Another boiling hot summer’s day (yes, I know, about time too, & all that!) so I went to the Hill in cotton sundress in the warm glow of the evening, & sang ‘la-la-la’ with the heavy scent of lavender & lilies in the air & the sonorous buzz of the lazy bees whilst I collected vibrant jewel-like red currants into a bowl.
Wonderful.
I wasn’t actually on my plot, mind, I was taking Julie (2nd-best-plot-in-Birmingham) up on her extremely kind offer of using her redcurrants & cutting sweetpeas whilst she is on holiday.
Cheery Brian & Pauline were doing a little light harvesting of their own next to Julie’s plot, so I chatted to them as I collected redcurrants. Following Clare in France’s excellent suggestion of making wine with the redcurrants (which, let’s face it, I’m more likely to have success with than with trying to make redcurrant jelly, given my track record to date), I needed to collect 3lb of redcurrants.
I hadn’t much of a clue as to how much of my tub I needed to fill to achieve this, but Pauline showed an uncanny ability to judge weights & suggested a little further filling of the tub which proved to be absolutely spot on when I got home & weighed them.
The wine should be ready in about 3 months, and I’ll be sure to give Julie a bottle to say thank you. I did notice that her sunflower for the tallest sunflower is HUGE - but looking at ours (on the right in the photo) perhaps we may give her a run for her money after all?
I was packing up & having a chat with David-other-half who was watering everything in sight (‘it’ll rain now, you just wait!’ he said) when I saw John (the-front-plot-down-the-bottom). I went to the club house where he kindly bought me a drink & we had a quick chat. More next time – suffice to say that blog-mania at the Hill is spreading…
Wonderful.
I wasn’t actually on my plot, mind, I was taking Julie (2nd-best-plot-in-Birmingham) up on her extremely kind offer of using her redcurrants & cutting sweetpeas whilst she is on holiday.
Cheery Brian & Pauline were doing a little light harvesting of their own next to Julie’s plot, so I chatted to them as I collected redcurrants. Following Clare in France’s excellent suggestion of making wine with the redcurrants (which, let’s face it, I’m more likely to have success with than with trying to make redcurrant jelly, given my track record to date), I needed to collect 3lb of redcurrants.
I hadn’t much of a clue as to how much of my tub I needed to fill to achieve this, but Pauline showed an uncanny ability to judge weights & suggested a little further filling of the tub which proved to be absolutely spot on when I got home & weighed them.The wine should be ready in about 3 months, and I’ll be sure to give Julie a bottle to say thank you. I did notice that her sunflower for the tallest sunflower is HUGE - but looking at ours (on the right in the photo) perhaps we may give her a run for her money after all?
I was packing up & having a chat with David-other-half who was watering everything in sight (‘it’ll rain now, you just wait!’ he said) when I saw John (the-front-plot-down-the-bottom). I went to the club house where he kindly bought me a drink & we had a quick chat. More next time – suffice to say that blog-mania at the Hill is spreading…
Hi Hazel, Glad you've helped yourself to some currants- rest of the family will be highly relieved that they have some help using them up!
ReplyDeleteI haven't reached the dizzy hights of 2nd best plot in B'ham. I'm actually 2nd on our site (18th in B'ham)- must try harder
Ha - good of you to own up! Showed mum round at lunchtime, and she thought your plot is fab - then asked me all sorts of questions that I couldn't answer!
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