Fruit/Vegetable Anomalies #1 Strawberry

 This specimen was picked a few days ago. It is an example of vivipary where the seeds germinate while still part of the ripening fruit. The strawberries are still edible, though the leaves are not so tasty, while trying to grow the plantlets into full size strawberries has a low success ...

Albert's Soup

The kitchen garden is producing lots of cucumbers and courgettes at the moment so it is a good time (space-time?) to make Albert's Soup - named, of course, after Albert Einstein.Albert's most famous culinary equation (recipe) is:E = mc²where m = marrow, c = cucumber & E = Energy (food)I am using...

View from the Rear Window - June 2022

 June is the month when everything in the garden moves into high growth mode, especially in the kitchen garden. All danger of frost has gone, there is plenty of warmth in the June sun, daylight hours are peaking and it just needs sufficient rainfall to bring all the plants on.Early June (2nd to...

Heatwave Update

As predicted by the UK Met Office, the recent heatwave ended on Tuesday 19th July after some record-breaking temperature maximums all over the UK including the first record of >40 ℃ temperatures. Maximum daily temperature records were set for England (40.3 ℃), Wales (37.1 ℃) and Scotland (35.1...

Goodbye Ol' Friend

 Today, I said goodbye to an old friend - a pair of Rohan 'Jungle Expedition' Cargo Trousers - after long and faithful service.Rohan Cargo PantsThey have been repaired a few times: notably the zip replaced and a big tear repaired by Mary. Which reminds me of the Trigger's broom scene...

Flowering Asparagus

The cropping season for asparagus has finished and the bed is in its resting stage throwing up its ferns to replenish the crowns. Later, in autumn, the ferns will turn golden yellow before they are cut back.Tying my shoelace next to the asparagus beds, I started to look around to see if there was anything...

Heatwave & Extreme Temperature Alert

BelleWe are on dog-sitting duty near Reading (16th July) in the middle of a heatwave. The Met Office has issued a Red (Extreme Heat) warning for this coming Monday and Tuesday (18-19th July). Today at 3 pm, it is a balmy 28 ℃ in Oxfordshire with a predicted 39 ℃ for Monday! There is a good chance the...

The Fruity Thief

This is one of our friendly blackbirds often seen singing from nearby rooftops and chimneys or scurrying around in the undergrowth looking for worms & grubs. This morning he is perched on the fence in our kitchen garden...Blackbird at his all-you-can-eat buffet The strawberries, just below...

Garden Makeover - Part 2

Back in late April/early May, we visited our son & his girlfriend (now fiancee) to help out with a garden makeover at their newbuild house. The housing developers handed the garden over looking like this...Original Garden DesignThree days later, the basics were in place and we left the garden looking...

Onions, Leeks and Garlic

One of my four 'rotation' beds is given over to growing onions, leeks, and garlic (one of Simon & Garfunkel's less well-known songs?). The bed is surrounded with insect mesh for protection against onion and leek flies. The photo below shows the bed in mid-June with garlic at the top, onions in the...