Summer Garden, Strawberries and a Painting

Summer has arrived at last! Warm days, sultry nights, an abundance of food in the garden and flowers to lift the spirits. The garden is scented with honeysuckle and roses.

Hmm! Since I wrote this the weather here has turned cold and drizzly! But never mind, it will pass and the garden needs it so I’m celebrating the good times.

I have been busy with strawberries. The season is short but so generous. Lots of delicious glowing scarlet berries for now and plenty squirrelled away in the freezer for winter desserts and my favourite strawberry jam.

I love all summer fruits but strawberries are a special treat. The colour, the shine, the flavour! So appetising and announce Summer like nothing else can.

I have two small rectangular raised beds with lots of strawberry plants which have gradually converged to form a tangled mat. The beds have a dressing of homemade compost in Spring when the leaves begin to grow. Then I put a mulch of coir around the plants and apart from watering, that’s it. No fertiliser needed. A few snails help themselves but don’t take many fruits. I carefully wash and trim the berries and any nibbled ones are cleaned up and frozen for cooking. For the last few years I have harvested kilos of strawberries. Organic methods do produce results.

I made strawberry ice-cream. Just a small amount to enjoy straight away because it freezes really solid if I put it in the freezer to keep. I made custard from whole milk, custard powder and sugar. When it was cool I stirred in some stewed and sweetened strawberries, chilled it in the fridge then put it into my ice-cream maker for thirty minutes. A bit soft. I could have churned it for a while longer but very nice. Delicious and no harmful additives. I should do it more often.

I use baskets a lot for harvesting fruit and veg but I also find them good for other things. Not only are they useful but there is something so pleasing about a basket. A perfect shape, a comfortable handle and lovely materials from natural fibres. I bought some from a Pound Shop years ago and they’re still doing good service and I’ve picked up others here and there or had them as gifts.

I’ve planted my squash in boxes of homemade compost in a sunny spot where they can sprawl across a warm concrete surface. Sadly, neighbourhood cats have found the boxes and soiled them. So annoying. We’ve tried putting holly leaves on top but they have been swept aside.  Now trying sticks poked into the soil as well as the holly. Fingers crossed.

I have two squash  plants for my favourite “Buttercup” variety and this year I’m also growing some “Little Gem”. The “Buttercup” are so tasty but they are a bit big for us so I thought I’d give the others a try. I hope they will match up in flavour and storing qualities.

Winter squash are a handy vegetable because they will store for about three or four months without having to process them in any way. Roasted or in soups they are delicious treats.

Courgettes are coming on nicely. Our neighbours very kindly gave me two plants and they’re doing well. I hope to have a good supply later on for pickles and chutney.

Apples and pears look promising. The June drop is taking place at the moment. This is when the trees shed excess fruits after the exuberance of the Spring blossom. The paths are littered with baby apples and pears but enough will grow and at the end of Summer I will be gathering in the harvest.

A kind friend on Facebook sent me some oriental poppy seeds last year after I admired her lovely photos. I sowed the seeds, kept the plants in the greenhouse over Winter and planted them out in Spring. Finally, after much anticipation, I have beautiful flowers. I already have scarlet poppies in another part of the garden but these pink ones are such a romantic colour in my border.

So many lovely flowers to enjoy at this time of year. Here are a few I captured with my camera as I walked around the garden. Mallow, red “Flower Carpet” roses and Feverfew, blue Scabious, Campanula, white Antirrhinum, yellow flowers of the shrub Brachyglottis, “Handel” roses, scarlet Salvia and not sure about the white daisies, perhaps Mesembryanthemum.

Here’s a lovely feather I found on the path.

Our tiny lawn was reseeded in Spring and we’ve let it grow to strengthen it and hopefully to benefit wildlife. Some lovely flowers have appeared. Yes, they’re weeds, but they’re lovely.

Been enjoying new potatoes, broad beans or peas with mint sauce. Peas are almost finished. I will sow some more in one of the polytunnels. Keeps the pea moth away so we don’t have any annoying little grubs inside the pods. Had black fly on the broad beans but, as I said last time, it isn’t a big problem. Ladybirds have benefitted from the feast.

I haven’t painted for a while but here’s one I did a while ago. This Still Life is one painted with acrylics on a canvas board. I enjoy trying to capture the light and reflections on shiny surfaces.

I hope you’re enjoying the sunnier days and warm, scented evenings. With you again in a couple of weeks. Bye for now.