Lazy hazy sunshine days

What an amazing time for our gardens and dining al fresco. I want to capture this period of recent weather on my blog (to remember in greyer days!)

We have had solid sunshine here for more than a week, with day temperatures in the late teens and nighttime temps between 8-10c, with gentle breezes. It's the sort of consistent warm weather that we could only dream of over the past 9 months (far longer if we're honest!)

This has meant that plants in the garden have gone from 0 to 60 in no time at all, and if you blink too long, something else changes in the garden, a new shrub in flower, herbaceous plants growing another foot, vegetable beds need weeding (again!).

I wrote blog in January about how precious each piece of colour is and staying mindful of present time and enjoying the dormant season. Well this month has turned out to be almost the exact opposite - long hazy Summer days - and it's great!

No matter what sort of garden you have, from a balcony to large size, get out there and enjoy!

It so easy these days to do grow as much or little as you want; even something small, like a couple of containers with organic compost and some lettuce plants purchase from the local garden centre - a bit of regular watering and in no time you can harvest away - fresh leaves for your Summer salads. Even better, sow a few seed (if your a novice try Rocket), you'll be surprised at just how quickly you'll be munching away. Yum.

For my part, my first lot if Rocket is just going over, so I'm sowing the next pot; we've been harvesting Spinach leaves for a while now, so also doing a second pot of these. I'll also add a pot of beetroot to harvest baby beetroot leaves. First batch of tomatoes are growing away in the greenhouse, some with flower trusses now. Next batch, for outdoors, are coming on well too. Cucumbers were slow to come on, but are now ready for bigger pots and I'll find some space for the courgettes, which will fly along. First round of peas are planted and up. Next batch going in this week.

All of these (except for tomatoes) are in pots.

'Why' you may ask, when we have so much space for veg. beds? Well some of this is down to convenience, and some from past habits. Coming from a smaller garden, where a lot of space was taken up with swings, trampolines, etc. or flowering plants, my vegetables were mostly grown in containers, or small beds. More importantly, I consider food growing directly outside our back doors so convenient to harvest and use - 'fast food' if you like, that almost anyone can grow and access. In this modern society, with people constantly on the go, it is so much easier to have fresh produce accessible this easily.

Anyway, back to our sunshine days, I know not everyone is having the same spell of beautiful weather, so if you are lucky enough, and are in a position to, enjoy the warmth and heat while it's here. As for me, I'm off to dine al fresco with the family.

Happy gardening and sunshine days.


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