this week in the herb garden

Another week where it has been too wet to do much in the way of gardening! So - time to get creative with the harvest. The rowan berries, picked earlier this month, have been made into rowan jelly and it was this that I chose to add a taste of the countryside to tonight's dinner.
Rowans are quite bitter, so even with the sugar added to make the jelly it is not too sweet. It is therefore ideal to accompany meat. In this dish it has been added to chunks of tender lamb and stir fried organic vegetables to make a simple, but delicious sauce. A memorable and healthy meal!
(must write this one down for future use!)

a summer of discontent...

I heard on the news this morning that this has been our wettest summer for 100 years! I was not surprised at the announcement, as I have lived through the weeks of unrelenting rain which caused the weeds to grow unchecked among the herbs and turned many of the vegetables to mush. The wet weather has also led to an upsurge in the number of slugs and snails which have laid waste to the vegetables not flattened by the rain! The hens will make short work of those when they are let loose in the garden at the end of next month, but in the meantime they march on...
A few late frosts at the end of April meant that much of the fruit blossom was killed and therefore there are very few apples, blackcurrants and cherries to be had. Only the redcurrants, raspberries and rowans survived to provide any harvest.
I am now hoping for a relatively dry autumn, so that I may clear the herb garden of weeds as plant growth subsides and prune the fruit trees in the hope of a better harvest next year.
It is hard sometimes, not to get despondent when looking out at grey skies and persistent rain, but I am determined to pick this garden up out of the mud and give it the best possible chance of productivity next year...