It’s one thing to grow your own but I can’t be the only one who finds processing what I’ve grown takes so much of my time at this bountiful time of the year.

Dearest Son and I have managed more trips to the allotment than usual this week and have been catching up on some much needed weeding and picking. With our dinner tonight we had our own new potatoes, peas, mangetout and broad beans. I still have a lot of these to sort through and some rhubarb.

Tonight I was going to clean the kitchen but thought “oh I’ll just sort the currants first”. That meant putting the redcurrants in their bowl to be washed and the blackcurrants in their bowl (I didn’t want them mixed). I did notice how much I could smell the blackcurrants and it stopped me in my tracks. I get that a lot.

When I cut the first rhubarb of the year, I stop and smell.

When I pick the first raspberries, I stop and smell.

Potting up the tomato plants, I stop and smell (hubby says they smell like cat pee but I actually like the smell of tomato plants, I don’t like cat pee).

When the cucumber or courgette plants have flowers, I stop and smell.

Gardening is so much more than what we do with our hands. It tickles all the senses and I’m happy to receive that tickle!