Reflecting on December

I normally do an end of month reflection on the garden.  But really December in the garden hasn't been much different to November.  So I'm thinking here about what I've seen done and enjoyed generally in December.

In the garden a few more plants went brown and flopped, more leaves fell and covered everywhere and some flowers gave up trying to stay in bloom.  The weather  and  preparations for Christmas prevented me from going out doing much in the garden. I  swept up leaves from the paths and will probably continue to clear the borders of leaves during the winter months.  There is some colour around.  The yellow climbing rose at the front of the house which I normally cut back in the autumn to stop it being blown about by the wind is still flowering.  There are bright spots of orange from the calendula which I neglected to cut back, some lovely foliage colour from the grasses and hardy geraniums and  the winter jasmine is now in flower.

The house has been full of activity.  It's been a time for working through jobs lists, for shopping, for baking lovely food, making Christmas decorations and remembering people you only think about once a year when you send and receive Christmas cards.  There have been lovely times with family, carol concerts and nativities with the grandchildren who live nearby and visits from the ones who live far away, tinged with sadness because we don't see them often enough.  The house has been and still is full of colour, sparkle and twinkling lights.  In a few days times all that will be gone and we will move on and make plans for the new year.

Hoping you all enjoyed Christmas and wishing you a peaceful and happy 2012.

Christmas biscuits

A last minute recipe for some really yummy biscuits.  These are really easy to make and would be great for the festive period if you need to stock up on biscuits.

I tweaked the original recipe which used blueberries.  I also put edible glitter in with the caster sugar  to sprinkle on top of the biscuits and add extra sparkle.


Christmas biscuits

175g plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
110g butter
110g caster sugar plus extra for sparkling
grated rind of 1 lemon
75gr dried cranberries
1 egg beaten

1. Sift the flour and spice into a large bowl.  Add butter and rub in with your fingertips. Stir in the sugar, lemon rind and cranberries, then add the egg  and mix to a firm dough.

2. Knead the dough briefly  on a lightly floured surface and shape into a sausage about 20cm long and 5cm wide. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for an hour or in the freezer for half an hour.

3.Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (180c) and lightly grease a large baking tray. Unwrap the chilled dough and cut into 5mm thick slices.  Put them on the baking sheet, space a  little apart.

4. Bake the biscuits for 15-18 mins until they are pale golden in colour.  Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, sprinkle with a little caster sugar and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Too much to do

This is such a busy time, so much to do and so many  things I want to do. I start off with  plans, but never really achieve all of them.  Perhaps I set myself too many targets.

There were all the crafty things I was going to make for school and church Christmas fairs, well those didn't happen. Then it was  things for the home I  wanted to make.  I was watching Kirsty Allsopp's 'Handmade Christmas' on TV the other week and decided I would  make a vintage heart garland. I have all the fabric ready, but not enough time to make it.

This week I'm watching  all the Christmas cookery programmes on TV ( aren't there a lot of them?) and I'm wanting to make so many delicious looking things. A couple of days ago  I baked. I started with a plan--a list of things to bake,  but only managed  half of it. But I did make mince pies,  flapjacks, carrot cake and a deliciously, boozy, fruity chocolate made from the  left over fruit from the blackberry and raspberry gin which I bottled up last weekend. ( I think that recipe comes from Alys Fowler).  I watched Nigel Slater's 'Simple Christmas' and now I want to make those fruit and nut flapjacks. And I've just watched Kirsty Allsopp's 'Home for Christmas'  (that woman has a lot to answer for!)  Now I want to make a yule log!
 
But  there's still time yet to do more so who knows what I will create.

My Christmas door wreath

I love  making Christmas wreaths, it's one of those things I do each year which has become a family tradition.  There are different ways of making wreaths.  I use an oasis ring (available from large garden centres or flower shops). I set aside a day about two weeks before Christmas for making the wreath. I put the oasis ring to soak in water for a while, wrap myself up in several layers of clothes, then I take myself off to the shed with an insulated mug of tea or coffee and start work  A few days before then I  will have cut all the foliage and put it into buckets of water so that is all ready for me as I start to work.

We have quite a lot of foliage available for cutting in the garden so I like  to make  use of  this greenery at Christmas time. Sometimes I scrounge stuff from my daughter's garden or the allotment. This year I used conifer, Christmas tree trimmings, ivy, box and holly.  The holly tree has had an amazing amount of berries this year. Most years I've had to use artificial berries for colour, but this year it's been great to use real ones. I just cut sprigs of foliage and starting with a layer of conifer I  build up the layers of the different sorts of greenery.

When the wreath has had all the foliage arranged I then add extra touches such as pine cones, seed heads, dried orange or apple slices, cinnamon sticks.  Sometimes I spray lightly with a gold spray.  You could also add dried flower heads of hydrangeas, clematis, grasses. I finish off the wreath with some ribbon.

For other ideas on making Christmas wreaths visit Greensideup's blog on making a Christmas door wreath she's made a lovely natural wreath.

Home made Christmas

I like to have some home made goodies in the house at Christmas time. They're always useful as Christmas presents. This year I've potted up some Hyacinths, hopefully for flowering at Christmas.  These are going to some friends who I meet up with once a month.  We like to exchange little gifts at Christmas but don't spend a lot.  Then there's the blackberry or raspberry gin which I have yet to strain and bottle up. But I might keep that for the family who I think are looking forward to sampling it!

In the next two weeks  I shall be making fudge, chocolate truffles, and shortbread.  These are lovely packaged up into little boxes or bags and tied up with Christmas ribbon.  Lakeland do some good presentation bags and boxes.  You can make your own boxes or save little boxes to cover with pretty paper.

Last year I made some white chocolate and cranberry fudge.  I thought I'd lost the recipe, but searched on the Internet and found it. It's a Tesco recipe and looks really Christmassy in cellophane bags tied with ribbon. This is great to make for Christmas fairs and coffee mornings, as presents for teachers or friends or just to eat yourself and enjoy!

White chocolate and cranberry fudge

Ingredients

• 350g (12oz) granulated sugar
• 25g (1oz) unsalted butter
• 175ml (6fl oz) can evaporated milk
• 100g (3½oz) dried sweetened cranberries
• 300g (10oz) white chocolate, chopped

What to do

• Cut a piece of baking parchment large enough to line a shallow 25x20cm (10x8in) baking tin or a 1kg (2lb) loaf tin.
• Put the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a large heavy-based pan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved completely.
• Bring to the boil, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. It is a good idea to set a timer for this.
• Immediately remove from the heat then add the cranberries and chocolate. Allow the chocolate to melt, then quickly stir the mixture and pour straight into the tin. It will thicken immediately.
• Spread into the tin and chill for an hour or so until firm. Cut into squares.
• Use a piece of card to make a festive box for the fudge. Line with baking parchment, decorate with ribbon, and attach a message.

• Cost per box: £2·16
• Makes: 500g (1lb)
• Takes: 20mins + 1hr chilling time

Buying the Christmas Tree

One of the best times for me as we approach Christmas is always the the weekend we buy the Christmas tree. It's always been a special event in our family and one where I get really excited.  I absolutely love it. There's always the decision of where we will go to buy it.  Then the choosing of it is really important, it has to be the right shape, the right type and size. Once we've chosen and bought it, getting it in the car is always an event. Even now when our children have left home I still love buying the Christmas tree.

Today we went out to buy the tree.  For the last few years we've always gone to the same garden centre, but this year we decided to go somewhere different but still local. It was different because it had a cafe, so we had lunch first which was really lovely. Then we went to look at the trees. After much wandering around the many trees available we chose a 7ft Nordman. These are the non drop variety. They still drop a few needles but not so much as to be a problem as long as they are kept watered.

Whilst my husband paid for the tree and got it in the car, I wandered around the garden centre. And what did I find but some reindeer.

Santa wasn't there, but his sleigh was.  I think he works there on Saturdays and is busy elsewhere during the week.

Lancashire Day

Last Sunday was 'LancashireDay' and  for all those of us who live or used to live in Lancashire it was an opportunity to celebrate the special customs of our county or to just feel proud to be a Lancastrian. There were lots of events around the county.  We decided to go to a Christmas Food and Craft Fair at Salmesbury Hall. It was not so much to celebrate Lancashire Day but just to have a couple of hours out at an interesting venue with a Christmassy feel to it. Salmesbury hall is an historic black and white building which also has antiques on sale. So as well as viewing the craft fair there would be an opportunity to see the Hall and all it had to offer.

We arrived at the entrance to the hall where a clog dancer was dancing to music.   Once inside the hall there were a good number of crafts stalls to look at and many of them provided plenty of ideas for Christmas presents. The stalls were spread out over about three rooms downstairs. There were also food stalls with samples to try, such as cheese, jams, chutneys, cakes, chocolates.

As we browsed the crafts stalls we couldn't help but be aware of the loud  noise which sounded like someone banging on the floor above. We investigated this and went up the lovely big staircase which took us into a big wooden floored room. The room was set out as an entertainment area with people sitting or standing around the edges of the room listening to a band playing Lancashire songs. That explained the deafening noise downstairs.

Back downstairs the cafe was doing good trade, I wondered if  it was serving black puddings, pie and peas or Lancashire hot pot,  but we weren't eating so we went to look at the antiques. As we explored, I came across a narrow entrance with a couple of fur coats hanging up and a sign inviting us to go through the wardrobe.

I was intrigued because I caught a glimpse of a sparkly, silvery, white area on the other side. As we stepped through the 'wardrobe' I realised it was a Narnia scene.  It was beautiful, I felt I had been transported to another world. It was only a narrow corridor, but I managed to take a quick photo before other visitors appeared and burst my bubble!

November in the garden

The garden takes a back seat during November and December with all the preparations for Christmas, fortunately there is not usually too much work to be done out there at this time of year. But if we get fine days when the sun shines, even though it might be cold, I often have a longing to get out and do some work. 

The main job at the moment is sweeping up the leaves, of which there are loads. We have a big leaf composting bin which my husband made and it produces lots of lovely leaf mould each year.  I've also planted up some containers with evergreens and cyclamens for outside the front and back doors.
  

This is one I made up last year which is still looking good.

The gaillardia are still  flowering happily.

I've done a bit of tidying and cutting back in the borders, although I leave most of the cutting back for the Spring.  The grasses take over when the flowers die back, although this one is not an evergreen so it too will die back eventually.

The holly tree is still full of berries, so last weekend we cut some branches and have stored them in the shed where it's cool ready for our Christmas decorations in a week or two. There are still plenty of berries left for the birds. They also enjoy the windfall apples which we have left lying around as well as the food which we put out for them. We also have squirrels running around and a few weeks ago there was a hedgehog. We're hoping it's found a place to hibernate. It shouldn't have too much trouble finding anywhere, there are plenty of places which we don't clear of leaves.