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

Supercars and Selfies on the South Coast

We drove south on a wet, wet Saturday in August. The windscreen wipers swished endlessly back and forth, as we debated whether it was worth stopping anywhere except for the overcrowded motorway services. By the time we reached Winchester, the wipers had subsided to an occasional flick across the screen. We decided to stop. Of course, as soon as we left the car park there was a brief shower, but we ducked into the City Mill, now a National Trust property. There was a large room full of the usual kind of displays about flour milling; a recently renovated garden; and downstairs, the mill race running at full tilt. The mill is built right across the River Itchen. Winchester City Mill garden The mill race Water wheel (awaiting renovation) We stayed dry as we explored further into Winchester. There was even some blue sky for our selfie by the cathedral! But as we walked back to the car the rain hit us like a hose on full blast. An overhanging building provided some slight shelter, but the wa

National Forest Way: Calke Abbey to Ashby de la Zouch

All the best walking blogs have maps on. I finally figured out how to add a route map to mine. If I get time, I'll add them to the previous posts as well, so you can see where I went. So, here are the two walks which made up the next stretch of the NFW. Walk 1 I started from the National Trust property and walked along by the lake, up the hill by the deer park, and down to Staunton Harold reservoir - all very familiar. Calke village postbox featured a highland cow on top. Lake at Calke Abbey Herd of deer A short stretch on the road took me to Dimminsdale, which was new to me. There are records of mining at the site from the 13th century until the end of the 19th century. It's incredible to think that people worked there for so many hundreds of years. Now it is a secluded landscape of still pools and shaggy trees. Dimminsdale I crossed a small section of the Staunton Harold estate, then went up a private lane with some rather nice houses. My turning point was where the Nati

Reading for Spiritual Formation 2023-24

I wasn't sure whether to read another set of theology books this year. Could the time I spend on it be better spent on something else? At what point does it become reading for the sake of it, without having much impact on my wider life? It's difficult to tell. However, as usual, I had a growing list of books I wanted to read. I do need to think about what I'm doing as well as what I'm reading, and I don't expect to continue this specific discipline indefinitely. But I decided there was space for at least one more year of Reading for Spiritual Formation. So, without further soul-searching: The Books. Three Mile an Hour God Kosuke Koyama Japanese theologians are few and far between; Christianity is still very much a niche religion in Japan. Kosuke Koyama was Japanese and appears to be both influential and accessible. Not every theologian is both! So I'm excited to read his recently republished book Three Mile an Hour God. It was originally written in 1979, and is

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog