SixOnSaturday December 14th. Thank goodness for the porch!

Although I still have outside work to do, such as bagging the last of the leaves and harvesting leeks, it is more pleasant at this time of year to focus on indoor gardening.

1. Tomato jam. New for 2019 in our household, due to a major garden glut! Three simple ingredients and a drop of home-made apple pectin and the magic happens. The variety used in this batch is Goldie. The finished product tastes rather more like apricot jam than tomatoes. It’s delicious with cheese or on toast.

2. Here’s the rest of the glut, in case you are interested. There will be more jam. My favourite is made from Principe Borghese tomatoes of which there are many. There will be plenty of sauce for pasta. And tomato soup. And bread. And so on. Winter here is long and relentless.

3. Herbal tea. Here is Lemon Verbena, which spends the winter in the porch.  I cut the stems all the way back to the ‘trunk’. The leaves dry in a day or two hanging in a dark warm place. In winter add hot water and watch them rehydrate to perfection. Enjoy.

The plant will quickly grow new shoots.

4. Teucrium germander. I use this lovely little evergreen herb as an edging for my flower borders. I took a few cuttings, all of which rooted and are living in the porch until spring.

5. Bay Laurel. This plant is probably not winter hardy here, but if it gets much bigger it will be put to the test.(It’s in the porch). I like to make little bouquets of herbs tied with a ribbon on hostess gifts.

6. And finally, the porch! We added the porch many years ago and basically live, eat and garden here. We watch the birds and the boats and the fog on the river.Every home should have one!

Check out the host’s blog for more garden ramblings. Grow well!

http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com