Harvesting our herbs

Hi,
A busy time in the garden. Transplanted the leeks yesterday. They are much smaller than usual for this time of year. I'm thinking probably another victim of a dodgy bag of compost I had this Spring. Never mind, it doesn't matter if they are small, they'll still go in the pot! The watercress, radishes, spring onions & frilly lettuces I sowed the other day are already coming up & I've spotted the first tiny aubergines setting in the greenhouse. Am cutting lettuces regularly now, & we've already had two cucumbers.

Today's job has been cutting back the herb bed, which had grown like wildfire, weeding out yet more bloody hawkweed......that stuff would survive a nuclear attack, I'm sure, & is becoming a worse thug even than bindweed.  The bed looks a lot better now, although this picture isn't very bright because it's in the shadow of the greengage tree.

I really enjoy harvesting fresh herbs for drying. It's such a lovely fragrant job & a real summery thing to do. I had a ball of string in my pocket & cut & tied bunches as I went along: Oregano, sage, rosemary, golden marjoram, winter savoury & thyme were all ready for cutting today, & are now hanging from the kitchen ceiling to dry.

I hacked the comfrey back too, & will use that to make more liquid comfrey feed tomorrow....so any offers of industrial strength gas masks welcome! If I manage not to pour it all over my feet & up the leg of my jeans, that will be a first.......

Albert Whiskers continues to settle in nicely. You never really know how they will adapt to their new home. Some rescue cats get their paws under the table very swiftly & seem so happy to have a home & some humans at long last, while others spend much longer in the 'deeply suspicious' stage. Albert Whiskers seems pretty pleased with his new life so far.

Three things I have learned about Albert Whiskers in the short time we have known him:
i) He must never, EVER be trusted just because he looks cute.
ii)If nobody has time to listen to him, he is quite happy to spend hours talking to himself.
iii)The feeding regime we've used for our previous cats is not going to work because one thing that is clearly a major deal breaker for him is his insistence on a trucker's breakfast..

It struck me today that while Albert Whiskers is confined to barracks, it would be a good time to do my garden wildlife survey. I've been meaning to do this for a while & it's one of those projects which is likely to be more successful without cat help. Shall have to get some rubber gloves for dipping our pond (wimp)...as last year, I did some pond dipping & found two fearsome looking mini-dinosaurs which turned out to be dragonfly larvae. How cool was that? Wouldn't fancy one in my bare hand though! We do get dragonflies in our garden but I hadn't realised they were breeding in our little pond!
OK, must crack on, Mon - Thurs being my cooking nights.... the BHO is working late, so likely to burst through the door fit to eat a scabby horse!
Back soon with stenchy comfrey activities,
C x
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