Smith showed the ways - inspired first of all by his parents' garden - that he views gardens and plants as a professional photographer (and taking photographs of plants, rather like botanical art, really makes you look closely and take in plants with both an artistic and scientific eye). And Vera Osbourne and Ginny Oakes, who over the years have given so much to the Kent HPS Group in different ways, satisfied the 'plants-persons' interest by going through a A to Z of favourites in their gardens. Vera was a neighbour of Martyn Rix for many years - and looked after his plants when he was away - and so has many fascinating wild collected species that came from Martyn in her garden. All in all a most enjoyable get together which shows why the HPS Group in Kent has been such a great group of gardeners to belong to for so many years.

And just a final note - amongst all the plants brought along to show was one, (Coleonema), which Roy Lancaster had identified at a meeting Alison Crowe had attended. What I liked though was her comment that 'once she had managed to stop Roy talking, she asked him if he knew the plant'. Of course he did and it had been grown by Hilliers like nearly every other woody plant! Keeping this diverse and informed understanding of the Plant World - and more than anything sharing it - is the very essence of gardening and a sense of conservation. Hence why I think the specialist plant societies are so important.

[Tim Ingram]

Catching the light of winter...

[Tim Ingram]

Well everyone makes a New Year's resolution and ours (I should say mine, because Gillian already has more than enough to do) is to work more on these woodland beds after the discipline of tidying them now in advance of the snowdrop season to come. There are good opportunities to plant more generously in these beds, especially for later into spring and summer, and they do tend to develop a little too many weeds by the autumn! It is exciting to see plants emerging now and the early snowdrops and hellebores flowering. The clump of Galanthus 'Wasp' came from the Myddelton House event only a couple of years ago - very high quality plants, especially if you are a little behind the leading trends as we are!

Good wishes for 2016 to all who view these posts...