Whilst I’m not well-adapted to very hot weather, I do like this time of year for the opportunities it provides to pick my own food from the garden – fruit herbs and vegetables. I’m very fond of soft fruit, and it has been extremely satisfying in recent weeks to wander outside and pick berries for my breakfast. Eighteen months ago I planted new raspberry canes and this is the first time they have produced any quantity of fruit. This morning, in addition, I was able to harvest blueberries – such a delight. On the berry front, the red currants are also producing like mad and the harvest has begun. In fact, I still have frozen red currants from last year, but I have decided to bottle those and most of this year’s crop, only freezing a small proportion to use in baking. Fortunately the weather has cooled somewhat and so bottling fruit is no longer out of the question.
The other big foraging opportunity at the moment is the courgettes and summer squashes. This year, I planted these in the raised bed that was built at the same time as the limery. In the past six years, we have filled this bed with all manner of material: cardboard, paper, grass clippings, spent compost from pots, soil washed off the field behind the garden, chippings from the willow hedge, a variety of home-made compost, as well as the layer of old teaching notes and handouts that formed the base of it. The curcurbit family love compost to grow in and so this year they are going mad (it took a while with the cold spring). The result is huge abundant leaves. Somewhere under the jungle there are courgettes and squashes to be had (not many yet, but they are growing), but they are difficult to find. I have the distinct feeling that a bit later in the summer I’m going to come across some enormous fruits that I had simply missed under all the foliage, but for now we are just enjoying the hunt.
The Snail of Happiness 
writinghouse
/ July 26, 2021YUM! 😁
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 26, 2021and more yum when the courgettes are bigger
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Nice Piece of Work
/ July 26, 2021I really envy you those blueberries. just love them
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 26, 2021I planted the bushes years ago, but it’s only in the past few that I’ve managed to get any worthwhile crop off them. All of them get eaten fresh.
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Nice Piece of Work
/ July 27, 2021Delicious with plain yogurt for breakfast…or any time of day.
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Rainbow Junkie
/ July 26, 2021How wonderful. Raspberries fresh from the garden are my favourites. (My father grew them.) Shop ones are never the same.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 26, 2021They really don’t seem to travel well.
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katechiconi
/ July 26, 2021When my courgettes started to go a bit bonkers, I’d pick the flowers instead of the mature vegies, and that would keep the supply under control. They’re love in a salad, and of course they’re much easier to spot amongst the leaves than green courgettes!
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cedar51
/ July 26, 2021I love the idea of picking and eating fresh – enjoy your own fruits…something I’ve not done for many decades. But at my other place, I grew courgettes (zucchini here) and I was over run with them…and as you have suggested, they can grow into monsters…
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anne54
/ July 27, 2021How lovely to be able to forage ~ and find! ~ those treasures. I have grown zucchinis too, and they can quickly grow to monsters.
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Going Batty in Wales
/ July 27, 2021It is a lovely time of year – so bountiful!
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The Belmont Rooster
/ July 27, 2021LOOKS GREAT! Always nice to have fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden!
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Helen
/ July 28, 2021Your squash are indeed doing very well.
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