Stronger When Broken Down

The rose garden smells wonderful if I’m not spraying feed.

My cheap arch came, it was twelve Euro, it apparently had troubles with balloons and wind.

A little reworking, no need to cut anything, just crisscross.

And a fence for the dahlias too. This would not survive fully assembled.

One end of the rambler is blooming.

Well, it works, next I plant the edge.

Those arches are really not worthwhile as intended, Dear Reader, much to flimsy and a lot of them are far too expensive for what they are. I found this cheap and out of stock and lucked out on a temporary restock, a little reworking, ad libbed as I wasn’t sure what I was doing exactly, and now I have a neat little fence to hold in the large dahlias and a frame for two climbing plants that’ll fill a gap near the end of the garden. The wishing well is bit and pieces too, I’ve been under a great deal of stress the last few years, escalating in the last few months, do projects like this are my main coping method, the whole garden has been like that, I naturally try to solve problems using what I have to hand and when I have pieces that can be rework it gives my mind something to mull over. I share, Dear Reader, because we should all be allow to express our honest feelings and because this blog is the only record of my whole weight-loss journey, I hope that if anyone out there starts theirs that they’ll read through it occasionally and perhaps it’ll help them prepare for any hurdles, though I sincerely hope that no one has to face what I have and continue to. Back to bland, mild posting now, Dear Reader, we could all use it.

When this red bush rose arrived it looked like a dead stick, you really have to imagine how bad a stick needs to look to look dead.

The iceberg has gotten much stronger.

Yeah, this is over six feet already.

The Passiflora hat survived, despite me being an idiot, and a clematis I bought for some reason earlier in the year.

They’re so big and healthy.

One of the fifty year old roses, may be older than that even.

The entire garden has been taken over by wildlife, I can’t move for insects or bees and the birds have started to flock here, fluttering through the roses and trees, it’s been a goal as I change the garden to accommodate as much life as possible, always keeping the safety of them as a main point. The only spraying I do is the roses and never when the bees are active, the rest of the garden is made safe with secured netting, no way for it to loosen and catch a bird’s feet, slug pellets are in containers that birds can’t get to and there is never anything left out that could be hazardous. I also have running water, still water and even a little extra feed, I never dead head flowers, I let the smaller birds eat the seeds so they don’t need much help finding food. I’ve already talked about he recycling and upcycling, the composting, homebrewed fertiliser, and rainwater collection, it takes a lot of planning, but it is worthwhile, Dear Reader. We need to look after nature, not as a grand protector, but as a friend, as a caretaker given a task. I’m just repaying all the garden has given me and continues to give me. Enjoy the photos, Dear Reader, I’ll be back again soon. Stay safe and take care.

As seen from above because they’re so tall too.

Together with the others this yellow rose stands out.

This rose is reviving after a few bad years. It was neglected long before I got it.

The mini rose, whether they’ll last a third year is hard to say.

It kept yellowing, I think it was an issue with the roots.

My big, filthy, hand for scale. These are huge.

These are teeny.

With all the sun the peas bushed out rather than just running up. An auspicious sign.

It faces the window so I had to take it out of it’s corner to photograph it.

Surprise!

Permutations and Impermanence

The mango tree is still growing.

Roses from a bouquet are still attempting to form a root system.

The yellow roses are turning a lovely cream with age.

This bush rose looks a little better this year, it was rally neglected so it may take years to come to full strength.

Yo, Dear Reader, I upload these photos yesterday and overnight so many new flowers have appear, seemingly out of the blue. Or the green if you’re a wiseguy. I’ve been reminded of one simple truth this year, Dear Reader, that despite any long-term plans or projects all things can come to an end, no matter how much we may want otherwise, but as the garden has also taught me, more and more each year, the pieces that are left can be repurposed and reused. When the arch fell, what? That sounds much better than when the arch listed too much and snapped a bit, I left a piece for the jasmine that had struggled to grow, whether the honeysuckle was robbing it of its share of the slight, or whether it, much like the mango, thrives on the death of others, Morbid Mango will forever be the name  of the plant that just appeared when my first died and has never stopped, whatever the reason it is once again growing, slowly, but I’m fine with that as there isn’t much arch left, still enough. Speaking of arches…

This is old sage, but I’ll leave it for the bees.

This is the rose which stems are covered in tiny, sharp, needle like horns.

The Marigold I found growing in an abandoned driveway.

Lover’s Meeting as seen from above, it’s now topping six feet.

What? I was speaking of them, Dear Reader, I actually bought another, a really cheap one, yes, I’m an idiot, but not for the reasons you think, I’m only assembling it in parts, I want a side that I’ll attach to blocks to run a clematis up, one other side to the wall for hanging small pots from and a curved piece….well, I’ll find a use. I’d say without any reserve that if you want a rose arch, or anything like it, don’t, unless you can afford a sturdy wooden squared one and bury it in the ground deep if you do. These arches are surprisingly common, but also really not made to last, they’ll last long enough for you to be unable to return them. A light plant might be okay for some, but not the monster honeysuckle I had, still have, but it may need to die back and regrow, the new one struggled with balloons but I just need a rough skeleton to work with. I like working in bits and pieces, speaking of…what? It’s a method. I’m a blogger, we’re all a pain. Heh.

The red one was really insignificant for a few years.

See? Almost pure white after a few days of blooming.

A gifted yellow rose to mark a special event.

Lover’s meeting head on. Really has to be one of my favourites.

Not the colour it was supposed to be, but it is really pretty, a little darker than the photo shows.

This rose tends to yellow, but seems to be rallying in the heat.

So, I had a solar pump set up near the wall, mostly to have another source of running water and partly because the idea was in my head and needed to be tested, it worked, but it wasn’t as interesting as I’d hoped. These cheap pumps are surprisingly useful, they can be strong too with enough sun, they do tend to clog so use a mesh bag or something, i say this, Dear Reader, forgetting it myself all the time and it results in the need for a clear out. I just jam it onto the tap and let things blow. I found more pots, a large bowl one, the largest yet, it’s like fishing, but with recycled plastics, and sealed it up, I had old epoxy and some silicone and what I did was dug out the well in the front garden, just enough to place the bowl, refilled it to a nice crescent around the edge, for planting, unplanned, but a nice side-effect of the bowl being just a bit smaller, and set the pump to flow into a pipe that runs through the little bucket hanging above, it’ll pour down over and over making a nice babbling sound, much like me, Dear Reader. Of course I did it in the evening when there isn’t any sun, genius that I am, still it’s the same pipe that worked before and the bowl has been tested and can easily be removed. I added a few glass pebbles that were strewn around too. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow, Dear Reader and speaking of that, well, I’ll see you then too. Until later, stay safe and take care.

A stunted lily.

They fade fast, but they’re beautiful.

Hello and Goodbye

These photos make a handy reference for next year.

he first strawberry, uncomfortable hot. It was in the baking sun, but even so I prefer them cooler.

Like alien fruit, Orchid buds are weird looking.

I didn’t know they could branch off on the same flower stem.

That’s the way this rose grows every year. A strange one, but one of a kind in the garden.

Yo, Dear Reader, Jack is here again to fill the void in your life that…what? You don’t miss me endlessly when I’m gone? How dare you? Heh, I’m addled by this heat, Dear Reader, but it’s a nourishing heat, everything is growing strong, it’s hard to think it’s just the end of May, I’ve watched so many flowers appear and vanish back into the soil waiting to reappear next year, either stronger or with friends. I’ve managed another full circuit of weeding, which takes a lot of work, between emptying a large bucket into he bin, pulling, scrapping, bending and squatting, well, let’s say I’ll be in good health, Dear Reader. I’m currently turning a slightly less deathly shade, I do need three applications of sunblock everyday, but I’ve found a new, much more affordable brand, so I’m set to stay out, dashing in for an espresso here and there, and water and water and plan. Oh, I have plans I don’t even know about yet, Dear Reader, they’re forming in the back of my mind.

The I Have A Ideas section.

It refuses to face the right way.

This was once one of the weaker roses.

Berries on the Black Grass.

I’ve been feeding and foliar feeding and the plants seem to be happier for the attention, I had a lot of damaged plants after the first heatwave, this one is warmer, but less harsh, but they seem to be coming on, one of the squash that was as good as dead seems to be recovering too so there may yet be hope for the others, as I’ve said I’ll look after them until they can’t grow anymore. I might have mentioned that I’ve been pinching out the tomato suckers, I often leave it too late, I also removed a few of the lower branches, below the flowering ones, and for he first year in, ever really, I think the tomato plants look favourable for a good fruiting. They aren’t overly bush, one is very tall, but is flowering in various paces so that should be fine, the greenhouse is hitting nearly forty degrees Celsius at times so they have enough heat and I have home-brewed fertilizer and tomato feed as well, I can’t eat them, but I’ve had differing luck with them over the years so I want one amazing year. Just one and then I can grow something else. Not much else to report, Dear Reader, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Until later, stay safe and take care.

I don’t know if this is a wild rose, it never grows invasively or too large, but it is spikey.

They die and appear at such frequency it’s hard to realise they’re not all he same set.

Worth the time taken to tend them properly.

Look who came to life fully. I would like an artichoke as I have a history with fakes.

Discount store roses don’t ever seem to look like they should, but they’re good roses.

Tom Thumb Lettuce from the cold-frame. Still working on plans to clean that up for permanent use.

The canna that was mysteriously included with a bunch of other bulbs a few years ago.

One of its children.

The fig tree is pretty, but I’m keeping it small…ish.

I forget I have irises as they fade so fast.

It gets wrinkly and grumpy looking with age.

Banana tree, er, trees?

Lettuce loves the heat until it decides it doesn’t and withers.

I’ll Save You, Plant…From Me

I forget what these are, but I like them.

It’s so hot some roses are opening to the maximum.

Naru’s Peach Aquilegia.

Arthur Bell is the envy of everyone.

Yo, Dear Reader, I was given a passiflora last year that I neglected to take in from the frost, I left it and left it, but sadly it was dead. I make mistake, Dear Reader and as I was yanking on the dead root, really, really pulling at it I realised I’d made another as I pulled a chunk of newly starting plant free. I have enough to save it if I’m as lucky as I usually am, which is very concerning plants, let us not speak  of other kinds of luck. The major problem with the internet and research is he absurd amount of repurposed, generic articles, one of the major problems, but I’ve saved worse. My heuchera that arrived most dead, I keep Googling pronunciation and, wow, am I so often wrong, is coming back after a little dose of leachate, the globe artichoke that was two months later to planting and already starting is green as you can see…wherever I put the photo. It’s a causal affair on this blog, Dear Reader, if I were any more relaxed I’d fall out of my chair. The squash are fighting back too, still battered and burned, much like myself, but I’ll keep with them until the end. Whatever end that be.

This turned out much better than expected.

Iceberg isn’t much of a climber yet, but it is very pretty.

Recently moved from the windowsill to let in more light.

So, well, I don’t have much to share or rather I probably do, but my brains are addled by this heat. The only thing that seems entirely unperturbed by the heat, cold, everything really, is the Golden Acre Cabbage. I’ve sen them take floods, heatwaves, frost, hail and everything in between without it knocking a flutter out of them. Whether it’s the variety, location or just that cabbage is tough is anyone’s guess, but I’m just glad they’re doing well. There’s a lot of watering and weeding, not as much as I did catch up a little, so i’m trying to mix up my feeding and watering as best I can to keep everything healthy. I use a lot of homebrewed fertiliser so I can spread it all over the leaves for foliar feeding. Chemical feeds will urn leaves, but the various feeds I have are perfectly fine diluted, neat at the roots if a boost is needed. They’re free too so that’s just great.

These are doing better each year.

Look who decided to live.

I think the colourant took hold of my Uncle’s Hydrangea.

To think they’d been discarded.

A Red-tailed Bumble bee has been visiting these daily.

It’s so hot, Dear Reader, all I have is a window, which I love after years of not, and an old fan, my indoor plants are taking the heat and running with it, I’ll probably end up with stretched cacti, but they’re growing so that’s fine with me. The light is what it is, I have very limited space, so much so that when I knocked over my huge orchid, don’t ask, it fell right down into the abyss beneath my window and after I blindly grabbed and fumbled there and hauled it up it was miraculously fine. Space is at a premium, but the places things can fall into is seemingly endless. It’s getting so long it’s at the curtain and will in time reach out of the window in a vie for freedom. Which would mean rolling off the roof, I guess it isn’t that smart, just determined. We could learn from it, Dear Reader, not the part about falling off the roof mind. Until later, Dear Reader, stay safe and take care.

Unfazed, calm, stoic.

You have to climb over these to get inside the rose garden.

These have been moved so much I forgot I had them.

Blue Moon.

The carrots, I swear I planted them thin, are looking just fine.

Yellow roses are always the first out.

Hardy Gloxinia which popped up overnight.

All perennials, bar the begonia, because it’s heavy and messy to fill.

You’re Home, Stinky

Forever known as stinky from here on.

Nicotiana.

Burgundy Ice, it really does look like it’s frosted.

I love perennials because they leave me more time to weed, which I hate.

The hot composter has been sitting near fifty from a week or two, I’ve been adding cooked food too. Almost zero food waste these days.

Part of a wildflower mix, very small, but pretty up close.

Yo, Dear Reader, a friend gave me that orchid which was damaged somewhere along the way to the shop and they were going to throw it away, I took off the broken flower stems and, well, you know me, Dear Reader, no sacrifice too large to help a plant recover and flourish so I took a bottle of undiluted wormery leachate, which smell revolting outside and upended it onto the plants’ soil, sprayed the leaves and well, my sense of smell will return one day, maybe in a few months when this either has bloomed or died. I do seem to have a knack for doctoring plants back to health, the patience to follow through with years of care even if it turns out to be a waste. It’s a shame to see anything living treated as a disposable commodity. It has a home here for as long as it lives, the smell will fade in time…I hope.

I’m playing guess the colour again, they always look different when they open.

These were a bumper pack of plants last year, this year a single plant costs he same I paid for six.

The artichoke that arrived already growing in the bag and was plants two months late is at least alive and growing.

After a neighbour threw away a garden’s worth of these I know have so, so many carpet roses or whatever they are.

It found a friend.

A cutting rose that really established well.

Next I fill it and drill it.

Dear Reader, if I don’t make it to the end of this post, the smell, oh, Dear God, the smell, well tell them I grew a lot of plants. I’m a soft-hearted idiot when it comes to harmless nature. I was getting green onions for a salad and as I squatted den to get some chives I saw a bee flying from flower to flower, so I waited and waited and eventually I left it to its work. The garden is filled with so many bumble bees I had to g into he raspberries, that’s how large they are now, you can wade into them, and you can hear the bees buzzing and crisscrossing each other over and over. I saw a very small bee, somewhat like a wasp, which I’m told is known as a wild bee here, which is funny when you think about it. Reckless, dissolute bees, flitting from flower to flower, unlike the dependable, reliable bees, flitting from flower to flower.

My Paul’s Scarlet has flowered after two years.

I saw Red Hot Pokers in a garden and it was so long ago I forgot what they looked like.

The Banana Tree is growing fairly fast, seems to have found a friend.

These are rambling roses, which will be huge in time, for now they’re small and don’t reek of ominous takeover.

The mini rose has an even smaller rose inside it.

One of thee roses this pot mysteriously yields, I can tell if it’s a grafted, three plants or a freak. Maybe when I re-pot it I’ll find out. It was a twig when I was given it, it was dumped on me that is.

I had a nightmare they had mostly died, which was actually what happened last year. I planted more.

Not much to say today, lots of photos in lieu of that, Dear Reader, I’ve been catching up to the weeds, but I’ll have to start watering again before things dry up. With this kind of weather I can take advantage and get plenty of comfrey tea into the plants and give everything a boost, I have the hot composter run off too, which also has comfrey added, so I try to alternate between each, diluting of curse, always erring on the side of too diluted. The onions and garlic are now bulbing up so no more feeding for them, I want he herbs hungry and establishing good root systems so they just get watered. The flowers get plenty of feeding and because I just swing the watering can around at times they also get foliar feeding. There’s always work to be done, Dear Reader, whether it pays off or not I still just carry on. Until later, Dear Reader, stay safe and take care.

They take up a lot of space and have very small flowers, but they’ve been here a while and I haven’t the heart to move them or get rid of them.

Fig tree looking good and what was a pink rose last year looking purple…

Shockingly there was a second half. Such thrilling posts here, Dear Reader.

I hope I see blackberries this year.

If the Welsh Onions do seed at least I’ll have a use for them. The Walking Onions to, but not all of them…I don’t need hundreds.

I put bird feed in the pot as a tester.

I think those are bulbels, I should look it up, but later.

I just plant and cut until it dies out, no full heads of anything, just fresh greens.

I’ll need to clean this up in Winter, to many weeds in the soil, but it’s fine for now. Lettuce and beetroot greens.

The Jade Tree grown from a leaf, or pad, not sure. They need more sun, but they are where they are.

The Hydrangea cutting, the light green parts are new growth.

My room is home to many small trees and is not that big.

I’ll Just Move…Everything…Again

Little by little the Aubretia spread.

The lupins weren’t bothered by the wind, the peony were.

My grandmother’s rose. Not in memory, her actual rose, it’s about twenty or more years old, probably more.

This was the Pascali that was almost taken over by suckers.

I’m getting too old for all these weeds, I need someone to pick the all so I can spent all day gardening. Never to old to garden, even if I am.

Yo, Dear Reader, yes I was just here with way too many photos, i’m here again with more, it’s the time of year. I actually have another set I need to take, I’ll mention that today, take it in time, much like the frame I mentioned in the last post just being posted now. Time has little meaning in the garden at the best of times, Dear Reader. Did I mention that I had to move the tyre I had the Chinese Magnolia in?…I’ll assume I did. Well, I had a few ideas, but I needed to cut it in half and I forgot I had trouble before, there’s a right way to do it, I think you need to get a part removed or use an angle grinder, I had a jigsaw and a pair of bolt cutters, but I got there. I was planning on hanging he two half circles, but the sheer amount of work it’d take would be silly, so instead I’m going to put plants in them, even sealing the ends so I can plant at either extreme, a bottomless pot should suffice, or rather four, so I can book end a section of the garden with them. They’re deep and sturdy, balance well too, though I’ll use a few blocks to stop the falling or rolling, they may rock though, but that looks kinda cool. I’ll get some photos and offer the advice not to do it like I did, I’m impatient and stubborn and not always in the best way, Dear Reader, but always wear safety gear whenever you tackle any job like that.

They fade quickly, but they’re beautiful.

Arthur Bell weathered the storm.

They were facing the wrong way, then I realised they’re in a pot and turned them.

Excuse the weeds, pretty sure that’s a hosta that someone gave me because they didn’t want to bother planting it.

Lotta yellow roses right now.

It’s supposed to get hot again I noticed damage to the hedging in the back of the garden, never saw anything like it, he ends were burned to a crisp, I knew the heat wasn’t natural, but i never realised how bad it was. It’s going to be another rough year, the world is changing and not for the better, all we can do is t help it heal as best we can, Dear Reader, to give a safe space to the insects and birds. Even the roses have had their edges burned, I’m sure there is more damage I’m not even seeing, there isn’t thing I can do, no one can stop the weather taking its toll. I’m just feeding everything with comfrey tea, wormery leachate and tomato feed, not all together mind, while there’s a bit of cooler weather, hopefully they’ll bounce back or at least I hope I can replace and make use of the space. I’m eating scapes and salads currently, most of my salads are half green onions, the more I eat them the less I find they bother my stomach, same with all onions, not possible for everyone, but I’m glad to have a new ingredient, however basic, to keep things varied. Not much to report right now, Dear Reader, I’ll leave you to enjoy the photos, you’re almost the only one seeing the garden this year, ah well, I’ll keep plodding along. until later, stay safe and take care.

One of the mini roses, they always have a slight orange/red tint to them.

Scapes are appearing and the garlic is starting to prepare for bulbing…if that is a word.

I tied up the potatoes, well tied around them, but they didn’t fall over.

No year is ever the same.

The slugs aren’t hitting as hard this year.

A few garlic scapes, they’re delicious roasted, and a walking onion I broke by mistake, also delicious.

I weeded the first cabbage bed and fixed up the netting. Clothes-pegs are a godsend.

After turning…took me a while to think to do that.

First of the trio rose as I have dubbed it. It never gets much bigger, but i will re-pot it this year.

I forgot what a red hot poker looked like, it took over a year to get flowers.

The heat pushed a lot of flowers to grow too fast.

Peas I just had growing in the cistern and a frame assembled to grow them to replace a squash.

Honeysuckle Wafting On The Wind

I had to take them down before the storm, so I dumped comfrey on them, they seemed larger after a day.

Run free now, cover everything.

I never saw them flower, this is only their first year.

I forget that some irises come out this time of year. Every year actually.

Yo, Dear Reader, I’ve been avoiding taking much about the world at large, well, mostly because we’re all sick at heart with the state of things, but I do have to preface this a little, just before this started I was getting ready to go in for a consultation to finally see the last set of weight-loss surgeries, a combination due to necessity, then everything fell to pieces and I’m back in limbo, I have been kicked at every stage of this journey, every single step has had something to make it harder, this year has been bad for everyone, but it started bad for me, even the garden has been hit hard with extreme weather, I’m honestly at the stage where I’m not sure I’ll see squash, my most important harvest, I’m in a mental state where I just can’t get any joy out of anything, depression has been with me my whole life and these last few years have been crushing. I grew up not talking about this, or talking but getting bombard with bad advice and dismissals, I’m old enough, tired enough too, to know my own path, I don’t need anyone’s help, but I do need to put it into words. A storm took three of my squash plants, despite having extra I’m still looking at trouble, you plan for the harvest you want and plant for the year you have, they may bounce back, but at this stage that isn’t going to make a dent in my moods, as I say I’ve been here a lot, I’m just being frank, it also took out my arch, tore it in two. I, well, I had an episode, I have anger issues as well as depression and losing another piece of my joy pushed me back again I’ve been suicidal for so long it’s hard to think when I wasn’t, I’m not fine, Dear Reader, but I’m doing my best, again, no help, I just want to speak, so I went out in high winds, I dug up the honeysuckle, I had to cut through the metal arch and leave it in there, literally carving the roots, thick as bananas, out of the ground and, somehow, my memory is hazy in places, depression is a lot more than being sad after all, I lifted the eight foot tall mass, pulled muscles in arm arms and tore up my hands, didn’t realise it until later, and moved it to the wild garden. It’s buried deep and will cover the area I wanted creating a space for birds and insects. I then cleaned out and, well, here I am. When we talk weight-loss stories I want mine to be in there, to show the system in place that offers no help beyond a certain point because I want no one going through what I have without needing to.We as a society hate fat bodies, we talk of health to disguise that and all I can do is hope for a better world for the next generation. As for me, I don’t know, Dear Reader, my life is in an awful dark place and nothing or no one can help. I could be selfish, I could do what I like and ignore all precautions, spread the disease like so many, but I won’t and don’t, I do all I need and more to keep others safe. Selfishness isn’t strength, nor is ignorance or stupidity. I hope you’re all safe, Dear Reader, I’m going to back to bland nonsense, for myself as much as all of you, I hope it helps. Thank you for giving me a place to put my story where it won’t fall on deaf ears, that’s enough for now.

Fledglings being fed by their parents.

Three years and the Jasmine is still trying to grow.

I have plans for the wall, the bare patch will be full of dahlias in time.

So, I cleaned up the area as you can see, luckily I had some matting and once and for all the bottomless buckets prove themselves indispensable as a weed control system. The Chinese Magnolia will grow as high as I want, but I’m not letting any tree take over, Naru’s garden now gets more light, the honeysuckle was incredibly dense, I knew it should be cut back, but I hoped it’d finish the arch and support itself, three years was a good run and it’ll grow where it is now too, it’s bouncing back even since I took that photo, a heavy rain came after the strong winds. The garden really has no plan and you can count on nature for refusing to allow you yours, you just have to keep adapting, changing and taking what you can get. I put a frame made out of bamboo, twine and netting and took peas I threw in an old cistern and put everything into a squash pot so I may get a few extra sugarsnap peas, which I give away most years because I have too many. in the garden there are spaces where you plant, but once you leave that space, no matter how much you want or need new plants you just have to accept that you can’t achieve anything and you take that and plan for another year, no matter what some losses can’t be replaced, it’s taken years to learn that and it may take a lifetime to accept it.

The garden is full of life.

Clearance orchid in it’s third, maybe fourth, budding.

So Jam and marmalade, these are too rough to be worth typing up, they were entirely impromptu. The Grapefruit marmalade was made because I bought four oranges that were actually grapefruit. What I did was zest one, steam one and chop it up, then scooped out the three, that includes the zested one, avoiding the pith as best I could. So chunky soft flesh and pulped, juicy flesh combine and go into a pot with half the weight in granulated sugar and half in jam sugar, to avoid making it too thick, the rest is as with any of my jam recipes. It tasted tart, surprisingly even with all the sugar, but it broke down enough to make it a more even consistency, boiling sugar will do that. This is a quick marmalade, the rational methods take a lot more time and boiling. his is purely for fun and keeping a hand in, I won’t be eating it myself, but I’ll get honest feedback from someone who will. The peach and mint is even quicker, I cut an x in the bottom of each, blanched the peaches, poured boiling water over them, covered for a minute, poured it out and then ran cold water over them. A quick peel, diced them up and squeeze the flesh from the pits and after a mash in it went with equal weight of jam sugar, it was super thick, might be too dense, but delicious, after poring into the two jars, I only had a single packet of peaches, I pushed a sprig of mint into each and sealed. Homemade jam is enjoyable, with practice you can make a lot, but be careful when doing anything with boiling sugar, you get burned once and you’ll never forget it, Dear Reader. Now, I’ll leave you in peace, I’m hoping to go and do more weeding, well, I’d rather not, but I have to, if the weather changes as promised. Until later, Dear Reader, stay safe and take care.

They were playing all over the garden.

Grapefruit Marmalade.

Peach Jam.