Visit to Yeo's Organic Gardens

Wells WI "Blooming Fun" gardening group only recently formed.  We have already been able to meet via zoom, and discuss what each member can bring, share or would like to gain from the group. Sharing plants from our gardens, for me has been a joy.  During the recent very restricted possibilities, Wells WI has devised many solutions to bring a sense of connection and also open up new opportunities for our members.  This gardening group is lead by two members, along with input from all interested members. 

Today we had our first outside meeting. For our first garden visit the weather was absolutely glorious, if a little cold and breezy . At Yeo's Organic Gardens, blue skies, good paths  and just the joy of being able to be outside together meant that our two hour morning slot just whizzed by. We went round in small numbers, but would often call out:  " Did you see....." which meant turning back and retracing our steps and discovering little tucked away gardens easily missed.

As this was one of my first outings, with friends, since the most recent lock down, and also my first visit to this garden, I was not really concentrating on taking pictures.  At each turn were areas to beguile. 

In a small enclosed woodland,  Himalayan Birch trees grow tall and straight.  Although one's eye is drawn to the far side of the woodlands, one cannot but also pause, taking note and admiring  the large  range of spring woodland plants covering the ground, as in a Millefleur Tapestry.  

Already the fine crosiers of ferns and young leaves of foxglove plants look forward to the shadier months  when the violets, anemones, scilla, and erythroniums and many others will have fallen to their summer rest.

One cannot help but be drawn,  and then smile as with each step woodland reflections curve and shimmer. I get a sense of theatre and drama and of movement.

Today it was the reflections which resonated with me. It seems this space has its very own mood encapsulated by this figure of a man balanced exquisitely and mirrored on the calm surface as if in a trace.

On my second visit just a week later, when I complemented the owner on the beautiful Bronze and how it just possessed the space, Sarah Mead mentioned that the sculpture was by French Artist and Sculptor Nicolas Lavarenne, and that it had been a present for one of her big birthdays.  To think we all get to share in the beauty of her birthday present, just how generous is that!

Each area felt different, whether enclosed or backed by local stone walls, or hedges. Nestling within the Mendip, and  surrounded by rolling hills there is a feeling of greenness and tranquility. I don't need this Crystal Ball to foretell many more visits to these gardens.

There was a joyous display of Parrot Tulips.  As Yeo is the manufacturer of delicious yogurts and other dairy produce, this pot full certainly made me chuckle.

With feathers of colour on curved and crinkly petals

the parrot tulips both free and enclosed made a fine display on the terrace.

This is certainly a garden worth visiting several times during the year.

Balkan Cheese Bread from The Baking Book

 My kind and generous friend Mandy recently sent me a book.  It was a complete surprise and I get a smile still thinking of my reaction when I opened the posted book.  Mandy had known that I had visited Honey & Co in London, and that I had probably borrowed one of their cookery books, soon after from the library, but had yet to have my own copy.  We take it in turns to choose a recipe.  So being my turn I have chosen Balkan Cheese Bread.  When Mandy bakes hers, I shall put a link to her post here.  She is a superb photographer and has a great way with words, so it will be interesting, not just to me, but to anyone wanting to try this load, to read Mandy's post.  If in the meantime before you get your own book, the recipe was published in Delicious Magazine.

I've used local Wootton White and Milestone Sheep's cheeses which I buy from Wells Market.  The Bread was delicious, and Mr S & I both thought the dough was excellent.  With the egg yolk and the golden cold pressed rapeseed oil, the dough had a soft briochy texture, which balanced very well with the leeks and the cheese.  The Nigella seeds and the chilli flakes were a great flavour too in amongst the cheese goo.  I have made several cheesy layered breads such as Tootmanik s Gotovo Testo, a Bulgarian Bread and I recognised that Honey & Co's Balkan Cheese Bread would be excellent.

This is a large loaf easily serving six hungry people together with a bowl of soup.  We ate just a third, and there are now two chunks in the freezer.  Next time I shall make two smaller loaves from the same amount of ingredients.

In a Vase on Monday - Forced to show these

 I've come to the conclusion that on the main, as regards flowers and plants, I am a natural sort of person enjoying unforced flowers in their natural season.  In early January I brought the pot of Alstromeria into the conservatory after the growth had got frosted.  After pulling all the stems, the plant took off, and is now in flower.  

Today, I moved the pot outside and picked a few stems.  So having in effect having been forced in the conservatory, I am now forced to show the Alstromeria 'Indian Summer'.  It is not often that one has naturally growing flowers of this hue in the Spring time, which may be the reason it feel a little weird.

As for the accompanying  'greenery' a stem of of the Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem' was sacrificed.

For my WI bookclub I am reading Miss Austen by Gill Hornby. For any lovers of the novels of Jane Austen, this is a 'must read'.  Mr S is already queuing up to read this.  The book is propped up against the warm and comfortable Mosaic Carpet Cushion.  I have such wonderful memories of going of a workshop with two good knitting friends.

Cathy who is the center of the IAVOM universe, has settled on The Blues this week, with of course great bits and pieces about concerts and hobbies woven in.  A good read indeed, very well done Cathy.

Blood Orange and Pistachio Cake Revisited

 Whilst I still had some blood oranges left, I thought I would have a second try at the cake from The Honey & Co Baking Book.  I followed the recipe ratios exactly as well as the method except again I halved the quantities.  I also did not add the sugar and cornflour to the bottom of the tin, as last time getting the cake out intact was an impossibility.  Instead I made a sauce, which I poured on the cake when it came out of the oven. I still feel that the base, which of course becomes the top when you turn the cake out, is too wet.

Whether I had larger eggs this time, or whether beating the nuts into the creamed butter and sugar, before rather than after the eggs, as I did last time, I seem to have too much batter for the 7 inch tin.  I had my first stick of rhubarb and a few left over strawberries, so made three small cakes.  These were much more of a success. 

It might be that the oranges were just too juicy, and perhaps something like nectarines or peaches would suit the batter better.

Six on Saturday - 17 April 2021

Here is a link to the Prop's blog. He hasn't posted yet today, so it may be that he is somewhere on a long run.  Should he put something up later, then I'll link in to it at a later date. He has now, so I am linking here to his, and guess what it is the start of the Tulip season there too.

 1. There is nothing quite like observing new plants growing in one's garden and checking them out.  Different growing conditions, which can range from soil, climate and weather and each year seems to vary  allows us to see what plants are really like, as apposed to recollections of clever photography and over the top descriptions.  Even small areas within the garden seem to have a micro-climate and now I am getting to know the new garden, find moving plants around can be of great benefit.

I have already posted about T. Turkestanica and how I was a little underwhelmed by them, but found I had not put up a picture.  So here it is, mostly so that I can refer back to what they looked like and their position and by which I can compare them next year.

T. Turkestanica

Last week I wrote about T. Clusiana Lady Jane, which is continuing to look lovely.  In the morning they are closed with the slightest pale cream edge to their pink outer petals and then they becomes fully open in the bright sunshine.  By coincidence I received some Tulip photographs from The Somerset Alpine Garden Society and consequently on requesting names was sent an article by Christine Skelmersdale of Broadleigh Gardens.  I found I still had the full article in April 2020 of The Garden. These few words, regarding Tulipa clusiana, which had simply accompanied the original un labelled pictures piqued my interest: "This tulip spreads strongly by stolons". What an interesting feature in tulips, which explains how these types of tulips will increase and little colonies expand. Watching the tulips over a number of years is going to be interesting.

2. I was particularly pleased to read that spreading by stolens is also a feature of what must be my favourite tulip so far: Tulipa Whittalii Major. Maybe it is the self confidence it  exudes as well as its overall proportions that I find most pleasing. As for colour, burnt orange is amongst my favourite.

3. Perhaps the most disappointing of the tulips so far is Tulipa tarda.  I so hope that it improves in future years.  It is very close to the ground but this may be that we have had a very dry spell this Spring.  Hopefully next year I shall be able to change my views, as I had high expectations when I viewed all the pictures before I bought it.

4. One little plant that has grown on me is this diminutive Iris pumila Knick-Knack.  This was a plant which in its first year in the garden four years ago, was underwhelming: time and growth has changed this.

Iris pumila Knick-Knack

I must admit dwarf bearded iris are growing on me.

5. Astrantia major 'Sunningdale Variegated' is adding a bright splash and seems to have benefitted from its mulch.  There are several patches of this lovely foliage and flower plant.

Astrantia major Sunningdale Variegated

6. Ghostly apparitions with a cemetery just over the wall?  No it is the small Plum Mirabelle de Nancy shrouded in its frost protective fleece, with early morning mist on the air.  AS I look out, this morning, there is ice on the bird bath. We have had strong sun by day, cold nights with frost, and still no rain. This has meant watering of pots, and areas where there have been recently planted or moved shrubs and plants.  The weather forecast is fair and dry for at least a week ahead.  There are no 'April Showers' forecast. 

Just as a small extra, which at this time of the year, is so hard not to include, mea culpa it is not but it is the problem with neighbouring cats:  apparently they love Valeriana  officinalis.

Valeriana officnalis flattened by rolling cats