The Thrill of the Harvest

At last our first big harvest from the garden is in.

We've been nibbling on the odd lettuce, plucking a few baby spinach leaves to bulk out a salad and snapping off a rogue ripe pea pod but now we have full containers.

The dramatic rise in temperature made our lettuces in the greenhouse bolt and so Sunday I pulled up the remaining half a dozen for immediate consumption. Unfortunately the next lot are not quite ready to be planted out, so my continuous sewing falls at the first hurdle and we'll be without lettuce for a few weeks, but by the time we've finished this lot I'm sure we'll be glad of the break.

Out in the patch the spinach also bolted so I pulled up the lot and picked off the baby leaves to add to the salad pile.

Our peas, flushed with the success of producing one pod, have now produced half a dozen and I think a tablespoon of peas could make a tasty sidedish or delightful starter one night this week. To be honest the peas were hand-me-down plants from my Aunt and once my boyfriend knew they were looking for a home I had to plant them out. He won't let anything go to waste, to him thinning veg is tantamount to murder and I've taken to quietly letting excess seedlings wither without water so that I'm not see to be actively taking part in their demise.

In the fruit cage we have had our best win of the year so far, and I think it will take a lot to top it. Our strawberries (I say ours, they've been there for many years before we came along tended by my Grandmother) have been sheltered from marauders and we can finally say that we have grown and harvested strawberries in Wimbledon week - our family's true indicator of strawberry growing greatness.

As well as these the redcurrants are out and we enjoyed a fresh soft fruit salad for dessert on Sunday night. Redcurrants, strawberries and blackcurrants - sweet and delicious paired delicately with yoghurt. It's the kind of dessert that makes you realise why you grow fruit/veg in the first place, fresh, tasty and worth every moment of the labour you put in.