The shorter days, with the occasional need for a jumper, points to cosy evenings around the fire, cheese and wine with a movie and homemade bread and soup. Here at Hen Corner, with our winter squash curing and our sourdough starter well fed, we’ve got it all…

I enjoyed an hour or so at the allotment this afternoon and was reminded of my initial aims for the plot, ‘Fruit Trees and Honey Bees’. We grow salads and delicate crops in the kitchen garden at home, but things that don’t need daily care, like potatoes, climbing beans and squashes can grow slow and steady down by the riverside. This year we’ve got two hives with honey crops at the allotment and today I was picking apples and sloes for preserving and seeing what else will be ready soon…

After a couple of weeks holiday, I’ve returned to a very overgrown kitchen garden! Before we left I was careful to make sure that the chickens were being looked after, each honeybee colony was stable and everything that needed watering, pots, window boxes and the like, were moved under a watering system in the veg patch. The added combination of recent sunshine and regular rainfall has set the plants up for a crazy growth spurt.

Phew, it’s hot – and it’s due to get hotter!
It’s only the crazy that would layer themselves up in protective clothing to stick their head in a hive, or crank up the heat to bake bread in an oven during this weather, but as they say ‘Make hay whilst the sun shines…’

Hurrah! We are now in full swing summer season, welcoming guests to the garden – especially to discover our honey bees, taking to the road with chickens, bees, and food classes, and lining up the festivals for lots of fun in the sun.

Who would have known that we shared a birthday! Albeit 35 years younger, but the vision to live sustainably, producing as much food as possible, from our London back garden, lives on…