Pumpkin Soup

 I last made this soup for our book club, and had frozen half of the roasted pumpkin.  I'm using up stuff from the freezer and it was easy to turn and remake the soup, since I had printed out the recipe and it was floating around the kitchen drawer. 

This is before the Spiced Pumpkin and coconut soup has been whizzed and had the coconut added. I'm simply posting this here as I find it easy to use my own blog as a repository for when I have pumpkins to use up. 

Soup is one of those lunches that are so easy, and just right for a coolish day like today.  This week's daily loaf is a sourdough seeded half wholemeal loaf which will suit this very well.

Clematis In a Vase on Monday

Here we are again on a Monday, and it is time for In a Vase on Monday, a weekly gathering of people who enjoy arranging things from their garden, created and hosted by Cathy.

Where I listened to Charles Chesshire as his gave his lecture at my gardening club last week, there was something he said which has come back to me again and again since that time, which was 'you have to decide what not to grow'.  As one who loves plants and lots of them, and one whose space is limited, I have found that to be worth hanging onto.  I am a neophile by tendency in many aspects, and I do realise this must be kept under control.  We can't keep all and still have room to breath.  

This dawned on my this morning as I was plunging some pots into water to clean out,  I noticed just within a few metres sufficient, and for today chose to limit myself to this small space.

The clematis in flower and bud is Clematis montana Warwickshire Rose, and the seed heads are from Clematis alpina Blue Dancer. Down in the shade are a few Lily of the Valley, and the variegated ivy grows on the fence. The whole little arrangement is small and I arranged the material in my hand a little like one would do for a corsage and used a little green raffia to achieve a small arrangement which would not shift in the vase.

From a small garden -Six on Saturday 20 April 2024

We have had glorious sunshine, with cooler temperatures towards this weekend, just the best sort of weather this time of year.  As usual a band of us, and you too may join with six things on Saturday from our gardens, under the garden awning that is Jim's weekly post.

On the garden shelf it is the turn for a week or two for the Primula auriculas to strut their stuff. I used to have a few and last year restarted acquiring a few to add to my remaining Auricula Nessun Dorma

1. Welcome to my small garden is Primula auricula 'Old Irish Scented'.  Although a 'garden auricula' I have chosen to keep it as a pot plant.  The petals are described as having golden frilly edges and it has a 'white eye'.  This is one of the plants from a batch I ordered last year from Hillview Hardy Plants. 

 

2. Another new yellow is a double.  This is my first double and is a pretty frilly yellow bloomer. However I think for now I much prefer the single auriculas. This one is Primula auricula Sarah Millington.  

3. Wednesday's talk at our Henton Gardening Club was given by Charles Chesshire on designing with Peonies and Roses.  I must really go through my notes and look up some of the plants he mentioned.  However I did pick up a tip, which I put into action the very next day, when I moved an Echinacea purpurea Magnus which I had placed such that although the flowers would be in full sun, but the rosette of leaves was not.  I said 'sorry' to the plant, and as it survived the wet winter, I hope it will be far happier in its new sunny position.  

At the meeting we were also able to choose a free plug plant to grow on for a little competition later in the year.  I passed on the petunia and the fuchsia and choose a Geranium 'New Century Salmon'. At the end of the evening it seemed as if this had not been a popular selection, so I nonchalantly offered to take the rest should they not be chosen.  I offered to buy the remainder. Yesterday our Treasurer Caroline turned up with a further 12 plants.  I shall probably offer several to friends in our WI 'Bloomin Fun' group to grow on.

4.  With it so nice early in the morning, I managed to catch the early slanting light on the fern.

with all the damp weather my old pots with ferns are just about under maximum moss!

5. We have had more frost warnings over the last few days compared to winter, so it was out with the fleece to cover the strawberries.

6. The newly planted little alpine Aethionema 'Warley Rose' is settling in well. I rather like its 'common' name of Persian stone cress.

The gravel is a great foil and I am already wondering how best to propagate this so that it can be added to a pot for the shelf next spring. I reckon a good pot of these would look lovely on the garden table this time of the year. It is described as short-lived by the RHS so cuttings will definitely be taken.

I have plenty to do in the garden this weekend, and the weather is set fine.......

A Magnificent Scilla Peruviana In a Vase on Monday

Earlier today I was walking around Dryham Park with friends from our club's 'Bloomin Fun' Group, and before setting out the weather was very gusty and some rain, but it was glorious on the other side of the Mendips. The outing with lunch to follow on the way back put me in such a good mood, that I felt energised and went out to select a few stems of things from the garden to arrange for today's In a Vase on Monday. IAVOM is a creation of Cathy, and in this weekly blog several of us join in showing material from our gardens.

As I had been chatting with my friend Jane who is designing some new beds with grasses, I mentioned that I had a large clump of Carex Comans Bronze and when divided I would be able to offer her some clumps.  I therefore had to include a few snippets of this to help show off the bloom from Scilla Peruviana.  

Just to add a green note, I only needed to have one of the now very large leaves of the Arum italicum 'Marmoratum'. This vase, a Charity Shop acquisition from a few weeks ago, is heavy and can take the weight of this large bloom.  The Art Deco Black elephant is there to give a little balance.

Scilla Peruviana

Not long ago I read 'The Maid', and so enjoyed this I ordered the sequel 'The Mystery Guest' by Nita Prose.  It is quite a easy going style and read, and again if you enjoyed the Maid you will enjoy this.

I've been interested not surprisingly in food, how it eaten and prepared, its  rituals, and the changing landscape across the world and in time, for almost ever.  This book by Bee Wilson is very much about the sociology of  food availability,  inequalities, preparation, and the way different people eat, and the pressures on our time particularly in the last fifty years, which has meant far many more processed foods are being pushed and consumed, on the time spent preparing food and whether we eat as a family or not.  

I do remember 'works canteens' and was priviledged to eat lunch in some very good ones such as the one at Hambro Life as it was know in those days, where a 25p free luncheon voucher could buy such exotic main courses as grilled rainbow trout and almonds, usually on a Friday, plus veg and a pudding!  We had exactly the same menu as enjoyed by the Directors . Plus we had an hour to enjoy our lunches in groups or on our own. In the evenings a quick 'high tea' would see any spaces filled before going out.

Six on Saturday - 13 April 2024

 Finally some dry weather, yesterday it was sunny, but still with a stiff breeze, pictures taken were not as crisp as I would like them to be, and they were quickly taken with my mobile. Looking forward a few dry days are promised, and hopefully I shall have days when I can enjoy 'playing' around with plants and preparing the garden the summer time. I'm sure there will be plenty of April joys on Jim's post, aka the SOS garden spot where we hang our posts and ruminate over matters gardening.

1. Several gardens ago we used to enjoy a magnificent Rosa Canary Bird which I had planted near to the dining room window, and finally last year I got to buy one and planted it as a bare root plant early last year.  Although its shape is not particularly to my liking at the moment, a good pruning after it has finished flowering should set it up for future years.  For now I am content to enjoy its beautiful open single blooms, already being visited by bumble bees.

2. Nearby another yellow is from a good clump of cowslips.  I had planted up a couple of self seeders  last year in the Conservatory bed, but decided that a group would better than having them dispersed across a couple of beds.  I've now moved them, but it will only be next year that they are as glorious as this clump. In each of my gardens I have purposefully grown a few of our native plants.

3. This little row of spring perennials  catches the light beautifully, and seems to love its spot in the conservatory bed.  I've had Tiarella Spring Symphony for years, well not these as I do divide them, discard older portions and reposition them.  I did this last year and they are looking all the better for that.

Tiarella Spring Symphony

4. Another spring beauty which does very well here in the garden is this little Primula juliana 'Port and Lemon' which is another one that has passed the test having been planted first three years ago. Again dividing every year or two keeps the plants in good condition.

5. As I was getting close to the ground, I noticed just how many small spiders were moving along the ground.  There were several varieties in different parts, but this one was still enough and I was able to look it up in 'Britain's Spiders' a Filed Guide and found out a little more about it. This is I believe an Oblong Running Crab Spider.  Now I realise what all the wrens, robins and even gold crests are searching for along the ground and in the shrubbery.

6. Finally this  Geranium malviflorum, which is a Summer dormant variety, is just starting up in flower.  This is one that will just disappear down to its underground tubers when flowering is over. Its strong coloured flowers are nicely positioned above its attractive and finely divided leaves, which have helped cover the bare earth over the winter. 

That's it for this week.....