September in the garden…

 Anyone know any good recipes using cucumbers?!  Yes - we have been thoroughly enjoying a glut of the lovely green beauties, and as there are only limited ways of enjoying them, it has been proving a bit challenging! So far we have only lost a couple to the compost, and are making all efforts to come up with ever more inventive uses for the rest!  Tomatoes have also been coming thick and fast - as well as eating those fresh we’ve continued cooking with them too - there are currently several tubs of oven-roast tomatoes with copious amounts of garlic and basil sitting in the freezer waiting for use. 

We got into a habit over the summer of wandering out into the garden most evenings after work where the weather allows it, just five or ten minutes pottering about, picking whatever is ready, winding down from the day and our commutes - a really nice way to move into the evening. The enjoyment that comes from being able to spend just a few minutes, and come in with a punnet of assorted veggies which will then help feed us is huge. We’ll definitely miss that as the evening light fades away ahead of the clocks changing. 

A big highlight of this month was digging up the first of our potatoes. We chose to grow Pink Fir Apple - a  maincrop variety we used to grow on the allotment years ago - it’s a really useful potato because it tastes fantastic whether boiled, roasted or eaten cold in salads, so it’s really versatile. The knobbly shape means they are extremely tricky to peel - not a problem for us as I very rarely peel tatties anyway, but might not suit everyone. 

That was the first lot - we’ve since dug all of the first row up as the soil over the top was beginning to thin and the potatoes were greening. We’ve already eaten some and they really are delicious! As well as the first row from the main bed, we had a limited amount from a sack which MrEH sowed with the leftover seed potatoes - seemed silly to see them go to waste, and we’ve harvested enough for a few meals at least from it - the compost hasn’t gone to waste either as it has been tipped out into this years main potato patch to enrich that. 

Now things are starting to wind down towards the colder months, we’re starting to think about tidying things up. As the cucumber plants in the grow-bag have stopped producing we’ve taken those out, and the same with most of the tomatoes although a handful of plants are still going where there still have small fruit which may yet swell a bit, but are currently too small to bother picking. We’ve stripped the plants that have been removed with the green toms set out on a windowsill to be ripened indoors - although some may be converted straight into green tomato chutney or used as an ingredient in piccalilli. We’ve been sorting things out in the shed too - finding homes for our camping equipment in the house, and making sure things like plant pots and saucers have storage space for the winter. 

This month marked a year of us being in the house - and the garden - of course, and it’s still just such a joy to have the space, to be able to grow things, and also to see it evolving too. In some ways the biggest change is actually at the front which we have taken from entirely slate & slab, to a mix of that and space for plenty of things growing, as well. Some edibles have even crept in out there as well - a couple of varieties of thyme and a Greek basil which I am hoping I may be able to continue to get leaves off through the winter. I was looking back at the picture of the front of the house from the agents listing the other day and the difference our efforts have made to the front of the house is huge! 

The one disappointment this year has been herbs which have not been particularly successful - I will revisit how I do things next year and also get a cage sorted out to protect the soft herbs from the squirrels and pigeons - both of those are major pests! 

Robyn

A Capital weekend!

 At the beginning of the month we had another of the Hidden London tours booked - Holborn this time, a chance to see the opposing end of the Aldwych branch having already done the Aldwych tour a few years ago. A couple of weeks beforehand we got an email through from the LT Museum telling us that  they were running their 1938 stock train on the top end of the metropolitan line that same weekend, and a plan was hatched…

Friday morning saw the usual gathering of like minded individuals lurking around outside Holborn Station on Kingsway. Within a couple of minutes of our arrival our tour guides appeared, and after some minor technical issues involving an iPad not getting a data signal, we were all checked off on a list, issued us with our lanyards and “Visitor” badges, and ushered through the barriers into the station. Around us commuters were heading off to the escalators - while we stepped through a door off to one side of the ticket hall and were faced with our first glimpse of the station’s wonderful tiling…

It never fails to astonish that features like this have just been left untouched even when stations have been refurbished a number of times in the time period since those areas were last used by the public. This tiling continued in various states of repair all the way down the long spiral staircase - such a treat to start us off! 

The main areas for exploring were of course the old Aldwych branch platforms - and there was certainly plenty to see. The photo above was taken just beyond the end of the old platform 5 looking along the running tunnel - you can see how the line changes its route and where the old second tunnel would have run. That platform is now taken up with small office type rooms which have over the years been used for all sorts of things including changing rooms. Indeed several still have signage visible on the doors confirming this…

I love the picture added by the Hidden London team for context, too! The highlight of these rooms was  room 8, for me - because of this…

Yes - another patch of beautifully preserved original tiling - this section clearly showing the station’s unique “chevron” pattern. Originally this would have appeared all along the platform, with the station name also appearing in the tiling too - and in fact in room 8 you can also still see just the “N” of “Holborn” too. 

More of the tiling remains on platform 6 - as well as a real piece of heritage in the shape of this sign…

Yes - the station used to have reference to “Kingsway” in its name! Look carefully around the edges and you can see more of the tiling too  - and elsewhere on the platform are lovely features like the “Exit” sign cartouches 

It’s not only tiling and signs that survive either - by some miracle in one of the old passenger tunnels this little gem can be seen…

Apparently this can be fairly accurately dated to the mid 1930’s - the number of “flights” on the arrow (a Mexican Arrow, for fellow tube geeks!) means it can be narrowed down to a block of pre-war years, but the fact that the line diagram does not show Down Street - closed in 1932 - reduces that window somewhat. In real terms though, somewhere about 90 years old - yet still vibrant and clear! All in all another fabulous tour - and for anyone else considering it trust me, there is plenty to see that I haven’t shown you here! 

Tour complete we - as is now traditional - repaired to the nearest decent pub for a beer and a bit of a debrief and natter about our favourite bits (him - the old running tunnel, me - the tiling of course!) before heading off for lunch, then we set off to be tourists for thr afternoon. MrEH gave me a guided tour of the Royal Courts of Justice - an utterly breathtaking building that it turns out any member of the public can visit - and then I took him to St Clement Danes church which I last visited probably about 40 years ago! We then met a good pal for a quick pint at the end of his working day - I found Neptune Brewery’s “On The Bounty” on the bar in that pub which I was delighted about as a beer that tastes like you are drinking liquidised Bounty bars is a wonderful thing! We wrapped up the evening with a few more beers in another favourite pub - this one was serving Hammerton Brewery’s “Crunch” which tastes like liquidised peanut butter so as you can imagine I was rather pleased about that, too - then headed off to find our bed for the night, at the Travelodge at Wembley. 

The following morning we were out bright and early for breakfast and then the short walk to Wembley Park station to catch the Metropolitan Line out to Amersham. While waiting we got our first glimpse of the reason for the trip, too… 

On the right is the gorgeous 1938 tube stock train from the London Transport Museum, on its way to Amersham to run passenger trips for the day. It stopped in  at Wembley Park on the way to pick up volunteer staff, and was certainly turning heads - even the driver of the current day train alongside was craning his head out of the window for a good look! 

Once at Amersham we browsed the Friends of the Museum stall - acquiring a few quirky oddments of tube history along the way, including a rather wonderful guide to the Victoria Line and the new automatic ticket barriers it was given - dating from 1970. Then it was time to board our chosen carriage- I had opted to book one of the end ones, feeling like we may well get a chance for a look into the cab that way, and we were certainly not disappointed on that…

The trip was from Amersham round to Watford and back - including going round the “North Curve” , a section of line normally only used by a couple of trains a day, very early in the morning and very late at night.  We had a short time stopped at Watford where the train invited lots of interest from passing travellers, before heading back the way we’d come. The 45 minute gave us all plenty of time to enjoy the marvellously comfortable refurbished moquette seating, admire the gorgeous glass lamps, and reflect on all the changes that had occurred since the carriage maps were produced! 

All in all it was an absolutely lovely trip -  the train is fantastic and it’s amazing to not only get to experience such a piece of history, but also to see how other people on the platforms we passed reacted to it as well - and also how some folk were simply so immersed in their phones that in spite of those around them reacting, pointing and smiling they missed it entirely!  Booking the budget hotel room for the night worked well too particularly as the travel back and forth would have cost us about the same - and it was great to have an afternoon of simply being a tourist in my own city as well! Definitely something we would consider doing again. 

Robyn

August in the Garden...

 The first part of this month was largely about scorching temperatures, not much rain and very regular watering being needed! (It's almost like we finally had a summer!) Thankfully we have managed to keep pretty much everything alive though, which allowing that we have been away for a couple of weekends in the middle of everything actually feels like quite a win. The water butt has been a godsend here too - the higher level of rain earlier in the year ensured that going into the warmer weather it was still lovely and full, and although we have used the hose just to make life easier when watering right round the whole garden, for just filling a can for smaller areas we've been using the water from the butt throughout. Lower temperatures and at least a bit of rain for the second half of the month was a bit of a relief though. 

As predicted, we've finally hit the point of a bit more harvesting of things this month. Our lovely chilli plant is still looking fantastic, with a decent amount of fruit on it, and still producing new flowers as well to our delight. Now it's just a case of waiting for them to arrive at the deep red colour which means they are fully ripe.

The tomatoes started properly getting their act together from the beginning of the month - the first little cherry tomato was ceremoniously cut in half and shared, but by the middle of the month I was picking a tub full each day and we were fully self sufficient for them. we've grown 3 varieties this year - all fairly mainstream reliable ones - "Minibel" are a little tiny compact bush plant - the seeds were as part of a "salad vegetable selection" and have proved excellent - good germination and a heavy cropper too. The other cherry tomato slightly larger "Gardener's Delight" - always a favourite, and always reliable, we've grown these many times before and they are always tasty. Finally there is "Moneymaker" - another reliable favourite we have grown before. As well as eating in salads and a handful for me with lunch most days, I’ve been including them in cooking too - including as part of the sauce base for a rather tasty lamb curry - so much tastier than opening a tin of chopped tomatoes! 

We noticed early in the month that the courgettes were still struggling - and a bit of investigation revealed that they were ridiculously overshadowed by our very enthusiastic potato plants! A bit of reorganisation of those, a quick shift of a grow-bag full of tomato plants, and some removal of the worst of the mildewed leaves from the courgette plants  has provided far better airflow and more light to the plants, and as a result they are now fruiting far better. A lesson learned from this year is around how we plant them in the future - the yellow variety we had this year need more space than we gave them, so the alternative might be to sow a climbing variety instead.

Cucumbers are still a success story - and while the three in the grow-bag are slowing down a bit now, the "extra" one we have grown climbing up a section of trellis is ramping up its efforts and keeping us supplied. We have come to the conclusion that this is definitely a crop we will grow as climbers next year - a single narrow trellis will take two plants, so two of those should keep us in cukes for the majority of salad season.

Beans too - both the runners and the bush beans have been producing a steady crop. You need to keep a daily check on these as otherwise they stop producing beans as they put their efforts in to swelling those that are ripening on the plant, which is not what we want! 

Herbs this year are still a bit hit and miss. My various sowings of basil are at last producing enough leaves to add to pasta dishes and that sort of thing, but nowhere near the amount I had hoped for pesto, sadly. The flat leaf parsley is flourishing now at least, and we're doing well with tarragon, rosemary and sage. My lovely trough of Coriander meanwhile started looking great, then promptly bolted before I could get so much as a leaf off it! For next year I am inclined to think that I may well consider buying herbs like parsley, basil and coriander in pots and just immediately potting on into bigger containers and see how that works, rather that growing from seed.  For the time being, I have given the coriander a haircut, and have sown a trough with half basil, and half coriander, to see if that will behave any better. It's also been covered with a sheet of wire mesh to keep the squirrels and pigeons from just digging it up! 

Overall the garden is still a source of constant delight, and it’s a rare evening or weekend morning when we don’t potter about out there for at least a bit - picking odds and ends, deadheading the sweet peas, or just marvelling in how productive we have already made the space. We’re feeding the birds of course, and get a nice variety down most days, and we’re seeing a good variety of bees and butterflies too which is a positive at a time when a lot of other gardeners are reporting a real decline in these vital little allies. Less popular mind you were the army of large white butterfly caterpillars which consumed our lovely nasturtiums down to the stalk in roughly 24 hours! Ah well, that’s gardens for you!

Robyn.