Young Plums (Go For it!)

Beetroot, Pear and Walnut Salad

My wife made a deliciously zingy and very healthy salad, using Beetroot, Pear and Walnut, she also added thinly sliced Turnip, Avocado, crisp Watercress and leaves of Jack by the hedge (Garlic Mustard), from the garden. I supplied the Walnuts and added some Hazelnuts for fun; these nuts were gathered last year during October and September, they keep very well in cool, dry conditions. Apples will also last throughout the Winter, if you store them well.

Walnuts and Hazelnuts

The recent heatwave has kept me out of the midday sun and I decided it was high time to pick the Elderflowers that I have been planning to make champagne with. I got on my bike before it got too hot and cycled over to the local park, beside the river. I got a heady citrus waft off the flowers, as I approached from downwind. I filled my bag in a matter of minutes, getting covered in yellow pollen in the process.

Elder Tree in Flower

The other simple ingredients are Water, Lemons, Sugar, and a dash of White Wine Vinegar. By the time you have this little lot mixed together in a bucket, the kitchen smells terrific and gives you a strong taste of things to come. It is left (covered) in the bucket for 2 days, then the debris is filtered out and the liquid transferred into demijohns for fermentation.

Ready for Fermentation

After a couple of weeks the fermentation should have slowed down enough for bottling in Pressure Safe Bottles - but a word of caution... If fermentation continues too much under pressure, you might, at best, lose half of your lovely Elderflower Champagne all over the room you open it in. Far more dangerous, would be exploding glass bottles, so please, do keep a regular eye on anything you have bottled and always use suitable Pressure Safe Bottles!

Green Cherries

Ongoing observations include, keeping your eyes pealed for immature fruit. If you have identified a likely tree by its blossom, revisit it later, to see if any young fruits are developing. I have already seen young Plums, green Cherries, and tiny Apples and Pears; regular checking will keep you in tune with seasonal developments and ensure you are ready as fruit ripens. I recently noticed Fennel growing out of pavements in the city.

Fennel

Nasturtium are starting to grow in the garden, these are one of the most likeable garden flowers. The leaves and flowers can be eaten, or added to a salad to liven it up. They taste peppery, a bit like Rocket or Water-Cress. The Latin name, Nasturtium, translates as "Twisted Nose!"

Nasturtium 

Butser, Beltain and the Wicker Man

Butser hill is the highest point in Hampshire, it was also an Iron Age hill fort. It is a fantastic spot for a wild walk or picnic. Nearby, on the other side of the A3 main road, lies Butser Ancient Farm, an experimental, archaeologically accurate farmstead.

Butser is an interesting place for school children to visit and experience what it might have been like to live under the conditions of ancient man (without any screens).

Each year around the beginning of May Butser hosts a Beltain festival, to celebrate the lengthening of the days in a suitable May fayre style.

There is lots of daytime entertainment, including flint napping (creating Stone Age tools and weapons), bronze smelting, weapon training, Roman soldiers, wood crafting, story telling, astronomy, live folk music, Maypole dancing, food and drink, drumming, fancy dress and, as the dusk draws in, the burning of an enormous Wicker Man.

We always try to get along and we always have a fantastic time, this year was no exception. Since that day, I have seen swifts, swallows and house martins, so the warmer weather is definitely on the way.

Triangular Leeks or Wild Garlic

We visited Devon for a short break in April and as we walked around the countryside and woodland paths, we could frequently smell the pungent aroma of Wild Garlic.

There are places where whole banks are swathed with Garlic plants, many of them now in flower.

There is a plant in Devon that is related to the Wild Garlic and seen by some as an invasive weed; locals call it the Triangular Leek, it tastes and smells very similar to the garlic.

Our children like to make Garlic bread by finely chopping Wild Garlic leaves, mixing it with butter, then spreading it on toast. It makes for a very tasty substitute; we have also done this with chives that we found growing wild at our Southampton allotment, we toasted the bread on a fire this time.

Elderflowers are now blooming in the hedgerows, heralding the onset of the Summer months. Plums are ripening and I have already seen red cherries in some early trees.