Thursday 19 February 2009

Old walls and spring growth / Vieux murs et la croissance de printemps

Archaeologists have found the remains of medieval walls on ground near the gardens where building work is scheduled to start soon.  The walls are part of the system of water mills and streams on the hillside.  Maybe the find will delay the building work ... who knows?

old walls_1_1

Les archéologues ont trouvé des vestiges des vieux murs mediévaux près des jardins où le lotissement va être construit bientôt.  Peut-être cette découverte retardera les travaux ...?

Sowing tomatoes / Semer les tomates

Even when we're away from home Lo Jardinièr can't stop picking up recyclable materials.  In Uzès after the market on Saturday, he found on the pavement some polystyrene cases which had been used to carry shellfish.  He couldn't resist picking them up and bringing them home - they'll be very useful for sowing our tomato and pepper seeds in.

seed tray 1_1_1

Toujours le recyclage.  Après le marché à Uzès, Lo Jardinièr a trouvé des cartons de polystyrène sur le trottoir.  Il les a apporté chez nous pour semer les tomates et les poivrons.

seed tray 2_1_1

We divided one of these into four sections with thin strips of  wood(recycled, of course!) and sowed Roma, Coeur de Boeuf, St Pierre and Ananas tomatoes.  The Ananas seeds were from our own tomatoes last summer.

Next we're going to make a heated seed starter box, using instructions from Mother Earth News - more on this soon.

Allotments in the UK / Les potagers en Grande Bretagne

Good news from the National Trust in Britain in today's Guardian newspaper online.  The National Trust, the body which looks after historic buildings and land in the UK, is campaigning for an increase in vegetable growing and will be offering some of its land for the creation of 1,000 new plots.  I know that the effects of the global financial crisis can be tragic for some, but perhaps it will lead people back to their gardens and to valuing home grown vegetables, not just for economic reasons but for simple enjoyment of gardening and for the future of the planet.

More truffles / encore de truffes

gratin potatoes    truffle 2_1 

pommes de terres gratinées au truffe

Gratin of potatoes - pommes de terres gratinées - is one of our favourite dishes and last night I made one of the most delicious ever, using some of the truffle we brought back from Uzès.  I only wish I could include the scent of truffle in this photo!  Potatoes, butter, crème fraîche and truffle ... it was wonderful!  The recipe will be on the Mediterranean cuisine blog..

2 comments:

Jan said...

Oh it's fun to use found materials and give them another lease of life. On walks we often come back with bits of sheet metal, cracked pots that can be buried with the cracked bits downwards, plastic crates and the like. Wonderful!

Unknown said...

I love finding used old stuff. I found an old poreclian sink in the woods once. Thought it would be great for holding potting soil on the garden shed bench. I have over 100 old windows and doors too in hopes of turning them into cold frames and greenhouses.

I hope they dont build over the ruins they found. Sounds cool.

If good comes from the hard times it should be to grow more veggies!