High Summer, Vintage Furniture and Alternative Salad

The garden is flourishing with this mixture of sunshine and showers. The phlox are lovely this year. The leaves have stayed fresh and green. The veronica are attracting the bees with their spikes of tiny flowers and add height to the borders. Lots of colour to enjoy.

The lilies have survived attacks from scarlet lily beetles. I’m a bit ruthless with these because they destroy the plants if left unchecked. Now I’m enjoying the summer show.

Marigolds are lighting up the garden with their vivid gold and orange petals. Such a cheerful, generous and trouble-free plant. Good for insects, self-seeding and always put on a show. These are calendula known as pot marigolds. My favourite kind.

In one of the borders I discovered two wood pigeon eggs. Still intact even though I’m sure they fell from one of the big conifers. At first glimpse I thought they were fungi but when I moved the leaves aside I saw what they actually were.

Little frogs are hopping about. So nice to see wildlife in the garden. I’m happy to share it with little creatures. Grasshoppers pop up here and there and I saw a lovely blue beetle or fly land on a leaf.

I love rudbeckias. They flower for weeks and brighten up the dullest day. I have “Goldsturm”, a lovely bright yellow with a black central cone. I bought some new ones with stocky stems and large flowers with bronze tints. Plenty of buds and now they’re planted there should be a lovely show for the next few weeks.

A few other pretty flowers have been a pleasure.

In the greenhouse, the “Roma” tomatoes are just beginning to turn red. At last! It does take an age for my tomatoes to ripen but it’s so worth the wait. The chillies are ready with their shiny scarlet pods and my sweet peppers are flowering.

In the tunnels I have lovely carrots ready now. The celeriac are growing well and the dwarf French beans have delicious yellow pods.

Slugs ate my new lettuce seedlings so I had to resow. While I wait I need salad alternatives. I made one of our favourites with beans. I emptied a tin of baked beans into a colander, rinsed off the tomato sauce and allowed them to drain. Then I mixed in a grated apple and snipped spring onions with a little salt and pepper.

It might sound wasteful to throw away the tomato sauce but it would make the mixture too wet and spoil it. Plain haricot beans wouldn’t have the flavour needed. Thinly sliced onion would do instead of spring onions but wouldn’t have the colour to give eye appeal. I often add tiny bits of celery as well. This makes a nourishing and tasty salad or side dish.

Someone was giving away two old oak dining chairs which I could find a use for. So I embarked on an upcycling project.

When they arrived they were splashed with paint and had horrible old seat covers. I stripped the seat covers and binned them. I rubbed down the frames with surgical spirit to remove paint and a little of the years of polish and old varnish. Then I polished them. When the chair frames were ready I covered the seats with new foam and fresh fabric. I’m pleased with the result and they go well with with my other old chairs.

I think old furniture is under-rated. You just don’t find the lovely wood and character with modern furniture unless it’s extremely expensive. I love old things.

Back to the garden now for a little TLC. The roses need deadheading to encourage them to flower again, I want to sow more vegetable seeds and there are many jobs to be done.

Back with you again in a couple of weeks. Enjoy all that Summer has to offer. Bye for now.