May days

April is the most astonishing month.

From misty to hail to sun, the weather is petulant.  And the garden follows suit! Hidden behind the ungiving frosty mornings the ground must secretly be warming, because suddenly the green flourishes. I had been anxiously seeking my peoney plants, worried they had been carelessly squashed or murdered by boisterous fence & shed replacements. I found them on a bleak Sunday in the gloaming evening, their red alien fists punching up through the soil; three weeks later and they were lush, green and a foot tall! Everything is burgeoning. Even the weeds...

I really enjoyed weeding in winter.  My battle with brambles and that sneaky, tenacious ivy actually seemed to be progressing - in my favour. But bring on the April showers and shy first sun and I have a dispiriting handicap, as if I am now fighting with one hand behind my back.  I see I can no longer be a weekender; it begins to seem as if longer days are provided for the sole purpose of keeping on top of the growing vegetation.

For the first time, I have been nurturing* seeds to life. I thought I had over-watered and rotted them, but it turns out that even they are keen to thrive. After 3 weeks of being ignored they sprang to life and now I am thrilled to be growing tomatoes (moneymaker), courgette, patty pan squash and butternut squash. I have some herbs on the go and Rose & Al gifted me two sturdy strawberry plants they have been bringing on.  

I put the seedlings outside yesterday to harden off, only to find it was warmer outside than inside the house. May has over stretched itself into July temperatures: such hot weather! Like being dropped into summer for a day. So today I shelter inside (ironically less hardy than the spindly, baby tomato plants) and make lunch.

 

Surprise-Summer lunch

1) Discover last year's elderflower cordial hasn't gone off & have with fizzy water & lemon.

2) Rootle in the fridge for salad items.  Layer up in a flat bowl:

Watercress; cucumber, cubed; radishes, halved, a spring onion, thinly sliced; avocado; red chilli which later turns out to be disappointingly mild, very finely diced.

Lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper & salt... you know the drill.

3) Make like the Larkin poem and enjoy it with all windows down, all sense of hurry gone.

* neglecting

Broad beans and pasta

That was supposed to echo the song 'boiled beef and carrots' but I see now it's a bit too obscure. Anyway ...

How happy I was for the broad beans in my veg box this week! Utterly beautiful inside their lumpy pods and just the thing to kick start summer cooking. This is what I did with them:

Cook conciegli (sp?) pasta shapes in boiling, salted water. 3 minutes before ready, throw in a couple of handfuls of broad beans and frozen peas. Then pop in a whole tomato. Leave for 20 seconds then pull the tomato out of the water: peel and chop roughly*.

When pasta and peas are cooked, drain and return to the pan, adding to it:

the chopped tomato
one crushed clove of garlic
grated parmesan
black pepper
virgin olive oil
a modest slick of cream (it really doesn’t need it if you use oil, but I just love cream. So there.)

Swish around until combined and the cheese is melting, then serve with more black pepper and grated pamesan.

The garlic is pretty subtle and the tomato makes it very fresh; it would have enjoyed a handful of parsley or perhaps basil, too. My only tip is don’t make enough for two people, unless you have two people. I had to stretch out on the sofa like a beached whale after.



*this whole exercise is to make it easier to peel, rather than some random, ritualistic act.