Flower fairies at the bottom of the garden...

So many pastimes and hobbies are about appreciating nature, from walking to stargazing and of course the ultimate - gardening. Today I've found another, particularly for children... Fairies!

Flower Fairy door in the silver birch

By adding a few mini features around the garden, you can turn it into a truly magical place for children. I found a few bits and pieces around the house and in second hand shops and flea markets. For inspiration, Furzey Gardens is a brilliant place full of fairy doors (and even a fairy swimming pool).

We then invited a few friends over to explore the garden, make some flower fairy collages from petals and leaves, and of course to eat fairy cakes. Like fairies, no two were the same.

I'm gearing up for the Show - it's a whole new world but a lovely way to appreciate what we eat. I've just about got enough apples, but several have holes in and have been eaten away by wasps. My tomatoes aren't ripe enough yet, which is a shame because I have loads. And I've entered into the tea cup flower arrangement category, just for fun?! As if I haven't already got enough to do...

Meanwhile we've been enjoying watching several bees at a time getting drunk on a globe artichoke flower. This photo was taken before it was completely in bloom - it became even more spectacular and covered in happy insects.

The globe artichoke with several insect species

Puds to spuds in the height of summer

Neglected but wonderful

The poor garden is having to look after itself at the moment, but some welcome rain means it's generally happy. Just in time - I've got prize winning veg at the Emsworth Show in my sights, Monday 26 August 2013. I can't wait!

The little ones haven't been much interested now the soft fruit and peas are all but over, but we're going to have some time out there tomorrow to get our hands dirty again.

Meanwhile, here are some of the highlights of the last few days...

Hidden jewels - redcurrants

My best summer pudding yet!

Beautiful hollyhock sprinkled with rain and buzzing with bees

Espalier apples ripening nicely under the window

The mummy and daddy of the garden

My potato stems got squashed by the sprinkler, now they're growing again

A garden full of fruit

The prolonged heatwave is doing wonders for my fruit. I've not long come in from 1.5 hours of picking soft fruit - namely 1.3kg of raspberries, wild strawberries and blueberries. It could well be a full time job out there. But I'm not stressing, if something goes to seed from lack of watering, or if a few raspberries go over, so be it. I'm doing what I can.

Stinky nettle and comfrey tea

I love compost and feeding the garden, so it's been worth putting up with the stink of soaking nettles and comfrey for a few weeks. The new neighbours said they didn't notice the smell, but I made sure to keep them happy with a fruity breakfast, picked with their help.

There have been countless mistakes made, and lessons learned. I should have thrown the net curtain from the downstairs loo over the cherry tree, but by choosing privacy I lost the much-anticipated crop to blackbirds. And my Dad wasn't too impressed when I gave him a marigold to eat, when it should have been a nasturtium flower.

I loved watching a bunch of three year olds pulling off the pea pods. I've been less impressed by the broad beans... black fly has spoiled most of the pods, despite taking the growing tips off. On one stalk I got one pod with four beans in it. Disappointing. And I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a dead hornet. Not sure what would have happened had it been alive, but it's kind of nice to see unusual wildlife in the garden!

And whatever the stinky smells, pest-ridden crops and supersized wildlife, there's always more fruit to cheer me up. Always.