The Darling Buds of Jack

Another garden post, well, yes, we’ve had incredible weather and everything is flourishing. I haven’t found anything new to try, though I am on the look-out  for nightshade-free and gluten-free recipes that feature fresh herbs, savoury or sweet anything goes, if anyone can point in in the general direction of anything that fits the bill I’d appreciate it. I’m mostly making the same old same old, which is nice. Once upon a time I had  half a week of dinners, mostly repeats in that even, and now I have two weeks of dinners with only one repeat, when pesto-time hits that repeat will be replaced. So, yes, there isn’t much in the kitchen happening so I thought I’d toss out another garden post.

My broad beans are starting to flower. I admit I did check Google to see what they’ll look like and they’re going to be stunning. Black centred, white flowers with a slight pink hue to the edges. This is a really exciting stage in the growing process. I’ve watched these from seed and now they’re going to start creating their offspring. I feel like a proud father, or a gardener. This is the exciting part, but patience is required.

Sunflowers are really interesting to watch, the stem starts so short and then grows out from itself. You can see where the new stem emerges and the new leaves begin. Ignore the damage, the cold hit them quite hard. Even the sun is getting a tad too hot, I won’t complain though, it’s better than last years horrible weather. Plants can be surprisingly resilient, though the opposite is also true. I’ve planted a few other sunflowers around the garden, but these will stay in pots and then I’ll scatter them around when they bloom. I hope the pots are large enough, but I can move them if necessary. You have to try to learn.

The strawberries are thriving in this heat, still no fruit. They’ll keep thickening up and flowering, the pink and white really do look lovely even from a distance. There’s not much work once they’re established. I hope to have yellow strawberries next year. The babies are growing steadily but they’ll be a while yet.

My golden nugget, a really apt name, have started their blossom production. These could stay like this for a long time, but it’s still wonderful to see. Of course they’ll grow and drop within a day, while I wait for bees to do their duty. Still, they look lovely and you can eat the flowers, but you’d be best to get them early in the day. I hope the other varieties start soon too. They love this heat.

My lavender is starting, you can just discern a small flower, it smells wonderful, but doesn’t flower that much. It was a small potted plant that was bought last year on a whim, it was re=potted countless them and just tossed there. I pruned it come spring and it started again really well. It’s supposed to attract bees and it’s hiding an ugly stump. What can I say? Jack looks after his flowers as well as his vegetables. See you soon.