Here we go again!

As we enter a new period of lockdown and home schooling, I find it hard to believe that this all started a year ago. Time is slipping away and, whilst I am very grateful that we are all still currently healthy, I am becoming increasingly aware that life seems to be just passing us all by.

It has been a tough week as we have tried to get into a new routine, but I have been making a real effort to follow my own advice and allow myself a garden or nature related "treat" each day (though I have to admit I have been concentrating on some of the shorter activities as it is becoming increasingly hard to find the time!).

I did enjoy spending some time thinking ahead to the Spring and Summer and trying to plan what I will grow in the garden and allotment this year. Growing our own fruit and veg gave us great pleasure and satisfaction last year and I am keen to repeat the process, though I will be a little more selective about what we grow. I also intend to add a few more edible flowers to the mix and so will be growing plants such as borage, calendula and nasturtium, which I can add to salads, cakes and infusions.

Using flowers for culinary purposes has declined in this country and now seems to be largely confined to expensive restaurants and a handful of organic growers. However, it represents another way to make use of the plants grown in our gardens and windowsills, and can turn any salad into a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds (it is very important to know what you are eating of course and not to eat flowers that you don't recognise as varieties that are safe to eat, or which may have been sprayed with insecticides or other chemicals.).

If you are looking for a few examples:

Orange and yellow nasturtiums look bright and cheerful on a salad and have a sweet and peppery taste. They are also said to be rich in vitamin C and iron;

Borage has blue, star-shaped flowers that are loved by bees and which can be used to garnish salads and glasses of Pimms. The leaves are also said to have a cucumber flavour;

Pretty little violas come in a wide range of colours and can be candied as a garnish for sweet dishes and cakes;

Lavender can be used to flavour sugar and used in a wide variety of dishes (I particularly like lavender shortbread);

Elderflower is well known as an ingredient of wine and cordials, and can also be used to flavour tarts and jellies;

When in season, courgette flowers are snapped up by restauranteurs, prior to being

stuffed and deep fried (the following simple recipe ideas by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had me longing for Summer: Deep Fried Courgette Flowers | Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Bing video).

Finally, even the unassuming little daisy, whilst not having a strong flavour, can be used as a pretty little salad garnish.

Other ideas can be found in the following links:

Edible flowers / RHS Gardening

Ways to Mix Edible and Ornamental Plants - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Edible flowers and where to find them | Wicked Leeks (riverford.co.uk)

Growing Edible Flowers - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Envisioning the garden in the Summer months and imagining what we will grow is my way of looking ahead and trying to stay positive in terribly worrying times. Audrey Hepburn famously once said that "to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" and planting bulbs is a great example of this. I had transplanted some snowdrop, crocus and daffodil bulbs last year, after they had finished flowering, and it was lovely to see the first of these emerging when I took a stroll around the garden this morning:

Unfortunately the recent cold weather has damaged some of the flowers that remain in the garden, though the presence of rose buds in January does show how mild the Winter has been up until now!

I also still have flowers on my hebe, hardy geranium and campanula plants. Together with the roses and lavatera, these must be amongst the top plants for long term flowering?

Despite a marked decrease in temperature this week, the children were ecstatic that we finally got snow! It was the most insignificant of flurries and was gone almost as quickly as it appeared, but it was snow nonetheless and we managed a rather pathetic little snowball fight and to create the tiniest of snowmen.

As we are all struggling for entertainment at the moment, I thought I would end this week with a small garden related quiz (answers are included below the poem so no peeking!).

Questions:

1. What plant is also known as the "love apple"?

2. Who is the Greek Goddess of flowers?

3. What is the art of cutting shrubs into ornamental shapes called? 4. What is the first name of designer Capability Brown?

5. Which common garden plant was used as a form of currency in the 17th century?

6. Which plant is commonly known as the "Christmas rose"?

7. The spice saffron comes from which flower?

8. Which country donates a Christmas tree to be displayed on Trafalgar Square each year?

9. Which flowering plant is also known as "Our Lady's tears"?

10. Malmaison is a chain of boutique hotels, but is also the site of a beautiful rose garden. Who created it?

Spellbound by Emily Bronte

The night is darkening round me,

The wild winds coldly blow;

But a tyrant spell has bound me

And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending

Their bare boughs weighed with snow.

And the storm is fast descending,

And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,

Wastes beyond wastes below;

But nothing drear can move me;

I will not, cannot go.

Answers:

1. The tomato.

2. Antheia is the Greek Goddess of flowers and flowery wreaths.

3. Topiary.

4. Lancelot.

5. Tulips in the Netherlands.

6. Helleborus niger.

7. Crocus.

8. The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is an annual gift from the people of Norway as a token of gratitude for British support during the Second World War.

9. Lily of the Valley.

10. The Empress Josephine.