Raspberries in December

I may not have much time left to post this blog due to snow being forecast, however  not in Surrey.  Yesterday, I went out in the garden and I found, much to my surprise, raspberries on my canes.  I know that you can get either spring or autumn fruiting raspberry canes, but to have them fruiting in December is something else.

My style of gardening can best be described as that of 'benign neglect'.  Put the plant in, preferably in favourable condition, ie when it's raining, that's when I usually seem to have that spare 5 minutes to go and plant something in the garden.  Then it is watered, when remembered and then usually totally ignored.  Finally if it survives, the need to remember what it was that was actually planted there and if it dies, to pull it out and to repeat the process with another new plant.

Having said that, there are several plants on which I have lavished loving and tender care, principally our hedge.  We have about 150 feet street frontage and after we bought the house we realised that most of the hedge was either dead or on its last legs.  Being on display to the street can totally improve one's gardening skills.  We now have a lovely hedge of leylandii, laurel, pyracnatha and escallonia.  The pyracantha was the big success story.

Back to the title though, it's not just the raspberries which are acting in an unseasonal manner.  Our lobelia is having a lovely time, mixing with the primroses, the camellias are budding and an unidentified shrub has its flowers.  All in all, a bit of a mixed up garden, but it does look lovely!

Back to our lovely websites, Fabric and Ribbon has gorgeous half metre packs of material, several different packs and themes now available, come and take a look.  All packs have a 10% discount over buying the material separately.

There is still time to order Azique's delightful Christmas hairbands and scrunchies, each supplied in its own matching organza bag - a wonderful treat for any little girl and a festive stocking filler.

Family Bake Off

The children have been watching the Great British Bake Off and the Junior version as well.
 They have taken to this with great gusto and glee discussing the contestants and recipes in great detail. This is where I thought they would leave it but I got the book anyway.

They completely surprised me. They have read, re-read and read again the book. Marked the recipes they want to cook, which is most of the sweet ones and then pruned it down to their favourite 20 or so. Then the cooking started.



Alice was the first with Queen of Sheba, page 278, continued p280. 'A luxuriously, rich, elegant chocolate and almond cake.' This took her the whole of Saturday afternoon to make, involving whisking egg whites and folding them in and making chocolate shards. The result was a truly stunning cake both in taste and appearance.

The cookbook is now decorated with flakes of chocolate and Alice's annotations.

Back to the news on Azique and Fabric and Ribbon.  Azique has gorgeous personalised Christmas sacks, perfect for all the presents Father Christmas will bring plus sweet Christmas print hairbands and scrunchies in their own organza gift bags - perfect for stocking fillers.

Fabric and Ribbon now has Christmas half metre packs of all of our Christmas fabrics, in four different combinations, just perfect for all your Christmas crafting projects.  These packs are a wonderful 10% cheaper than if you bought the fabric separately.  Hurry up and grab your bargain.  Free postage over £20.

Take a look!

Something's Cooking

Alice has decided to become a cook all of a sudden.  But already she's specialising - sweet sticky stuff, like Golden Syrup.  Remember Golden Syrup sandwiches? No wonder I've got fillings.  And with this sort of cooking, I'm likely to have a few more.

So here she is, mixing it up.  Better have a bit more treacle, eh? I mean, Golden Syrup.  Did you know the logo on the tin is a dead lion with a swarm of flies around it?  It's true.

Now give it all a good stir and a bit of heat - all supervised of course.  This time it's Flapjacks.  Next on the list is Treacle Tart.

At last - time to serve

It looks good - it smells good - and by golly it tastes good!

Now, who remembers where that slogan comes from?

Whilst you're thinking about the answer, check out what's just gone up at Fabric & Ribbon -

Spots Before Your Eyes!

Orange Drops

Amber Drops

Spyrogyrol

Heat!!!

Well, I've moaned enough about the weather this year, but now at last we can raise a cheer and head off to the seaside.  Nobody complain that it's too hot, now!  It won't last long, so make the most of it.  I can hear West Wittering calling, so the skimboard is going to get one last hurrah this year.  See you on the beach.

To get in the mood, here are our seaside fabrics to look at again, as well as some new ones we've just put up

Summer in Autumn

I don't know if it's because I'm not totally au fait with what is meant to be in season when, but my strawberries and raspberries are having a second crop. There were more strawberries a few days ago, but the slugs got them – a tasty autumn treat for them. As for the raspberries, they are producing in abundance – raspberries and ice-cream for us tonight on a chilly evening.

Is this a result of global warming, a quirk of Nature or is it because I've got repeat flowering plants and didn't read the instructions, as always? I have no idea, but anyway, it's a great treat to get raspberries at any time of the year in your garden and even more so when you weren't expecting them. Long live whatever quirk of Nature produced them. Off to pick them now before the birds get them.

Since I don't know whether it's summer or autumn, I'll let you know about some plain colours which are useful all year round.  We've put up a new royal blue and deep red. Pictures below.