What have you done today in the Garden?

This gave me a giggle DHR.

 

No problem @Pacnorwest here's my Christmas pudding recipe.
Traditional Rich Pudding.
Dried Fruit
8 oz currants
8oz sultanas
8oz raisins
6 oz chopped peel
1 lb molasses sugar, that's the darkest sugar.
2oz chopped or ground almonds
8oz fresh breadcrumbs, i use a hovis wholemeal one it has molasses in that makes it a darker bread
8oz shredded suet.
3oz plain flour, i use a self raising flour because that's what i have and it doesn't make any difference.
1 level teaspoon nutmeg
Half teaspoon cinnamon
2oz grated carrot
4oz grated cooking apple peeled and cored
2 lemons, grated rind and juice
3 tablespoons of stout because it's dark
3 large eggs beaten
1lb. 12oz of glac'e cherries halved
Mixe all ingredients together but not the cherries
This will make 7 x 1 lb puddings, I put one in the freezer.
Put 4 oz of cherries in each pudding by weighing the cherries then put the other mixture in to make up to 1lb.and mix well
I cook mine in the pressure cooker, it saves time.
I hope that it's enough information.

 

Haven't done much today in the garden, when i could it was raining, but it needs it and it's not enough.

 

Nothing much as my ankle, leg, knee started to complain yesterday and is still grumbling today. Thought it best to rest it a bit as we have a busy week ahead + going up to London for a few days. Did some knitting for charity instead.
However I did deadhead the Petunias.

 

DHR loving the beautiful garden you have created over the years. Thanks so much for sharing. So much to learn just from your pics.

Today just taking a break from garden woes… and enjoying a day out with friends.

 

@Oreti i hope that your leg, knee feels better soon, I've been told from people who have had knee replacement it takes a long time to recover.

 

We're having perfect temperatures for being outside and getting things done. My raspberries have been in the same spot for 35 years. The small maple we foolishly put the berries near has grown to shade them out. I've made new berry rows in the sun. It's really been a nice project.

I have 2 types of raspberries. One is an ever bearing variety. I like them but they're not the most flavorful. The other variety is from the family home and an old variety. They are delicious. My favorite fruit. I can pick and eat those warm berries until they're gone. But I have managed to get a lot of jam made and canned up.

 

@Logan… Thank you so much for taking the time to write up your Christmas pudding recipe. Looks really yummy.
After reading the recipe it looks very similar to my mincemeat pie recipe I have which also includes fruits/ berries , nuts, citrus’, all chopped and spices . It is so yummy. Better than pumpkin or sweet potato pie.
Put a copy in my recipe folder.

 

@Sjoerd , what are "limnanthes" ? I never heard of them, at least not that name.

DS is home for a few hours over the weekend this week. He is still being rented out to another company (truck driver), and they are close enough to home that he gets a few hours home over the weekend. He seldom gets a whole weekend to himself.

It was raining when I got up this morning, and did chores in the rain. DS took me for a bunch of errands--get pet food, groceries, etc. The sun came out around mid morning, so most of the day was sunny. I was able to mow about an hour or so in late afternoon, and got maybe half of another section mowed, but then another storm moved in. I will mow more when the weather lets me mow.

We found about another dozen volunteer tomato plants this afternoon, DS pulled them out and I will plant them tomorrow. They are in a bucket of water overnight. I have no clue where they came from, or what kind of tomatoes they are.

The poached egg flowers are growing. Maybe they will bloom soon. No sign of the snapdragons though.

I did get some more seed for garden sage, and some pink daisies. I hope they grow. We had so much rain in the spring, a lot of my seed drowned.

One of the persimmon trees that I was given earlier this spring finally has some new growth near the root. I will plant it out this week. The pecan trees and the witch hazel are doing nicely. My grapevines are doing well also. The elderberries and pumpkins are going gangbusters. The horseradish is doing well.

I got some berrytone for my strawberries and blueberries and raspberry bushes, maybe I can give them some tomorrow?

My purple crepe myrtle has begun to bloom. Not sure about the pink one yet. My pink crepe myrtle had a lot of die-back over the winter. I have pruned some of it, but it still needs more pruning. Some of my lilacs have died back too, so I will need to prune them soon when I catch up on the mowing.

Some of my phlox are blooming. The ones in the sun are a dark lavender; the ones in the shade are not yet blooming but are usually a pale lavender. They are all from the same friend, and ought to be the same color. The darker ones are offspring from the lighter ones.
I have worked on my veggie garden, but it is not done yet. When it is more presentable, I will post a few pictures.

When my son had ditchwork done nearly two years ago, they dug out a lot of flowering shrubs around the telephone pole, and we got a new telephone pole at the same time. A lot of those bushes are growing back, but so are many weeds. Maybe I can get to them by fall? I don't want to meet any snakes in that mess. Most of the bushes were white spirea, and a bridal wreath bush. Others are rose of Sharon bushes... There is Japanese honeysuckle bushes in them also.

 

@Pacnorwest glad that you like my Christmas pudding recipe and that you will keep it. Yes it would be similar to the mincemeat pie.

 

It rained a bit this morning so the fruit to pick will be wet, so going to pot on my wallflower seedlings.

 

Pruned some more unwanted wisteria growth, then gave this mimosa a trim.
Given the thickness of its trunk, this will grow a lot taller.

 

I don't have much to do as my beans are all coming up and the last of the tomato plants ( one cherry and one heatmaster) have unripe fruit. Nothing to pick or weed as I get to weeds when I use the weedeater. It makes for a more thorough and pleasant job IMHO. It kills 2 birds with one stone (trip).

Still waiting on my new weedeater to arrive. It was supposed to arrive saturday. Amazon sent me one of those "sorry, your item is running late" emails saturday and it is now due to arrive today.... so they say.

 

Thanks @Logan, yes it does apparently 1-2 years. My Mum, elder Sister and brother all had both of theirs done. My problems are (a) I'm impatient , ( b) I like to be up and about , preferably outside, doing things as life is too short to be stuck indoors, ( c) and I get the grumps when faced with recovery setbacks....as poor hubs knows too well. Bless him.
We've been out all day today so tomorrow I will slow the pace down a notch as I want to be as mobile as possible for the weekend.

 

I thinned the beets in the lower gardenand washed and trimmed the tender greens. Today they will be blanched and frozen, I also harvested a cauliflower and some strawberries.



Can you spot the rock berry? My daughter painted some river rocks as strawberries and gave them to me for Mother's Day. She thinks they will dissuade the chipmunks hahaha. They often fake me out.



I inspected the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower for signs of cabbage moth caterpillars. I was late getting my plants in this year and under protection. I think I have found them all. So far there is no more damage.


Soon it will be time to thin the carrots again. I hilled the carrots and the beets to discourage any vole activity. And fertilized the onions and leeks.





The deer proofing is proving effective on the upper garden. Thank goodness. They maneuvered what I had last year and cleaned me out.