Tediously seedless

Eating dinner in the blazing sunshine on the terrace last night I couldn’t at first work out why my arms were stinging. And then with a bit of reverse plotting the answer was revealed. Raspberry scratches. It’s quite a thicket up there. But we managed another pot of soft ripe juicy fruit.

Fruit was definitely the theme of the morning. I made five pots each of wild cherry jam and another five of seedless black currant jam. Seedless? Tediously seedless black currant jam. Squishing the blighters through a sieve for minutes on end. But the results are fab. And I am mad enough to want to collect another few kilos of currants and start the whole process again. But not tomorrow. My arms need a rest.

Jan was busy weeding the courtyard and collecting wildflowers for the arrangement at the front hall. The hollyhocks didn’t survive: too floppy and wan. But this is fetching. And with the addition of calamagrostis flower spikes it’s even symmetrical.

There are plenty of wild flowers to choose from. Even the ones above the swimming pool are busting out. At long, long last. And they are even managing to compete with the standard local weeds. Wish the ones in the mini meadow would do the same; but sadly no.

My task for the day was to uproot the dying peas and clear away the mess in the potager. I even planted two new rows of peas for the summer season. And then spent ages battling with the netting. First off there was a wasp happily and blithely trying to build a nest on one of the supporting posts. That had to be despatched. Sorry, but the proscribed list of creatures that must not thrive has just been increased. Slugs of course. We have so few, but I don’t want any colonies to grow. And the wasps are just in the wrong place. Too many of our friends are allergic; and even I have a healthy wariness when it comes to wasps. Last year I was stung on the mouth which was beyond distressing. So away went the nascent nest and I called on yet more help for untangling the net.

It’s up at last and with the peas more widely spaced I may even be able to pick them. They suffered mightily from erratic watering earlier this season. So here’s hoping I can keep a better eye on them from now on.

When Bernard has some free time I need one more cloche. The swiss chard need protecting if we are to enjoy the colours and flavours over the long growing season. I have recycled the big net (giant fish net stockings anyone?) from the broad beans and hope to have one long line of protection against the marauders. I’m not optimistic, but at least they will need a good push to get at them.

And where did I magic that cloche from? Why the aubergines of course. They have grown way beyond the protective net (had to be prised free from the netting constraints in fact) and so far nothing seems to eat them. Too prickly perhaps? So I am risking leaving them bare. It will help the bees to pollinate the flowers too. I may regret this, but for now they are staked and tall and promising.

And to finish here are two pleasing pictures: the strawberry bed weeded by Jan. Back to looking perfect. And we potted up most of the runners so in a few weeks time I can add to the strawberry bed down at the thinner end.

And here is work in progress. Nicolas has returned to work. Hurrah. First the peach tree stumps, and now the next terraces beside the potting shed. Four and five. How poetically named is that. Of course I don’t have a single plant to put in them. Nor enough bark or wood chips to cover them; but I’m so pleased that in a week or so I will have five great little terraces for flowers. Beats the wilderness that was there.