MICKEY’S BLOG
In the days before Instagram, Mickey kept a regular blog of snippets from Glenmore House.
You may enjoy looking back through them!
Tomato flush….
Now THIS is more like it! The tomatoes have been coming in thick and fast this last week or so. Fat ones, thin ones, black ones, red ones.....at last we have garden tomatoes drizzled with olive oil & tossed with chevre & basil - one of my absolute...
Small disasters…
A split Chinese Elm, which I'm desperately sad about, seems a small price to pay for the deluge of wonderful rain we've received these last few days. Even on Saturday evening, the valley filled with smoke - an ominous sign, so to wake to the pitter-patter of rain...
Summer morning….
I thought that after all the 'brown' things I've posted this week, I'd leave you with the clear, vibrant colours of a summer morning harvest for the weekend! On a morning of clear sky, warm sun and the sound of cicadas filling the air, I just had to complete my...
Seed collecting….
With the process of harvest (yesterday's post) comes the urge for renewal. For those of you who are regular readers of my funny posts, you will recall how I've been enjoying the romantic meadow-like effect of so many veg gone to flower (as important for bringing in...
Coming up onions….
This weekend I took the decision to harvest the onions. I never can quite decide - is it too early or too late?....But this looks just right! At this stage I monitor them by the day. A couple had bolted to flower which told me we were getting close. On the...
Pink potatoes….
Growing potatoes is enormous fun and very, very rewarding. I have about 6 different varieties in this year and some are faring better than others. But I ALWAYS grow King Edwards for their pretty pink markings and beautiful texture. They...
Mid-summer harvest….
I guess its time to leave the days of beach-combing behind and get back to reality. Not that I mind....as the garden is so much a part of my life and brings simple joys each day (which make the hardship of keeping it going worthwhile!). I am NOT looking forward...
Gardens by the sea…
How I love rockpools! Each one a complete world unto itself....I like to think of them as gardens by the sea. I so enjoy the muted, tawny colours of the various weeds and shells and no two pools are ever alike. Perfectly clear, still waters expose a sumptuous...
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! I thought I'd give you a little break from me (as much as me from the computer!). I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We were delighted with 1&1/3 inches of rain and a candlelit Christmas Day - unusual but not unheard of and though...
Happy Christmas….
'Tis the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, except for THIS mouse....! Well - WHAT a day! The cooktop has been on overdrive all day, the dishwasher on repeat wash. It began with a serious bout of garden watering and the...
Early green tomatoes….
Some of you have expressed concern at the fact that your tomatoes are green....well, so are mine! Please be patient: although some lucky people out there have popped their tomatoes into precisely the right micro climate and are enjoying the first of their harvest,...
Sunflower sonata….
I sow sunflower seed with great anticipation each year....particularly down at the pumpkin patch where I hope for a naive display of rampant growth. Their tightly furled buds remind me of those beautiful Chinese tea flowers that open in slow motion as they steep...
Golden hues slowly unfurl…..
The colours of a Glenmore Christmas are slowly bursting forth. Frangipani are tumbling to the ground on the north face of the house..... ...while the first Bishop of Llandaff dahlias sway in the breeze at their feet. Deep reds and golden yellow, to be joined by...
Bean fever….
Over the weekend I collected the first beans! I always get SO excited about the 'first' of any fruit, vegetable or flower (you may have noticed!). It's rare we have Borlotti beans so early, but I've elected to eat the baby ones in hope that regular harvesting will...
Clouds of froth….
The Kitchen Garden continues to produce clouds of frothy umbellifer flowers well into December. They are mostly the flowering heads of parsnip and fennel, muddled in with flowering celery which is a bit more stiff, and chard which has a completely different form. ...
Summer lavender….
The angustifolia lavenders are in flower! It took me years and years to find a strain of this classic English variety that would grow at Glenmore. For me, they represent the earliest imaginings of how we might shape the garden here (when it was nothing more than a...
Fishy tales….
A great sense of enjoyment pervaded 'Cooking the Glenmore Christmas Lunch' yesterday, with lots of laughter amidst the chopping of veg and washing up. Stand-by fishmongers - I think there might be a few orders for whole salmon coming up! Not to mention newly...
Pixie flowers….
Allium flowers always make me think of pixie hats. The buds swell, then slowly split their papery sheath which peels away, revealing a full head of flowers inside. The tall spire remains attached and the whole episode seems to happen in slow motion. From...
Tea time….
No....not for you! But for your fruiting veg. Now is the time to MAKE Comfrey Tea, while the plants are in peak production. Make the most of those big, felty leaves - pick armfuls and steep them in a bucket of water. Cover and put it somewhere well out of the...