Yes, yes, yes. I know. It’s been a ridiculous amount of time since the last garden update. What can I tell you? I was busy rehearsing and portraying the poisonous Miss Prothero. Then I was busy rehearsing and portraying mischievous Maria in Twelfth Night. Then I got distracted by the gong show in Cleveland. And, yes, truth be told, I’ve also had a bit of a case of what my friend Krys and I used to call the “I can’t be bothereds”. So, here I am, hopefully better late than never, trying to catch up.
For those of
you who aren’t on Gabriola, the first thing to report is that, after three
long, hot summers, normal weather service seems to have resumed. The return of
Juneuary was a bit of a shock. (Actually broke down one evening quite late in
June and lit the fire.) Early July
brought its own surprises, including two thunder storms (rare in this neck of
the woods.) Good for water levels in the well.
Not so good
for tomatoes. After three summers of having more cherry tomatoes than I knew
what to do with, this year’s crop qualifies as slim pickings.
This is what
I brought up from the garden this morning. May look like a fair few tomatoes,
but I’m honestly not sure how many more I will see. Ditto the peas.
Something
that is new this summer are the pink
gooseberries (the things that look like grapes). Although the gooseberry bush
has previously borne some fruit, this is the first year the berries have
ripened enough to eat.
Ditto the
black currants I picked last month. And in the next couple of weeks I will also
be harvesting some blueberries. In all previous summers since the garden
project began and the fruit bushes were planted the berries all disappeared
just as they were getting ripe.
Thank
you, Cec Ashley, for the fruit frames!
