Valley Gardens

Located in Harrogate the valley gardens is a park/garden used by the community for walks, recreation, and nice place to spend time with family.  Most of the work in the garden is done by volunteers from the community.  Not only was it a lovely garden it is an amazing space for people to gather.  I have noticed that the British  really take advantage of lots of green spaces in their cities which is really nice.  The gardens had a lot of bedding schemes which I heard they did a Olympic theme last year with people doing Olympic activities in the flower beds.  Also there are lots of permanent plantings and some really great tree specimens as well. 

International Dinner Night

 Friday night I went to an international dinner hosted by some friends.  We all made a dish to share and made a very lovely meal out of it.  We stated the night with some lovely spring punch with a dip we ate with pretzels which was a German dish.  There was another starter which my roommate Maria made she salted some eggplant slices then coated them in flour and fried them in some olive oil.  After frying them she drizzled honey on top of them OMG they were amazing; I don't like honey but it was so nice.  This was our Spanish dish.  Next we had the main coarse made by an Italian was homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta.  Then drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with sage, and topped with parmesan they were ready to eat and they were incredible.  The next dish was mine the not very American French toast bake which is more of a breakfast food but it was a nice desert as well.  It was a very lovely evening filled with chatting and really good food so it was a great time!!!

Harlow Carr Plant Fair and Biological Control in the Nursery

The other weekend their was a plant fair at Harlow Carr the garden where I work I went to that.  Lots of nursery's from around the area came to sell their plants at the garden.  It was a gorgeous day almost felt summer like.  I bought a small living stone to keep in my room; its nice to have something to look after.  The alpine department as well as the bulbs were looking in top form.  There was also a lovely craft exhibition I checked out.  This past week I was working in the nursery again potting up thousands of plants to go out in the garden this summer.  During the week we released biological controls in the glasshouse to try and control pests like white fly, aphids, and red spider mites. 



Ripley Castle

On Saturday  I went to Ripley Castle.  I took a short bus ride and I was there; touring the castle and gardens.  The inside of the castle was very Georgian but there we were able to climb a spiral stair case up a tower.  The tower had old guns, swords, and armor in it which was cool to see.  We had a very knowledgeable tour guide who had lots of interesting info about the house and history that went along with it.  I did a walk along the lakes they made for the property; their was a man fishing while I was there but I didn't see him catch anything.  The grounds has a very large walled garden with a small conservatory. They had a nice size kitchen garden but not much work had been done in it this year yet.  There were lots of bulbs out which made the walk very beautiful.  In the center of Ripley was the stockades which I thankfully made it out of town without being put in them.  As I was waiting for the bus to take me back home across the road there were some guys playing cricket.  I wasn't really sure what was happening but it was fun to watch them. 

Brash 'em Up!!

 I finished the week off with productive I think this has been one of my funnest weeks in the UK.  The weather has finally gotten nice enough to start putting the vegetables into the kitchen garden.  A plus to working with them is that you get to take home harvested crops like rhubarb, lettuce, and other unique vegetables.  Also along with taking home vegetables you are allowed to sample the plants growing in the garden like lettuce leaves and sweet cicely which is a plant who's leaves were used as a sweetener.  This week I also tried the checkerberry I ate one of the small red berries growing on it which tasted exactly like the fluoride cleaning you get at the dentist.  One of my tasks this week was to remove some Chinese artichokes which were spreading beyond their desired location.  The plants produce small root tubers which can be eaten.  I brought a few home and roasted them with olive oil and salt.  They were ok they didn't have much taste but definitely worth a try.  On Friday we redid the productive glasshouse display.  This involved removing pots of display flowers that were going over as well as harvesting lettuce leaves and resowing the pots.  The display was looking very nice when we were done we got some daffodils to add which added some nice color to the display.  We were planting out more plants as well especially broad beans which they support with brash so they can grow on it.  Once the plants are planted we add "brash"  usually hazel or birch twigs around the plants.  So much of my instruction this week was to plant beans or peas and then "brash 'em up" hence the blog title.  The weather has finally started to warm up and we have been seeing quite a bit of sun so the garden is coming to life with loads of bulbs and perennials emerging. 

Rhubarb Crumble and Salsa Posada

Pictured at the right is a rhubarb crumble I made from some of the forced rhubarb I was fortunate enough to be able to take home. I have to say it was pretty good and I was fortunate to have some vanilla ice cream in the freezer to go with it.  No offense mom but this was some of the best rhubarb crumble I have ever had I think that the forced rhubarb makes all the difference!  Tonight after work we had a get together at a local Mexican restaurant Salsa Posada.  There were nine of us that got together to have a drink and share a meal.  I had a plate of nachos for a starter and then a beef burrito for the main meal.. The food was amazing and was totally stuffed afterwards. It was a fun night out with the guys from work talking silly and laughing a lot.   

Productive Team

I stated with the productive team this week; this team covers the fruit and vegetable production in what is known as the kitchen garden.  It is getting to that time of year when things are ready to be planted.  So this week we have been doing lots of planting and sowing of seed.  This week I direct sowed Pak Choi, Swede, and Radish into their planting beds.  We also have been planting out plants like spinach, lettuce, cabbage, violas, cauliflower, and peas.  Also part of the kitchen garden they have a small pen of laying chickens.  So part of the daily tasks is to take care of the chickens feeding, watering, and collecting eggs.  The productive team also have a small display glasshouse where they display some of their sowing plants like lettuce, carrots, and beet.  They also have nice flower displays like violas, narcissus, and hyacinth.  Part of the daily tasks is to tidy up this glasshouse replacing plants that have gone over and watering.  This week the rhubarb has reached harvesting time.  Yorkshire is known for their forced rhubarb.  This is achieved by placing a large terra cotta dome over part of the rhubarb crown in midwinter after they have had a cold spell to break their dormancy.  You can cover the entire crown or only part of the crown.  Covering part is recommended because forcing the plants drains the plants of energy and leaves the plants weak and vulnerable.  Placing the dome over the crown starves the stems under it of light and they will grow fast to try to reach light.  The resulting growth will be long, soft, and a lovely pink color.  Forced rhubarb is of much higher quality than non-forced rhubarb.  However a crown can only be forced every few years continually forcing a plant will cause its eventual death.  Also with mature rhubarb plants they should be divided every five or so years to bring vigor back into the crowns.  Well enough about rhubarb.  When I walked out the front door on Tuesday I heard a strange noise and I looked up and there was a massive hot air balloon.  I was quite jealous it was a gorgeous morning for a hot air balloon ride.  The bit of house you can see on the right in the picture is my house.