Summer Bounty

The sun keeps shining, we keep toiling in the garden and the results are showing. We've been getting  1-2 kilos of tomatoes nearly every day for a month now and the courgettes are not far behind. What a pleasure to eat something you've grown yourself and what a difference to the ones you buy from the   shops or markets, like night and day.  The only trouble really is thinking of enough recipes to cook and preserve all this bounty. We've been eating the veggies every day, preserving them and giving them to the neighbours but there's still plenty to go around. Happy days!                                                                                                 

And they keep coming! I had no idea what to do with the melons when we first planted them but they pretty much take care of themselves as long as they have enough water. After googling the issue I found lots of confusing information about pruning which I didn't quite understand

( or maybe it was just my lack of patience again) so I ended up going about the business with the secateurs and intuition. This has been proved a successful method before in many areas of life. 

But the plant is still alive and well, so all is good. 

And I am happy to report the melons are delicious!

Even if one has a garden, it is good to keep one eye on the wild larder in case something pops up. Mon Cheri has keen eyes and he spotted these beauties in the neighbourhood, mere few hundred metres from our house. And to think we've been serching the brambles before this, high and low, along the country roads with not much success. 

Apparently no one has seen them yet since all the bushes were heavy with the berries, just waiting to be collected and consumed. Not many gatherers in the neighbourhood then, I suppose.

In no time at all we had picked (Well, I PICKED, and Mon Cheri got his Tarzan-gear on wielding the secateurs and cutting the bramble shoots that were blocking our way to the biggest berries.)

Anyway, aren't they beautiful, nice and cosy in their boxes!

And this is what happens when you get a bit smart with the boxes. Tarzan finally doing his bit of picking.