We try to grow as much from seed as possible and this year we've grown almost all of our 64 tomato plants from seed, some from our own saved seed. But we do buy some plants. This year we shall have to buy pepper plants. We sowed several different varieties in March and they germinated well, but the plants haven't grown well. All the other gardeners we talk to in Gabian say their plants are the same. It's been a cold spring.
Ce printemps il a fait froid ici et les poivrons ne poussent pas bien, ni dans notre jardin ni dans les jardins des autres à Gabian. Nous en devrons acheter.
This year, as usual, we've also bought Charentais melon and cucumber plants from a local producer, in the market in Gabian. The plants come from Fouzilhon, about 3 kilometres from here, so I don't mind buying these. The same stall also sells other produce from the same farm: strawberries, chick peas, wine, and melons later in the summer.
Cette année, comme d'habitude, on a acheté aussi des plantes de melon Charantais et de concombre d'un producteur de Fouzilhon (3 kilometres d'ici) qui vient au marché à Gabian. Il vend aussi les fraises, les pois chiches, le vin, et plutard les melons.
Melons and cucumbers need a lot of water so we have put some effort into preparing the ground for them. In January we dug in some goat manure. Now Lo Jardinièr has made a wide bed for the melons, surrounded by a bank of earth so that it can be flooded.
Les melons et les concombres ont besoin de beaucoup d'eau, donc nous avons fait du travail en préparant la terre. En janvier on a mis du fumier de chèvre. Aujourd'hui Lo Jardinièr a fait une parterre large entourée d'un mur de terre afin qu'on puisse l'inonder.
The plants are protect from snails by collars made of plastic water bottles. / Les plantes sont protégées des escargots par des colliers en plastique.
For the cucumbers we have made three channels where we will put drip-hoses for watering. Between the three channels there are two rows for the cucumbers, which will be supported by frames made from canes and wires. We'll have eight plants - four we've bought and four we've grown from seed. The latter are not quite ready to go out yet.
Pour les concombres on a fait trois gouttières où on va mettre des tuyaus pour arroser. Entre les gouttières il y a deux rangs où des cannes et des fils soutiendront les plantes. Il y aura 8 plantes.
Let's just hope the snails don't eat them! / On éspère que les escargots ne les mangeront pas!
Aren't irises amazing? / Les iris sont extraordinaires!
 Yesterday - a bud with the texture of silk. / Hier - un bourgeon à la texture de soie ..... |  Today - this huge flower / Aujourd'hui - cette fleur énorme. Iris Night Laughter |
6 comments:
The colour of those irises are just amazing! I have never seen one quite so blue. Your vegetable garden looks wonderful, thank you for sharing it.
How exciting to grow melons! The irises are so sumptuous and rich.
With eight cucumber plants, I hope you will be posting lots of cucumber recipes! I had far too many cukes from two plants last year- or rather, a dearth of ways to use them. The irises are beautiful. Ours have not opened yet. I am impatient to see them because I was given some mystery irises last year and have no idea what to expect.
It's been another long, cool spring here, too. Hope it's a better year for hot crops on both sides of the pond. Peppers fared poorly last year in the entire northern hemisphere. Haven't heard one good report from anywhere on 2008 peppers. Surely they always fare well in Spain?
Looking forward to hearing how your chickpea crop goes this year. That's another crop I dream of growing- along with artichokes.
For your cucumbers and melons, you could put the terracotta pots idea into place again. It has worked for celery and lettuce and beans so why not these too? And it makes it easy then to see where the stems go into the ground and where to water.
I've planted out 3 melon seedlings and 4 courgettes, but I ought to put a bit more "muck" around them!
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