Monday 14 May 2012

Dandelion Wine

A relatively uneventful weekend, but I did start a batch of dandelion wine. This meant cutting 450g of dandelion heads (this is lots, I now know), and pouring 4.5l of boiling water over them. That was Saturday: today, I've poured the juice into the preserving pan, added the peel of four oranges, and boiled for ten minutes, before straining the liquid over 1.5kg of sugar in a demijohn. I'll add the yeast when it's cooled, and it should clear in the autumn, ready to drink around Christmas.

Dandelion flowers for brewing (© Ian 2012)

I also planted forty anemones (de Caen and St Brigid) into pots. The anemones we planted straight into the ground around the trees in autumn 2009 never came up, but this year some of those in the front wall did: they went in in 2010, so it took two winters for them to show up. By doing these into pots, I'm hoping to keep track of them more readily, and hope that they will be quicker. Instead of soaking them for a day, which is the advice, I actually soaked them for four. They seemed a lot plumper and happier (and it was possible to tell which way up they belong!), which may also have helped.

I used some of the leaf mould we collected in 2010, and it is lovely. The 2011 leaves are still in bin liners, waiting to go in the wire cages, and the 2010 leaves have broken down into a wonderful compost. It's really light, rich, and nice to work. Excited about compost? Ah, well.

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