Garden Update

Sometimes my foodie side gets a bit carried away and I forget that this is actually supposed to be a blog about the garden too!  So thanks to Ashley for reminding me to give an update on the veggie plot situation!

Since I posted the garden plot plan, we have managed to get all the seeds sown - carrots, radishes, leeks, swiss chard, beans, peas, beets, and herbs.  We also bought some already-started herbs from the organic garden center so that we would have some we could use straight away (apparently rosemary, for instance, takes quite a while to establish when grown from seed).  We put them in the plot and they seem to be pretty happy there, with the slight exception of the chives, which have gone a little yellowy.  I also planted some marigold seeds in the spaces at the end of the boards, and they are coming up already.  The radishes are also the first to make an appearance, and the carrots and beets are just starting to come through too.  The savoy cabbage are also really thriving (photo below, compare to when we first put them out).

We also decided to try a row of the tomato seedlings under plastic (this next week is supposed to be pretty chilly), with (bought) basil out with them too.  We have tons of tomato seedlings, so if anything goes wrong we have plenty for back-up, but they are already quite huge and need to get out in the ground asap!  Hopefully they will do ok out there.  We only have one plastic for now though, so we'll stick with those and plant the rest in a week or so, or after les Saints de Glace*. 

Meanwhile, the potatoes and strawberries are coming along nicely, with my first bin of potatoes on its second reburial and the second round poking through already.  The strawberries are developing flowers, which had me excited about the prospect of my own fruit, until I read Max's post and found out I should be pinching them off so they develop better root structure the first year.  Obviously I'm not so hot with delayed gratification either, as I haven't been able to bring myself to do this (maybe in part since this isn't our permanent home/garden, so we'll enjoy the most while we can from it).

(The plants were already too tall and our hoops weren't big enough! So they are taking care of the width while the tops of the stakes hold up the height.)

* Les saints de glace are three days in May, the 11-13th, that are traditionally cold for some reason (I've heard actually the earth's orbit takes it through a dusty belt that diminishes the sun's rays at this time), and traditional wisdom has it that you wait to plant things out (unless properly covered/protected) until after these dates to be completely safe.  Plant out earlier and it is at your own risk.  The reason it is called 'saints' is that in France every day of the year is a saint's particular celebration day.  The weather people on the TV still announce the saint of the following day, wishing people with the same name a "bonne fête" (while France pretends to have a secular society).  It is even traditional to buy family/friends a small present on their saint's day.  So the 'saints de glace' are the 'ice saints', and used to be Saint Mamert, Saint Pancrace and Saint Servais, though they have since been replaced by Saints Estelle, Achille and Rolande.

Comments

[Max]

Were your tomatoes grown from seed Laura? Mine have really struggled, along with the aubergines and peppers, due to the cold weather (before April) and poor seed compost. Have you found a decent one?

Just to be clear, there's now way I could be depriving us of this year's strawberries if it wasn't for next year's challenge!

[Laura]

Yes, I sowed them on March 1st, and then potted them on a couple of weeks ago. My aubergines and peppers are still a bit puny (wondering if I should've potted them on as well). I've sown two aubergines with a tomato right next to it to try to attach the aubergine seedling to the tomato roots as I saw on a gardening program once - we'll see if it works!

We did the seedlings in a sort of sun room area of the house that is half glass ceiling and that we noticed last year (when we first moved in with everything in pots) worked wonderfully as a greenhouse. They were right next to a large radiator during the cold weeks when they were first growing, so I think they were warm enough.

We got our organic seed compost from Botanic (their store-name brand variety), and it seemed really good. It is sort of a trendy store, though - lots of neat stuff, but it can be a little on the pricey side (although for organic if you stick to the basics like the seeds and soil, etc, it's not that bad). They have a club card that gives you a lot of promos, and we got a good deal on all the organic herbs there. Just looked at their website though and all the stores seem to be in the eastern half of France for some reason, so none near you...no luck.

[Max]

This is the wild west - we don't do trendy...

[Laura]

Lol, yeah, it feels a bit pretentious in there, like it is for people who want to be seen gardening and eating organic but not actually get dirty (and who wear wellies that match their outfit or something), but mainly sit around expensive patio furniture supping expensive wines. But it does have a large range of organic stuff that we haven't been able to find elsewhere...

[Micah - Coffee machine]

Your garden looks fantastic. Been trying this myself but I think I don't have the green thumb. Keep it up.

[Laura]

Hi Micah, thanks so much! It may very well be a case of beginner's luck (and good soil) - we'll see :) What have you been trying to grow?

[Ben]

Hi Laura,

Its looking really nice and tidy and I'm glad to see the potatoes are growing :)

Did you add anything to the soil?

Ben

[Laura]

Thanks Ben! We'll see whether they actually produce potatoes or not! :)
The soil seemed quite good for this year since it has just been resting under a thin layer of rather weedy grass. I've got compost going and there is a riding school on the other side of the village that we can get manure from for free, so the plan is to add both for next year.
It is amazing actually, the savoy cabbage that we planted at the same time as our neighbor are twice as big as his! (He adds manure every year, but has been growing vegetables in the same plot for over 30 years, so I guess it is taking its toll on the soil condition.)

[Vishal-Coffee Machine]

Hey really nice to see how potatoes are growing. Your hard work and dedication is really great..!!

[Laura]

Thank you for the compliment!