Gluttony (hopefully)

My ambition is to have a glut.

Maybe not quite the kind where you make a million jars of marrow jam and secretly leave tomatoes on your neighbours' doorsteps at midnight. Just a little glut would be fine. So far my vegetable gardening has tended to produce three tomatoes at a time, to be ceremonially and reverently consumed. Then you wait a week until the next three come along. That is pretty much an anti-glut, I would say.

So, this year. The Year of the Glut. Well, I have tried courgettes (zucchini) for the first time, which are notorious for being prolific. Four plants, looking pretty healthy so far.

Still in growbags. Maybe one year I will get a permanent garden.

I wasn't even going to attempt tomatoes again, because last year I got 10 ripe ones and about 100 unripe ones, and I have almost finished the green tomato chutney. But then the garden centre had some interesting varieties, including a yellow one, and Toby informed me that tomatoes were the only thing I was growing that he would eat, so... we'll see how they go.

Tomatoes with mint behind

To be honest, I could probably count the mint and sage as gluttonous already, and I've been hacking down the coriander before it completely goes to seed. Herbs are always a good bet.

Tomatoes with sage, and that spindly thing is dill

I'm also trying rocket (arugula); the first row came up really quickly, and I've just put in a second. The spring onions took longer to germinate, and I was about to decide they were all duds, when I spotted some tiny green specks, too small to even photograph.

Rocket sprouts

And my three pots of strawberries are doing very well. If all these turn red like they're supposed to, we could be in for a good crop. Toby is keeping a close eye on them and letting me know when they have the tiniest hint of pink on.

Look at all those strawberries!

And in the non-edible part of the garden: The lavender I planted last year had doubled in size when we returned from America, and is almost out in bloom. I just replanted the hanging basket, and we've got some nice colourful perennials to enjoy too. Just don't ask me about those giant weeds. I will dig them up soon, honest.

Good thing lavender likes poor soil, right?

I keep forgetting the name, but it's very pretty

I think the clematis is meant to climb up the trellis really

Comments

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions. The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?" This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them. Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone. That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of. Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died. And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was. His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...

Erewash Valley Trail: Strelley and Broxtowe

I'd had another four-week gap between walks (who invented half terms and inset days?), and was itching to get out on my explorations. The weather forecast optimistically predicted sunny spells. Unfortunately the weather hadn't got the memo; it was overcast for my entire walk, and then the sky cleared as I was driving home. Oh well. I arrived at the Nottingham Canal to find bulldozers buzzing up and down the towpath. The car park I'd intended to park in was closed for renovation, but there was a layby a little further up the road towards Cossall, so that was fine. The first part of the road had nice wide verges - easy walking - but after the canal bridge it was called Dead Lane, which felt descriptive. It was tightly hemmed in by hedges and I had to flatten myself against the hawthorn when cars passed. Cossall Road Dead Lane The bridleway to Strelley was mostly paved road, but blessedly traffic-free apart from a couple of bikes and a bin lorry performing manoeuvres. Tim Brin...

The Imitation of Christ: Spiritual Formation Book 2

"This is my hope, my only consolation, to flee unto thee in every tribulation, to trust in thee, to call upon thee from my heart, and to wait patiently for thy consolation." The second of my four books for spiritual formation is The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. The introduction to my copy starts off by saying that 21st century readers may wonder why they are bothering, which hardly seems like a recommendation! I have to admit I finished it with a certain sense of relief, but there were some hidden gems along the way. It's rather like reading the book of Proverbs. There's no story or explanation of a theme, but there are astute observations, honest prayers, the occasional flash of humour, and quite a lot of repetition. Thomas à Kempis was a priest in an Augustinian monastery in the 1400s. Presumably his life conditions favoured the silence and solitude that he advocates for in The Imitation of Christ , but also gave him opp...

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog