Friday again already. I seem to have spent the last week drifiting along in a dream like state. The heat having slowed me down to almost a standstill. Sleep deprivation hasn't helped. I have managed to read a few books (when I wasn't falling asleep over them) and I did struggle through ironing early one morning. Today is slightly cooler, rain is expected over the weekend and we and the garden are ready for it.
Anyway, here are five things from the garden.
1. A New Shed has been installed.
Not by me I just watched the worker from under the shade of the gazebo. It took three or four days from start to finish. the hardest part was laying the concrete floor.
2. A Water Lily has appeared
I spotted it this morning, the photo above I took around 9a.m. 
By 11.30a.m. it had opened up its petals. Earlier this year we had to take quite a large chunk of the lily out of the pond as it had taken over. Several pieces were saved in buckets of water and they are now happily ensconsed in their new home in a friend's ponds. I hope they will develop flowers too.
They
have been wonderful this year. They seem to like this hot weather.
I've been dead heading them every so often. This rose bush was here
when we moved in over twenty years ago and has been moved several times. I've no idea what variety it is.
4. Garden Fruit and berries
Time for Gooseberries, the Strawberries have all but finished and the plums need to grow and ripen. Time to make a gooseberry crumble.
Berries on the Amelanchier tree, the birds love them especially the wood pigeons and blackbirds. The wood pigeons fly onto the tree and then there is a great deal of wing flapping as the branches sway up and down under their weight.
5. Other flowers in the garden.
Take care.
Well Rosie let me be the first. Those gooseberries look delicious ands the water lilies too. The heat has been overwhelming at times and we had our first thunderstorm accompanied by hail (in Beeston, Nottingham) yesterday evening. Like you, more is promised for the weekend. We can only hope but then both of us have the advantage of living close to the top of a hill.
ReplyDeleteApparently, last evening, just a couple of miles or so away at Cheadle and Blythe Bridge there were flash floods and today's local news shows people walking ankle deep along the pavements, yet here we had about two minutes of huge drops which dried as they hit the ground and nothing else. I hope the rain is kind to the garden and doesn't wash eveything away. Yes, we are both lucky to live near the top of hills, take cae both of you:)
DeleteThe weather has been far too hot this week - like you I haven't slept well even with a fan in the bedroom and done little housework except washing ironing and preparing salads!
ReplyDeleteYour garden must be looking so lovely. Sadly my husband got rid of our water lilies (all of them) as they were taking over and I so miss them.
The gooseberries look delicious - I do miss them as we used to have plants too and my favourite recipe was a gooseberry fool. I think you can perhaps buy them in supermarkets but you hardly get any and they are probably grown abroad!! :(
The new shed looks useful.
Take care too and have a good weekend.
Thank you RR. It's a shame about the water lillies, they do take over but you can cut them and replace them every so often, we do that with the flag iris too to keep them under control. I love gooseberry fool although I won't eat the shop ones as most of them have gelatine in them so just have gooseberry yoghurts, we've just had a few gooseberries this year as, just like the lillies, they were cut back and moved a few years ago and have only just recovered. The shed now holds all the garden tools and is much closer to the house. Have a lovely weekend, it's much cooler today:)
DeleteRosie - let me know if you want the gooseberry fool recipe and I'll find it. Pretty sure it did not have gelantine in as I don't use the stuff here either. There again if you have already have a recipe don't worry :)
DeleteSorry, just seen your reply. I haven't looked for a recipe yet so it would be nice to see your one if it isn't too much trouble to find, thank you:)
DeleteThanks Rosie. I will dig it out tomorrow. Have a feeling it is in the Times Calendar Cookbook! Hope I am right :) But I have a recipe file that lists all recipes made and where recipes came from so I will be able to find it anyway. I'll leave it as a comment if that is ok or would you prefer me to send it by email??
DeleteThank you Caroline, I don't mind either way but if it's easier just leave it here. It sounds as if you may have to type it up first, hope that it isn't too much to ask, it's very knd of you. We have some more gooseberries now so it would be good to make something other than crumble with them. Not enough berries for jam this year:)
DeleteHere we go Rosie - I can touch type so won't take long. Unfortunately two recipes I made over 40 years ago did have gelantine (I must have used it in those days) but I have found another one which I made which was good and no gelatine although it does have raw eggs if you are ok with that.
DeleteGooseberry Cream Snow from Times Calendar Cookbook
450g green gooseberries
2 tablespoons water
100g Caster Sugar
1 egg white
Half a point of double cream
Wash goosegogs no need to top and tail! Place in saucepan with water. Bring to boil and simmer gently 10 mins until tender and quite soft.
Remove from heat, add sugar and stir to dissolve.
Rub fruit and juices through a sieve to make a puree.
Discard skin and pips and allow puree to cool.
Add unbeaten wgg white to the cream and whisk both together until thick and light.
Fold in the gooseberry puree.
Spoon into dishes and chill for several hours until firm.
Can sprinkle with pistachio nuts.
SERVES 6
You can instead turn into icecream by freezing mixture and stirring once or twice as it freezes.
Hope that is ok. Didn't realise so many fools and mousses use gelantine as I haven't made one for ages. I think you can get vegetarian gelantine but I haven't tried it.
Thank you so much, I will try the recipe in the week as I need to get cream. I think the veggie alternative is called Agar Agar but I've never used it. The ice cream sounds good too. I learned to touch type too at 16 in my first job I used to go, after work, to the home of a lady called Mrs Caunt who taught me on an old Adler portable for five shillings a lesson - those were the days:)
DeleteBeautiful flowers.
ReplyDeleteThank you, William:)
DeleteYou've made me realise that I haven't eaten goosegogs for years, I used to love them too. The flowers all look good.
ReplyDeleteThank you John, gooseberries are a favourite of mine, we don't have many, just enough for a couple of crumbles over the next week or so:)
DeleteThe gooseberries look good, I haven't had them for a long time, it would be good to have a crumble delicious! Your roses are looking beautiful, such a lovely colour.
ReplyDeleteThank you, the rose has done really well this year, it did get cut back quite hard at the end of last year and has been fed a couple of times which has helped. the crumble was delicious:)
DeleteThere's lots to enjoy in your garden at the moment. I wonder what's in the shed! It will be great to be able to find things again once they are all neatly organised inside. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you, ha, yes what is in the shed? - just garden tools, mower, hedge trimmer and etc. The old shed is full of goodness knows what and needs to be emptied and sorted out before it comes down. I never went in there, too spidery for me:)
DeleteThanks for taking us on a wander round your garden, it's certainly putting on a show in the warmth. Take care & hugs.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan, the garden is all I have to write about at the moment as I'm hardly going anywhere else. You take care too:)
DeleteThe garden became our little sanctuary last year and I feel i have neglected it this year since I took up walking. Yours looks lovely and productive Rosie xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Lyn, yes our garden is a sacturary for us too, we are lucky to have them in these troubled times, ours is rather overgrown in some areas but the wildlife love it and the neighbour's cats too:) Good luck with all the walking:)
DeleteYour garden is so beautiful Rosie. I like the look of your robust shed! You've done well with the fruit and flowers this year. I haven't eaten gooseberries in years! Hope you have a lovely week. It is Monday now and we have had enough rain on Sunday to fill a swimming pool! It soon drained away though and today I mowed a path just in time for the next deluge tomorrow! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Simone, it is a hard garden to grow things inas we have heavy clay soil but the raised beds and pots do well. We haven't had the rain that everyone else has had but it is overcast and damp in the air this morning, perhaps it is finally on the way, the garden needs it. Glad the rainfall drained away quickly and din't affect your home, take care:)
DeleteThank goodness it cooled down a little, we didn't get the rain but at least it's not as stifling! The flowers are not suffering from the lack of rain are they, you have some lovely ones :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Pam, yes it is cooler today and overcast too, things seem a little more comfortable now. Yes, the flowers seem to be doing well without much watering as the water butts are nearly empty:)
DeleteWhat a lovely mixture of pictures, Rosie. Perfect white pure water lily bud, I note you caught a fly in the photo too. Pink roses are so sweet. Wish berries would grow here as they are so healthy and full of anti-oxidants but nope, our weather is too hot. Hope your garden keeps blooming beautifully.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kestrel, the water lily is lovely it closes each evening and opens up again the next day, I go and look at it every morning:)
Delete