At the allotment

Members at the allotment, where I have a half plot, come from all over the world. We are a culturally diverse group who share a love of growing and eating food that is free of pesticides, air miles and other unpleasantness. Today members and their families shared a midday lunch together featuring recipes from their country of origin. What a lovely, and tasty, idea! Before the meal The Boy helped with some much needed watering on my plot and some fruit picking. Not all went in the bowls!

The meal started at midday, a wide choice of recipes, some well known to me but many not. I ate the most delicious moussaka as well as Italian, Sri Lankan, Chinese and other dishes.

Rain threatened for a while. But, hey, that's just British summer for you!

June delights

We are enjoying such lovely weather, eating most of our meals outside and thoroughly enjoying the warmth. We have had a couple of heavy bouts of rain so there is not too much to worry about in the garden for now (apart from slugs and snails!) I am still saving the bathwater, however.

Lush growth everywhere and some plants in need of the 'Chelsea chop.'

I brought this rose from our last place as a cutting but can't remember it's name. I absolutely love it; a great perfume, it doesn't ball in the wet and lasts well when picked.

Most of my cuttings have taken. Here's another whose name escapes me!

Pairing happily with a clematis.

Raubritter is easy to recognise with it's small butterball flowers and tumbling form.

I've been asked how I propagate them. I take a stem that has flowered, strip off most of the leaves and bung in a patch of soil or in a plant pot and hope for the best. Instagram is full of different methods. (Our elder daughter, who travels quite a bit for her work, saves her shower caps for me to put over the cuttings.)

Don't be like me and forget to label them!

At the weekend

It was our turn to host the book club at the weekend and the request for supper was to have fish and chips from Chez Fred's. The weather was disgraceful, torrential downpours, sufficiently miserable for us to light the stove and set the table in the warmth of the kitchen. We were discussing, 'Snow Country' by Yasunari Kawabata and I didn't get on with it at all. (Review over on Miss Cellany.)

On Sunday the weather improved and we walked on the beach. The lifeguard station was manned and flags flying to mark where it was best to swim. (We weren't tempted.)

This year the art for charity is a fish/ mermaid? tail.

When we got back from the beach we polished off the pudding left over from the night before!

Mottisfont Rose Garden

Yesterday we had a family outing to Mottisfont, famous for it's collection of old roses. The National Trust had announced that due to the long spell of hot, dry weather the roses were in bloom earlier than usual and the message had certainly got about because many hundreds of people came, like us, to enjoy all the scent and colour within the walled garden. The Mottisfont estate is huge and happily absorbs great numbers, so, although our hearts sank when we saw the size of the over-spill carpark, it was no problem, plenty of space for all to sit, to run about, to picnic or walk beside the river. We had a wonderful day. I saw some very beautiful roses, peonies and iris (and made a hopeful note of some of the names!) I'm just going to blast you with my photos and hope you can imagine the wafts of perfume that come from these old varieties. Enjoy!

There were lovely colour and texture plantings, it really was a joy to see.

And a painting to make you smile of the one time owner in bed, reading her mail!