From decorative to productive: a garden story

(If you are looking for the giveaway, you will find it in the post below - it closes tomorrow (Sunday), so this is your last chance to enter.)

It might only be the first week in August, but here in the sunny south-east where one would have expected a high summer air about the place, the garden is taking on more of an end of summer feeling - and as I look out of my window at the grey skies and raindrops, the weather is definitely not summery at all.

Sunshiney sweetness in a jar

Luckily we managed to capture a bit of sunshine in jars, in between the showers of June.

Marigolds on the wane

So although many of the flowers are past their best, and the marigolds are running to seed faster than I can deadhead them, there are lots of edible bonuses to make up for the decline in prettiness.

Sweet juicy plums

It has been a difficult year for growing, with sunshine and drought in May, too much rain and not enough sun in June, and a cold, grey July. 

Green runner beans

But somehow the green fuse has ignited and the kitchen garden is keeping the Head Chef well supplied with produce, and the B&B guests have been able to enjoy the fruits of his labours outside.

Courgettes yellow and green

I like to grow both green and yellow courgettes - I am not sure that there is a huge difference in flavour, but the colour combination looks lovely on the plate.

Stubby little cucmbers

We have multicoloured and multi-shaped cucumbers, too - small, stubby green ones (Marketmore by name).

Lemon cucumbers

And little, round yellow lemon cucumbers - both sorts have so much more flavour than the long thin green ones in the shops.

Rather measly garlic crop

They make for a heavenly tasting tzatziki mixed with homegrown garlic and homemade yogurt - and I can pretend that really I am on holiday in sunny Greece, rather than working at home in grey and damp Old Blighty.

Lovely red tomatoes

In the absence of a Mediterranean climate, the polytunnel has proved its worth this summer. The outdoor tomatoes are ripening only very slowly, but the indoor ones have more than made up: plum, cherry, salad and beef tomatoes, we have them all - even aubergines, too.

More plums

We have plums to make spicy plum chutney (the recipe is here), and jam for our B&B guests to put on their toast. So many guests have asked to buy our jam over the past year that we are busy making extra quantities to keep up with demand.

And there is still lots of lettuce - the successional sowing has been a great success in keeping up supplies. What else? Kohl rabi, and carrots, beetroot and herbs, onions and potatoes - and apples for jelly and juice for those hearty breakfasts the Head Chef serves up so skilfully each morning.

And next on the preserving agenda is hedgerow jam: there are blackberries in the hedgerows, and elderberries ripening fast, so even if you don't have your own garden, perhaps you might be able to scavenge some from the roads and fields - the recipe is here if you want to make your own.

So the preserving pan beckons, and a very interesting book to look at, thus I must bid you all adieu.