Gardening trials and tribulations

Gardening is a constant battle with animals and the elements. At least the rains have come back, after the drought conditions of April. But then the winds started up. Fortunately, the only damage the garden seems to have suffered is a couple of slightly buffeted tomato plants and a few lost bean leaves. Now that the weather is behaving reasonably well, it's the turn of the animals.

My mother-in-law offered me strawberry plants last year, and not one to pass up free plants, I accepted and stuck them in a border. They flourished, and the plants are full of rapidly swelling fruits. We've been eagerly anticipating eating our very own home grown berries, only to find the red parts of the fruit chomped off before we could pick them.

My husband laid some netting over the plants in an attempt to keep out the critters, but whatever they were (birds? rats?) proved persistent, and ripped through the netting. We then tried to construct a slightly more forbidding structure, elevating the netting so the animals couldn't reach the berries from above.

Fortress strawberry

We are not the greatest of engineers, and additionally lack the necessary equipment to create a more sturdy structure, but hopefully this will deter the majority of pests. We've been able to enjoy about 15 strawberries so far, which I would deem a reasonable success (considering I spent no money on the plants, and they thrived through no effort on my part).

Other plants that are irresistible to pests are cabbages. If the slugs don't get them, the white fly and cabbage moths will. If, that is, any plants are left once the wood pigeons feast. I'm making one final attempt this year, and I've covered all my cabbage with plastic, but if they still don't survive the onslaught I might just well give up and grow potatoes next year instead.

But at least all the pests mentioned above have a reason for their destruction - they're looking for a tasty meal, just like us gardeners. But our most recent visitor has been decidedly more "anti-social".

My husband went down to water the other day (before the rain arrived) and discovered garden implements and accessories scattered all over outside the shed. And more than just scattered - ravaged! Here's what happened to my boots and gloves:

Obviously there is some animal out there with a taste for rubber. And those are just the gloves that are still present. Half of them have gone missing, and the only ones left are right hands, so I can't even cobble together a miss-matched pair.

I'm going to use this attack as an opportunity to get the wellies I've always wanted, Hunter short knee Argyll wellingtons. I just LOVE the shiny black with red edging - much prettier than my boring old Dunlop wellies. I'll store these at home, far away from thieving, juvenile-delinquent foxes.

Sturdy yet attractive Hunter wellies - not the festival version.

I shouldn't be so down on the gardening - it isn't all existential struggle. There are some plants that are productive and easy to grow. Zucchinis/courgettes for one. Here is the true workhorse of the garden:

A little wind-battered, but already producing fruit. Looking forward to eating zucchini again all summer long.

And if my pumpkins and beans produce, I'll be a very satisfied gardener indeed.

pumpkins and corn

chickpeas

Spring knitting

I'm a big fan of the Electric Sheep podcast, but there is one area where I disagree with the podcaster, Hoxton Handmade, and that is in the area of Summer knitting. Hoxton Handmade has made it clear that she doesn't particularly appreciate Summer knitting, which she equates with cotton. I perfectly understand her aversion to knitting with cotton, which I also have found to be heavy and stiff. What I don't comprehend is her outright dismissal of linen and hemp.

I look forward to Spring - not only for the warmer temperatures, the lighter evenings and the return to allotment gardening, but also (and possibly mainly) for the return of my Spring/Summer wardrobe. Which mainly consists of linen garments. I absolutely ADORE linen. I really can't express it emphatically enough. It is to my mind the most appealing of fabrics, being both comfortable and elegant. Yes, I know it wrinkles, but it is supposed to do that, so you can go through your day secure in the knowledge that your clothes will remain effortlessly elegant regardless of how much they naturally bunch and wrinkle.

It is understandable for British people not to appreciate linen. After all, it is a fabric that really comes into its own in very hot weather, which is something one doesn't suffer from much in Britain. My appreciation for linen really began when I lived in the desert, because no matter how much you sweated, the fabric would absorb it and dry off almost immediately. Also, because it is quite a stiff fabric it doesn't cling to the skin, so it allows air to circulate around your body.

I suppose it is a fabric one associates more with Southern Europe, and in fact the first time I saw flax fields was in Normandy. It is even attractive in plant form - the flowers are pale blue and the seed heads are plump and regular. I'm growing some on my garden, partly because it's supposed to be a good companion plant with carrots, and also just because I wanted to see if I could. After all, if it grows in Normandy, it should grow in Oxford.

Flax plant image from Wikipedia Commons

My favourite linen yarn is La Droguerie DK linen, which comes in a range of gorgeous, shiny colours. I also like Katia 4 ply lino, which I plan to use for this pattern - that is, unless I find some nice linen on my trip to Italy:

Liesl tunic

Lately I've also started buying more hemp, which is not just for hippies any more, despite the lingering characterisation (yes, hemp is related to cannabis, no, your clothes won't make you high). Hemp is not as smooth as linen, but also doesn't wrinkle as much. It's a more environmental option than cotton, being less destructive to grow as it requires fewer pesticides and herbicides. Also it is more durable than cotton and becomes softer with wear.

I knit a skirt out of Hemp for Knitting Allhemp6 last year, and I wear it all the time (knit skirts, incidentally, being another subject upon which Hoxton Handmade and I differ). It is incredibly wearable, comfortable, and best of all, machine washable. Although I developed calluses on my fingers, I was not discouraged, and in fact am currently knitting this dress from the same yarn:

Jill's dress

I aim to finish this dress by early June so I can wear it in Italy. I am well on my way to achieving this goal - probably within one skein or less. Fortunately, because I'm getting very bored of the endless stocking stitch. I chose the colour because I own nothing else in that shade. I was afraid I was getting into a rut with the endless green, but as you can see, like everything else in my wardrobe it goes beautifully with chartreuse.

Spring showers

The title of this post is a complete misnomer, because spring showers is exactly what we did NOT get over the past month. April in the UK was the driest month on record. Southern France here we come, because that is the climate we seem to be moving toward here in England, thanks to global warming. My artichokes should like it, if nothing else.

Not that I didn't enjoy the freakishly fine weather, but on behalf of my garden I was getting quite desperate for rain. Anyone who is depressed by rainy weather should take up gardening, they would find their attitude changing dramatically.

But fortunately the rain has finally returned, and my beans are starting to peak their little heads through the soil. Or rather enormous heads - the size they emerge at, no wonder it takes them so long to sprout. I may end up with a bit of bean overload this year - my mother sent me heritage beans from the US, and I just had to try them all.

Those are Calypso, Florida butter speckled, Peregion, Kentucky wonder, Rattlesnake, Christmas lima bean, and a Borlotti thrown in for good measure.

2 of 5 pole bean teepees, and bush beans in the background

Some of these beans can be eaten fresh, but I'm planning to dry most of them (other than some French beans, which I will make into pickled dilly beans). I'm a bit worried about how I'm going to go about drying beans - they need space for aeration. My parents threw bushels of beans in their garage to dry, but living in an apartment I don't have a huge amount of space. I'm thinking of rigging up some sort of shelving system in the hallway using vegetable crates, which should make me very popular with the neighbors.

I also have high expectations for pumpkins and squash. I have one whole bed devoted to zucchini, patty pan squash, Halloween pumpkins and courge musquée (the enormous French pumpkins). I'm also growing acorn and butternut squash with the pole beans, in a modified 3-sister pairing. This is a traditional American technique growing squash, beans and corn together - the beans climb the corn and the squash provides ground cover. But I was afraid the corn wouldn't do well enough in this climate to provide support for the beans, so I'm just pairing beans/squash and corn/pumpkins.

I'm growing so many beans and squash because I love them, they are easy to can or store through winter, and perhaps most importantly, they are so much easier to grow than fiddly cabbages! (I planted a bed of broccoli, brussel sprouts and Chinese cabbages, but they are already being devoured by pests, and I don't how much will be left for us. Only humans, it seems, turn their noses up at cabbage).

Another crop that will no doubt draw some uninvited guests - the strawberries. We look well on our way to having a bumper crop this year, so with any luck there will be enough to go around.

Scandinavian Knitting

So, back to the impetus for our Scandinavian holiday - the Killing. Not only an excellent crime drama, but also the launch pad of a knitting phenomena, the Sarah Lund sweater. Classic Scandinavian fair isle design. The original is a bit pricey at 280 euros, so knitters got busy. [Incidentally, The Killing was not the first programme to whet my interest in Scandinavian sweaters. I also lusted after the garments in the Wallender series (the Swedish original, not the Kenneth Branagh ripoff), but Wallender didn't seem to take the UK quite by storm as the Killing did, so I didn't get the chance to share my enthusiasm. It's available on DVD if anyone wants to check it out.]

Sarah Lund in THE sweater of the season

A friend from my knitting group finished her Sarah Lund sweater shortly before we planned our Copenhagen holiday. I was tempted to try to whip up my own version for the trip, but settled on the more achievable goal of buying the wool in Copenhagen.

Which I promptly did at Strikkeboden on our first afternoon in town. They had the exact sweater all knit up in the window, so I knew I had come to the right place. I just asked the proprietor for enough wool for a sweater in my size, and she threw in the pattern (in Danish) for free. Fortunately, if google translate doesn't make any sense of it I can ask the Danish lady who works at my yarn shop for help with the instructions. The wool, Ístex Létt-Lopi, cost a little over £30 for 8 balls, and was the only reasonably priced thing we bought in Copenhagen.

Me gloating over my cheap yarn and enjoying a very expensive Carlsberg

Other than the Lopi, which is from Iceland, Strikkeboden seemed to carry a lot of French yarn and Noro. Since I wanted to find yarns I hadn't seen elsewhere, I moved on to Uldstedet just around the corner. I was very tempted by their kits, particularly the Hanne Falkenberg designs, but they didn't have any of the projects I wanted in the right colour or size, so I turned to the Isegar yarn (appropriately, a Danish company). Turns out Marianne Isager makes both yarn and pattern books, and conveniently I had bought her book of Japanese Inspired Knits several years ago and never gotten around to making any of the projects. Here was my opportunity to finally crack open one of my unused knitting books, so I bought four skeins of Isager Strik Tvinni in burnt orange shades to make the maple leaves cardigan.


the cardigan

 

the wool


The last shop I visited was Wilferts, which carries their own line of yarn. Lots of lovely stuff, but unfortunately by this time I had far exceeded my original yarn budget, so I could only afford a few skeins. I went with the Lisboa, a bulky wool with wonderful depth and shine. It complements some Manos Wool Classica I have in Poseidon, which I'm thinking of knitting into fingerless mitts or arm warmers. And then maybe a chunky fair isle hat from the Lisboa.

So, it looks like I have my Fall knitting already all planned out. Now to just get going on my Spring and Summer knitting!