After the ravages of successive heat waves, our lawn has been looking rather desolate. CBC noted, with displeasure, that lots of dandelions had sprung up, taking advantage so he set off on a mission to uproot them and reseed the lawn. I saw these as tasty-looking salad leaves and set off in pursuit to gather them for salads for the next week. I am still eating them!
The pond is a lovely part of our garden. Whilst, CBC seems to spend a lot of time maintaining it, it has been a great bonus. We love the newts and even the water spider and snails!
My mum gave me a Marigold plant to put in my raised bed as a companion plant a few years ago. For some reason, they have been rampant this year and have taken over the bed! I really should remove some or relocate (we moved some elsewhere) but the pollinators have been loving them. This Wall Brown butterfly showed me all its best angles and we've even had the occasional Hummingbird Hawk Moth visit.
When we visited Lindisfarne in either 2020 or 2021 (the summer you were allowed), I bought some heritage tomatoes from some locals selling on the road.
Completely forgot I saved some seeds from them and this Summer, I found and planted a couple of these mystery seeds which turned out to be this interesting, dark variety.
This year has been a great tomato year for me!
I found a sweet potato in the cupboard which had begun to sprout.
I cut off the top with its pair of slips/sprouts, cooked and ate the rest of it and then left these in water.
They soon started to sprout more and grow leaves. Once they reached a certain height, I planted them in pots in the garden.
One of them hasn't grown much but the other one is loving life in this big post by the swing seat. I keep wondering if we will get any sweet potatoes???
This mint plant below, did I mention it already, is grown from some mint that was in a Mojito cocktail on CBC's birthday in April. I put the healthy mint sprigs in my waterbottle to flavour my water, forgot about them and then discovered them the next day, looking healthy. So into water they went and then, like the sweet potato, grew roots and then was potted!
This harvest looks small below but it's a lovely sign of some great grows this year. The herbs have been happy, we've had peppers, lots of rhubarb, self-seeded chard, tomatoes, of course, and beans, grown from saved seeds from last year's plants.
The last garden item here comes from Walton on the Naze. There are many dog whelk shells.
I collected some along with some quartz stones as I had an idea for World Poetry Day.
I mentioned to our English reading lead that it was World poetry day, which she didn't realise. I suggested folding a poem and hiding it inside of these shells and asking the children to take part in a poetry hunt around their room to find it. They then revealed the poem inside and it was shared with the class.
These were sitting outside in the garden for a while before they went to school, along with some very multicoloured, dried seaweed which I also brought home as sustenance for the garden! I used Liquid organic seaweed so collecting some dead seaweed and washing it several times to desalt it means it can be added to a raised bed or perhaps even liquidised.
I've been a bit sad my own apples haven't been successful but I am pleased to have collected windfall apples from the carpark down the road (and also discovered 3 more trees!) as well as local blackberries.
I stewed them along with some homegrown rhubarb and some old honey which my MiL had in her fridge and was going to chuck out!
I made all this lot for my breakfast on the train! Healthy AND free!
Made some more this weekend and collected more windfalls so more to come! If only I had room in the freezer!
xx
Originally, it was just black shells but I decided to add a layer of white just to make it stand out a bit more. 
The afternoon was enjoyable. I enjoyed my swim and art and then finished with an ice-cream. Chatted to some teenagers who were collecting shells to make jewellery stands. Then I had to make the trek home! 
