A taste of Autumn

We recently needed to get a new fridge-freezer so took the opportunity to stock take the freezer drawers and discovered we had blackberries and blueberries from 2025 which needed to be eaten.  I decided to make a sauce with them.  I tipped a load of each into a saucepan, added 2 dessertspoons of icing sugar and gently simmered them.  When they were soft (about ten minutes-ish), I mashed them with the potato masher and then passed them through a metal sieve to get rid of the pips. 

I find that blueberries don't have that much taste on their own, but combined with the blackberries, it is a marriage made in heaven!  We have it over vanilla ice-cream and also swirled into natural yogurt, with or without a chopped banana.  It is absolutely delicious and a really good use for those berries. A real taste of late Summer/early Autumn.

Late Autumn in the garden

It has certainly turned more wintry this week and we have had a couple of frosts. The garden has reacted accordingly, with leaves falling quickly.  I took these photos last weekend, before it all changed. Above shows one of  the miscanthus grasses which changed to a buttery yellow.

The blueberries are taking on their fiery Autumn colours.

They are such good value plants.

Lysimachia Clethroides is also showing changes of leaf colour.

These little cyclamen in the shady corner bring me joy with their beautifully patterned silver and green leaves.

My Fatsia Japonica is trying to flower.  This flower is just starting to open...

..this one is much further along.

A bright splash of orange/red is provided by the pyracantha berries.

One of my little ginkgos has buttery yellow leaves now too.  I have put a standard ginkgo on my 'one day' wish list - they are such beautiful (and ancient) trees. I am trying to have something of interest in the garden every month of the year and I am slowly getting there...

Autumn leaves - real ones this time

The garden has changed a lot over the last couple of weeks, with the wind and rain.  Autumn colours are coming and going.

Clematis Wyevale has suddenly lost all the colour in its leaves.

Hydrangea Merveille Sanguine is putting on a lovely show.

The blueberries are looking wonderful. but it won't be long before their leaves fall.

A joyful celebration of autumn colours.

The lilac and magnolia leaves are carpeting the path.

The hydrangea at the bottom of the garden is providing lots of interest.

The miscanthus in the border is slowly turning golden.  Colours in the garden have changed more since I took these photos, but I am enjoying the display.

The changing colours of late summer

 There is no denying it, late summer is here.  The pastel pinks of early summer are being replace with deeper, richer tones.  Despite the heat and drought-like conditions of July, the garden has come through relatively unscathed.  Above is fuchsia 'Rivendell', bought at RHS Chatsworth last year and finally repotted.

 Japanese anemone 'Bressingham Glow' which is a reliable flowerer in my garden.

 The two crocosmia 'Emily Mackenzie' which I planted in the borders are one of the only casualties in the garden. Their leaves are brown and crispy.  The one above is in a pot and has been watered.  I did water the ones in the border, but it didn't do any good. I shall have to see if they grow next year or whether they have died.

 Another crocosmia, also in a pot.

 Penstemon Andenken an Friedrich Hahn, also know as Garnet, has flowered well all through the summer.  Even the plant in the border has done well.

 A deep red cosmos - possibly Rubenza.

The blueberries have also done well and have been fruiting since July. I get this many berries every two days or so and have several bags full in the freezer.  The plants are all over three years old, so the berry production is gaining with their maturity. 
After the heat this July, I have decided that I must be a Spring and Autumn person - I like warmth but not heat.  It is cooling down again now and I am finding it much more pleasant.   

Winter has arrived

It can't be denied any longer, yesterday morning, Winter had definitely arrived with the first real frost of the season. I took a few photos of the frost on the plants - above is one of the blueberries.

It looked like a dusting of icing sugar on the flowers of Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle.

 They looked really quite beautiful.

 Frost on the rose leaves...

... and highlighting the edges of the Penstemon leaves

Although it means that autumn is over, Winter does has its own beauty.

Cakes and Makes

I picked the last few blueberries from my plants this year and decided to make little cakes with them, however, there weren't quite enough.  I found half a bag of chocolate chips and added them in too.

Great result!  The cakes were yummy and the blueberries and chocolate worked well together.  (There were originally twelve cakes, but Chris and I both felt we should test them before I posted about them, hence just nine in the photo!)

 I have been making some really simple stretchy bracelets recently too.  These are the blue goldstone (glass with copper in it to give the beautiful sparkle) bracelets which were the start of my jewellery making obsession.  They were just too big in their original form, so finally, I have sorted them out and can now wear them.

 I bought this bracelet from a craft fair and it was originally on beading thread with a clasp.  I had re-strung it so that it fitted, but didn't wear it that often.  I decided to elasticate it so that it was easy to get on and off and I hope I'll wear it much more.

Finally, blue shell carved flowers and shell pearls - pretty and summery.  I think that more elasticated bracelets may well be made in the future.

Meringue trials and tribulations

My meringue trials and tribulations all began a few months ago when a colleague and I were talking about growing soft fruit.  I am growing raspberries and blueberries in tubs and he is lucky to have a large garden so can grow raspberries in the ground.  He said he would bring in some raspberries and I rashly suggested I could make a meringue (never having made one before, you understand!) and we could have a pavlova at work. 

So, the months rolled on and last week he brought in some raspberries.  I used a Delia recipe and made my first attempt.  It turned out rather browner than I would have liked and was very squidgy in the middle.  So we had to have Eton Mess with the outer, crispier bit, but that was very tasty.

Undeterred, I looked on the internet to see what I may have done wrong and discovered that 1) I hadn't whipped the egg whites for long enough and 2) the oven temperature was too high.

Yesterday, I tried again.  I whipped the egg whites until I could put the bowl upside down over my head without them moving and I lowered the oven temperature and put the meringue on the bottom shelf.



 Here it is when baked - SUCCESS!

 Here is the finished pavlova (a perfect summer dessert) with double cream (and a bit of natural yogurt mixed in), my colleague's raspberries and icing sugar.

We all enjoyed it and I was delighted with the meringue consistency - crispy with a slightly chewy bit in the middle - YUM! (The only thing that worries me is, was that a one off, or will I be able to repeat the success when my blueberries are ripe?!)

Food, glorious food

We had more blackberries to use up, so I just had to make a blackberry and apple crumble, didn't I?  Served with clotted cream ice cream (sadly not home made and no, not a low calorie pudding), it tasted delicious.  Perfect for a slightly chilly evening.

 I picked the very last of my blueberries too.  The bush has done incredibly well for us this year, probably due to the amount of rain which the blueberry really enjoyed.  There weren't quite enough blueberries for my liking, so I bulked them out with 'Galaxy' chocolate pieces.  The photo makes the chocolate look a little odd, probably because it wasn't chocolate made for cooking, but I can assure you, that doesn't affect the taste.  Yum!
(Welcome to Tracy, a new follower).