Summer is here!

 Today has been a lovely lazy day in our house. I’ve treated myself to a day’s annual leave after the whole major exhibition fit out, generally having so much to do that it can’t possibly be fitted in to a normal working week type thing. So I’ve essentially taken time off when I’m busier than ever in the world ever. So be it. I’m glad I did and I make no apologies for being off next Monday as well!

We’ve done a variety of stuff to keep ourselves busy today, although you can see by the photo some family members have been busier than others. First off the bat I picked all our lovely blackcurrants.

I’ve heard that blackcurrants get sweeter the longer you leave them on the plant, so we’ve left ours to the last possible moment. A few were getting to the verge of falling off, so I thought now was the opportunity to pick them. I’ve been trying to find a good way to use them up now, more on that later in the post!

Looking at the progress in the garden, summer is well and truly here. The broadbeans, melon, parsnips, french beans and so on and so on, are all showing vigorous signs of life. I can’t wait to see if the melon actually fruits! That single plant is the sole survivor from my packet of old seeds, but it’s showing real promise. Maybe, touch wood, this is the year I will grow my own melonsies!

I have to admit I’m looking forward to courgette season. We’ve got about 3 or 4 that are on the way – just a matter of time before they are big enough to pick. There are also a tonne of buds on the plants – some female, some male, but all in showing enough promise that we’ll be getting sick of courgettes within a month or so and I’ll be back to finding inventive ways to use up the glut, like last year’s courgette cakes. In fairness courgettes are a really lovely and versatile vegetable that can be used in many different ways and considering how easy they are to grow, I get the impression that they are totally overpriced in the supermarkets so I am more than happy to have too many.

Check out my lovely little courgetties growing in the picture though – they make me so proud! 🙂

 We’ve also done a lot of tidying in the garden today. Check out the front little patch over here. We’ve tidied away all the nastiness, the lawns are done and now we’re looking at digging over the front borders properly. They’ve been really neglected in comparison to the back garden and need some good nutrition adding in. Thankfully, all the bushes we’ve moved to the front from the back have weathered well, as has the lavender that I grew from seed. Now I’m thinking it’s time to look into creating more of a substantial boundary between the lawn and the borders as they are just bleeding into one at the moment. More on that as it happens!

 

The garden tidying has also extended to the back garden. Not only has the grass been cut there for the first time this year, but we have sorted the edges to produce THE STRAIGHTEST EDGES KNOWN TO MAN!!

Seriously, this might not seem exciting, or extreme, to some people but we’re really happy with it all. It’s made the Happy House have even more of a party atmosphere and put me in the mood to invite everyone I know around for a BBQ immediately.

 And what did I do with the blackcurrants? I made a lovely tart. As the name suggests, it is very tart, despite me putting sugar in with the berries. However, a bit of cream with it takes the edge off a treat and it tastes lovely. I am so pleased with my 99p smartprice blackcurrant bush from Wilkos, it is finally earning its keep but I hope that it goes from strength to strength.