Confession Time

My garden is a bit of a mess.

Now at any given time it’s not the most tended of plots but this summer we are doing some work here at Hunters Lodge.

And work=mess.

Many of  my readers presume I have a perfectly manicured garden but nothing could be further from the truth – particularly this year.  As I write, I have the old kitchen table and chairs on the patio, antique wardrobes to be refurbished in the car port, a double bed and more bedroom furniture in the hall.  Two bedrooms are waiting to be plastered and there’s a trench to be filled at one end of the house.  My kitchen floor is dotted with Fiesta Red paint (the colour of my new table and chairs) and throughout the house there is a mountain of painting to do.  Sounds like a bit of a nightmare doesn’t it?

Yup.

My garden is a bit of a mess.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying food from the garden.  I certainly don’t have perfect rows of produce in beds with not a weed to be seen, but nature is forgiving.  Nature seems to thrive on higgledy piggledy as much as I do.

The roses have ended up hanging out with the tomatoes.

The raspberries are doing just fine.

The plums have made their appearance this week.

The chickens are laying away..

And the freezer still has lots of our garden-reared pork..

What with the few spuds, beans, herbs, salads and other bits and pieces we are certainly not short of food in the garden.

And as for the honey flow this year – superb.

Nature is as busy as I am this weather and nature is not too bothered about the mayhem, so why should I?

So there you have it readers – no manicured lawns here.  But there’s food and lots of it.  Chemical free, fresh and nutritious.

If you are following me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know I’m still busy in the kitchen trying out new recipes and I’ll share them just as soon as I manage to get the bed out of the hall – and the furniture out of the car port, you get the picture…

How is your garden doing?

 

*  You can read more about life at Hunters Lodge in the current issue of  GIY magazine.

*  I share my butter making secrets in the current edition of Irish Country magazine.

*  You’ll find my preserving tips in the current edition of Home Farmer and check out Goodalls.ie for my latest guest blogpost.

 

“Food from an Irish Garden” in bookstores nationwide