High Summer and Stitching

High Summer. The hum of the bees, fluttering butterflies and the scent of honeysuckle on the evening air. It flits by in the twinkling of an eye but so much to enjoy while it lasts. While some days and nights have been much too hot for comfort the gentler days have been a delight. Now for some welcome rain to refresh the garden.

Parsley has enjoyed the heat and I’ve frozen some for winter soups. Crisp fresh green leaves, rinsed and patted dry, freeze well. I don’t bother chopping first. It’s firm enough to chop when I need it straight from the freezer or if I’m going to blend the soup I just pop in a whole sprig.

Parsley grows well in the polytunnels and is protected from mud splash. It grows throughout the year but I like to have some in the freezer for days when it’s too cold and wet to trek down the garden.

In the greenhouse, next to the tomatoes, I have a crop of basil. The aromatic leaves are good for Italian style salad or for pesto. I’ve made a second batch of pesto and frozen portions for winter use.

I had a crust of bread to use so I lightly toasted it and cut it into croutons. Then we ate it with pesto, tomatoes and thinly sliced onion. It might not look special but it was utterly delicious. I could have mingled the pesto and croutons but as it was an experiment I served them separately.

I’ve frozen more French beans. These are my favourite variety called “Voltage”. Golden yellow, tender and tasty.

The squash plants I put in the top of one of the compost bins are growing. They’re in a warm sunny spot and can trail down the side of the bin. I’m hoping they’ll do well. Had a failure with squashes last year, so fingers crossed.

I saved two of last year’s celeriac to produce seed. They’ve flowered and the seed looked ready so I gathered some in a small brown paper envelope. I labelled it and put away for next Spring.

The bees have been very busy. The lavender attracts lots of bumblebees and many more pollinators are flitting about among other flowers. Marjoram is particularly attractive to bees, hoverflies, mint moths and Gatekeeper butterflies.

The garden is full of weeds. I can’t keep on top of them! I try not to worry because it still has other lovely flowers. Here are some which caught my eye.

The rudbeckias are showing colour and will flower a little early I think. I love the way the petals form a lovely pattern on the bud then curl around before opening out.

The birds have welcomed fresh water and probably needed to find cooler spots in the garden. A woodpigeon chose the small branch on top of the fat balls to take a nap. I took the photo through the window and had to zoom in so it’s not as sharp as I would like. You get the picture though. What a place to snooze!

Although we still feed the birds some days there is plenty for them to eat in the garden. The apples and pears are shedding fruit in the wind and wild strawberries are everywhere.

Indoors, I had a pleasant sewing job to do. Allan likes to hold on to favourite shirts until they’re ragged. If the collar has frayed I enjoy turning it over to lengthen the life of the shirt. Time to do another one.

I set up my sewing machine with white thread and found my little stitch ripper. Next, I unpicked the stitching which holds the collar in the neckband. It was very torn so I inserted some iron-on hemming web and pressed it. That stabilised the fabric. Then I reversed the collar, re-inserted it into the band and stitched it back together. Now the damaged side of the collar is underneath and the good side is on the outside. A very satisfying job and one happy husband.

I hope everyone manages to stay cool, has some rain for their garden and enjoys the long light days. With you again in two weeks time. Bye for now.