it hasn’t been the best summer weather-wise this year here in the north of England but alternate days of rain and sunshine have worked magic in the garden. The result has been a few amazing and unexpected gifts.
I bought a quince tree a couple of years ago. I read that it can take a good few years before any blossom or fruit start to appear but in early Spring my tree was covered in blossom.
Around the same time I was given a cutting from a mulberry bush. The kind person who gave me this said I shouldn’t expect any fruit for the next few years. The cutting didn’t look particularly healthy and it was one of the last bushes to produce any leaves but now, mid summer, is covered in fruit.
The berries are very juicy and have an almost toffee-like flavour. This makes total sense as mulberries are related to figs. Not enough yield yet for jam or wine so using what there is as a topping for Granola.
Earlier in the summer I caught my husband hacking a way at something that had made its way through the ivy and was launching a take-over bid for the top corner of the garden. He fought a gallant but ultimately lost battle and the intruder survived and thrived.
Today I saw that the lilac tree at the bottom of the garden had, unusually, flowered for the second time this year. Lilac flowers can be used to make a soothing facial toner so, as we are due more rain and the flowers are very delicate and easily damaged in bad weather, I picked the ones I could reach and hung them in the sun for a while so they would fully open.
I then filled a jar with the flowers and poured hot water over them. The flowers were left to steep for an hour or so then I strained the toner into a bottle.
Once bottled the toner should last a couple of weeks if kept in the fridge. It is a pretty pale pink colour and smells faintly of lilac. It can also be used as a cooling facial spritz if decanted into a spray bottle.
These things , the blossoms, the berries and the flowers appeared as if by chance and as unlooked for gifts from a garden that, to be honest, is a bit wayward and unruly but full of surprises.