Lush

I am always struck by how much the garden seems to have grown after we return from a holiday - even if it is only a few days away. Everything seems so lush, green, and bursting with growth. The end of summer is always one of the high points for me in the garden. As we have such a short season here - late start, early finish, there is a concentration of ready produce around this time. Right now we are still harvesting blueberries, peas, french beans, courgettes, early carrots summer cabbage, cauliflower, calabrese and turnips. There appear to be vast tracts of kale and chard, while the sprouts are showing their tiny little buds of Christmas deliciousness. The runner beans seem to grow an inch every half hour at the moment - and we are very glad, as we all love them. The sweetcorn will be a week or so yet (sigh and I have not started to lift the maincrop carrots - the savoy and winter cabbage have hopefully survived without too much caterpillar damage, although I did net the purple sprouting broccoli. Leeks are looking good, and in the greenhouse there are still a couple of cukes, some tomatoes waiting for a blast of sunshine, and some precious pumpkins and squashes.

Beans and courgettes, picked by the Gardener's Boy, destined for a risotto that was so delicious, I can't describe it.
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