Most gardeners dream of growing the tastiest veg, or cultivating the most fragrant blooms, but sometimes, the reality of growing your own bears little resemblance to the airbrushed images presented in glossy gardening magazines. It can be hard, frustrating, even upsetting, with more failures than successes. So, when growing your own gets the better of you, remember, August is the natural shift into a more relaxed time of year. This is when we take the foot off the accelerator, step back a little, and give ourselves a pat on the back, whatever the state of things.
In recent days, summer has finally started to make an appearance. The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, veggies are swelling and despite the adversities of the past few months, things feel hopeful.
To say I’ve been busy, recently, is an understatement. The gardening business is thriving, the writing work is increasing, and there are a few other irons in the fire for a later date. Not that I’m making excuses for the lack of blog-writing lately. It’s just that it’s been super busy, for both of us.
All the recent rainfall has turned our kitchen garden into a mini-Amazon. Everything is green, lush and tall… very tall. We’ve been harvesting broad beans, french beans, peas, carrots, spinach, kale, potatoes, salad, garlic, strawberries, spring onions, shallots and courgettes, so many courgettes! Once again, the kitchen garden is providing us with most of what we need. The greenhouse is jam-packed with tomatoes, and although they’re currently still green, I know it’s a matter of days before they start colouring up.
While Soph has been busy making jam with the rhubarb and gooseberries, I’ve started on the pickling, kicking things off with the shallots. I’ve grown far too many shallots this year, but I love pickled onions, and my first batch is already tucked away in the cupboard, maturing nicely! Beetroot is next on the pickling list, and I’ll also be sowing a second batch to see us into autumn.
And speaking of autumn, I know it’s the last thing on peoples’ minds, but I’m turning my head to planting up my sown winter veg.
But rather than me rattle on, why not check out our latest video.
As always, if you have any questions, need gardening advice or fancy a natter, do get in touch.
I know the British love to talk about the weather, but at the moment, us gardeners have been given a lot to work around: thunder, hail, torrential rain, harsh winds and surprisingly low temperatures. I mean, we’re heading towards the end of May and I haven’t even got any gardening tan lines yet… has the world gone crazy?!?
