In spite of my best intentions in cutting back on the baking there have been a few garden get togethers that definitely called for some form of sweet treat
For Jo, Steve, Megan and Hannah there was a lemon celebration cake and honeycomb flapjack ...
... and umbrellas ... which were not to shade us from the sun ...
For Lesley and Tom there was a traditional English cream tea, with Mary Berry's sultana scones and a chocolate cake from the freezer to break up their bike ride ...
.. and for Rachel, Tom and baby Erin there were more scones, this time cherry and white chocolate chip, fresh from the oven ...
What I wouldn’t have given to be able to pick up this gorgeous bundle of scrumptiousness and given her a really good snuggle ...
The garden has definitely been.a popular catch up venue over the last few weeks with even Captain putting in an appearance ...
Continuing on the baking front I also resorted to the old favourite of a frangipane tart using our own cherry jam and cherries from the freezer ...
Gardening has slowed down a little, though I know come September there will be all of those end of summer jobs that we will need to do to give us that head start next spring.
The cobea, or cup and saucer vine, is coming on and is now covered in buds ... still no blooms though ...
Gardening has slowed down a little, though I know come September there will be all of those end of summer jobs that we will need to do to give us that head start next spring.
The cobea, or cup and saucer vine, is coming on and is now covered in buds ... still no blooms though ...
I was very envious when Jackie sent me this picture ...
There has been more harvesting with the last of the blueberries, spinach and green beans ...
There has been more harvesting with the last of the blueberries, spinach and green beans ...
... and the first of the tomatoes ... a right mismatched selection, which we had with our BBQ salad with the last of our iceberg lettuce and the first of our home grown cucumbers ...
There have been more cuttings taken and planted ... firstly from the salvia for Lesley ... which nearly died a hot and uncomfortable death when being left in the greenhouse when the outside temp was above 30 degrees ...
There have been more cuttings taken and planted ... firstly from the salvia for Lesley ... which nearly died a hot and uncomfortable death when being left in the greenhouse when the outside temp was above 30 degrees ...
I think we’ve managed to salvage them though ...
... and there have been yet more basil cuttings ... this time taken from the cuttings that I took from the original supermarket basil bought months ago ... all are still going strong. We actually have a real abundance of basil and I've had a go at drying some in the microwave and it seems to have gone well ...
Apparently, it's best to store them as whole leaves and then just crumble them as you need to use them.
Oh and last, but definitely not least, there was another garden catch up ... this time we were invited to Lesley and Tom's for afternoon tea ...
It was stupendous ... with three lots of Tom's different home baked bread, home made Scotch eggs and quiche and plenty of sweet treats too.
The weather wasn’t brilliant but the gazebo worked a treat and we were lovely and cosy ... and very, very full ...
... and exhausted from watching the very energetic Digby torment the life out of poor old Jakey ...
It was a real treat and really good to know that the gazebo worked so well to allow us to get together and still maintain our social distance. Maybe we will be doing it again for our traditional Boxing Day lunch ... who knows πππ
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