Sunday 10 May 2009

Taking shape / Prendre forme

The summer garden is taking shape as we've done a lot of planting during the past week or so.  We've planted out 62 tomato plants (20 Roma, 19 St Pierre, 8 Ananas, 8 Coeur de Boeuf and 7 Yellow pear).  Yes, we know that's probably too many, but the seedlings were too good to throw away!  We've planted out 4 melons, 4 cucumbers, 16 peppers, 3 chilli peppers and 5 aubergines.  Now we only need the sun and a lot of water!

Le jardin d'été prend forme.  On a fait beaucoup de plantation pendant la dernière semaine.  On a planté 62 tomates (20 Roma, 19 St Pierre, 8 Ananas, 8 Coeur de Boeuf et 7 Yellow pear).  Nous savons que c'est probablement trop, mais les plantes ont été trop bons pour jeter!  On a planté 4 melons, 4 concombres, 16 poirvrons, trois piments et 5 aubergines.  On n'a besoin que de soleil et beacoup d'eau!

aubergines_1_1
aubergines
pepper plants_1_1
and peppers

We added manure and compost to the ground for the peppers and aubergines and made irrigation channels alongside the rows.  Three of the pepper plants and all the aubergines are grafted onto tomato roots.  This makes larger more productive plants.  We've grown grafted aubergines before but this is the first time we've tried the peppers.

On a ajouté de fumier et de compost à la terre pour les poivrons et les aubergines, et on a fait des gouttières d'irrigation près des rangs.  Trois poivrons et tous les aubergines sont des plants greffés sur les racines de tomate.  Ça fait les plants plus grands et plus productifs.  Nous avons cultiver les aubergines greffés l'année dernière, mais c'est la première fois que nous cultivons les poivrons greffés.

garden long view_1_1

A view of one side of the garden: aubergines, climbing beans, courgettes, lettuces, peppers, tomatoes.

Une vue d'un côté du jardin: aubergines, haricots grimpants, courgettes, salades, poivrons, tomates.

It's so exciting to see all the plants in place - I love this time of year!

In the rest of the garden / dans le reste du jardin

cistus1_1_1 cistus2_1_1
cistus3_1_1 The cistus are flowering, inspite of the rain today. /
Les cistes fleurissent, malgré la pluie aujourd'hui.
olive flowers_1_1
The olive trees are about to flower / Les oliviers sont à la pointe de fleurir.
vineleaf_1_1
The vine leaves are growing - nearly time to make dolmas! / Les feuilles de vigne poussent - c'est presque le temps pour faire les dolmas!
broad beans_1_1_1
We're picking lots of broad beans - the longest was 31 cm.
new potatoes_1_1



And this evening we're going to eat our first potatoes of the year. / Et ce soir on mangera les premières pommes de terre de l'an.

water_1_1 Luckily the stream from the Resclauze spring is running well, so there is plenty of water for all our plants.  /  Heureusement le ruisseau de la Resclauze coule bien, donc il y a assez de l'eau pour tous les plants.

8 comments:

Kate said...

How lovely and I look forwrad to seeing how they all go. Did you graft the seedlings yourselves?

Isn't it nice to help your children get into growing things.... Hugh's garden is powering along as his soil and aspect are so perfect. But they need success too, to encourage them to keep going.

ilex said...

I did not know you could graft aubergines and peppers onto tomato roots. How fabulous! I totally get the benefit. Now I have something new to research.

easygardener said...

I guess you will be knee deep in tomato recipes later in the year :-) I agree that it is hard to throw seedlings away, especially if you have room for them. We are growing Aubergines for the first time for ages - lets hope we don't have a cool miserable summer or they will sulk!

Michelle said...

I love this time of year in the garden also. Yours looks wonderful. The broad beans are incredible looking and delicious too I'm sure.

chaiselongue said...

Kate: no, we don't graft the seedlings, I'm afraid. We buy the plants, but the increased yield is worth it.
Ilex: I'll be interested in the findings from your research as I don't really know why these grafted plants do so well - I've just seen that they do!
easygardener: good luck with your aubergines! Are they in a greenhouse?

HappyMouffetard said...

How interesting - I didn't realise you could graft veg.
The Cistus are looking delightful.

Rowena said...

Looking GREAT I might say! I'm so glad to read that you started Ananas tomatoes because I started the ananas noire seeds a month ago. The seedlings are about 5 inches tall now. Looking forward to your harvest of the grafted peppers and aubs -- they look so nice orderly in the pics!

Jan said...

You are so lucky to have a passing stream, I wish we had but we're too high! What a lot of tomato plants. I've planted out 12 seedlings and there are probably about another 20 to go, but whether we'll have enough water......