It has been a long time since I put down any stuff on this blog but it is just that I do not want to repeat myself every year with the same things and so it was better to wait until I had at least some new material.
Lets go back to April, on the 6th Maria went to have her knee operation which was very successful and now she is getting around like a greyhound, luck was with her weather wise as we had crazy hot days most of April and she was able to get outside and recover, Meddy and the sheep kept an eye on her.
May was a bit cooler and we got down to sorting out the vegetable garden, plus we had a visit from my daughter Lisa and granddaughter Alice for a few days, they were lucky as the weather was very good while they were here, June arrived, we got our wood sorted for the winter, it was very hot near the end of the month and we had some mean storms. We decided to move our compost bins to a new site which has proved to be much better and given us another bed for flowers next year.
July of course means only one thing, haymaking, we were pretty lucky with the first cuts and they were dried and in the barn in a few days, the next cuts were troubled by bad weather and had to stay out for a bit before we could get them in, they looked good on Ostrava’s in the sun, again July was like every month so far it went from really hot to wet and cold but at least the garden grew and grew.
The veg garden has been amazing except for the peas and broad beans, down to the weather we guess, however, the onions garlic potatoes tomatoes and courgettes have never been so good, this year we decided to freeze a load of garlic as it seems to get very dry by the next year and we store a lot in the cellar so it seems a shame to have to throw any away.
Now we are into August and we have been getting out an picking wild fruit till it comes out of our ears but our larder is filled to the brim so that is well worth it, the bees are looking great but they have been disrupted by the adverse weather not just here but every where it would seem so not much chance of honey so far. On a final note i managed to photograph one of the many Humming Bird Hawkmoths we have had in the garden this year, they are amazing but quite hard to get a photo of, hope your year is as good so far as ours is, bye for now….