Slug Crack, Garden Diary, Palomas, Salad.

I’m quite cross this morning because I messed up yesterday and didn’t realise until too late that the party I had been looking forward to for weeks was actually a lunch rather than an evening thing. I’m not going to go on about my scheduling shortcomings here again, but honestly sometimes I really do think I’m a nine year old disguised as a grownup.

Gladiolus callianthus in a pot with nicotiana

I am so loving all the fiftieth celebrations (the ones I actually remember to get to I mean). Fifty is just the best age I think. People are just unapologetically themselves and nobody is trying to impress anyone any more…genuine bliss. I think this has rather a lot to do with not having small children who really are wonderful but bloody hell they knock the wind out of ones sails for a good decade, don’t they, and if you have several, well it adds up. Fifty then, seems to be more than just a milestone celebration; it is also something of a return to ones old self (the one who could dance till dawn without the constant nagging worry that you had to keep some energy in reserve to be an adequate parent the next day).

I went to the most gorgeous celebration last weekend. There was a field full of yurts, and a whole afternoon of drinking delicious palomas by the pool…I must have been living under a rock because this was my first paloma ever…I am so behind the times…I love pink grapefruit so much and I also don’t like things too sweet so this drink is just heavenly for me. You make a paloma with tequila, lime juice, salt and pink grapefruit soda like this one. It is refreshing and salty and bitter and a tiny bit sweet - heaven….anyway then everyone changed into red clothes, and we ate and danced and laughed until the sun came up. Everyone is exactly the same. It’s so strange because you can see objectively that we are no longer ‘young’, but each person is of course so much more than their physical packaging. The humour, the hug, the unique mannerisms, the laugh, the gait, the eye twinkle…all these things remain the same.

Nicotiana in the ground with snail trail

I have finally managed to plant all the nicotiana I ordered so long ago. I had actually forgotten that nicotiana are basically slug and snail crack. They literally cannot resist, so you can’t put them in the ground (or even in a container anywhere near the ground) until there are enough leaves high enough up the plant for it to survive losing the bottom ones. I’ve put most of them in containers (along with the gladiolus callianthus) and a few others in the ground, most of which have been attacked at the base. I’m not a person who is going to try and beat the slugs and snails; I value my inner peace too much for that. Instead I just do what I can, and try to ‘share’.

Small patches are appearing where I have cleared bits of meadow

And anyway, the garden is so fat. The meadow now needs chopping down, so I’ve been removing patches of it here and there so that we can still enjoy its majesty but it’s not falling over itself. I’m hoping that we’ll get new growth in the autumn.

I am absolutely loving the new growth on the wisteria which is rapidly covering our very naked pergola.

Pergola obliteration afoot

I’ve also hacked down all the monarda (which I adore, despite the fact that I ordered white and got bright red). These, with several persicaria were a sort of desperate attempt to fill a new long border at the base of an ivy covered wall and they have really triumphed. The persicaria are just now appearing as the monarda went over…it’s almost as if I planned this succession (I didn’t).

Monarda joy

And then there are masses of anemone buds waiting to burst. I LOVE anemones…for some reason they remind me of my childhood; my mother must have had them at some crucial point in my life when I was looking. I wonder what plants my own children will associate with their childhood…probably nasturtiums, because they eat them?

The most delicious salad there is

And speaking of beautiful food I need to tell you about the MOST delicious salad there is (with the caveat that you need to love pink grapefruit as I do). It’s from Mark’s book Sour again….I must have mentioned this book at least four times here, but it really is a VERY good book, and this salad is one I have been eating on repeat. My Rotter also loves it. Children not so much but good because more for me. It’s got pink grapefruit, olives, red chicory, pine nuts, avocado and dill, and he adds a vinaigrette laced with elderflower cordial, which I don’t have, so I just use sugar. I urge you, with INTENSITY, to try this. It is as near to perfect as any salad I have ever had, and it is all I have wanted to eat in the heat and it is also just SO pretty on the plate.

I have been writing all about my biggest gardening regrets over on Scribehound. Do come and join us there if you are thirsty for more gardening stuff - it really is full of inspiration and joy.

Enough.

x Laetitia