We’re all hiding indoors as week number 4 of horrible weather gets going with no sign of change. Every day is dark, grim and wet. Slugs have eaten everything in the garden (though not the weeds, of course) so there is almost no veg growing at the moment. A few tomatoes are resisting attacks but haven’t pushed past 10cm in height from lack of sun. It’s so cold that I actually fear for their lives at night. Gloom, gloom, gloom! At least I’ve managed to paint the toilet whilst being unable to leave the house.
Archive for June, 2007
Eldeflower Champagne
June is the time to make your home-made Elderflower “champagne” (a lightly sparkling, mildly alcoholic drink). Here’s my recipe for this totally natural and easy-to-make drink which is great served very cold on a hot day in August.
Pick your elderflowers when they are in full bloom on a hot sunny day for best results.
You will need one large container with a lid…
Ingredients:
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10 large elderflower heads
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1 kilo of sugar
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10 litres water
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2 lemons
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splash of vinegar
Peel the lemons and place the peel in the container with the juice of the lemons, the sugar, the water and the vinegar. Stir. Put in the flower heads and stir gently. Cover and leave to stand for 48 hours.
Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cloth and pour into bottles (a funnel helps at this point). The best bottles are empty fizzy water bottles (or Coke-type bottles if you drink that kind of stuff) – don’t use normal plastic bottles! If you live in cider-country you can use old glass cider bottles as long as the seals are still good on the stoppers.
Leave your champagne in a cool place for at least 4 weeks before you drink it. I can last for up to two years, but I don’t think you’ll be able to resist it for that long!
Life and death
Most people think that gardening is all about life. It’s not, it’s about death. Death to weeds, death to rabbits (yes, still!) death to mice, death to slugs, etc. etc. In order to make sure any plant survives in the garden you have to commit daily genocide on various different species, large or small. As we have run out of bunny-killing bullets (latest count is 21, by the way), I have now turned my attention on the major slug problem. Growing everything under mulch is great for water conservation and fertility, but it is also an absolute haven for slugs and snails. I am completely convinced that my four acres is actually Mecca to slugs and that any scientific study will instantly conclude my slug population to be at least 100 times higher than anywhere else IN THE WORLD!! I am dealing with these slimy criminals as best I can. Obviously beer traps work wonders and take no effort, plus they are working hard when the slug population is really on the move and you are in bed or in front of the TV. I have come to an arrangement with the owners of our village bar (luckily every village in
France has one), who give me the waste beer they get every time they change the barrel. It’s a noble use for a product which would otherwise go down the drain, and it means no more arguments when Ian drinks the cans of beer I actually bought for the slugs!
I have also taken to carrying around a small bucket of beer with me while I work in the garden – every time I see a slug (that’s every 10 seconds) I chuck it in the bucket and don’t have to worry about it escaping before I get over to the chicken yard. This is what people refer to as ‘hand picking’, it sounds so much better than ‘mass murder’, doesn’t it?! It’s also a good idea to leave a few piles of pulled-up weeds around and about, then every couple of days turn the pile over and you’ll find a wonderful harvest of slugs waiting for you.
