Homemade Lemonade, A Late Harvest and a Sunday Stroll

I have dirt in my finger nails, scratches on my hands and a small bruise on the end of my nose, all evidence of time finally spent in the garden. The bruise, you ask? Oh, just Garden Boy trying to make me smell a sprig of lavender, holding it up to my nose with a little bit too much energy and a little bit too close!

The weekend started with more talk than action in the garden as Garden Dad was indoors painting, while our Little Garden Helpers and I were baking a long desired Queen of Puddings and making homemade lemonade. The latter was at the insistence of Garden Girl who insisted that if we were going to do some gardening we absolutely must have some homemade lemonade to drink outside because Fifi the Flowertot always drinks homemade lemonade when she is gardening. And who am I to argue with the wisdom of a Flowertot?

The fact that we had drunk every last drop before we had even stepped into the garden early on Sunday morning is neither here nor there. It was so delicious and so easy to make I might just have to buy a lemon grove. I'm guessing an unheated greenhouse won't be hot enough to grow our own. All I had to do was grate the rind of six lemons then hand the lemons over to Garden Girl  and Garden Boy to squeeze out all the juice. Then we measured out 8oz of sugar and mixed it with the grated lemon rind. We poured 3 pints of boiling water over the sugar and rind and stirred it till the sugar dissolved. Then, all you need to do is leave it to cool, add the lemon juice, strain and drink. Quickly, before someone else drinks it all.

But back to the garden. On Sunday we spent a lovely day outdoors, harvesting the last of the vegetables we had left to overwinter. There was a massive plant pot full, which we started to cook up on Sunday evening. We had a lovely winter veg and lentil soup on Sunday night and there are now tubs of cooked vegetables in the freezer waiting to be added to various dishes over the coming weeks, but there is still more to prepare and cook; a task for the week ahead.

I also managed to finish cutting back all the herbs on Sunday. Feeling pleased with our acheivements we ended Mothering Sunday with a gentle family stroll. Garden Girl roller skated, while Garden Boy pushed his Teddy Bear in the push chair, stopping to show his teddy all the important sights; aeroplanes, trees, twigs, stones, cats, birds, squirrels, other people, leaves and his roller skating sister.

And with a warm sunshine this morning we were once again in the garden, this time pulling up the weeds which have appeared suddenly over the last week. Garden Boy and I weeded half the herb bed while Garden Girl was a playgroup and with fingers crossed for more sunshine tomorrow we hope to do the other half tomorrow morning.