16 September 2008

Guests today

We have some American visitors coming over for a light lunch today. They are people we've never met but who read our blogs and who comment regularly. Luckily, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. Not too warm, but sunny and bright.

Yesterday afternoon's skies, with more
of the same predicted for today


With all the rain and dampness we've been having, I've been noticing a lot of mushrooms in the yard and out in the vineyard. We just had a major bloom all around an old tree stump that is gradually rotting into the soil.

Mushrooms proliferating around a stump

Earlier in the summer, we planted mint in our « vrai faux » well out back, thinking it would be hardy and would gradually fill in the whole space. Mint has that reputation, and in the well it would be confined.

Parsley in the well

Because there wasn't a lot of it yet, Walt also planted some parsley in the well for this summer. It turns out the mint hasn't done well at all, but the parsely is fantastic. It's much nicer than the parsley we planted in the vegetable garden. The leaves are large, very green, and very tasty.

4 comments:

  1. Hi to your guests :-) I can guess who they are. I hope they are having a good time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are you going to use the mushrooms for cooking or is it a poisonous variety? A 'fricassé de champignons des bois' on toast with some garlic and that lovely flat leaf parsely of yours would we absolute delicious. But if you have no experience with picking wild mushrooms, you'd better stay away from them and buy some 'cêpes, chantrelles and pleurottes' in you local supermarket or at one of the numerous 'champignonnières' in the Loire Valley. Martine

    ReplyDelete
  3. You can keep a spreader like mint from taking over the known world by planting it in a plastic pot that's had the bottom cut out. The pot contains the roots below ground, so they have to spread down there rather than immediately near the visible part of the plant.

    ReplyDelete
  4. emm -- great tip. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?