Heavenly Scents

We had a day of bashing and plucking in hot sunshine at Norton Conyers yesterday, starting with a spot of balsam control in the woods. We have moved onto a new area now that things are under control in the wild wood so that meant fighting through six foot high nettles to reach our intended victims. It is a strangely satisfying pastime and the first two hours of the day flew by until teatime when we emerged hot and sweaty with our arms tingling with nettle rash, now I know why we never garden in short trousers despite the promise of the hottest of days! It was sticky work hoeing through the top border next, we all felt the sort of fatigue that doesn't normally affect us but meant that even putting one foot in front of the other was an effort in the heat, so we were glad to retreat inside again for lunch. Our reward for all the hard slog was a peaceful afternoon of fruit picking and vegetable watering. The peaches were ripe and warm and giving off a fuzzy aroma of summer so we all ate one straight from the tree for quality control purposes of course! The juice ran down our chins so we had to have a wash to remove our guilty sticky evidence! Strawberry and red currant picking followed, the currants in particular have an intense beauty when hanging from the bushes like ropes of red pearls, we picked as many as we could scattering the hungry blackbirds asunder as we went.

When our harvest was over and the punnets lined up on the table in the orangery the scent was almost overwhelming, peach scent wafting in from next door and strawberry scent enveloping the room, moments like that are truly heaven sent.

"I know that if odour were visible, as colour is, I'd see the summer garden in rainbow colours"
Robert Bridges