It is hard to conceive the change in our crops in the short period of just 3 weeks. Having struggled through the coldest spring for 76 years, or so we are told, the weather has changed to give us Spanish heat, that has turned a rubbish crop of courgette into the best courgettes we have ever seen. Broad beans that have come at us like a tsunami, runner beans weighed down with flower, and because it is so hot the only veg people want to eat are lettuce and tomatoes.
The reservoir to the right is now a third empty, picture taken in the spring, and starting to look a bit sorry for its self. We are pumping thousands of gallons of water a day at the moment to keep the crops alive.
With July we see the launch of the Hampshire food festival.
Lainston House at Sparsholt were kind enough to host this years launch, and the star of the the show was Anonio Carluccio, seen here knocking up a little local pizza, with some Old Winchester cheese grated over the top. Lainsons fantastic Pizza oven had been stoked up early in the day to give a searing heat, needed for the Strawberry and Chocolate pizzas another clear winner. The launch was sited in the hotel kitchen garden, a credit to the head gardner, who’s crops given the weather we have had recently, looked magnificent.
