07 July 2012

How does the garden grow?

After a rainy April, we had a rainy May. Then we had a rainy June. Now it's rainy again. Everything is behind schedule in the garden and yard.

The vegetable garden in early July 2012

Besides, we were off traveling around New York, New England, and Quebec for the middle two weeks of May, when we should have been here getting the garden planted. So we were late too, and that made sure the garden was late.

The garden from a different angle

We bought seedlings for our tomatoes, bell peppers (poivrons), and eggplant plants (aubergines) this year. Those little plants are growing nicely. Walt planted beans in one garden plot, but they either didn't come up or they were cut down by slugs and snails before they had a chance to grow much.

Callie keeping an eye on Walt to see what he's up to out there

He re-planted them. The recent spell of warmer weather (we're having a mediocre season so far) gave the new beans a chance to grow, and we may get a crop after all. We have both haricots verts (string or bush beans) and cocos plats (Romano i.e. Italian flat green beans) and are hoping both will produce.

Tomates

Walt also planted three kinds of squash: zucchini (courgettes), butternut, and another variety called a patidou in French. Those last are like little green pumpkins, with orange flesh inside. We hope to get a good crop of summer and winter squashes in September, October, and November.

Blackberries (mûres)

There are two garden plots that we haven't even tilled up yet. In those, if I get "a round tooit," I hope to plant some greens and maybe chard for a fall crop too. We'll see.

Two more views of the mûres

Meanwhile, a thornless blackberry plant that a friend in the village gave us a couple of years ago is producing a good number of berries. If the birds don't get them before we do, they might make a good pie.

6 comments:

  1. I have climbing beans doing OK, but like yours, my dwarf beans never came up or were got by snails. I just gave up with them for this year.

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  2. Your yard and your garden always look SO nice :)) Those tomatoes look big! We are now battling rabbits for our tomatoes :(

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  3. hey Ken! we are melting in the heat here in the midwest - so your cool weather pix are a dream... sorry your garden is behind. we've been watering like mad. i took up the first of the potatoes so i'm stealing your Salade Lyonnaise from a while ago! instead of bacon lardons i'm using some guanciale that i cured last fall. delish!

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  4. I envy your gardening skills, but, even if I had the space, I'm too lazy to be a gardener.

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  5. I envy your garden. It might be late, but it is growing and looking good! I have to battle deer so I can just make good choices at the local markets and marchés.

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  6. Feeling cooler already from your pictures. I've seen little squashes here like your patidou but thought they were a kind of pattypan.

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