At last the sun is shining – we have been promised three days of glorious sunshine this week, which will be wonderful after the cold grey days of August. Today is hazy, with an autumn feel in the air, and the sun shining through the haze gives everywhere the most beautiful golden glow. The colours in the garden seem particularly vibrant…
The Engineer has been nurturing his pots and planters ready for our wedding blessing next weekend. Ted and I headed down the garden to check that the festoon lights were in place…
So that the family members staying in our shepherd’s huts will be able to make their way down to their accommodation at the end of the festivities. Rufus tagged along as well, though to be perfectly honest he was more interested in chasing his ball than “helping” me check the lights. Daisy, who is a grand old lady these days (she will be 9 in November – having wonderfully exceeded all expectations) remained behind on the patio enjoying the deep cool shade at the back of the house.
While I was down the end of the garden I decided to take a look at my vegetable beds – and am very pleased that I did as lurking in one of them, shielded by giant leaves, is a monster marrow…
That I think will be finding its way into our meal tonight. I am told mashed marrow, with a little grated cheese is rather nice. I’ve always been a bit wary of trying to mash marrow, thinking it might become rather watery, but the recipe I’ve found recommends roasting it before mashing which I think sounds rather nice. I still have runner beans and plenty of carrots and beetroot to harvest, and next week, after the wedding celebrations I plan to begin my autumn planting. I was horrified to discover that most garlic sold in supermarkets in this country is in fact imported from China – why? So I have ordered some from the Isle of Wight to plant, hoping for my own garlic next year.
We don’t have much orchard fruit this autumn, but we have planted apples (James Grieve and Bramley) as well as a plum tree. There was a poor straggly pear already growing, which we are trying to nurse back to health, and this year it rewarded us with a single fruit which – together with the nursery rhyme – inspired my first design for the October magazine….
I haven’t tried stitching fruit before and really enjoyed this one – I hadn’t realised how many colours the pear was made up of – I’d always thought of them as just green and/or gold before. I stitched the pear using the same colours and fabric (I only had a small piece of this linen and it’s nearly all gone now) as two earlier hoops – the Woodland Fox
And my Summer’s End design….
Both these patterns are available in our shop, and the pear design will be released next month.
Leave a Reply