Last year, despairing of my overgrown strawberry patch and my rickety knees, we invested in some raised beds. It was cheaper to purchase ready-made kits than to source the wood ourselves. By the time we had added a liner and a delivery of topsoil the cost had mounted quite a bit. "How much do strawberries cost in the supermarket?" Himself wanted to know. How cross it made me - not the right attitude at all! When he can pick our own fruit without having to bend and scrabble about at ground level I'm hoping he will be more appreciative. I've been outside in the teeth of a gale and see that the strawberry plants are flowering. All we need now is some decent weather so that the fruit will set. We need plenty of sunshine for it to sweeten and ripen.
Meanwhile I'm skulking in the warmth of the kitchen. I'm dreaming of sunnier days and have made a fatless sponge filled with whipped cream and sliced strawberries. The fruit and cream were bought in Aldi but the eggs are from the farm down the road and the egg yolks make the cake a wonderful golden colour. The eggs are better than any that I can buy from a supermarket.
Come on weather, buck up!
When O.K.'s mother turned 80 last year, O.K. built a raised bed for her as a present. It is her pride and joy, and the lettuce, radishes, herbs and strawberries she has planted in it are doing well. It was a lot of work for O.K. and I wondered if a ready-bought kit would not have been better, but he insisted on doing it from scratch, feeling it would have more personal value for his mother that way.
ReplyDeleteThat cake looks wonderful!!
Himself will be eighty in January and of an age to appreciate not having to grovel about at ground level!
DeleteGood for O.K. what a lovely thing to do.
There is no point me feeling virtuous about a fatless cake when I stuff it with double cream!
I have a few raised beds, but only my herb garden is high enough that I don’t have to bend. They are wonderful and your husband will soon realize that they are worth every penny you paid for it.
ReplyDeleteThat cake looks scrumptious.
I ordered four raised bed kits and placed one on top of the other to gain more height. It is quite comfortable to sit on the corner and lean in to weed the beds - and eventually pick the fruit!
DeleteMy favorite fruit, delicious.
ReplyDeletePascal in France.
My favourites are cherries, they make me greedy! Sadly I don't grow my own.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete