January In The Garden
The new year weekend was happily spent tucked up in front of the fire reading through my Chilterns Seed Catalogue. There are no pictures only pictorial descriptions that make each and every packet highly desirable. How could you resist this: D. arborea. Angel’s Trumpet. A shrub or small tree with hairy leaves. This wonderful plant from Peru and Chile should produce its magnificent, beautifully fragrant, white trumpet shaped flowers, 8ins and more long, the first year from seed. It can either be grown in an 8in pot and pruned hard each year after flowering or given space and allowed to grow into a specimen plant. 10ft. Packet of 12 seeds £3.45. These seeds and many more are now in my seed box awaiting the potting compost (peat free naturally). At the other end of the spectrum, I am equally excited to be growing Pilosella aurantiaca (Fox and Cubs) for our wild garden areas. These are fabulous little bright orange daisies that ping out of the long grass. Strangely, Chilterns do not stock these, but Sarah Raven, known for her stylish planting, does. So watch this space!
Rose pruning has been the main activity in the ornamental garden, so the ladders have been out with Caroline and Ellie going in to battle with the Rambling Rector, American Pillar and others to prune out the old and tease the new into arched shapes along the pergolas. Some of our roses have been in the garden for fifty years and continue to perform well, especially the fragrant pale pink Felicia type rose (I don’t know the actual variety) which scents the walkway from the Walled Garden during July.
Our new polytunnel has arrived! Will is now researching You tube videos about how to put it up. This will give us prolonged growing time for the market garden for early summer veg like spinach, chard, oriental leaves and those delicious french beans that are so popular. I spent a happy few hours wandering through Brixton market recently and was inspired by the variety of delicious looking veg available there. If ever you have a spare few hours, I heartily recommend a visit. It is also packed with amazing food stalls. We enjoyed mouth watering bao buns with peach popping boba bubble tea. Quite delicious.
Recipe of the month
Cooking in the kitchen at Falconhurst this month has been transformed by our Christmas books. Nigel Slater’s latest offering, A Cook’s Book, is a winner. A firm favourite so far, perfect for the cold Alpine weather we have been experiencing are his ‘Baked onions in Taleggio sauce’. Substitute whatever cheese Dan suggests in the Farm Shop – I found the Goodweald smoked to be a perfect complement to the sweet onions. This is SO easy and SO delicious!
Baked onions, Goodweald sauce Serves 4
Onions 8, medium butter 60g
Bay leaves 3 thyme 8 sprigs
Black peppercorns 12 double cream 250ml
Olive oil 3 tablespoons Goodwood smoked 200g
Bring a large, deep pan of salted water to the boil. Set the oven at 200 c. Peel the onions, keeping them whole. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns to the boiling water, then lower in the peeled onions. Leave them at a brisk simmer for about 30 minutes, until they are soft and yielding.
Lift out the softened onions with a draining spoon and place them in a baking dish. Pour the olive oil over the onions, add the butter, the leaves from half of the thyme sprigs and a little black pepper, then bake for about 40 minutes, basting once or twice as they cook.
Warm the double cream in a small saucepan over a low heat. Cut the Goodweald cheese into small pieces, then leave to melt, without stirring, in the cream, adding the remaining sprigs of thyme and a grinding of black pepper.
Serve two onions per person together with some of the yummy cheese sauce with a hunks of warm baguette to scoop up the sauce.
Nigel Slater, A Cook’s Book