Our toddler daughter has become custodian of the assorted terracotta pots of late winter bulbs. Every day, she carefully lifts them over to the raised beds for inspection. Each crocus is petted, kissed and whispered to, before being placed back on the wooden ledge. I wonder what she is telling them for it must be…
Tag: Winter
Almanac: Winter woodland – The delight to be found in the simplest of things
Dusk falls in the winter woodland. The birdsong echoes out more clearly without the rustle of summer leaves. My 18 month old daughter has recently learnt the word, “another.” From behind me, where she sits in her carrier, she excitedly calls “tree!” A pause. “An-o-ther tree!” A pause. We wait. Luckily, she has been distracted…
Potager Garden: Umbrella boats, windowsill seeds and chocolate flapjacks
The rain continues. The morning is spent with much-loved grandparents, playing card games at the table together and drinking mugs of tea. After lunch, I grab my coat, pull up my hood and wander through the little potager garden, finding stillness in the water droplets balanced on petals and leaves. My daughter is always ready…
Potager Garden: Storm bubbles, tea and gingerbread
It takes a lot to keep our youngest out of the garden. This morning she could not understand why the rest of us were not keen to play out in the biggest storm to hit Britain so far this year: Storm Dennis is arriving today. Our garden is quite sheltered and I find the gales…
Seasonal Recipes: Pineapple Sunshine Cake
Pineapple Sunshine Cake This is the recipe from The February Garden, after receiving quite a few requests for the details of how to make our “little bit of sunshine” cake. It was inspired by Good Food Magazine’s instructions for a Retro Upside Down Cake, but altered for what was in our pantry at the time,…
Almanac: Winter frosts, finding shadows and the missing trees
A frosty cold morning, one Sunday in January. On days like this it is best to get outside quickly, before the sun has a chance to melt the crispness away. The frost creates beauty wherever it falls. We encourage the children to listen to the crunch underfoot. This is rare and a special part of…
Potager Garden: When the veg plot becomes an outdoor classroom
Today in the garden, whilst I have been working on the veg plot and sweeping the paths, my little daughter has had some lucky finds. She has gathered them in her wheelbarrow, and is now laying them out neatly. We use them to practise her counting, one to ten. She pauses and concentrates after “123”…
Almanac: Winter … and a welcome return to tree climbing
Our visit to Bradgate today is a special one. It is a welcome return to tree climbing. Our second eldest son has spent the last six months recovering from a broken arm, caused by a painful cyst in the bone. To our immense relief, he has had an all-clear that everything has healed and he…
Potager Garden: Late winter in the garden with a little helper
It is very cold today, but the bright sunshine and clear skies make the garden irresistable. Warmed by cups of hot tomato soup, we check the vegetable plot’s progress. All of our onion sets are now sprouting. The seed company have just sent through a delayed order of giant garlic bulbs and, as I usually…
Potager Garden: January 2020
There was a countrywide storm on its way to us today, with predictions of driving rain and thirty mile an hour winds, so we had to quickly sneak some garden time before the gales blew in. One pastime I love in the winter months, when flowers are in short supply, is to start looking for…
Tiny Potager 