And it rained and rained from page 47 to page 122!

What a lot of rain we've been having in dear old Blighty!


One of my favourite things in life is walking in the rain, for a long, long way, with no one else about.  

However, as this last torrential downpour has cost me an urgent guttering repair and plenty of droopy flowers, I thought I'd post this short video of one of my favourite plants.  Its called a Lythrum Salicaria, or Purple Loosestrife and I tell you what, no matter how hard it rains, as soon as it stops, the very second that it stops, these darling little fat chaps fly in a straight path towards it and get back to work...

Its a controversial plant in many parts of the world, as its invasive in wetlands but as a pollinator, to my mind there is nothing out there that comes close to it.  Because of this, I make sure its well watered and fed, in fact I go one further and I even cook this plant soup!  Haha, I know that sounds hysterical, but I do.  

Reason was I noticed it really likes a drink of old, green rainwater.  I gave it clear rainwater and it didn't do so well.  So I realised it was actually the algae in the old rainwater that it likes, the greener the better.  

So then I experimented with some other plants and I noticed the older the plant, in terms of evolution, the more they love algae in the water.  

Well it turns out Algae is packed full of pectin and its actually the pectin that transforms plants, because it provides building blocks for new growth, flowers and fruit etc etc.  

So then I decided to make pectin soup.  I basically save all my apple, orange, banana and lime peel, chop it up and throw it all in a large stock pot, with a little vinegar and a crushed eggshell and cover with water and cook after a rolling boil on low simmer for about 40 minutes.  

The end result looks like this:

Then I dilute it and give it to the plants.  They all love it but the fruit bushes adore it!  

Well, apart from that, I decided to alter my aprons, all 3 of them.  I really cannot stand having an apron round the back of my neck, so have decided to change them all to cross back, Amish style, like this one:

This way, none of the fastenings will be too tight.  I tire very quickly of tight fitting aprons.  I also don't like thick aprons, but the pattern on my thickest apron is so cute I'll live with it.  

Here is the first apron to be altered:

Because after all, you do need a good apron when you cook goodies like these....alas, they ripened too early, so they're a little sharp and have to be cooked.

Well, have to dash off now and stir something hot...