It was a pretty lousy June. All rain. The last week was slightly disappointing – I’ve been ill and kept in bed for 4 days – something I am not very patient about! It means I have been neglecting the garden ENTIRELY and instead watching a vast number of movies, reading and stuffing my face with soup, Magnums (of course they are good for a sore throat) and Nutella and banana on toast… Like I said, it has been an odd week.
The only thing I managed to get done in the garden at the start of the week was weeding some of the swede bed and feeding it. Very disappointing amount grew and the slugs have been at the leaves.
Other than that, I have abandoned my mum to look after it but at the same time I have left her to look after me, my poorly sister, take my brother to and from school, look after the animals, cook for us all, wash up for us all… So she has managed to:
- Do a good amount of raspberry and strawberry picking – the appalling weather was making them mould and rot, very sad.
- Tying back potatoes that were spilling onto the paths and getting slightly trampled.
- Picking courgettes, runner beans, peas, first of the potatoes for us, Romaneso cauliflowers, the last cabbage and today she picked our first cucumber and made us cucumber sandwiches – one of the best cucumber recipes ever for when the sun does decide to shine.
It has been a pretty trying time. I am not happy with not being able to contribute at all. I did plan to finally make some strawberry jams and try out a raspberry recipe I hoped to blog about next week. Plus, July means summer holidays and summer holidays means a week abroad and lots of weeding to do before then to keep the garden under control for my relatives while I am away. Four days sick is a bit of a pain!
Well, here’s hoping that July will be more sunny and less rainy. At this rate an early influx of blight and powdery mildew seems inevitable so fingers crossed and good luck to all kitchen gardeners all over the UK. I hope that summer comes soon for everyone.
