Summer Pleasures and Spoons

July already. The garden fading one minute and blooming the next.

The campanulas are almost over although they may be generous with a second showing. The roses are glorious for a few days then their drooping heads shed their petals. If I can snip them off in time a few more lovely blooms will appear. I long for glorious cascades of roses but my plants struggle and only give me a few. A precious gift to be enjoyed while they flower.

Time for the lilies to scent the garden with their heady fragrance. Only a couple out yet but a few more to come. They’re not doing as well this year. Time to renew them I think.

The vegetable harvest has been really good. I dug up the garlic from the polytunnel. Dried off the bulbs and brought them indoors to begin using. I’ve only grown a small crop this year because I found that I was throwing some away. Although they keep for months, at the end a few were going mouldy and useless. So, fresh delicious garlic for as long as they last.

The onions were ready after soaking up the sun on the greenhouse bench for a few days. I trimmed the roots and snipped off the dry leaves and put these in the compost bin. The onions will keep well now and provide some tasty meals. A few are small but they will all be used.

These onions are called “Toughball” which might make them sound a bit chewy but in fact the name refers to their ability to grow over Winter, outdoors, and to withstand frost and snow. After sowing the seed I put the little plants into the ground in autumn and they grew slowly until February when the days lengthened and they began to put on a spurt. Sweet and tender, they’re the best onions I’ve ever grown.

The squashes have enjoyed the weather in June and are already forming little fruits. I have grown two different kinds from seed. “Buttercup”, my favourite, produces dark green squashes with bright orange flesh. Sweet and tender, they’re wonderful roasted. The other one I haven’t tried before. It’s called “Bon bon” and produces smaller squashes. Both types will store well over Winter in a cool room.

Time to closely cover all cabbage type plants to save them from Cabbage White caterpillars. Allan has built a domed frame to go over the kale and sprouts with fine mesh to keep the butterflies from laying eggs. That’s the plan anyway, but butterflies will find the tiniest hole and their caterpillars can strip the plants in a couple of days. Fingers crossed that we’ve got them adequately covered.

I’ve noticed there seem to be more grasshoppers this year. Lots of small ones. Not sure if these are babies or a different type than I’ve seen before but they’re bobbing about around the garden. Nice to see.

With so much going on in my kitchen with all this harvesting and so on, I often reflect on how much we value the small things we use everyday. Take spoons for example. Simple things which we hardly ever give a thought to. A perfect example of “form following function”. By that I mean the shape is dictated by what we use it for. The bowl holds its contents with its hollow shape and the handle allows us to hold it as we use it. A different shape wouldn’t be as useful.

I’m very fond of my spoons. I have Allan’s grandmother’s spoon to measure out tea for the pot. More like a tiny shovel but still with that familiar form. I have a few sets of teaspoons. Art deco and other vintage spoons with traditional patterns. Old- fashioned simple ones and a few “apostle ” spoons which are tiny teaspoons with a figure cast on the handle. Here are some photos of a few.

The small “apostle” spoons are ideal for scooping out spices from their jars when I’m baking. Here are my other Art deco spoons.

You might remember I’ve been knitting a summer jumper. Taken me ages because the yarn was cotton and was slow to knit and I lost a bit of enthusiasm. I’ve finally finished it but I’m not entirely happy. Despite my best efforts it isn’t as neatly made as I would have liked. I certainly wouldn’t go out in it. Expert knitters would judge my every stitch! It’s a nice style but I think the pattern was misleading. My excuse, of course!

That’s all for this week. Bye for now. Enjoy the Summer. I’ll be back next week.