We started making the Elderflower Champagne on 27th June; we plonked elderflower heads in a brewers bucket with water, white wine vinegar and sugar, adding a sachet of Champagne yeast a couple of days later. After disinfecting a new bucket (just a basic one, nothing fancy), my husband D poured the liquid through a fine sieve into the new bucket. I then held a funnel covered in muslin over each bottle as D made the final pour into seven screw top plastic bottles. A teaspoon of sugar was added to each bottle first. Now they are maturing for a couple of weeks in the garage. I like the fact that the wine is pink!
I’ve been in the garden most of the day filling the spare bed bag and planting the second sowing of sweetcorn in it along with three dwarf beans. I planted the other dwarf beans in a couple of pots and in the big tub that held the first peas. They were starting to get pests (tiny green caterpillars and greenfly) and weren’t throwing up any more flowers so I harvested the last peas and some shoots, green binning the plants.
Mum and Dad came over for a couple of nights this week and we had a great time. They kindly bought us lots of herb plants so I have planted them all today. In the oval tub I have lemon mint, black peppermint, broad leaf sage, coriander and summer savoury. I split the lemon mint and sage so the extra plants are in individual pots as is the tarragon. Yum. Thanks parents!
In other random news:
– the potatoes look sickly and aren’t producing many flowers;
– the Marmande tomatoes grow lovely big flowers;
– I hacked away a load of invasive, strangling climbing plant from behind the swing as it was starting to grow through the acer and castor oil plant;
– I harvested four broad bean pods and green binned the plant as it was black fly ridden, a couple of small pods were mushy and rotting and there was no new growth;
– we have eaten about 15 raspberries so far and there are lots more to come (I HAD to make meringues and Creme Anglais)
– the runners have some tiny beans!
The greenhouse is a jungle so that is the project for next week…if I can squeeze my way in there by then…
Happy Sunday!
Greenhousing 
Thanks for this great update. Everything pictured looks great. Sorry to hear about the potatoes, but wow, look at everything else.
How fun to make Elderberry Champagne. Oh, yes!
I hope it is fun…the proof is in the tasting! We are just hoping it will be palatable…
Thank you, you can’t win them all so potato losses aren’t so bad. W did eat a few tonight and they were very tasty (and tiny)!!
Oh nice! Tasty is good, now matter what the size.
I linked back to your post.
Thanks, you are right!
Oh yum – it all looks delicious and the herbs and vege particularly… I envy you your lovely elderberry champagne…- from the hedgerows????
Thanks Valerie! We actually have an elderflower plant in our garden so pinched our flowers from our own supply. I hope it works!
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Lovely as always! Elderflower? Do these become elderberries? We have those in profusion here in the Sierra Foothills!