The bees are buzzin' in the trees...

The bees are buzzing everywhere. Every flower must feel it's the prettiest in the garden with the attention it gets from the pollinator population. There is a hum in the garden, like very low key conversations at a party... 'Do you buzz here often?' 'Oh, we come back every summer!' 'It's particularly busy this year, don't you think?'

The lavender is the most popular place to be seen, of course. We have masses  of the stuff, and the last couple of years I have dried some to put into lavender sachets. Everyone walks across the grass to get to the front door because the lavender bushes are alive with wildlife. I'm happy to brush past the bushes to scoop up the wonderful scent, but also because the bees don't seem to mind too much.

The edible beds we planted up back in June have gone slightly crazy, and they too are filled with bees.

Sadly, when I popped round, someone had decided that the best way to get rid of their parking permit was to shred it into bits and shower those bits over one of the larger plants at one end. I confess to utter bewilderment as to why someone might do that. There have been a few cigarette butts left in the earth, and some of the willow hoops have gone but happily, by and large, it has been left intact - so much so that there are new signs up encouraging people to eat the plants - there is an abundance of edible stuff in there, but I guess people aren't used to taking a few leaves home to add to their lunch!

It's also the time of year to begin foraging. A hint here told us about some particularly delicious cherries and so C and friend P next door went off with ladders and brought back loads. We now have 2 kilos sitting in the kitchen waiting to be sorted out (dry them? freeze them? cook them? just eat them?).

Our neighbours have done much better with their home grown stuff which means, of course, that we get a share!

Some of their redcurrants got sprinkled on my porridge (a little bit too tart, so not a success) and the rest I made into a disastrous redcurrant jelly - Delia's recipe from the 19th Century must've lost something in translation because as K mused, 'Do you have any walls that need plastered?' Better perhaps are the lovely onions, which are small but apparently very tasty!

I don't think we'll have too much to share with them other than pears, apples and apple juice later in the year - but the trees are laden, so it bodes well for the autumn!