Saturday

What a downpour we had yesterday morning!  Just what the gardener ordered and the lightning and thunder cleared the air amazingly well for a while.  I've just been out to do some early watering and it's beautifully fresh and 'clean' out there right now.  The forecast is wonderful - bright and warm with a breeze.  With any luck I will be able to sit out and chill with a book at some point.

I know I say this to the point of utter boredom, but yesterday was lovely.  A gentle potter around the kitchen that resulted in two loaves of bread and a very nice salad for lunch.  Some reading, some knitting, a little bit of housework (ooops) and a visit from Beth and Alex.

They arrived with baby leeks and two broccolis and they left with half a dozen eggs, two loaves, a cucumber and a lettuce, the latter two from my parents.
The leeks and the broccoli plants are now safely planted in my veg bed, which is beginning to look remarkably productive.  The parsley has lived and is growing, the radishes are up, the carrots are just showing their feathery little shoots and the runner beans are doing what runner beans do best - climbing and flowering.  However, I do, at long last, have some baby beans a-growing and have the evidence to prove it!

OK, so you definitely need a magnifying glass to see it, but it's there!!!  A baby bean!

Even if they never turn red (which I am sure they will) it was worth getting the hundreds and thousands for the sheer visual pleasure.  There they sit, producing zillions of titchy flowers that are rapidly turning into equally titchy little fruit and looking beautiful in the summer sunshine.

Less than 1cm across - so cute!  And there are literally hundreds of them already.

I would love to be able to take radishes, tomatoes and runners with us to Streele Farm this summer.  Fingers crossed and good weather permitting . . .

I seem to have not an awful lot on today.  Food shopping (after list making), baking some more bread, picking up the eggs, a bit of the usual stuff and plenty of snoozing as I was wide awake at four this morning.  George comes later on so the garden will look pretty good too.

Better go and make breakfast - my tum is rumbling!


Edited to add:  I forget to say that I concocted quite a tasty dish yesterday so have posted it into Teacher's Recipes.  Do take a look.