update ....

I love the soft pinks and blues, the colours that seem to abound in the late spring/early summer garden.

We are in the last full week of May and the garden has that fresh bloom of youth;

zingy green, perky leaves, buds unfurling into their full glory.

Beautiful and gorgeous!

This is a little posy of flowers plucked from our garden the other morning, comprising -

clematis montana: which has clothed our fence in a glorious riot of blooms for the past month.

pelargonium citron: which survived the winter outside in a pot and has now been flowering for several months.

brunnera looking glass: this is a new to us plant, bought at the open garden the other week and just right for a shady spot in our garden. I love the vivid blue flowers reminiscent of forget-me-nots.

marguerite: a single and double variety in lovely shades of pink.

On the allotment, everything is looking good too and picking up pace after the cold April.

There is blossom on the apple tree and the promise of a bumper crop of plums judging by the profusion of tiny embryo fruits.

The beans - runner, French and broad - are all doing well and after what seemed an eternity the beetroot and Swiss chard are staring to germinate.

Strawberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants are growing well and I will soon be planting out courgettes and butternut squash.

But although there is lots of new growth, there is not much to harvest yet, save some lovely chives and mint. And handfuls of mint went into this midweek salad, a recipe from Jamie Oliver's book Everyday Super Food.

The salad uses quinoa. 

Quinoa is a very nutritious wheat-free complete protein. 

Since it has so many health benefits, I am learning to love it ( there is something about it which I initially disliked ) but in this recipe it forms a good base for a range of delicious tastes and textures.

For one (very generous portion )

cook 60g of black or red quinoa, then chop and add the following :

1/4 of a small cucumber

1/4 of an iceberg lettuce

1/2 a carrot 

1/2 an apple

1 tomato 

1/2 of a red chilli

2 large sprigs of mint

1 small handful of spinach

Squeeze over the juice of 1 lime and spoon over 1 heaped tablespoon of natural yoghurt and 1 teaspoon of hot chilli sauce, add some leftover cooked chicken and toss everything together.

This is a good recipe and one which I imagine could be easily adapted to swap different veggies.
I will be trying it again.

 Hoping you enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Mr digandweed and I are off to London for a couple of days.
Back soon!




annjenny x