Could be a bumper crop

Remember this? And this?

The quinces are fattening up and we could get a bumper crop. The quince is a wonderfully fragrant fruit, and was probably the golden apple of the Hesperides. It makes a superlative jelly. The Spanish make a quince cheese called membrillo is eat with cheese. I refer you to Jane Grigson's Fruit Book, which I bought as soon as it came out in paperback 30 years ago - I have a vivid memory of reading it in the summer sun, lying on the grass in a London park!! She also has a chapter on Apples and Quinces in her book Good Things. Looking at Jane Grigson again now, I see that she says: "The trouble in the north is that our quinces tend to rot from the centre." This is what happened to a lot of ours 2 years ago. Last year the tree had a rest and only produced one fruit. This year I will take more care with them, for they are very special.

The promised rain hasn't come to much, not yet anyway. We've got dark skies on one side of the house and sunshine on the other.

I'm spending the rest of the afternoon reading Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth for my reading group. I like and dislike it by turns. He was once a favourite writer of mine, but no longer.

OB is off chopping veg for tonight's Community Canteen. The theme is Greek, I believe. I'm doing nothing to help, though I suppose I may do a bit of washing-up at the end! For more about the meal, see OB's blip today.

Veg update: Planted out more lettuce seedlings. On Thursday I picked (and we ate) the last of the broad beans. Getting some nice potatoes.