I know a few people in my family who would find all this enthusiasm surprising, given the fact that I hated the veggie plot as a kid because all the work was compulsory and involved getting up very early in the morning. And growing up on a farm the veggie plot was more like an entire field of potatoes and turnips, seeming endless to a small child who'd much rather been playing in the forest building huts.
The reality of starting a garden this time was of course different than my plans; we started a bit late and nearly all the seeds had already gone from the supermarket so I just had to grab whatever was left. Carrots, spinach and lettuce it is then!
We got few other things as well from our local garden centre but they were a bit more pricey. As we were so late we had to get little plants of tomatoes and courgettes to plant, to make sure we would have time to reap the rewards.
And here is our neighbours extra piece of land, looking more like a rubbish dump. He likes to collect all sorts of junk and is literally incapable throwing anything away. Those two tractors at least work but everything else is just...well, junk. Quite handy actually when you are looking for bits and pieces you need in a garden; tools, sticks to support the plants and other things.
The building at the back is a kind of shed for our neighbourg, a place to get far away from the wife (15km exactly). It is his childhood home and he has been renovating it for about 20 years, swearing to move in there every time the home life gets too stifling.
The origins of the story of the house involves arguments, hot tempers, hard heads and some dynamite but maybe more about that some other time. Back to the garden!
And here's the beginning of our first garden! Hard work at this first stage but still enjoyable. Mon Cheri has never grown anything so his enthusiasm knows no bounds and every day he seems to be discovering new things. I bit too much sometimes; he is now trying to tell me how to do things! Quick learner that one!
There's plenty of bamboos growing in these parts and they make fantastic support sticks.Here's the masterpiece I fashioned for the tomatoes.
One of the happy surprises has been the melons. I have never grown them and also I am not familiar with this type of soil and heat, so I really have no idea what to expect. But they are blossoming quietly by themselves and finding the first, already a good size, melon under the leaves was an exciting moment. I am easily pleased,me!
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Ah, the wonderful courgettes! So easy to grow, so plentyful and truly delicious.
Our neighbour gave us some mangetout seeds which were way past they sell by date but I thought were nevertheless worth a try. And they popped up in no time!
We are both slightly obsessed by tomatoes. We both love them and have already lots of plans what to make with them. Last year I discovered a delicious reduced tomato sauce which is just out of this world and great on a pizza or in a bolognese sauce. So I'm happy to report that the tomatoes seem to be doing really well, growing without any diseases or major problems.
All the lettuce seeds didn't germinate but the ones that did seem to be doing ok. We started the garden couple of months ago and the growing rate has somewhat surprised me. Must be all the sun and heat.
Not all the plants are doing well though; the two rows of carrots sown have produced only few who are growing very very slowly and I am not sure they will every make it. The spinach has been a complete disaster and now the mangetout are developing some problems as well.
But this is the first year and time to try what works, what doesn't. At least the main things like tomatoes, courgettes, haricots and lettuce are doing well and we are already enjoying eating them. The hard work is starting to pay off.
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