Tuesday 19 January 2010

Fertiliser

This morning we went up into the hills to Mas Rolland to collect a trailer-load of manure – the first of several we hope.  Last year we did this and it made a huge difference to the soil, and its ability to retain moisture especially.

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It was cold and grey.  The hillsides looked dry and wintry, with just the evergreen plants and trees, like these holm oaks in the foreground above, contrasting with the rocks.  The milking goats are still indoors in their winter quarters but this billy with amazing horns was outside watching us.

DSC01187 We now have the first pile of manure in the garden ready to spread on the ground and we’ll go to fetch some more later in the week.  In spite of the cloudy, cold weather, it feels as though we’ve started the new gardening year now, and that’s a good feeling.  The artichoke plants  - just visible in the background here – have suffered from the cold, but they should recover.  Everything else looks fine.

Winter harvest

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We picked our last cauliflower and dug up a couple of leeks.  Our neighbour gave us some beetroot and some celery stalks.  I put the celery into the dish I made when we got home, with haricot beans, pancetta, carrots and onions, which we ate with toast and tapenade and a glass of red wine.  A very warming lunch!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a newcomer to blogging in general and Blotanical in particular, I now realise that you are a fellow Blotanist. Although I am no cook, I love your ideas for tasty receipts and I enjoy seeing your garden progress.

Michelle said...

Your garden is going to love all that wonderful goat poop! The cauliflower looks lovely. I have yet to grow that vegetable successfully, but I haven't tried very hard. Delicious looking lunch.

impoftheyard said...

That goat is impressive! Lunch looks wonderful too.

Jan said...

I'm very envious of your manure delivery! All we've put on our plot are the ancient rabbit droppings from the village house, which will be better than nothing. Lunch looks nice.

sleepyduck said...

Never mind the manure - lunch looks fabulous!

Stefaneener said...

Yay poop!
It's such good stuff. I have to move some piles of rabbit droppings, but I can't wait to see what the beds that were top-dressed look like when I pull the vegetables.

Weeping Sore said...

Serious gardeners love manure. Although I appreciate the value, I much prefer the smell of lovely warm ripe mulch that's too hot for the worms to move in yet. That monster billy goat would be enough to keep me out. I suspect he could outrun me.
As usual, your recipe left me with a mouth-watering need to cook a vegetable soup with all the stuff in the vegetable bin. Not as fresh as yours, but yummy too.