Spion Kop fuschias

On Monday I was gardening for a Danish lady and she had me planting up new fuschias into tubs to put around her doors. She had bought snowcap fuschia, not one of my favourites, it's a bit 'blousey' for my liking, but she had got it because it's supposed to be red and white..the Danish national colours.

Anyway she didn't have enough, so I said I would get some more, knowing snowcap are quite a common fuschia...or so I thought. Yesterday, I had to go in to York to visit Mrs H, and also go to the nursery to get some large geraniums for Tony's garden, so I visited a number of plant stalls and garden centres as well as the nursery. None to be had, however they had a fuschia id never heard of called Spion Kop, now I know Kop is cap, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that Spion could be snow, I didn't buy them, but this morning I looked up Spion Kop on the Internet, I was wrong, it means Spy Hill in Dutch or Boer. And I've just read a very interesting tale about a terrible battle on 23rd January 1900 in the Boer war.
So back to my search for the snowcap. I'm in Selby this afternoon after my library work, so will have a look for them there. Odd really as I thought they were one of the most popular fuschias.

Headache on day off

Woken up this morning with a headache, nothing unusual there, everyone had headaches, but nowadays, I don't. I used to get loads when I was in charge of a large operation for a large company, what with hundreds of staff and corporate boll.cks to deal with all the time, but in the 6 years since I left, I've rarely had a headache unless it was self inflicted.

I've been up a while and have done the chickens, put the washing on, tidied up a bit, but I'm just going to sit and relax for a bit, I've got voluntary work this afternoon, but I wanted to get on in my own garden this morning, the winds are still stronger than I would like but I think I'm going to have to risk putting out the wall troughs.

I've got an order for one of the children's bracelets to make up, never going to earn a fortune with these but I enjoy making them, I would like to get a few more wine glass charms made up, or as a lady suggested, try selling them as stitch markers too. 

Tomorrow will be another busy day, I have hanging baskets to deliver, grass cutting to be done in York, general gardening work, a visit to Mrs H in the nursing home with her latest list of requirements, some banking to do and then in the evening I am at a taster evening at the college with Judith.

Winds again?

Apparently, according to the weather forecast, we are due unseasonably high winds later on today, makes me wonder what all these other strong winds that we've been having for weeks are! Bit of a dilemma now as today's jobs are all about planting out hanging baskets and planters for people, I can't really move them as I'm getting filled up with work and therefore no space to move them to. I spent a few hours in my own garden yesterday and it's just starting to look really good, the lupins are coming out,

as are the oriental poppies, 

and my lovely tall Siberian Iris, 

all ready for a good bashing from the wind. Well must get on.

Chicken update

Just a quick update on the hens, one of the chicks died over the weekend, looked like it suffocated or was squashed by mum, this has happened before and there's nothing we can do about it, we still have 4 (visibly) healthy chicks.

The rest of the hens seem to have settled down a bit from the squabbling that was going on a few weeks ago and the henpecked one seems to be recovering, the scab has fallen off her head and feathers are regrowing.

Our glut of eggs has disappeared and we are now in the opposite situation, due to us needing to lock the hen enclosure during the day, the hens are laying around the place and I keep finding their stashes too late, after magpies or crows have raided and eaten the eggs, at least I hope that's what it is, rather than the hens turning canibalistic. Yesterday was asuccessful day and I found 7 eggs, but broke one as I managed to retrieve it. 

For note...under pyracantha, in between paving slab stack, and under jasmin hedge. Wonder where they will be today, the hens have always been a bit lazy about laying, and just seem to do it where they feel the need than making their way back to the laying boxes, so no great surprise, it's one of the jobs the grandkids like to do when they come - egg hunts.

Don't know if this will help, but I moved the old laying boxes yesterday, they were in the tin shed, but up against a wall, so they couldn't use them, I've turned it round, will go and put some shavings in it now and see what we have later in the day.

Lemon Balm Lip Balm

This is a recipe I make every year around this time, when my lemon balm is nice and green and lush, it's a lovely lip balm that is supposed to cure cold sores, not that I ever get them, but I made this for the first time for a friend who does.

It's a bit of a faff, but worth it for the goodness it has.

Firstly grab a load of lemon balm, you really only need the leaves,

so strip them from the stalks and and then finely chop, I have one of those brill little choppy gadgets that you just bash up and down and it chops everything up.

Put into a pan and heat gently with 100ml of olive oil, not virgin, just a nice light one, along with a couple of tablespoons of wheat germ oil.you want it to sizzle a little but not boil or fry. Simmer really gently for around 15 mins.

Then strain the whole lot through a muslin lined sieve, you need to squeeze every last drop out , so I usually put on a pair of rubber gloves and squeeze and wring the stuff in the muslin, wipe out the pan, then put the 'juice' back into the pan. Add 2 tbsp of honey and 1oz beeswax and melt gently in the pan,

keep stirring to amalgamate it all, once melted, add 10 drops of tea tree oil, stir through and then pot up, I use those little pots that you get jam in at little cafes and tea shops.

Rain and wind again and banana jam

really getting sick of the amount of wind there has been lately, don't mind the rain, we need it in the gardens, but the wind is stopping me from having the garden done, it's a double edged problem, as I can't get the troughs out on the wall, as the flowers will get bashed about and ruined, they are in the greenhouse, getting lusher and bigger every day, but the growth is soft from the warmth and light in the greenhouse, which makes them more prone to wind damage...Grrr.
While  sorting through the freezer yesterday I found several bags and tubs of sliced up bananas, these are usually ones that have gone to the point of too ripe that no one will eat them, so I chop them up and freeze them ready to make a banana cake or something.
so today I'm making banana Jam, it's a pretty simple recipe, and not really a jam.
To begin with, mix 320g sugar with 5oz water and heat in a jam pan,,stirring until it's all dissolved, sorry for the mixture of metric and imperial measures, tip in 650g of chopped ripe bananas and 2.5 oz of lime juice, bring to a boil and then simmer for around 30 mins. About half way through, add 1.5 tsp of cinnamon and stir in.

Pot up, you're not looking for a setting point or anything here, but provided you have simmered for 30 mins and everything is sterile, the it should keep fine.

Three fruits marmalade

Having a bit of a clear out today, we had some oranges that no one has eaten, a couple of grapefruits and 3 old lemons, so making up some marmalade. This is a recipe I do quite often. I always freeze citrus fruit shells if I've used them for anything, so got a few bags of shreds out of the freezer along with the chopped up fruit and 4 pints of water. Simmer away with the lid on for a couple of hours.

 I then have to do this in two batches as our cooker is rubbish and if the pan is too full, I never get a good rolling boil. Anyway add the sugar, bear in mind this ain't no diet recipe...450g sugar to every 600ml liquid. 

Bring to a good rolling boil and get to setting point, using a sugar thermometer is the best way, but there other tests, such as a rolling boil which won't stir down, or doing the wrinkle test on a saucer ever few minutes after about a good 10 mins boiling.

In the meanwhile I 'sterilise' washed jars in the oven for 10 mins at 150 degrees,  once it's at setting point, by whichever method you choose to check, take jars out of oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then Pot up and seal. I use cellophane discs dipped in brandy and original lids.

             And the final product.