There have been homegrown tomatoes for Xmas in The Backyard Pharmacy at Maison Bleue for the first time. Construction of mini hot houses over my big metal tubs beat the last of the frosts and saw the Roma tomatoes flourish, extending our tomato season as the heritage varieties planted have now also kicked in. Tomatoes’ high antioxidant content make them a strong contender for prime position in our garden of preventative medicines.
Disappointingly the three garden beds left unshaded this year are just not coping with our severe summer heat, so its a matter of making the most of what we have. The delicate seedlings waiting for planting out remain in the potting shed for now. It’s just our luck that we’ve recently upgraded our old retired shed to one of those fancy modern sheds, as it makes the perfect place to let the seeds germinate and grow a little in. Although I must admit, it’s thanks to our friends in Tennessee who recently purchased some sheds in TN for both storage and for potting, because if we hadn’t of seen their new sheds and been so jealous we probably wouldn’t have got one. Who would have thought I would be waiting for the small zucchini crop to prosper?
There are cabbages, potatoes, onions, rocket, and a large amount of parsley (the consequence of planting seed plus seedlings and ending up with 24 plants – tabouli salad here we come). If we’re going to be thinking about growing this many using a shed then I think sometime in the future we’re going to have to upgrade our storage and potting facilities as I’m calling them now. We might even start to look at custom sheds so we can customize and then maximize the space of the shed relating to the layout and size of our garden!
The little cherry and apricot trees have pumped out volumes of lucious fruit, despite the dry. It has been a good year for cherries. They were great in a cinnamon syrup to adorn the mango and macadamia ice cream Xmas pudding.
The apricots made great eating when fresh, then stewed and now bottled, and the chickens liked the off cuts as well.
Flexibility is the key word for gardening in our environment. Now we are gearing up for several days of rain. I hope it works wonders for the eggplants and extends our tomato season.
