Cups Of Tea And Cobnuts

Cups of tea
It has been a frustrating week for Dirty Nails. It does not happen very often, but from time to time the hectic work/family agenda means that there is not a lot of time to get outside and tend the land, beyond having a quick cup of tea and a look. Happily, by doing a little and often, he is pretty well on top of everything and there isn’t much demanding immediate attention. Nevertheless Dirty Nails likes to get his hands in the soil as much as possible, and the weekend came as welcome respite from other commitments. A refreshing opportunity to harvest the week’s veg and have a good scratch around. He is still trying to work out where to plant his crops for this coming season and is constantly changing his mind!

Cobnuts
Nothing stays still in the garden. Spring feels almost touchable on days when the wind drops and the sun shines. In the orchard Dirty Nails cultivates cobnuts and filberts. He has four varieties on the go: Nottingham Cob (Pearson’s Prolific), Cosford Cob, Lambert’s Filbert (Kent Cob), White Filbert. These are all domesticated varieties of the southern hazel, and sourced from a reliable nursery. Catkins, which are the male flower, festoon each bush, and those on the Nottingham Cob have already opened out. They resemble lambs’ tails and in a breeze little clouds of pollen are released and carried in the air. The female flowers, which are minute red stars borne at the tips of fat buds, receive this pollen and the act of fertilisation occurs. Dirty Nails is hoping for a bumper crop of nuts this autumn.

Natural History In The Garden: Long-Tailed Tits

Long-tailed tits are tiny black, grey and pink birds. In adults over half of their 5½ inch (14 cm) length is made up by their tails. Long-tailed tits always live in groups except during the breeding season, and there are often little flocks of them to be seen, flitting and dancing through the leafless canopy of trees growing just over the back of Dirty Nails’ back garden wall. They search for spiders and insects hiding in amongst the branches, and are easily identified by their distinctive tail feathers and mischievous, twittering calls.

Cobnuts and filberts can be planted at this time of year if bare-rooted, or any time if pot-grown. Either way, they should be cultivated with at least 3 feet (90 cm) all round. They prefer a deep, moist soil in sheltered areas and tolerate light shade. Dirty Nails has planted his to create a food-producing hedge.

Vegetable Snippets: Herb Teas And Cabbage Water

Herbs from the garden are perfect for making a cup of refreshing, stimulating tea. At this time of year choice may not be so great, but if any young sprigs are available they can be popped into a mug and boiling water applied, no fuss, no bother. Alternatively a selection of leaves, dried in the summer, can be used. Fennel, lavender and mint are obvious candidates.

Truth is that Dirty Nails rarely, if ever, makes tea out of herbs growing in the garden. In the hot beverage department, he knows what he likes. Any traditional (organic) tea that is fair-traded is good by him, with a splash of this and a spoonful of that, for nursing and sipping whilst having a think and a look on a cold winter’s day. Having said that, he is rather partial to a steaming hot mug of cabbage water, especially with a bit of vegetable stock stirred in to savoury it up a bit.