08 July 2016

How does the garden grow?

The weather is beautiful right now, and Walt is good about watering the vegetable garden. Even so, everything is very late. To blame are the six weeks of constant rains and dark clouds that we recently endured.


I tilled new ground last year and this past spring, enlarging the garden plot by about 100 sq. ft., bringing it to a total of about 1300. There are more than two dozen tomato plants, two rows of green beans, six plants each of eggplant (aubergine) and bell peppers (poivrons), eight or ten squash/pumpkin plants, and some radishes and snow peas planted out there.


There is also a good stand of Swiss chard plants (called bettes or blettes) on the edge of the garden plot that survived our springtime deluges. It's time to start harvesting some... next week.


I grew from seed and transplanted a dozen or more kale plants in May and June. The ones above are called "dinosaur" or lacinato kale, known also as cavolo nero. Various people have told me that these plants will produce very tasty, tender greens. I've never grown or cooked this variety before. I'm a firm believer in eating your greens on a regular basis.


I also planted a variety called Red Russian Kale. I found the seeds for both varieties in a store in North Carolina when I was there in February. Kale is starting to catch on in France now. I saw bunches of curly kale for sale in the Grand Frais supermarket near Blois earlier this week. I thought it was expensive.


We are optimistic that the weather will stay warm and sunny enough for us to have good harvests of all these crops. Time will tell. Meanwhile, I'm off to Paris for the weekend. My train leaves Saint-Aignan at about 6 p.m. this afternoon.

21 comments:

  1. Better late than never! Everything looks good, though.

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    1. We were three or even four weeks latr planting the garden this year because of the heavy rains.

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    2. We were three or even four weeks latr planting the garden this year because of the heavy rains.

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  2. Ken, your Black Tuscan and Red Russian kales are ready to start picking in about a week... and they are looking very good!
    The reasons kales tend to be expensive in the shops is all down to the hand-picking of individual leaves... they are not a plant that can be grown and cut.
    An additional expense for the curley kale in shops is the washing they have to do to make it acceptable for the shops... it may look attractive, but those leaves can hold an awful lot of grit!!
    When you pick, just take a ring of leaves off each plant, no more... steam for fifteen minutes... add some butter or walnut oil, salt and pepper and serve!!
    Enjoy!!!
    Have a good visit to Paris, hope it isn't too hot!!

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    1. Good info and advice, Tim, and those were my plans. I pick collard greens the same way, and then at some point I pull out the plants and harvest everything. I'll give the kale more time, but I'll start picking the bottom leaves next week. Kale leaves cook much faster than collard leaves. Thanks to the greenhouse tent, we had good-sized seedlings to plant when the garden finally dried out in mid-June.

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  3. It's been HOT here--the start of wildfire season in the south--but everything is behind. I saw the first "real" tomatoes (misshapen, heirloom varieties out of local gardens--not from a hothouse, local or not) at the market just last Saturday.
    We got a big downpour last night, just as I was thinking I should have watered. That was convenient.

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    1. Good for you, and thanks to Mother Nature. No rain here in the forecast. Walt is watering pretty much daily. He tends the garden, and I cook lunch. I wish our dearly departed friend Cheryl could be here right now. She would love the warm sunny weather, and she loved France so much.

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  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquacotta I use Cavolo Nero in this recipe. I also saute it with olive oil, pepper flakes, garlic and stock to break it down as it is a very hardy green. I think you will enjoy cooking with is, I know how you love collards and chard, so I think it fits in with those greens. Have a fun weekend. I posted a message and I seem to have lost it so this may be a dupe in which case I humbly apologize :(

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  5. I love the wavy sticks that you have for them to climb, we used bamboo poles and they didn't look half as interesting :)
    Have fun in Paris ... what a treat, I'm off to Paris for the weekend :)

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  6. I'm looking forward to hearing how you like the new kale plants :)

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  7. Have a nice time in Paris and Enjoy your visit at the Panthéon.
    Well Paris is going to be crowded - the final of the EURO 2016 is between France and Portugal and the corpos' guests are descending on the city.

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    1. Bonjour Cousine,
      Ken will probably go to the Panthéon in the morning. It opens at eleven and he thinks there will be fewer people to go to the gallery at that time. From there he will be rejoining my friends P. and M. and me at the Grand Bistro de Breteuil to celebrate M's eighty-six birthday. I have known her husband for almost seventy-seven years!

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    2. Joyeux Anniversaire Cousin.
      Yesterday I was watching Les racines et les ailes sur Paris Rive Droite et they showed La Brasserie Bofinger and its famous choucroute Royale ( with seafood in lieu of meat).
      Enjoy your Kir pétillant and I wish you all " Santé".

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    3. Je dirai à M. que ma cousine de Montréal lui souhaite un joyeux anniversaire!

      I have never been at Bofinger's.

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  8. Our courgettes and salads are very prolific but no aubergines, tomatoes or green beans yet.

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  9. Bon Voyage à Paris, Ken! I will anxiously await your photos and text!
    The garden is coming along great and I look forward to some new recipes that you might try and share with us!

    Mary in Oregon

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  10. Your greens look very good. I've eaten curly kale (not sure if it was lacinato) from the plant in January, in New England. It overwintered well in a friend's garden. So good when it's so fresh.

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  11. Enjoy Paris! We've been watching some of the soccer there.

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    1. I climbed 225 or so steps up to the dome of the Pantheon this morning and took pictures. I remembered that nice room you and Lew had in 2009 at the hotel across the street with the view of Montmartre and Sacré Coeur.

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