Super speedy gardening to the test

Summer in all its glory

To me, summer is a season, not a series of disappointing weather fronts. The days linger longer, the trees are in full glorious leaf, and the garden holds so much potential.

My globe artichoke has been drooping in the heat

But now the solstice has passed, I'm feeling less energetic, less super speedy, and more overwhelmed by how much needs to be done. A busy couple of weeks at work hasn't helped. On top of the usual weeding, tying in, and transplanting, not to mention all the other jobs that aren't getting done, I now need to check the crops, harvest them, wash them and cook them. I should be jubilant at my bounty, but instead I'm worried that all our hard work will go to waste.

So I need to remind myself of the precious moments, no matter how small or fleeting.

Strawberries, just in time for Wimbledon

There's the bees - I've really enjoyed looking at them a bit closer and noticing the differences between the species. Then there's my fussy three-year-old picking chive flowers and spinach for her sandwich, and gobbling it up. I think a pink flower sandwich will be hard to beat, but with strawberries, raspberries, cherries and tomatoes on their way, I'm hopeful. And the free all-you-can-eat salad bar every night has already saved us a ton of money.


My own appreciation of where some of our food comes from has vastly increased, and so I'm sure growing our own will have the same effect on the children. Watching a strawberry ripen in the sun, hoping the bees will pollinate every tomato flower, and understanding just how much water it must take to grow and wash perfect supermarket veg... we take so much for granted.

It's so easy to be sucked into the supermarket culture of year-round perfect veg. I just hope growing your own will get easier in time!

We all appreciate where our fruit and veg comes from now