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Wednesday 30 June 2010

Strawberries

June is the month for fresh strawberries. They grow unhindered, allowed to roam freely through the rose beds. Fewer fall prey to birds and slugs than if they had their own patch. The downside being you need to be careful when harvesting or you end up with hands/arms full of thorns.
This year with the prolonged sunny weather after copious rainfall has been ideal growing weather. Far too many strawberries to eat fresh...but I won't freeze them as to me it's such a waste.

Instead, I got out the rumtopf and layered alternate 1lb strawbs /cane sugar then filled with dark rum. Covered to prevent access by flies and made sure the fruits were well immersed in the rum.

Leave for a minimum of 3 months, top up with fresh fruit such as nectarine slices and more rum if required. My intention is to wait until Christmas before sampling the resulting rich liqueur. Some people remove the fruit and dispose of it! Daft thing to do as it makes a base for very alcoholic trifles and other fruit desserts.

Monday 28 June 2010

Alas and alack

Fun Monday has ceased... Hope it'll reawaken, relaxed and rejuvenated some time in the future.
Guess with the summer weather (phew) and busy times folk are having difficulty blogging let alone participating in Fun Monday.
Hoping against hope to see FM back in it's rightful place after the summer???

Monday 7 June 2010

June glorious June


Now the garden becomes a blaze of colour in the rose-beds and along the wall. Today, I spent a happy time with camera photographing roses. What a pity I cannot share with you their wonderful fragrance...

From palest pink to



deep, velvety red



Most are F1 hybrid tea roses or climbers...

Then there are the various rich yellows, oranges, pale creams and bi-colours...