Electric Green

The slimy sprawl of frosted nasturtiums has been consigned to the compost heap and the blackened dahlias need dealing with, but first it is time for houseplant rescue. I’ve done it again. Every year I make a mental note about bringing the houseplants back in from their summer constitutional in the garden - and some of them even made it - but there are always casualties. To be fair, they are a whole lot more hardy than they are given credit for as long as they are well hardened off – even the Christmas cacti have survived frost – but protracted sub-zero temperatures usually spell the end. I learned my lesson the hard way in the very cold snap before last Christmas, but, I thought, it would be rude to inflict the same treatment on them twice. Whoops. The resilience of my asparagus fern is impressive, I had bidden farewell to its blackened stump and wished it well on its journey to the botanical Valhalla…and then got distracted and forgot about it. Phoenix-like, it rose from the ashes to ...

It is cold, drear and can barely be bothered to get light. It is a struggle to get to the allotment and the packets of broad beans and sweet peas that should have been in weeks ago glare accusingly from the shelf. Yet I am finding the handsome row of squash and pumpkins on the mantelpiece is acting as an enduring reminder of the year’s successes. When veg keeps into winter it is a pleasure akin to mainlining The Good Life. An intravenous shot of joy and smugness that warms the cockles like no other. The baby gets creamy squash puree that has been nowhere near a packet. We get squash and green pea risotto. Yum. I have been saving the seeds of the handsome gunmetal blue ‘Crown Prince’ squash and, assuming they don’t get lost, forgotten or otherwise destroyed, I plan to plant them in the spring. But they were grown fairly near the butternut ‘Cobnut’ and a pumpkin (I think it was ‘Mars F1) so it will be interesting to find out how promiscuous they are. Some plants, like foxgloves and helle...

Today it seems as good a time as any to start a-blogging. So after a restorative weekend making Apple crumble and inventing a rather good chutney (courgette and sour apple with lime and ginger, if you are interested), here goes. It has been a week since the Garden Media Guild Awards 09, and I am still blinking in the bright morning light. Congratulations to all the winners and runners up. Honourable mentions to: - Alys Fowler for bringing her bike – impressive greenness! - James Alexander Sinclair and Chris Collins for services to baby patting - Ambra Edwards for winning Journalist Of The Year for the second time - James Wong for general air of surprise and talking about sailing in Singapore - Andy McIndoe for kissing the Queen … or something - Peter Beales for a short, sweet and to the point Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech - And me for making the final of the Columnist of the Year category, ‘Ray! Missed soundtrack opportunity: ‘Bad Medicine’ by Bon Jovi for Grow Your Own...