posies, harvests, last 2019 spuds, gooseberries gone, more downpours, virtual gr

Posies from J's garden.

Have been eating broad beans this past week. The radishes continue and we've moved from last year's chard to the small delicate-flavoured leaves of the spring sowing.

There have been strawberries. And the Maris Peer potato plants are in flower, so there should be spuds under there. Today we finished the last of the 2019 crop which had been stored in hessian sacks in the shed at the top of the garden. They were still delicious (their sprouts having been picked off a few weeks ago, so they wouldn't go soft), though I'm not sure what the variety was because a couple of bags got muddled up. Charlotte or Nicola.

Last week the birds came for the dessert gooseberries. I'd not been to the plot for a few days because there was a lot of desk work to do and when I did get the chance it was too late. They left one - wrinkled and unappetising...

Some more welcome downpours - well-timed for the spuds. But the high winds are relentless!

Looking forward to seeing the students at the MSt virtual Guided Retreat. Not how everyone was expecting it to be, sadly, but the online format worked well for the spring residence which also couldn't take place in Oxford due to the pandemic.