We’ve had several more days of rain so the garden is well watered, but we could do with some sunshine now to encourage the plants to grow.
A nice surprise
 | Our artichoke plants were all badly affected by the cold weather we had in March, which came just as the plants were beginning to grow again after the freezing temperatures we had in January. This time last year we were picking artichokes, but this year I was afraid we weren’t going to get any at all. So I was very pleased today to see that two small artichokes had appeared – after all, I didn’t want to have to rename the blog! |
And olives ….
well, flower buds at least – our little Lucque tree is covered in buds.
We’ve been preparing the beds for the pepper plants and deciding how we’re going to fit them all in. We have about 40 plants altogether, not counting chilli peppers, as this year we’ve managed to get almost all of them to grow well. We’ll probably plant them out tomorrow and I’ll take some photos then.
Replacing the beans the birds had eaten
 | So many of our haricot and alubia bean plants had failed to appear or been eaten by birds that I germinated some in seed trays in the house. Today we planted them out in the gaps, with some Planeta climbing mangetout beans as well. I made a string of ‘bunting’ with strips of a plastic bag which I hope will deter the birds. |
Roses and a butterfly on the wild thyme
 There’s borage growing as a weed among the roses, but I think it looks good there. |  |
Asparagus
The wild asparagus is almost over now but yesterday we bought some cultivated asparagus from a stall in a fair in the village. It hadn’t come far, just 5 km from a nearby village, and it was delicious. We had some of it with a vinaigrette dressing and crusty Aveyronnais bread, and also made an asparagus and goats’ cheese tart.
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8 comments:
Sounds lovely, spring-like and delicious.
Thank goodness we don't get problems with the birds, the mice are enough of a bother! Your asparagus and goats cheese tart looks good.
How pretty your artichokes are, so different from the big green globe types that are common here. My little potted olive tree is about to burst into bloom also.
The asparagus and goat cheese tart looks delicious, I hope you post the recipe on your cuisine blog. My local farmer's market finally opened and there's some really good local asparagus available now.
We've been enjoying asparagus regularly and my small olive (a replacement for the two that died last winter) is in the soil and coping with our cool spring weather. So in spite of living in the Pacific Northwest, I'm feeling very Mediterranean myself this week!
Please do post your goat cheese and asparagus tart recipe. It looks delicious!
Yum! I love asparagus!
Same here with the wet weather. I'm glad we live on a mountainside and not in the lower plains! We're doing backstrokes up north.
Your goat cheese tart immediately caught my attention - adding the ingredients to the shopping list!
That tart looks really delicious.
We tried Asparagus with lemon crumbs (a Delia recipe) last night as a change - very good.
I don't mind the rain - I never feel we have enough here in the south of France. Must be growing up in Snowdonia - everywhere else seems so dry! But does it have to be so cold!
I'm so pleased for your artichokes! Wonderful.
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