'Tis the Time of Critters

Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus

Hover Fly, Myathropa florae

Green Shield Bug nymph, Palomena prasina.

Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus

Giant House Spider, Tegenaria gigantea We don't suppose there is much else inhabiting the insect hotel, what with Shelob about.

This E_-ovata, redimita morph is about to spin a silken casing around her eggs.

White Ermine Moth caterpillar, Spilosoma lubricipeda. ♥ Fluffy! ♥

A Dotted Border Moth caterpillar, Agriopis marginaria

Dot Moth caterpillar, Melanchra persicariae

Cabbage Moth caterpillar, Mamestra brassicae

Relishing Beans

After the success of the Bay Bean Pickle experiment, we decided to to try making a bean relish. We followed this 'Sweet and Sour Green Beans' recipe posted by The British Larder.

We'll let you know the outcome in four weeks time.

A Celebratory Cake

A fine day to splurge the gooseberry curd.

Beans, Beans and More Beans

We identified this Silver Y, Autographa gamma by the black stripes on either side of its head, it has been feasting on the sweet peas. We've also spotted a couple of the adult moths sheltering amongst the climbing beans nearby.

An exhausted Comma, Polygonia c-album.

A Generous Gift

♥ Munstead Wood ♥ Happy memories.

Sunday Sunshine

♥The first of the Golden Sunrise tomatoes.♥

A Large Skipper (♂),Ochlodes sylvanus, supping on the lychnis coronaria alba.

Every evening the neighbouring apple tree is teeming with a chattering of starlings, which makes evenings in the garden feel a little Hitchcockian at times.

A flutter of Speckled Woods have descended on the tree too, though they seem to spend much of their time in mid-flight territorial squabbles.

Ballading the Last Strawberries and Raspberries

Sigh, 'tis over until next year.

We used Nigella Lawson's Strawberry Ice cream recipe which we halved successfully, Pam Corbin's Raspberry Vinegar recipe (see Strawberry Vinegar; we used a third of the quantities listed) and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Brown Sugar Meringue recipe (to use up the egg whites.)

Roots

   

♥ The first of the Long Red Surrey and Yellowstone carrots. ♥

Jars of Joy

We are trying our hand at refrigerator pickles. We mixed up a white wine vinegar pickling brine in which we've steeped lemon zest, garlic, peppercorns, coriander seed and a fresh bay leaf (this may prove to be too savoury; time will tell). We left the beans raw.

* 26/07/14: We taste tested these today: the beans are crunchy, the fresh bay leaf melds with the green taste of the beans; the garlic, coriander and peppercorns temper the fragrance of the bay and the zesty lemon the sourness of the vinegar. This recipe is a keeper.

We made a batch of gooseberry curd to Pam Corbin's recipe and a pot of goosberry & elderflower jam from some fruit we purchased in Ware.

The Generous Gardener

Red Admiral

A Red Admiral (♂), Vanessa atalanta, came to rest in our garden, possibly attracted to the spoiled apples that are being dropped by the starvelings and parakeets. We're wondering whether its weathered wings are signs that it has travelled from the continent.

Ware Boat Festival

We took a canal-side walk today and had a gander at the Ware Boat Festival on the Lee and Stort Navigation. We met another canalware artist, Beverly Clarke who had set up stall for the day.

The swans ogled us in the hope of sandwich crumbs.

Fine weather for fine courgettes :)

Abundance

You Learn Something New Everyday

We attended our local gardening club meet this evening and the talk was on the glass flower collection of Harvard Museum of Natural History, a vast collection of exquisite, intricate glass botanical models crafted by father and son, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka from 1887 to 1936. If you've not heard of the collection, it is worth doing an image search to find out what we're on about.

Peas and Beans

First of the 'Kelvedon Wonder' and the 'Magpie' dwarf beans.

The Medlars are swelling. The crawlie is possibly a fairy-ring longhorn beetle, leptura livida, we thinks.

First of the 'Old Fashioned'. We're having to spray these with water regularly to keep the aphids at bay; the spiders are looking too well-fed and languid.

A Small Magpie moth, Eurrhypara hortula taking refuge under the leaves of the Magpie dwarf beans; of all places.

The first blossoms on the cukes.

      

     

The green and pleasant corner.