In A Pickle...

This year in the garden was a bit of a strange one - a chilly Spring followed by a relentlessly hot Summer meant things were a bit different.  Seeds grew slowly and stopped growing for a few weeks when the weather was cool which in turn set them back considerably.  Some things didn't make it when the heat kicked in - not a single courgette this year compared to last year's glut.  My carefully nurtured tomatoes in the back garden were a bit of a disappointment but the tangle of random tomato plants that sprung up on the remains of the old compost heap in the front garden were amazing.  We could recognise some varieties from tomatoes we'd bought at the supermarket, except these were much tastier!  There were so many large tomatoes that had not turned red by the time October came around that I managed to make about 4lbs of chutney.

 Runner beans were quick to start - we had one lot to pick and then with the heat they faltered, only to get going again at the end of the summer and we had a bumper crop for a couple of weeks.

 One vegetable that really took off this year was the cucamelons.  I grew them from seed and they looked a bit shaky to begin with but then suddenly went berserk and there were more cucamelons than I could eat!  Luckily, after watching Gardener's World last week, I found out that they can be pickled, so I picked the remaining ones and gave it a go.  Looking forward to seeing what they taste like!

On the easel at the moment, a large acrylic of the hops on our pergola.  The hops were another roaring success and look so pretty draped along the beams - I took a snap of them in mid summer against the bright blue sky which is what I am trying to capture in paint. It's not my usual thing, I'm finding it challenging but it's getting there.  Think I might go back to bears after this...