Blackcurrant leaf tea - delicious and free from my garden

Hi there

A while ago I bought a blackcurrant bush - Big Ben - Since then I've made a couple more bushes for free by taking a stem and putting in the ground in autumn and just leaving until its rooted.

I was browsing the web for infusions/teas and found that blackcurrant leaf tea is recommended

I put a few leaves in a teapot and steeped for 10 to 15 minutes and served with sugar in a posh white cup. It helps the flavour - honest!

It is really delicious  and smells gorgeous - all the flavour of blackcurrants with no acidity. Perhaps my favourite ever free tea from my garden.

I use the mature leaves (the young ones don't have much taste) but not from late summer onwards as they lose their flavour again. I pick a few from each stem - usually near the top of the stems. The leaves freeze well and make just as good tea so you can treat yourself throughout the winter .

Hope you try it

Caroline
x


To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Pots of geraniums for your windowsill - very cheap or free and very easy to grow.

Painting by Susan Savad of Three Pots of Geranium on a Windowsill. Prints available see below.

Hi.

In a previous blog about bringing the garden into my home I showed a picture of an abstract painting of a garden by Rachel Vollerthun which I've just bought and love. Inspired by this I've been searching on the internet for other flower or garden paintings I might also love. I did find this one today.

I found this lovely painting on Fine Art America where they have many sized prints available for as little as £21. Link below.

Fine art america - link to painting of geraniums

One of the reasons I love it is that I've always had geraniums (aka Pelargoniums) on my windowsills in rows of terracotta pots.

They suit my frugal nature  - they an be bought for next to nothing, they are very difficult to kill and survive neglect. They flower most of the year. You will need to take off blooms that are dying by gently pulling off the plant.

You can also make loads more for free. In late summer (or most times of year to be honest) use a sharp knife to cut off the top 8 inches of a new stem. Gently pull off all the leaves apart from two or three small ones at the top. Then bury the stem in a pot of John Innes no 2 compost to about half its depth. No need to use rooting hormone.

I usually use a larger terracotta pot (very cheap) about 8 to 10 inches in diameter and put 3 or 4 such cuttings spaced out in the one pot. I then put in a well lit place but out of direct sunlight which is above 10 degrees C. Water one a week, there is no need to overwater as they store water in their stems.  Within a month or so they will start growing as they will have rooted. 

As they start growing every time a stem gets to about 10 inches tall - cut off the top 2 inches of each stem. This encourages branches to be made and a more well rounded plant with more flowers.

As well as filling your windowsill they make great gifts. They are also a great way to begin to learn gardening - skills learned will be watering, taking cuttings, pinching off tips to encourage branching.

There are loads and loads of varieties to buy. I like allwoods.com where I've bought some before for as little as £3.50 each. They sell traditional geraniums with all colours, ones with variegated leaves and beautifully scented geraniums. Below is a link to their website.

Allwoods Geraniums/Pelargoniums website

To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Problem solved - Evergreens to cover a problem fence frugally

Hi

My garden is wider than it is long. It also has a horrendous 6 foot high wooden fence all the way round it. Disguising it is an ongoing problem in the winter particularly at the back of the garden where I can't use shrubs as the back fence only has a shallow border in front of it which, as its the sunniest place in our N facing garden is needed for roses! There are also too many climbers on it to paint it.

I have a clematis Montana on it and although its covered a lot of fence as it loses its leaves in winter.

I have also had various Ivy's which can look really nice but  they invade the border below where I like to grow things!I swear they wait until I'm not looking then grows another 4 foot in either direction tangling up with other climbers and smothering plants in my borders.

Last year I've put in a lot of lovely climbing roses which are so far only a couple of feet high but should take off in 2018. So my job over the last few days has been to trim back climbers I want less of such as the Montana and Ivy to make space for the roses and to put in more wires for their support and begin to train them on the wire.

I've also put in some Boston Ivy - Parthenocissus Tricuspidata Veitchii - which has amazing red leaves in autumn that look particularly spectacular when wet. It only went in last year but has shoots up to 3 foot high so I'm hopeful for 2018.

All this - and still ugly bare patches in winter. Wish I could have a lovely brick wall!

So being a frugal gardener  - how can I solve the problem.

I'vealready put in some self seeded cotoneaster Horizontalis I found in another part of the garden - but they are tiny at the moment. I shall have a hunt around for other suitable seedlings.

I've also pinched some cuttings of a white buddleia last week and have popped them in a pot. I am hoping I can put some of these into the borders in front of the fence as they can be semi evergreen.

I have a Lonicera Nitida which is continually breeding babies nearby - this would be evergreen and would cover a bit of the fence if I can keep it back narrow enough so it doesn't take up much of the border - I shall dig one of the babies up at the weekend  - it would be a good time to transplant it. 

I also have a mature Trachelospermum Jasminoides in the front garden. I've had it about 15 years - its evergreen but has some red colour in the leaves in autumn and winter which is nice. It also has strongly scented white flower in summer. Its easy to keep under control.  According to the RHS website propagation is by layering or semihardwood cuttings. I think I'll try both! Another job for the weekend.


Will this year be the one where my fence looks nice in winter? Wish me luck!



Take care
Caroline
xx






To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

An Asperger's New Year's Eve and my gardening New Year's resolution!

Hi again

Isn't the above photo just beautiful!

Being an antisocial and tired Asperger's person new year will be spent going to bed at my normal time of 9 pm, lights off at 10 and putting in ear plugs so we don't get woken up by fireworks!

I particularly don't like what I refer to as "the bongs" - the chimes of bells bringing in the new year.  I feel they say "Bong - that's another year of your life gone", Bong - you're another year older, Bong - doom, Bong... Bong"....   Bah Humbug eh! 

I rarely make a new year,s resolution either but this year I have and intend to stick to it. Here's how it came about:

For most of my gardening life I've prided myself on not spending more than £50 or so every year on my garden. My borders tended to look really good as I had big groups of each type of plant. I did this either by dividing, taking cuttings or spreading seeds from plants I already had.

But since I've started my gardening business, under the excuse that I'm learning about new plants I've been indulging myself with many' many new plants for my own garden. I've spent a lot! I'm not going to reveal how much. The effect in some of my borders is consequentially,  a bit "dotty". Just individual plants on their own all mixed together. Rather like the photo below which I confess is nothing like my garden but is just to make a point.



For the best visual effect multiple identical plants need to be planted together in clusters. So the colour of the flowers or the effects of the foliage is seen to its best advantage. Like the photo below (again not one of my borders - though I wish it was!)

As I've been doing lots of studying this winter I've also realised that I only use one or two propagation techniques on a narrow range of plants. So my resolution is to try different techniques of propagation on a wider range of plants in my garden (armed with my copy of "Geoff Hamilton's Practical Gardening Course") and cluster the plants I grow  for a better effect.

"Propagate not buy". Hopefully I will save a bit of money too!

I'll let you know how I get on.

Take care and happy new year.

Lots of love
Caroline
xxx



Keywords: Cottage Garden Design Asperger's ASD Autism Colour Propagate Save Money Frugal