I want to make two points. Bear with me, rather than bare with me which is a totally different concept and one which would be out of place in the majority of gardening columns.
Firstly, the weather. Ok, don’t be cross – I know I promised you a good summer this year, and I know July has been wet rather than dry, but look at it this way. We have had some really useful rain which has replenished the soil moisture level and will keep things going longer. So, if, as I fervently hope, we have a cracking August, then the grass, the veg patch, the borders and the shrubberies will all do better than if we were bone dry at this point.
Secondly, your garden produce. This is the exciting bit. I don’t know if it is just that all the cookery writers try and publish books either in the summer to get on your summer reading list or just before Christmas to get on your gift list, but books and especially magazine articles abound with great ideas for summer cooking and using the fruits of your labours.
I like to cook,; I am not a great cook but I have never poisoned anyone with my efforts. I usually fall down on meal timings – blokes do. Veg ready an hour before the meat, that sort of thing. But I’m getting better, and I’m really enjoying outdoor cooking. Gas or charcoal barbeques with lids [that is really important otherwise you are very limited in what you can do just on a hot grill], This is partly tied to the fact that one of the heating elements in the oven packed up a while ago and I haven’t got round to fixing it yet, so the barbeque is the quicker option! I am lucky in having a bit of cover I can cook under and watch the rain from as I sip a cool beer or nice little rose`.
There are so many ways of cooking food and the shorter the distance between the place it was grown and the place it is cooked, the better. Salads picked, washed and served with 30 minutes! The only way to get anything fresher would be to graze it where it grows. We all have our favourite writers and publications. Personally Guardian or Observer foodie bits are usually good, and by that I mean manageable and I do read Nigel Slater. Good unpretentious stuff. And that’s it really, maximum pleasure from actually using the things that you grow. Life does not get any better than that.
Tags: charcoal barbeques, garden produce, Gardening, shrubberies
