CAMPARI AND BLACKBERRIES AND JOHNNY HODGES!

MY NEW FAVOURITE DRINK ON A SUMMER EVENING

I love Campari. And I sometimes like a drink when I am cooking in the evening.
Decided to do a cool drink using the blackberries I had picked from the hedge.

Emma Hamilton cocktail!

It only took a moment to fix.

Meanwhile, I put on my favourite Johnny Hodges music and listened to 'I Got it Bad (And That Ain't Good)'.

Here is an idea:  put your glass in the fridge or freezer to get cold, then...

Put several ice cubes in the glass after it is cold. Add a few luciously ripe and juicy blackberries and crush them a bit.
Squeeze an orange and add the juice to the blackberries and ice.

Then add a good glug of Campari (which ideally will have been in the fridge too).

I put in a couple of springs of mint and a slice of orange, then I drank it - I must admit I drank it quite quickly!

I have called it Emma Hamilton Cocktail, she may have liked it.

SEEDS OF VEG FROM OVERSEAS, GOOD AND BAD RESULTS

THE AMERICAN CONNECTION - SEEDS FROM THE USA (and EUROPE)

Cardinal Climber

I have tried several seed varieties sourced from the USA, both the West Coast and the East Coast. 

Its fun to get seeds from other countries, if you can. although of course there are restrictions of actually bringing in plants, except from countries in the EU

Mortgage Lifter

SUCCESSFUL  TOMATOES

The most successful tomato plant I have this year is called Mortgage Lifter (Burpee Heirlooms).  It is huge, and bears a lot of fruit - it tastes yummy as well, a beefsteak variety.  Also I like the yellow one in the photograph (probably Golden Sunburst) and the long green sausage-shaped (Green Sausage) one is nice and juicy but not very sweet.  

Some Heritage tomatoes

I also grew Chocolate Cherry, (see the photograph) but it is just the same as the British 'Small Chocolate Cherry' which I also grew.  Nice though, and again, lots of fruit on them.

Although Bloody Butcher (I liked the name) also Burpee Heirloom, is a good plain red, it is nothing out of this world flavour-wise.

CLIMBING FLOWER VINE

The flower is called Cardinal Climber, and though not very 'showy' it has a certain shy charm!  It is about 1 inch across, or less.  It cannot be said to be very impressive in its impact, but I like the pretty leaves too.

Cardinal Climber

I grow it up a shrub, sharing space with Morning Glory, which at this time has refused to flower, although the Morning Glory flowers in another part of the garden.  According to some info I read 'humming birds can't leave it alone', so there you go, you humming bird lovers!  

I have not noticed much interest from local insect life, or from birds, come to that.

BEANS ARE STRUGGLING IN THE HEAT

The climbing bean plants are still producing lots of lovely beans.  A triumph is the long purple ones, with an Italian name, Trionfo Violetto (Burpee Heirlooms).  They seem to do OK despite the heat and lack of sun, while my best-of-British runner beans have got the sulks.

CUCUZZI CARAVAZZI

What a mouthfull!

Cucuzzi Caravazzi

Do you see these cucuzzi!?  Seeds from The Chase C Hart Seed C. I have got some huge summer squash  on my three plants.  The Cucuzzi Caravazzi  plants themselves are pretty gigantic and climbing, with long tendrils and with small white flowers unlike courgette (zucchini).  It is apparently of the same family though. They cook up nicely and I mix them in the pan with ordinary courgette (zuccini).

The snails like browsing on the outside of the cucuzzi, so I cannot get a good, unblemished example to put in the next Annual Flower Show, at my Allotment Society (MAGA), which is  on Saturday, 7 September.  Pity, as I thought there might be a class for unusual vegetables.

BASIL

My best basil plants have been consistently from Italian packs of seeds, and you get a huge quantity of seeds which seem to last for years.  First, though, go to Italy. Or here in the UK you can often buy  seeds, with the name of Franchi, or Seeds of Italy though they work out much more expensive than buying them in their home territory.  

Lidl sells seeds, which may or may not come from Europe.  I am trying their gherkins this year.  If you miss one, you get a sort of gherkin marrow.

NO SO GOOD

My dill from my pack of Dill 'Mammoth'  (Livingston Seeds) was a bit of a flop, or at least less of a mammoth - The seeds did not grow very big plants, but maybe I did not give them enough TLC.  Very disappointing.

RADISH, WATERMELON  

A big disappointment was Radish Watermelon (The Chase C Hart Seed Co.)  The radish I grew next to them was a British one, called Annabel, and that was excellent, but poor old Watermelon did not manage one white-with-pink-inside radish.  A flop.

I grew some plants of Armenian Cucumber (Livingston Seed Co) but nothing doing - one plant germinated and when planted out,  it kicked up its heels and died on me.

Also disappointing was Squash Genovese, (bush habit), the plants died after producing just a couple of squash, and the Early Prolific Straightneck, which is yellow and still producing, is far from prolific, and a lot of the squashes have rotten ends.

GET YOUR SEEDS NOW

The local garden centre is now selling all their varieties of seeds for half-price. That means I have to be very firm with myself and not buy a whole lot more!  I have got lots left over as it is.

And if you wait even longer, they sell seeds for 50p a packet. That's a huge saving especially on F1 seeds, which can be £3 a pack, more or less.

Seeds can usually be sent to the UK from abroad.  Also plants bought on trips to the EU are now permitted into the country.  A friendly neighbour on the allotments regularly brings in lovely healthy plants from Slovenia, where his family live.  You should see the size of his kohl rabi this year!

GARDENS TO VIST AT WALMER CASTLE, BUT NOT THE LONDON PUB

TWO AUGUST DAYS IN DEAL AND SANDWICH, KENT - NOT LONG ENOUGH - GOOD TO VISIT

DEAL BY THE SEA, OVERLOOKING THE GOODWIN SANDS

Spent an uncomfortable day on the shingle beach, on the hottest day of the year so far, (34 degrees) but I loved it!

Deal beach, hottest day of the year

We thought a seaside resort would be bound to have deck-chairs to sit in, but no, absolutely nothing.  

The shingle shelves steeply, so you struggle down the slope with all your bags and the rug to sit on. Then you struggle back up to go, and that is even more difficult!



There is a fishing fleet at Deal too, and local Chipies all promote their fried Cod as being locally caught.  We did not try the cod though, but its on my little list of things to do, next time

Fishing boats at Deal, pier in background

WALMER CASTLE

Cannon overlooking the English Channel

On our last afternoon, we drove along the coast a couple of miles, to Walmer Castle.

It is a beautiful building which you can visit and walk round inside where the great and the good used to live, including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and the Duke of Wellington.  Queen Victoria's bedroom is there, fully furnished, as is the apartment where the Duke of Wellington lived, and died.  His death mask is not a pretty site!

The moat at Walmer Castle

There is a moat and cannon pointing out to sea.  Little daisies are now growing round the base of the cannon,  times change and our warlike impulses  (if we have any)  are now focussed elsewhere.

Cannon wheel with daisies

This castle is famous, of course, not only because there are lots of pubs called The Walmer Castle. 

Like Deal castle, it was built in the time of Henry VIII, one of a chain of castles including Dover.  Protection from those dreadful Spaniards and French, I guess.  

It is where the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports has his or her official residence, for instance Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was a Lord Warden and stayed here often.

GARDENS AT WALMER CASTLE

View of long border from the castle

Walmer Castle, Kent, maintained by English Heritage

I really wanted to see the famous gardens at the castle.  Above is a link to the web site that gives a lot of information about its history.

I noticed that there were several gardeners busy, not the usual 'young pups' either.  

They were mature, and one we spoke to said how they all looked forward to the weekends, because it was such hard work during the week.

VEGETABLE GARDEN

Lots of flowers in the veg garden, in fact more flowers than veg, but  it is a bit late in the season for salad stuff and the cabbages were all protected by netting, so I guess like in London, the pesky pigeons are a pain.

Cabbages in the garden

Are these lettuces gone to seed?

Globe artichokes and calendula

Cold frames are full of flowers

PLANT SALE

Yes, you guessed it, I was tempted to buy two plants, hemerocalis (day lilies to you and me) and they are growing in 'hairy pots'!  They can be planted straight into the garden, 'hairy pot' and all.  They are not planted yet, I am waiting for the heat to lessen, and the soil to get a bit more moist.

Day lily in its hairy pot

HEATWAVE IN KENT - SANDWICH , 'THE MOST COMPLETE MEDIEVAL TOWN IN ENGLAND

A SHORT BREAK IN HAM AND SANDWICH, KENT

We spent a couple of nights at the little Inn called The Blazing Donkey.  It has the address of Sandwich, but is not actually in that small town. Instead it is in the depth of Kent countryside, about two miles away, at  a place called Ham, at the end of a long narrow lane. We had a job to find it.

A LITTLE ABOUT HAM

In Sandwich we went to see the Secret Gardens, at the grand Salutation manor house. Apparently they provide accommodation there.  

This is the link.  The website has lots of helpful information.

The Secret Gardens

It is quite expensive to go in but well worth it.  Also there is a plant sale area but once again, a bit pricey, all the plants were £6 a pot.  I was tempted to buy a dahlia but resisted!

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera.  

The garden is over 3.5 acres surrounding a house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.  The planting was an inspiration.  It is a well-sheltered garden so the tender flowers well blooming well, including some delightful dahlias.  I note some, in case I can afford to buy some plants next spring.

These are some I liked:

City of Alkmaar

Pooh

Fascination

Honka

Bishop of Canterbury

Tigga Spice

April Heather - my favourite

ALAN BUCKINGHAM'S PHOTO OF APRIL HEATHER DAHLIA

There is also a vegetable garden, full of beans on tripods, globe artichokes, chard etc and dotted with flowers.