Since my last post we’ve been lucky to enjoy those lazy, hazy, crazy days of Christmas….quiet ones interspersed with myriad visitors for lunch, dinner or to stay a night or two. There have been days of scorching sun and drizzling rain, morning tiptoes through wet grass to the pool for laps, picnics shading under the boughs of trees, flowers who’s dizzying perfume we’ve enjoyed emanating from deep within their petals, and a mountain of tablecloths and linen napkins to wash and iron!
The beans finally got a move on and I’ve been picking morning and night to keep up with those of deepest amethyst Purple King, blotched and streaked Rattlesnake, creamy yellow Australian Butter and barely flecked Speckled Cranberry (who’s colourings and markings deepen as the bean matures, but I think they’re at their most succulent before they really begin to swell, when they’re almost meaty, for want of a better description).
There are cucumbers….holy moly they’ve been coming in one after another! We’ve never had so many, which equals Tzatziki with everything and raw cucumber at the drop of a hat. The tomatoes, on the other hand, have never been so slow and clearly need more hours of sun, while zucchinis are coming in at a respectable rate.
The aubergines are just beginning, the capsicums still green and the corn has just set its pretty red silks. Though rather late, its flowers are standing upright now, fluttering in the breeze which hopefully will encourage pollination.
In fact, the Kitchen Garden is wild in height, abundance and exuding an aura of romance.
Though annoying birds peck at my beautifully bagged bunches of grapes around the verandah in their impatience for a feed and the grass and hedges grow out of control elsewhere, there is order in each and every unfurling Zinnia flower, set in neat and tidy rows in the root veg bed, (who’s spectacular buds began to open a week ago). Although the summer season still has a long way to go, Zinnias herald a change, their cheery blooms announcing the downhill slide to what will hopefully be a glorious autumn ahead.