OUTDOORS 25

Here are the garlic after 1-2 days drying. It is going to take around 1-2 weeks for the greenness to disappear, even though I bent the stems. Meanwhile, the goose berry and ginger jam was hopefully ready, so poured into 3 jars and lidded.

I made the labels ready, in the hope that it would actually become jam. I let it cool, then placed the jars in the fridge - as it didn't set. I will use it for pie fill or in milk shakes instead!

In the meantime, I hauled home another batch of crops - strawberries, raspberries and two types of gooseberry.

Regular readers may wonder how the fence down the yard in front of the kitchen window is going - I have been slowly turning it from broken old fence to bird-friendly hedge. Some of the roses have taken well, as have a few of the plants my friend Liz gave me, along with a yew or two, box-privet, jasmine...

Here you can see one of the roses has flowered, as have some of the nasturtiums. There is a hawthorn seedling under the yellowy-colored shrub and the lychnis behind the nasturtiums...

...sigh, and more crops! Rhubarb, gooseberries, raspberries, one radish and strawberries, this time. This is what they look like after they have been prepared - 2 bowls of fresh fruit, one crumble, rhubarb for the freezer and a radish for lunch. Although some of the strawberries may not look fully ripe, when grown by yourself, unlike the shop varieties that are grown for color, the almost ready ones taste as good as ripe and are less squishy.