Hope you are all coming to the end of August with body & soul together. I've had a serious case of 'Garden Envy' this week, as we've been on a couple of trips out & seen some beautiful late colour in the borders, something which is sadly lacking at home. I still have some things flowering: Japanese anemone, Geranium 'Rozeanne', penstemens, verbena bonariensis, cosmos, calendula, etc, but our garden looks at its best in May & June, when all my cottage garden favourites are flowering, & it's a slow decline from there until Autumn......sort of shabby-chic....without any of the 'chic'.
Easton Walled Gardens (near Grantham, Lincs) had some beautiful hot colours on display, like this sunflower, & the dahlias (I'm not usually a huge fan) were looking great too.
We also had a fantastic day up at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, & it was a similar story. Fab colourful beds which made me feel so envious now that my own borders are all but over. I used to have some eye-popping achilleas & echinaceas but they have sadly been lost to the Mollusc Army.
I mean, just look at this! I'm assuming it's some sort of fancypants sunflower, & I shall be tracking it down to have a go at growing some for next year. Could you ever be miserable while looking at such a bloom? Luckily the big hairy half of the relationship had his camera, so took lots of pictures to inspire me.
The high summer borders at RHS Harlow Carr are simply packed with plants, many of which are repeated several times, so it looks very casual, as though it 'just happened'.
Well, I decided I'd really like more late summer flowering plants in my own borders, so this week, I've come up with a plan. I'm going to walk around the garden & spike every bare boring patch with a yoghurt pot on top of a skewer. Then I'll remember where I need a zing of colour. I'm hoping I can start this by dividing up what I have & growing from seed, so as to avoid a '££££-Signs at Dawn' scenario at the garden centre!
A big achievement (for me) this week has been ticking another thing off my '50 things' list.....& guess what it was? Yes, shock horror, I actually managed to walk 5 miles WITHOUT MOANING!! I was actually more worried about achieving the 'not moaning' bit than the 5 miles. There were rules about what constituted a moan, i.e aching legs, whining for caffiene, complaining about it being boring, being out of breath, etc, so I decided to have a few subjects in my mind which I could use to work off some vitriol if I needed a moan. These were The Government, particularly Eric Pickles, as I knew he'd be worthy of at least a mile of hatchet job (can you imagine the mess?), the Very Weaselly Grant Shapps (with apologies to actual weasels everywhere), & the Monarchy (was sure I could get a circuit of Clumber Park out of that one). So I was all prepared, but the oddest thing happened! I didn't need to moan at all because I quite enjoyed it! We saw teenage goslings, moorhens, chaffinches, great-tits & dragonflies. The weather stayed dry & I burned off 520 calories (which I was lucky enough to replenish afterwards with a large coffee & piece of coffee & walnut cake! Feel inspired to tick off a few more things now.
The vegetables keep coming. I've made piccalilli today, a big kilner jar to put away for 'December C-word' & some smaller jars for the pantry.
I've also baked some jammy buns today (just for the joy of cooking something which doesn't involve veggies!). Hands up who can remember cooking these at school?
They are so simple & quick to make. I've tweaked the recipe over the years, so this is how I make them now:
Jammy Buns
12oz self-raising flour
4oz butter
4 oz caster sugar
1 egg
2-3 tbsp milk
1 tsp almond extract
Jam (I like to use my home-made plum)
Pre-heat the oven to Gas 5. Sieve the flour & rub in the butter till it's crumby. Stir in the sugar. beat up the egg with the milk & almond extract, & mix into the dry ingredients. Flour your hands & bring it together into a soft ball before divvying up into 12 blobs. Shape each blob into a ball & put on a greased (preferably lined) baking sheet. Now make a hole with your thumb & dollop a teaspoon of jam into it. Bake for about 20 mins.
There's no finesse about these. You wouldn't make them if Paul Hollywood was coming over for coffee. They are proper comfort food home baking. Get a cafetiere made & eat one warm from the oven. Did you like it? Best to have a 2nd one just to make sure. They keep in a tin for a few days & are a nice portable addition to a packed lunch. I suspect the Big Hairy One could probably eat his bodyweight in these.......so as you can see, I only made 6 this time!
While we've been busy with day trips, dealing with the veggie onslaught, pickling, baking & walking 5 miles, the other resident of The People & Cats Republic has been spending a goodly amount of his time thus:
Going by the available evidence (a seriously squashed area of the leek bed, various piles of fur spread around the lawn & 4 new scratches on his nose), I think he may be out most of the night letting the local moggies know he means business. He's also met the neighbours. They said they called him to 'see if he was friendly', & he marched straight in through the french windows, helped himself to a chair & spent the whole afternoon! I warned them about not leaving food where he can reach it. Albert Whiskers is the sort of cat who'd say 'Hey mate, look over there' then he'd have your pork chop while you were looking. He is, however, proof that these older ex-street cats can be rehabilitated into the most lovely (& very amusing) pets. He's the 3rd ex-stray we have owned. If anyone out there is considering adopting a cat, do consider one of these big older boys. They might have a few issues to begin with, but once they get their paws under the table, they don't look back!
Have a great weekend,
C x
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