The Stray Gardener is written by Rudding Park’s Kitchen Gardener, Fiona Slight.

Fiona has worked in horticulture for over 30 years in the UK and abroad, and specialises in growing fruit and vegetables for fine dining. 

We’ve made it! March is when things really start to spring in to action in the garden. The bleak winter is over and with lighter days plants start to come to life.

Spring flowering plants are especially important as a little more warmth in the air means honey bees, bumble bees and other pollinating insects start to get going and they need the early flowers to start their amazing lifecycles. Not only that, they lift our spirits and send a message letting us know that good weather is on the way and things can only get better. I have included a few of the plants that really lift my spirits and make me feel good as I work in the garden at this time.

A magnolia bud

Flowering shrub wise, my absolute favourite are Magnolias. They start tempting you with the wonderful show that is going to come at the end of March and in to April with their beautiful velvety furry buds that gradually get larger and swell before the white, pink, cream or purple petals finally burst forth. My favourites are good, old fashioned M. stellata and M. loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’ which are perfect for a small garden, and M. soulangeana ‘Black Tulip’ which has wonderfully dark purple flowers and could still be grown in a smaller sized garden, eventually growing to around eight metres in time.

Looking closer to the ground, you can’t avoid the wonderful creamy/white flowers of the Primrose (Primula vulgaris), my favourite flower of all time and a real magnet for pollinating insects.  You need to get down on your knees and up close with this beauty as it has the most beautiful scent and should not be missed when in full flower. Plus, even better, the flowers are edible and can be used for decoration on cakes and even as a botanical in gin. What’s not to love about that!

Cyclamen hederifolium

However, even before the Primulas gets going, Winter Aconites (Eranthis hyemallis) hold up their wonderful yellow heads, and not long after come the Cyclamen with their fantastic white, pink or purple flowers, followed by the many wonderful different types and colours of Helleborus. H. argutifolius is a particularly hardy and lovely choice with pale green/cream flowers, with the many different types of orientalis also making an impact when not much else is around.

Helleborus orientalis

It doesn’t always have to be flowers that lift our spirits. In the vegetable garden, garlic plants are starting to produce the first of their leaves in preparation for their tasty cloves to develop later in the year. Purple sprouting broccoli start to produce the first of their wonderfully tender and sweet florets, and they don’t just produce one crop, oh no – they are cut and come again and will produce many florets over a few weeks in the spring.

March is a perfect time to get planting, so what’s stopping you? It’s a great way to see the flowers, ensuring you know you have chosen the colour and the type of plant you will really appreciate and love for years to come. I know I do!

Happy planting!

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• The Stray Gardener: mulch, mulch, mulch
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Harrogate Hospital Radio is to celebrate a group of volunteers who have given more than 200 combined years of service to the station.

Eight members of the society, which first took to the air in October 1977, will be ‘presented’ with long service certificates at its AGM by Hospital Broadcasting Association President, June Snowden.

The broadcaster was Harrogate’s first dedicated radio station, and will recognise those volunteers who have been members of the charity for ten years and longer, including one for 40 years.

However, because of covid restrictions, the meeting will be held online.

The members who are being honoured are:

Steve Pexton, 40 years, John Manning 35 years, Nicola Pollard, 30 years, David Simister  30 years, Bill Caw 20 years, Mike Streeton 15 years, Ellie Jackson 15 years, Simon Berger 10 years, Martin Fretwell 10 years.

Read More:

• Dramatic fall in number of covid patients at Harrogate District Hospital
• NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale hospital to close

Harrogate Hospital Radio Chairman Mark Oldfield said:

“Between them, these eight members have dedicated a magnificent 205 combined years’ service to Harrogate Hospital Radio.

“This is an incredible milestone, and I’d like to thank each and every one of them for their long and valued service to our great charity.

“All of our members give their time willingly and freely, and I’m grateful to them all for their individual contributions, which have helped us to be where we are today, one of the country’s most successful hospital radio stations.

He added:

“Without volunteers there would be no Harrogate Hospital Radio. Our members come from all ages and all backgrounds, and each one supports the charity in their own individual way, from presenting shows and collecting requests, to assisting in administrative duties and fundraising.”

Further information about Harrogate Hospital Radio is available at: http://www.harrogatehospitalradio.org.uk/

Stray Foodie Lockdown Recipes are written by Michelin-starred chef, Frances Atkins. In 1997, Frances opened the Yorke Arms near Pateley Bridge, where she was the owner for 20 years. During her ownership, she held her Michelin-star status for 16 of those years.

“I’ll be bringing you some of my favourite recipes each week. I’d love to see how you make the recipes your own – let me know by using #StrayFoodie or tagging @thestrayferret in your social media posts.”

When fresh peas in the pod start appearing on our greengrocers shelves along with delightful baby broad beans, one really does feel that spring has arrived.

One of Britain’s favourite legumes marries so well with all our little baby hedgerow herbs that are beginning to show their faces. Sweet cicely, wild mint, wild garlic, baby nettles to mention just a few enhance the flavour and add an earthiness to this great legume. High in many nutrients and anti-oxidants, they are a great source of protein.

At the height of the season the best and prime peas are often frozen which enables us to enjoy them throughout the winter season. As a cook I always try to make the best use of them.  At this time of the year the fresh peas are so sweet and sensational that they hardly need any cooking and indeed I use them as a garnish to many of my dishes. Their versatility is almost unique.

This Pea Tart recipe is great for a supper that can be made in advance. As always, I think it is so important to be able to put a variation on a basic recipe, so you can add to it as much or as little as you like, such as Parma ham, smoked salmon, walnuts, cobnuts, leeks or preserved citrus.

Ingredients for my Pea & Wild Herb Tart:

• A Puff Pastry Shell Case
• 200g Frozen Peas
• 80g White Wine
• 7g Salt
• 60g Mayonnaise
• 80g Philadelphia Whole Fat Cheese
• 80g Whipped Cream
• 2 Leaves of Gelatine of your choice
• A small bunch of fresh mint and sweet cicely

For the garnish:

• Parma Ham
• Peas
• Broad Beans
• Wild Herbs
• Vinaigrette

Method

Pour boiling water over the peas.

Drain and let stand for a few minutes.

Drain well again and squeeze any excess water out of them.

Pop them in the food processor with the salt and cream cheese.

Warm and soften the gelatine in the white wine and blend with the peas.

Fold in the mayonnaise.

Chop the mint and sweet cicely with ½ teaspoon of sugar and add to the mayonnaise.

Finally fold in the cream.

Pour into your crisp puff pastry shell and place in the fridge to set up.

Garnish with Parma Ham, fresh Legumes, vinaigrette and other ingredients of your choice.

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• Stray Foodie recipe: Salty fingers, samphire, leek & mussel
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Harrogate District Hospital has recorded another death of a patient who tested positive for covid. It brings the total number of hospital deaths in the district from covid to 160.  The patient’s death was recorded yesterday, February 27.

Across the district another 15 people have tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours. It means 7,295 people have tested positive for covid since the pandemic began.

Read More: 

• Knaresborough vaccine centre opens at former supermarket
• 48,000 people have covid vaccine in Harrogate district

The 7 day average rate in Harrogate has fallen to 72.1 per 100,000 – this is compared with an England wide average of 96.4.

We’d like to thank everyone who has sent us tributes to their loved ones who have died of covid in the past year. We will be publishing them in the week starting March 8. If you have lost a family or friend to the virus and wish them to be remembered publicly then get in touch on contact@thestrayferret.co.uk and we can tell their story. 

This column is written for the Stray Ferret by Kimberley Metcalfe. Kimberley has an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. Her company Pooches Galore is based in Harrogate and specialises in dog training and resolving canine behavioural problems.

I recently recorded a podcast with Marc Abraham, the TV vet and more importantly the animal welfare campaigner who worked tirelessly to introduce Lucy’s Law last year.

Lucy’s Law was a landmark law in many ways, it was brought in to protect the rights of the breeding bitches who have often been neglected and used purely to make money, ending the third-party sake of puppies to try and eradicate puppy farms.

Often in these situations, potential puppy buyers do not meet the pup’s biological mum and are sold through brokers. This ultimately results in poor welfare for the dogs, unsanitary conditions for raising dogs, diseases, poorly puppies, and potentially behavioural problems.

The law came into effect in April 2020, just after the country was plunged into a lockdown, meaning puppy owners could not go and see their pups in their home environment with their mum as should be the way. Instead, unscrupulous breeders were still able to find ways around Lucy’s Law, delivering puppies to owners, and sending videos of puppies in their home environment without prospective owners having any way of checking the validity of these videos.

Over the past year, when regulations should have been tighter around purchasing and collecting dogs, I have heard many horror stories, including of dogs being passed through windows of cars in service station car parks, and dogs being sold on the understanding that they are 8 weeks old when they have actually been 12 or even 16 weeks, as well as many others.

Read More: 

• Kim’s Canines: Social distancing is not just for humans
• Kim’s Canines: supporting our dogs out of lockdown

The demand for puppies over the last year has been extraordinary, with the price of puppies reflecting this. If you are looking to bring a puppy into your home there are a number of very important checks you need to do.

• Meet your puppy at their home. The puppies should be in the breeders home, getting used to the sounds and sights of the home environment – not in a garage or stable outside.
• Does it look like a dog lives there with a litter of puppies? There should be a whelping pen that the puppies have been living in.
• How is mum? Is she there? Is she friendly? What’s her personality like? Is she interested in the puppies? Is she still with the puppies? If not, when and why did she leave them?
• Are the other litter mates there? How many were in the litter? Have any of them left to their new homes?
• How old is the puppy? By law they have to be 8 weeks before they can come home with you.
• Has the puppy been weaned, and are they eating solid food and not reliant on their mum? Puppies should be weaned from between 3 weeks to 7 weeks of age, but certainly before they go home with you.
• How old is mum? She should be over 1 year old before she has her first litter.
• How many litters has the mum had? Really, we don’t want the mum to have had more than 4 litters and once she is about 5 she should be retired from breeding.
• What is the puppy eating? Is it a good quality food? Is the breeder going to give you some food to come home with feed the puppy when they get home? Are they fed on raw food, kibble or a home-made diet –and is this diet going to work for you?
• What are the conditions of the sale? Can you breed from this dog should you want to? Will they take the puppy back if you are unable to keep them? Have they put any other conditions on the sale of the dog?
• Is the breeder interrogating you? They should be asking questions to check your suitability – asking about your home, who lives there, your experience of owning dogs, why are you choosing this breed, is your garden secure, how much time do you have to dedicate to your new dog.

This is a big commitment you are making, so don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you want, making sure that this is the right dog for you to bring into your home for the next 10-15 years.

It can be difficult when we are caught up in the excitement of finding a new puppy, but always take a step back and look objectively at a situation.

Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With over 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond. 

This week Alex looks at how you can control the sale of your property if you haven’t yet found your new home. 

Time. It is one of the most important factors when trying to buy or sell your home. More often than not, matters do not move at the pace you want. Don’t even get me started on local authority searches and mortgage lenders!

One of the most regular obstacles I come across is when vendors are unsure about selling their home, as they haven’t found a property they wish to move to. Their default thinking tends to be that they will be kicked out on to the streets by their buyer, before they are ready. This is not the case.

Putting transactions together on the right basis is key and there are some lesser known options that sellers (and indeed buyers) need to have up their sleeves when negotiating. Just how do you build in extra time into a transaction and still be in control of it, whilst keeping both sides happy?

Yes going into rented is the ‘go to’ option, however try looking at AirBnB. Many landlords have lost income during the restrictions and therefore if you wish to secure their property for a period of time, have the freedom to pick your own dates and at more favourable market rates, this could be an answer.

The other known strategy is to exchange and then delay completion by a several months, however, suggest completion ‘if not earlier by prior mutual agreement’. This means that both buyer and seller can make completion earlier, should they require, however neither side can go beyond the backstop date.

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The lesser known angles and which are also win-win scenarios for both sides are:

Licence back agreements. This is where the property exchanges and completes, however the ‘former owner’ then rents the property back from the incoming buyer at more favourable rates. This means the vendor can stay in-situ in their home, has more time to find their next home and most importantly are in a top buying position. In contrast, the new owner has secured the property and has a reliable tenant already there.

An alternative angle is that once a seller has found a buyer, is to issue the memorandum of sale to all parties. However you then ask the solicitors to stop working on their respective files. This gives the buyer reassurance that you are taking their offer seriously and means that the vendor is instantly put into a proceedable position, as they can prove their property is now Under Offer.

Yes these options can prove to be useful to break impasses, however they can only be deployed when you know what the buyer and seller are trying to achieve. Indeed I have done transactions where I have used a number of these options all together. The key is to find that key middle ground and think laterally.

The Stray Gardener is written by Rudding Park’s Kitchen Gardener, Fiona Slight.

Fiona has worked in horticulture for over 30 years in the UK and abroad, and specialises in growing fruit and vegetables for fine dining. 

Mulches are a loose covering of organic matter over the surface of the soil that can be used on garden borders, vegetable beds, underneath trees and shrubs and on containers. If there is one thing you do this spring, get mulching!

February and March are the perfect months for mulching your garden, “but why mulch?” I hear you say. Well, for lots of reasons, including; reducing water loss in hot weather, suppressing weeds, making your beds, borders and pots look neat and tidy, reduce time spent weeding, allow rain to penetrate the soil more easily, avoiding run off and puddling. Mulches break down gradually into the soil and help improve its structure and fertility.

Mulching Veg Beds

The mulches I prefer to use are:

Garden compost, everyone should have a compost bin or three! Made well, this is the nectar of the gods for plants and is well worth making and is not difficult.

Wood chippings, these are much better used once rotted down, especially useful under trees and on shrub borders, it is also useful for paths in a woodland setting. I even use them on the paths around my vegetable beds at home to suppress weeds and to encourage more beneficial insects and wildlife into the garden. Most local tree surgeons are happy to supply wood chip.

Bark chippings, are a good option and can be sourced at your local garden centre or online, works very similarly to wood chippings but does tend to have a much nicer finish and aroma, well worth using on the tops of pots to give a more natural finish.

Leaf mould, another wonderful home-made product, and even with an estate covered in trees here at Rudding Park, and a massive team effort in autumn to collect them, there is never enough! Teeming with microorganisms, it is hugely beneficial to the soil. Plus, if you make your own, there are no air miles and no carbon footprint!

Well-rotted manures as long as they have been allowed to rot down properly most animal manures will work really well, but my personal favourite is horse manure.

Rhubarb bed mulched with well-rotted horse manure

Mulch is best applied to at least 7.5cm or 3inches thick in spring from February onwards before weeds start to grow and herbaceous plants are still dormant. It’s a good idea to get it on before your spring flowering bulbs get too big and could be damaged whilst putting the mulch on. Be careful around low growing herbaceous plants, try not to smother them. Don’t spread it right up to the stems of trees and shrubs, leave a little space around the stem to allow air in and to avoid the chances of rotting off.

Don’t be stingy, it’s really important to get a good, thick layer down, this will help suppress annual weeds and insulate the soil better reducing the amount of water evaporating, and the amount of time you may have to water in the summer.

Try and avoid fresh material, to be at its most useful it needs time to rot down. Microorganisms in the soil can be encouraged to grow and use up reserves of Nitrogen, leaving less available for plant growth. If you are fortunate enough to have fresh material, store it somewhere for a few weeks to break down before adding.

Happy Mulching!

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• The Stray Gardener: On your marks, get set, grow!
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A further 23 covid cases have been confirmed in the Harrogate district. It is the same number of cases as yesterday.

It takes the total cases since March up to 7,006, according to today’s Public Health England figures.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate (latest data, February 10th) stands at 104.5 per 100,000 people.

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An investigation by the Stray Ferret has found discrepancies in documents used by Harrogate Council to advise the planning committee between 2017 and 2019.

The council claimed that there was a shortage of land for new housing development and delayed submission of the local development plan.

During that time, councillors say they were “forced” to approve major developments to boost housing numbers.

Yet we have found evidence that could have given councillors greater powers to reject speculative planning applications earlier.

How Harrogate went from building too few new homes to approving too many

Government planning policy directs councils to ensure it has enough land on which new homes can be built  –it must have a 5 Year Land Supply (5YLS).

This important statistic can decide the outcome of planning decisions.

Without one a legal situation is triggered which makes it’s easier for a developer to obtain planning permission.

Between January 2017 and September 2018, planning reports advised the planning committee that Harrogate didn’t have a 5-year land supply.

Our investigation uncovered evidence that Harrogate expected over 12 000 new homes to be delivered between 2019 and 2024.  That equates to a land supply of more than 9 years.

It’s more than double the number of homes required by local housing targets approved by the Secretary of State for the same period.

We wanted to know how the district went from a housing shortage in August 2018 to a housing surplus in January 2019.

Key Documents:

The council produced a series of reports containing expected housing delivery rates throughout 2017 – 2019.

The Housing Land Supply Update is a document that publishes the rolling assessment of the district’s 5YLS – it’s revised and published every three months.

Between 2017 and 2018, these documents showed a deficit 5 YLS position.

From June 2018, these reports showed a ‘marginal’ 5YLS of 5.2 – just above the threshold required.

We have studied other documents the council produces:

The Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment 2017 (SHELAA) gathered data about ALL land that the council considers suitable for development along with information as to when homes will be delivered on each site over 5, 10 and 15 year forecasts.

A Housing Background Paper sets out the council’s progress in achieving its policy objective of ‘accelerated’ housing growth with measured targets and delivery rates.

When we examined these documents, we found evidence of a much stronger position than the planning reports suggested.

A Timeline of Development in Harrogate:

December 2016:

Two years after it failed to adopt a Local Plan in 2014 The Planning Inspectorate rules that Harrogate still cannot evidence a 5YLS.

Harrogate was inundated with major development applications.

Even applications that had previously been refused were re-presented and approved.

For nearly two years, the planning committee made decisions based on the belief that they had to approve applications to boost housing numbers.

Yet documents reveal that in 2016 Harrogate identified new sites which the council believed would deliver over 1000 new homes within five years. Only a percentage though were included in the calculation of the 5YLS.

January 2018   Documents show that Harrogate was on track to deliver a whopping 9.7-year land supply by April 2019 – when the local development plan was due to be adopted.

But planning reports from the same month advised the councillors that the 5-year land supply had reached an all-time low of just 4.2 years.

Councillors continued to accept recommendations to approve applications to boost housing numbers.

June 2018 Housing Land Supply Update showed that that Harrogate had achieved a 5.02-year land supply.

However, the advice to councillors didn’t change.

Throughout July and August 2018, the planning reports were based on the earlier deficit position.

August 2018  The Housing Background Paper continued to state that the supply would increase to 9.7 years by April 2019.

The council submitted its local development plan for approval.

September 2018  The Planning Reports state that the council now has a ‘marginal’ 5-year land supply of 5.02 years.

Councillors are advised that approvals are still necessary to ensure that the fragile land supply is maintained.

January 2019 The Planning Inspectorate held hearings to determine if the council’s Local Development Plan was sound.

The Planning Inspectorate insisted that Harrogate cut its housing targets and drop 24 developments from the local development plan.

After the cuts, the planning inspectorate agreed that Harrogate retained a 6.87-year land supply.

The Planning Committee was now in a stronger position to take difficult decisions to refuse speculative and undesirable planning applications even against the advice of planning officers.

The Stray Ferret offered to discuss our findings with Rebecca Burnett, former Cabinet Member for planning and Richard Cooper, Leader of Harrogate Borough Council before we published.  Neither agreed to be interviewed.

In a statement issued by the press office, the council said:

“Our approach to calculating housing land supply has been tested on a number of occasions at planning appeals and at the local plan examination. It was found to be in line with national policy and guidance.

“During the period where we did not have an adopted local plan, the housing supply position was kept under constant review and councillors were routinely briefed.

“It is absolutely ridiculous to suggest that councillors were misled in relation to the housing land supply. We have seen no credible evidence whatsoever to back-up this claim.”

We have been told by councillors of all parties how concerned they are at the council’s performance record on planning.

We also put a series of questions to Andrew Jones MP regarding planning within the district.

We have not yet received an acknowledgement to our email.

Read More: 

• Harrogate Housing Investigation: district targeted for development during planning chaos
• Harrogate Housing Investigation: the politicians defend their records

A suspected drug dealer has been arrested near Boroughbridge after the police helicopter helped to track him down.

Officers were on patrol on the A1 southbound on Tuesday when a black BMW drove past.

The vehicle had markers attached to it that linked it to an incident in Humberside.

Officers caught up with the vehicle but when it pulled up on the hard shoulder the driver jumped out and fled across nearby fields.

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The National Police Air Service (NPAS) used a helicopter to track down the man who was found hiding next to a river.

The 27-year-old Sheffield man was arrested and a large amount of cannabis was seized from the car along with the vehicle.

He remains in custody at this time and the investigation continues.

A police spokeswoman said:

“We hope our response reassures you we will do everything we can to take drugs off our streets and tackle criminality in North Yorkshire.”