Meet:
What better than a relaxed pub lunch on a Sunday? And the Galvin Green Man is the perfect place to meet with friends to eat. It’s in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by lovely countryside. Pheasants wander through the large garden, with enough room for children to run around and enjoy the outdoors too.
In the last few years, this pub was bought by the Galvin brothers of La Chapelle, Windows and Athenaeum London fame, beautifully ‘added’ to and turned into a wonderful restaurant come gastro-pub. With the emphasis on local, fresh, quality produce and ingredients and beautiful cooking, the food is just lovely. They have a knowledgeable staff who are very happy to recommend and the bar is also very well stocked with a range of cocktails and gins, again including local Adnams brands and bottles. We ate ‘a deux’ on a Thursday evening from the ‘Spring’ set menu which included a glass of house champagne. This was, of course, after the obligatory aperitif (rhubarb and ginger gin, served with fever tree ginger ale and slices of fresh ginger).
Sunday ‘roast’ always has a choice of chicken or beef and, according to seasonality, a third roast is also offered. If you have children and order before 12pm on a Sunday, children eat free and you are gifted with a glass of Prosecco too! What could be better to ease you into a long and lazy afternoon? After our delicious evening meal, I can’t wait to return with family for a relaxed Sunday.
Make:
Well, this is something I’ve been thinking about for while and finally got around to a week or so ago. We had lots of pallets left over from the building work and I’ve been finding creative ways to use them. Some of the large crates are now raised vegetable beds, other pallets have been used as wine racks (thanks dad!), scaffold boards as shelves, and this project was a vertical living wall using a pallet as as a basic structure.
I posted a couple of pictures on social media, a 30 Days Wild Facebook group and my ever faithful Yes Bebe Babble group, and couldn’t believe the response. There were comments all over the place, several hundred (668 + 113 so far) likes and reactions, and requests about how I had gone about it. Hence this month’s ‘Make’: Step by step instructions on the vertical pallet wall garden! Feel free to head over the the Yes Bebe blog for a nose around.
1)
Find a pallet. They’re all slightly different. Look at their bottoms or underneath. This is the side you will have facing you to plant into. I chose ones with just four slats as I wanted a bit more space between each slat for the plants. Also, if you’re having a few side by side, check the ‘colours’ and fading of the wood match if that sort of thing bothers you as much as it does me! I found one was very grey and one was a warm yellow, so searched though our pile until I had two similar in colour.
When searching, also check the pallet is safe to use here…check towards the bottom of the article for a handy picture guide.
2)
Turn or flip so the underneath is facing you and slats are horizontal. Now you have two choices! You can either back the whole lot, fill with compost whilst lying on the floor, plant whilst it’s flat, then stand and secure to wall (A) OR stand against wall, secure to wall, put in little compost holders and fill with plants (B). When choosing a wall, a garden wall is preferable, one that isn’t a wall of your house. If it is against the wall of your house you must leave a gap and put a watertight membrane against the back of the pallet you so don’t end up getting damp! Please do your own research on this aspect before commencing your project.
A)
If you chose the backing and planting whilst flat, here’s what to do next…
Back (as in, cover the top/front, since the underneath is now your front) of the pallet with a strong weed-stop membrane. I use a staple gun…not a craft one but a more substantial DIY one. You might also want to cover the sides to create an enclosed space. Again, to reiterate, if you’re going to have this against a wall of your house, please look online to find the best way to do this.
Lay on its back with the backing to the floor and fill all areas with compost.
Choose your plants…depending on the size of your pallet and your gaps, you’re looking for 2/3 per slat space/area. Choose a range to suit you. I have three types of fern towards the bottom, a few herbs in amongst, a few pretty little flowers, some sedums that grow tall, some that will trail, and some taller plants (Erysimum / wallflowers) for the top to make it pretty!
Plant as usual into the pallet spaces, remembering to place shady, water loving plants towards the base.
Water and wait til all soaked in.
Raise pallet, leave a gap of 2/3 inches between the base of the pallet and the wall and lean gently!
I would definitely suggest securing the top of the pallet to the wall. I was lucky, there were already several screws in the wall and at the perfect height too. I used garden wire, wrapped around a top slat, round the screw, onto the next screw and back around the top slat of the next pallet.
Stand back and admire your new garden!
B)
If you chose the lean up and plant when in place option, here’s what to do next…
Raise pallet to its wall position leaving a gap of 2/3 inches between the base of the pallet and the wall. You might also want to cover the sides to create an enclosed space. Again, to reiterate, if you’re going to have this against a wall of your house, please look online to find the best way to do this.
I would definitely suggest securing the top of the pallet to the wall. I was lucky, there were already several screws in the wall and the perfect height. I used garden wire, wrapped around a top slat, round the screw, onto the next screw and back around the top slat of the next pallet.
Now you need little pouches for the compost and plants to sit in. Luckily for me, each half (left or right side) was just the right length to use the bottom of a bag for life! Flatten the plastic bag, run a pair of scissors along about 3/4 inches up (leave it taller if you’re not sure, you can always cut down to size when you’ve tried it out) to cut the bottoms pouch section off. This will then sit inside each section and you use your staple gun (a DIY one not a craft one) to secure in place. I began with one staple in the middle at the back, then each end, then secured over the front lip of the slat at each end. It takes a little while. Stab holes with a pair of scissors through the bottoms of all the plastic pouches.
If you don’t want to use plastic, weed netting or similar will be fine but you need something the water will drip through.
Fill each little pouch with compost but leave them shallow enough to top up with plants.
Choose your plants…depending on the size of your pallet and your gaps, you’re looking for 2/3 per slat space/area. Choose a range to suit you. I have three types of fern forwards the bottom, a few herbs in amongst, a few pretty little flowers, some sedums that grow tall, some that will trail, and some taller plants (Erysimum, wallflowers) for the top to make it pretty!
Plant as usual where you fancy. Shady, water loving plants towards the base.
Water.
Stand back and admire your new garden!
Hope that helps everyone. I sort of made it up as I went along. If I did it again, I think I’d go for the complete fill with compost and then lean up approach rather than the shallow ‘beds’…thinking it through, it would mean each plant has lots of space and growing room. What I might do as mine grow is top up each section with compost so it goes to the ‘top’ of each slat. I may even, at some point, take them down and redo if I find the plants aren’t growing strongly. But bear in mind, they’ll be a lot heavier if completely filled. I’ve also seen people used them as shallow raised beds laying flat!
Munch:
After feeling I’ve got into something of a rut with cooking again, despite cooking everything from fresh ingredients every night, I decided to give Gousto another go for a couple of weeks, just to inspire me with new flavours and recipes. I have previously used them and found the ingredients to be good quality and the recipes and flavours to be delicious so was looking forward to a ‘no thinking’ couple of weeks where I simply grabbed a bag out of the fridge and followed the instructions!
As a family of four, with a hungry 7yo and a 3yo, we usually spend around £100 a week on food (extra budget for wine of course!) and a Gousto box of four meals for four people comes in just under £50. With an extra shop for breakfast things and snacks the cost remains about the same, so although it seems pricey, it’s actually no more than usual. And I don’t have to think about what we’re having.
There are around 40 recipes to choose from including family favourites, quick makes and some Joe Wicks options too. The tastiest from last week was definitely our veggie one…Spiced Shakshuka with Feta and Pitta. I often make a pepper, onion and tomato stew with paprika but this was taken to the next level with pumpkin seeds, feta and fresh parsley scattered over at the end…its the little extra touches that make things really good as opposed to just a family meal I think. If you want to give them a go, then click on the link below and you will not only get to choose from the yummy recipes on offer this week, but your first box will be half price and you’ll receive 30% off any other box ordered that month!
Click here…
https://cook.gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=HANNA188010&utm_source=iosapp
The Chimney House 