It's now ......

 

It's now isn't it, the best bit of the Summer.  

 

We have had just enough hot days to love the sun and the heat but not moan, because we will ... we always do it's the British way!!   Just enough water left in the soil that the plants are not drooping before our eyes and demanding watering when we are at our hottest and tired-est.

 

Now really is the time to enjoy it.  To down tools for the hottest part of the day and do jobs in the cool of the house or snooze away an hour on the patio if we are that lucky.  And that is just what we did this weekend.

 

 

Everywhere is lush and green without that full, dusty over-blowness that will come by the end of the month.  My lavender garden is coming into full bloom and the bees are loving it.  I stand amongst the plants, pulling out the odd weed, nothing to taxing now in the heat of the day, the sound of their buzzing fills the air and the dragonflies whizz by on their way to the pond.

 

It calms the soul.

 

There is the second tin bath that used to live behind the old shed catching rainwater for the greenhouse, now turned over and drying out after it's many years of service.  I hope to be able to take the baths with us when we go, I'll have to have a word with our landlord.

 

 

The planted Tin Bath is doing well, the Radishes have all been eaten and I have just planted a new row (I must remember to add 12p to the planting tally to keep things straight on the sidebar), leaving more space for the Spring Onions this time, they are still pathetic little hairs of green, the poor things have been starved of sunshine by those big blowsy radishes for too long. 

 

We have no radish to eat at all at the moment bad planning and laziness on my part I fear, a good veggie gardener always sows little and often, I have phases and gluts, oh well there's always something to eat now so it's not too bad.

 

 

But really at the moment it's all about the Strawberries :-)

 

Eating with the seasons means making the most of what is there, no hardship at all when what is there are luscious big red juicy strawberries.  Usually I would be jam making and sauce making to preserve their deliciousness for Winter but this year we are eating what we have while we have it.  With the move creeping closer we are aiming to empty completely and then switch off the big chest freezer, so I am fighting every urge to pop more things in.

 

A bowl of strawberries each night is a fine reward for a day spent weeding and tending, and while they last we will enjoy.

 

Sue xx