LOVE my (soggy) garden

So, yesterday I ventured out into my garden again, for the second time so far this year (for gardening purposes). The weather has been awful so I am hoping this means we are on for a scorcher of a summer..hell, I'll even take a hosepipe ban people! However, I think it is part of the British psyche to make bets on weather we are going to have a good summer. The weather is such a huge part of our lives here in the UK and yes, we have a reputation for awful weather (and food but that's for another post) but the thing is, when the weather is glorious, it's an amazing place to live! the issue is that the weather is glorious for about 2 weeks a year - out of 52...not good stats.

Anyway, back to my garden. It wasn't glorious, or even warm, the truth be told, but it wasn't raining so I togged up and went out to weed, no less. My mum tells me that weeding is an essential part of gardening (as does Alen Titchmarsh. I have this book of his and it's my gardening bible), so I went out to weed my strawberry patch and to plant more strawberry plants in the hope that I will get a crop this year (I got about 13 strawberries last year 11 of which were eaten by birds). My rhubarb is nicely taking over it's patch, almost ripe for picking and putting in a crumble ready for the parental visit next weekend. My raspberries seem to have got a little.. erm...wild. I think this is because I didn't prune them when I should've but we shall see what happens and whether they are salvageable. Garlic looks good and broad beans look ill - not holding out any hopes for a broad bean crop this year but shall persevere (which actually means leave them and hope for the best) and report back. One of the best things about gardening these days though...my lovely wellies! Mr K bought me some Hunter wellies for my birthday last year and I feel like a chic gardener when I wear them. What can I say, my soggy and overgrown garden is my catwalk.

LKx

Book group

One of the highlights of my month is meeting up with the lovely ladies in my book group. Now, I think book groups have had bad press in the past but there does seem to be a bit of a revival and I am all for it! The idea behind it is that you meet up, all having read the same book (this is where the 'fail' bit starts) and swap thoughts about said book. We do the meeting up bit and we chat about lots of things (the book included) but I have been failing badly on the reading front.

My main reason for joining a book group is to make me read (fail) but it has introduced me to some really lovely people too (not fail). I totally recommend it. My recent choices have almost seen me ejected from the club they've been so rubbish. Saying that, they've all been a bit crap apart from The Help which we all liked - brilliant book club read. I am currently reading the third Chocolat book Peaches for monsieur le cure. by Joanne Harris - I shall report back on the verdict. I am a fan of the first two though (Chocolat and The Lollipop Shoes) so it's a good start.

There is always a bit of debate about what books are good book group reads. I'm up for reading anything new but we often discuss whether books are too 'challenging' for our book group or sometimes not challenging enough. I have to admit though, my choice of a good read has changed from my French literature days of university, Flaubert would NOT cut it in my book club these days, I need a much easier read! Rubbish I know. Any thoughts on good reads?

LKx