How to make Elderflower Cordial

A delicious and easy Elderflower Cordial recipe

Ingredients:

• 30 fresh Elderflower heads with trimmed stalks (it’s best to pick blossoms that don’t grow near a motorway)
• 2 unwaxed lemons, zest grated and fruit cut into rounds
• 1.5 kg granulated sugar
• 85g citric acid
• 1.5 litres of water
• sterilized glass bottles with a firm lid

Method:

Place the sugar into a large sauce pan, add the water and heat up until the sugar dissolves, without bringing it to the boil.
Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the liquid to the boil, then switch off the heat.
Add the grated lemon zest, elderflower blossoms, lemon rounds and citric acid.
Cover with a clean cloth and leave to infuse for 48 hours.

Place a fresh, finely woven tea towel over a colander and pour the syrup through it into a pan.
With a funnel, fill the sterilized bottles, seal and store in a cool dry place.
The cordial is great with both still or sparkling water. Once opened, store it in the fridge.

 

 

 

 

Everyone can be an urban gardener! Example from London: Shutter Patch vertical growing

For my blog post series ‘Everyone can be an urban gardener‘, ‘my people on the ground’ sent me an example of vertical container gardening in London:

 

Are you proud of your urban gardening experience? Let me know and if you send in some good pictures, they will be featured on this blog. Happy photo taking!

National Gardening Week – I’m ready, how about you?

Hello!
To take part in the National Gardening Week launched by the Royal Horticultural Society, I pledged to turn an abandoned garden into a little oasis – spending less than £50.
The money was quickly spent: £18 for seeds, £20 for soil, £2.50 for bean netting and  £9.50 for a garden fork. I did a bit of haggling with the owner of my local hardware shop. Mr Bradbury was happy to help me out, so I could stay within the budget – he knows I am a good customer :  )
So, here are the seeds with their package description. All, besides the Hollyhock should hopefully flower this year:

•  Red-flowering Butler Runner Beans (Early and heavy cropping. Sow: Apr-Jul. Harvest Jul-Oct)
• Mixed Sunburst and Evening Sun Sunflowers (Ideal backdrop to summer borders. Sow: Mar-May. Flowers: Jun-Sep. 1.8 mt tall)
• Chaters Double Mixed Hollyhock (Elegant stems at the back of borders. Beautiful, but only flower the year after sowing. Sow: Mar-Jul. Flowers: Jun-Aug. 240cm tall)
• Mixed annuals, nectar rich plants that attract butterflies (Sow: Mar-Jun. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 90cm tall)
• Tall Double African Marigold (Sow: Apr-Jun. Flowering: Jul-Oct. 70cm tall)
• Mixed Dwarf Godetia (Easy for beds, borders and pots. Sow: Mar-May, Sep-Oct. Flowers: Jun-Sep. 30cm tall)
• Five Spot Nemophila (Easily grown unusual dwarf plants. Sow: Mar-May. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 15cm tall)
• Milkmaid Nasturtium (Easy to grow softly coloured flowers that climb or trail. Sow: Apr-Jun. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 1.8 mt tall). 

Here I am ready to go. It’s pretty cold today, but I want to get started.
This is the challenge ahead –  the garden how it is right now: 

As you see, there is a lot of clearing up to do! My attention will mainly be focused on the back left-hand corner. I am planning to cut down the bamboo, ceating a new planting bed with sunflowers to the left along the wooden wall, red flowering runner beans to the back against the brick wall. In front of these tall plants, I’m planning to sow the butterfly attracting wild flowers, marigold and the colourful dwarf plants.
In my head I have a wonderful image of how it will be, but I know there is a lot of work, and a lot of patience required.

For now, the soil has arrived, the garden fork is ready, it is just a matter of unpacking the bean support net….

I hope you will be back to see how it all develops! 

#NationalGardeningWeek #ngw

http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/