A great Method

Has everyone been enjoying this fabulous weather in the North West? It is proper Summer, brilliant! 

I have been spending quite some time at the allotment, weeding and picking the fruits of my labour in particular. I have been coming home with potatoes, onions, strawberries, raspberries, black currants, radishes, parsley and lots of rhubarb to make delicious Summer meals. 

All is growing nicely, the sprouts and beetroot that I grew from seeds at home were looking a bit limp to start with but are doing really well and all the nice plug plants that I got with Grow Your Own Magazine are doing very well. Thanks to a great supplier! 

I thoroughly agree with those that say growing your own makes you happier. It is incredibly fulfilling and rewarding to spend all that time outside in the fresh air, seeing how things develop in nature and to enjoy it later on your plate. Growing my own makes me try even more new things and I also feel a lot happier at home, making sure that all is tidy and looking welcoming with flower arrangements where possible. 

The other day I was given a beautiful bunch of flowers by the lovely Mr G and although I kept the curtains in the lounge closed during the day, after about 10 days some of the flowers just couldn't cope. Those that were still nice I put in a vase with flowers from my own garden, I am quite pleased with this country bouquet. The minimalist ones in the slim glass vase are looking quite stunning too. They are the flowers from the onions that were going mental. Not sure why some of these onions developed these lovely long flowers and others didn't but when I have a Google moment I shall find out. 

To help me make my home even nicer, the lovely people at Method sent me a couple of things to try out. Knowing that I've got very dirty hands and a rather messy entrance hall and kitchen when returning from the allotment, they sent me a nice hand wash, floor cleaner, all purpose cleaner and laundry liquid. I am a keen fan of natural cleaning products and for the last 10 years or so have been a huge fan of Ecover. I think I have a new favourite. The Method products look stunning (apologies for the photo, I did have a really nice one but due to the Apple ios 6.1.3 update my phone has been messed up and the not so nice people at Apple who are supposed to give a two year warranty on products are not replacing it!)

Anyway, the packaging of all products is stunning and they smell just gorgeous. I have tried the pink grapefruit hand wash and once that is finished I will buy this straight away again. Even the little ones and their friends love it. And best of all it only squirts just enough rather than a lot.

The floor cleaner again is in a beautiful bottle, I just love the minimalist design and it is very easy to use. The lemon and ginger smell is so natural; I like it as much as my usual Ecover floor cleaner. I know they are different brands but I believe Method was bought by Ecover so the compliments stay in the family so to speak.

The laundry liquid has a beautiful smell too and is also very easy to use, the squirt system is so much cleaner to use than the usual pouring system. Drips on bottles always annoy me. And as for the multi surface cleaner with the gorgeous French lavender smell, well I have not stopped using this in the last couple of days. It really encourages me to clean every surface in the house on a daily basis.

alLOVEment

Apologies for these rather bad photos but I didn't feel like taking all the netting off again. 

Just wanted to "show off" the fruits of my labour. 

The weather has been absolutely glorious, which means going down to the allotment at least once a day for watering and time permitting weeding during the day. The aftermath of late May and early June is still ongoing but I have discovered lovely beet spinach between the weeds and the carrots and mini leeks are nearly weed free and looking beautiful!

In the last few days I have had a couple of delicious salads with home grown produce: potatoes, radishes and parsley are growing beautifully. 

Salad leaves are in abundance and tonight I have picked the first spinach leaves. 

Every night the monkeys and me harvest one strawberry each as the birds seem to get the rest but even that single one is so unbelievably sweet that we are happy just with that. The overgrown paths all around the allotment are going to be rich with all sorts of berries soon so we'll be bringing tubs every night. Think I might have to start reading up on jam making. 

After all the initial hassle with the courgettes I am pleased to see those doing really well and I am hoping that this year I get more tomatoes than last year (two...). I suppose I have learnt from my mistakes. I have also encircled them with home made bracelets of copper wire. I have designed a reasonable amount of jewellery but making something for a tomato plant is a first. 

I have been enjoying this whole allotmenteering so far but this last week has just been brilliant. Going home every night with a basket of produce is just fabulous and the monkeys are so delighted to try all the things from the plot that it is worth just for that. 

Now I am going to finish the night with a lovely piece of rhubarb crumble, made with stalks picked with love.