Urgh, this has been sitting in my unfinished drafts for a fortnight. I had high hopes that I would be super efficient on my trip to London and dash off a few blogs on the train. Well it was a trip of two halves. On the way down everything went according to plan. On the way back I discovered that I had left my headphones behind and this minuscule set back was enough to unravel all my moral fibres….So with apologies, let’s just step back in time a little and see what high summer brought to the garden.
The weather continued mostly fierce and fiery, with occasional lapses into brooding and looming. We had a scant two days of rain, if that, at the end of July – but hard and steady enough to give us a glimmer of green again on the embattled lawns. Finally, just as I was heading south, the weather broke. Whilst I was sunning myself in the West End Keith reported with enthusiasm that it was tipping down at home.
Everything seemed to come out early in July and we had a riot of lilies, hemerocallis and agapanthus all clamouring for admiration. Not one, but two of my yuccas in the gravel garden flowered (the one that flowered a couple of years ago seems to be still in recovery mode but perhaps it will perform next year.) The wild carrot (daucus carotta) that I was sure I had weeded out entirely, kindly reappeared to fill the gaps (and quite a few non-gaps) as the delphiniums, astrantia and other early flowerers gave up the ghost. The garden took on an air of wild decadence as edges overflowed and lacy flowerheads pushed their way up in the middle of the path.
Leaning in to the Wicker Man vibes, I roamed the paths cutting back herbs and flowers for drying and installed a “crispery” in the TV room. 100 bags of rose petals were dried, packed and sent off to Somerset. The blackbirds, with an eye to the main chance, had decimated the white currants and green gooseberries by the time my attention strayed to the fruit cage, but I got to the redcurrants, red gooseberries and blackcurrants before they were stripped. The freezer is now groaning at the seams awaiting the relighting of the Aga and jam season. (Keith, being made of sterner stuff, sweated over the electric hob to make a batch of Rum and Black Jam but I am waiting till its cooler). The best of the blackcurrants have been bottled in the meadowsweet syrup I made a few weeks ago. Not before time, as the last of last years ones went into a dainty little fool a few weeks ago. Despite the heat, this period was not without a bit of culinary innovation. With the world cup on, I invented Summer Football Salad and despatched an excess of strawberries gifted by some friends in a Summer Fruit Bakewell
We even managed to get out to look at another garden! This time the Dutchess of Northumberland’s new gaff. It’s a new garden but settling in well and I liked a lot of their ideas. The cutting garden was magnificent, a drystone walled circle with flowers for the house planted in large blocks. I loved it but know from my own foray into cutting gardens (now abandoned) I’d never bring myself to cut the lilies. Another nice touch was the rows of frothy hydrangea Annabelle in the vegetable/fruit garden. I had a lovely chat with one of the gardeners and left with some excellent pruning tips.
Anyway I have to dash as I’m making dinner…..
That Bakewell looks yummy.