Garden highlights
Warm days and late afternoon storms; some with small hail and heavy rain, thunder and lightning, disruptions to our electricity supply and then as it cools down, fog. Things are growing and we are increasing our harvest slowly ; peas, broad beans, salad greens, but oh….. we are vexed by snails/slugs, some kind of rodent that keeps burrowing into old compost, a fox visit or two ( our chicken plans were moving along nicely after Charles and I decided (it took 2 years) on what the moveable ark thing should look like, how it should work and where it would go), possums and some animal (identity unknown) with a penchant for eating rhubarb leaves. Go figure!
Cauliflower planted in autumn….slowly it may form a head if it doesn’t succumb to hail, snails and the dreaded bolt.
The essential garlic. Nice harvest this year.
Blue pioneer iris. First time it has flowered.
Sages.
Roses….they smell and look lovely. I’m going to try making some rose petal jam. Expand the preserve repertoire.
Grandiflora 
Rose petal jam? Sounds interesting. Is this like a jelly or do the petals stay in like citrus rind in a marmalade?
Stuart,
The recipes I have found leave the petals in ala rind in marmalade. The ones I’ve tasted definitely jam not jelly.
I’ve never made it before so I’m reading (or trying to find) recipes to ascertain a good method.
I’ll do a post with the result…recipe and jam. How’s that?
All that stuff looks so great I would try to make jam out of it too! (We just got about 4″ snow last night, the first big slam of the season: our poor chickens won’t even come out of their coop.)
So, you plant your garlic in late summer and harvest in spring?
Rose petal jam tastes and smells divine. I learned a trick a few years ago. The white portion at the base is bitter and can be neatly snipped off with a pair of scissors.
Too late to pick roses here but not too late to plant garlic “the stinking rose”. Your photo looks great.
El: Yes, I plant garlic in early autumn and harvest in spring. I pulled it out a little early because they were starting to flop and we’ve had 300mm of rain in 28 days, so I was worried about mildew. Snow…poor chooks but I guess that means it’s catalogue time for you!
Rose Marie: Thanks for the tip. If I had the space, I’d inter-plant garlic, artichokes and roses…one day when I have a sunny border/bed….beneficial (no aphids), beautiful and delicious.