Thursday 5 November 2009

Clearing away the summer

This morning the sky over the garden was cold and grey with the sun trying to break through the clouds.  The sun did come out later, but it was time to clear away the Roma tomato plants anyway.

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Some of the tomatoes will ripen, the others we’ll use to make green tomato jam which we’ve found goes very well with cheese, especially goats’ cheese.

 

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The broad beans and peas are coming up well.  We put the straw over the rows to conserve water, but I don’t think it’s really necessary any more.  Although we haven’t had a lot of rain lately the soil is very damp.

 

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A friend went to the Spanish border at Le Perthus and brought us back this bunch of over 100 Spanish sweet onions to plant.  They should be the first onions to be ready to eat in the spring, before the local Lezignan sweet onions.  The excitement of planting these and seeing the peas and broad beans coming up compensates a bit for the sadness I always feel in autumn as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder.

We’re lucky here, though, to have a second spring in autumn, when it rains and plants start to grow again and to flower after dying back during the dry summer.

 

DSC09920 The rosemary is covered with flower, although the pyracantha looks quite christmassy! DSC09922

 

DSC09937 DSC09933 Our little palm is a Washingtonia, which is hardy here so it doesn’t need to be wrapped up for winter.  There are new leaves growing from the centre (above).

5 comments:

Lec said...

Oh I'm jealous of your beans. I haven't even planted mine yet, another thing I must get around to doing!

Michelle said...

I haven't planted my favas yet either. The rest of the tomato plants have to come out first. There aren't really any green tomatoes left of the plants though, just a few half ripe ones that I'm waiting for.

We get that second spring also, although I suppose that our winter would be considered rather spring like by many people.

ilex said...

The palm pics are so graphic- very striking.

Those sweet onions will be very special next year.

Your tomato jam sounds similar to my green tomato butter- mine is tomatoes, sugar, and a dash of vinegar- just like apple butter but with tomatoes instead- and cooked a long time. What's your green tomato jam recipe?

Jan said...

I've planted broad beans and peas, but only the peas have appeared yet. Oh, and don't talk to me about onions!

impoftheyard said...

These tomatoes look amazing.