A cheery newly harvested cabbage to add to the christmas dinner table tomorrow…

With all best wishes for a happy festive break and a fruitful year to come in 2019…
A cheery newly harvested cabbage to add to the christmas dinner table tomorrow…

With all best wishes for a happy festive break and a fruitful year to come in 2019…
“It is a sad moment when the first phlox appears. It is the amber light indicating the end of the great burst of early summer and suggesting that we must now start looking forward to autumn. Not that I have any objection to autumn as a season, full of its own beauty; but I just cannot bear to see another summer go, and I recoil from what the first hint of autumn means.” Vita Sackville-West





Perfect weather – not too hot, not too cold; just right for pottering and doing all the little things that needed to be done this weekend. Mowing, trimming, shredding cardboard for the compost heap, deadheading, weeding, sowing coriander (‘cruiser’), radish & spinach seeds – and, of course, harvesting. With restful pauses for nibbling and gratitude…











It’s another world. Very warm and somehow comforting; I think because of the smell, which reminds me of my grandfathers’ greenhouses, one in Scotland growing tomatoes and carnations and the other in Yorkshire, growing tomatoes and more tomatoes! Both my Grandpas would, I fear, have mildly disapproved of the exuberant (over) planting, but at least it’s more orderly than last year when the achocha completely took over!

Varieties growing (all from seed) are: Tomatoes Sungold, Noir de Crimee, Gardener’s Delight, Red Brandy Wine, Green Zebra, Caro Rich and Sweet Aperitif; Pepper Hungarian Hot Wax; Chilli Aji Delight; Melon Prescott Fond Blanc Musk (this is not doing very well) and marigold tagetes that have grown monstrously from unpromising beginnings.






Strange to think back to the waterlogged days of winter, when the cloggy mud made it almost impossible to push the wheelbarrow along the path. That same path is now hard and the grass pale brown straw. Daily watering, at least of the greenhouse, is necessary.

The flower bed is doing well, the tiny little honeywort (Cerinthe major ‘purpurascens’) seedlings that I was so concerned about have turned into giants, beloved of bees. The roses have been marvellous, no black spot in evidence, and the new ‘Boscobel’ standard has flowered with stately generosity since early June. Cosmos and lavender also.

The outdoor tomatoes are doing well, with lots of fruit to come. Self-seeded borage too, where I have allowed it to develop, though it is a thug and I too indulgent. My (very tidy) neighbour tuts quietly about it.



The zinnias have now got into their stride, though they were jolly hard to germinate during the very cold spring. I’m so glad there is one pale one among the riot of hot pink and orange. And the ‘rose de Roscoff’ onions are now drying on the apple rack I bought at a vintage sale. Spanish onions still growing. Early ‘Sungold’ tomatoes cropping already; delicately scented and delicious. The bulbous green tomatoes alongside are ‘Noir de Crimee’ and I’m looking forward to them developing their stripey crimson juiciness.

Bean ‘Czar’ has now taken off, with its ethereal white flowers. And below is the butternut squash which is looking great – I’m so pleased as in previous years the fruits have been weedy and often withered. This plant alone has 7 fruits, already quite large. And below that the courgette ‘Soleil’ is providing a constant supply of sunny delights. Its friend ‘Romanesco’ is completely out of control and seems to produce marrows overnight – the less said about that the better… luckily the compost needs greenery 🙂


Time to get out my wonderful Finnish steam juicer…

The currants this year have suddenly ripened and are threatening to go over in the heat so I picked them all and will make jelly and jam tomorrow. The gooseberries are lovely and sweet and destined to be lightly poached with elderflower syrup. Lots more are still ripening…




Despite my annual vow never to grow peas again, (fighting the predations of mice before germination and pigeons when growing is a wearisome process – especially as they are so cheap and easy to buy frozen), yet again I succumbed to the notion and this year I’m pleased I did. The purple podded peas, especially, are looking lovely and healthy.

And harvesting has started in earnest, today with courgettes (varieties romanesco and soleil), golden sweet mange tout, radishes, baby broad beans and red cos lettuce as well as daily sweet peas and roses (these are James Galway, chosen for the heavenly colour growing against the blue of the shed).

While at home the garden is blooming, the lilies particularly splendid this year with a happy absence of lily beetles.


Arriving at the huerto at 06.30 this morning, the light was magical. As was this beautiful visitor; I was heading for a raspberry snack so had quite a surprise!

Flowers now in abundance, the roses especially beautiful in their velvety morning dew:








Everything growing on happily in the warmth of midsummer…





Some dismal surprises today on a flying visit to the huerto; pigeons have demolished my beautiful Golden Sweet mange tout, along with most of the chard, lettuces and much of the spinach. Asparagus beetles have been beetling away, and a swarm of blackfly taken up residence in the tender tops of the broad beans. Booooo!
However, a bit of fast squishing, pinching out, cloching and netting before the heavens opened has, I trust, provided some respite. And just time for a photo of the standard rose ‘Boscobel’ coming into flower, along with peony Sarah Bernhardt still holding onto bud but blooming imminent.



… and a quick pick of coriander ‘Cruiser’ and spinach from the little bed that is also home to surprisingly easily germinated salsoli, catch crop radishes and some bolthardy beetroot.


The quince tree is appreciating the extra light afforded by the tree felling early in the year, with a more symmetrical form and healthy blossom which I hope will not be blighted by frost as they were last year. 

Grown from seed, I am proud of the heartsease, happy little faces which smile from their dappled basket, with the ‘insect hotel’ behind. If I were a bee, I would like to live here.


And the plot is starting to come to life, late compared to previous years, but promising; overseen by the majestic copper beech, colour delicious in the early summer sun. I may be fanciful, but biodynamic preparation 500 does seem to make it all shine more….


‘Golden Sweet’ mange tout peas on the far right above- hope the pigeons don’t get them!


How naive I was, taking so much care when planting and nurturing those first little stachys affinis rhizomes! Now I find that it is in fact a thug of a plant, a member of the mint family and ferociously invasive. So yesterday I spent several hours grovelling on my knees forking out the spreading plague. I plan to replant some of them in a container as they can create a nice gastronomic flourish, although very fiddly to prepare. I guess some of the little devils will have escaped, but the bed is now looking clear and the elephant garlic it was suffocating now free to grow on unimpeded.



This photo from inside the greenhouse says it all … I was drenched from planting out leeks and spinach. But there were some friendly faces inside:
And a nice view of the apple starting to show life. Note my car keys hanging on the shed door getting very wet! I love those hooks; trowel and fork kitch from Wilco 🙂

Grappling painfully to put together a new steel potting bench (of course I didn’t have the correct size of spanner), I found myself drawn into a frenzy of displacement activity; clearing the back of the shed area. It had become a sort of general dumping ground and looked thoroughly disreputable, not helped by all the old autumn leaves lying about and debris left from the tree work some weeks ago.
I tend to go at such things like a bull at a gate. Some hours later I emerged, filthy and exhausted, but it was worth it!

I have also finally completed the new big plot, the final touch being to top the paths with beautiful beech leaf mould from the garden at home.



I’ve also managed to get the onion sets planted: Rose de Roscoff and Snowball. The Faulds parsley seems to be coming back but not growing on so I suspect Mr Pigeon has been enjoying a treat. Not any more, thanks to my lovely glass cloches, washed today.










Not a bad haul for ‘the hungry gap’! But what a lot of mud…
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