Sep/090
Last of the summer veg
The vegetable garden has been looking a total mess for the past few weeks and I finally sorted it out today.
I've cropped all the rest of the lettuce, onions & potatoes and generally removed a load of the overgrown weeds and overgrown veg.
There was enough produce to make up 3 pretty hefty boxes. One box for me, and 1 each for the other two families who live in my chalet. I left the boxes on their porches for when they get home from work.
Hopefully they'll remember that when I ask them if they would mind if I dig up more garden and do some raised beds next year.
Last of the summer veg
Still left is a row of Berlotti beans at the back, which I'm waiting to crop till my girlfriend's back home.
There's quite a few cabbages which might or might not grow into a solid head (I think they're too close together).
The pak choi has long since bolted, but because it's a variety my Dad brought from the UK and you don't find it here in France, I'm waiting to collect the seeds.
There's also quite a mad looking pumpkin plant with 4 or 5 fruits starting to grow. If they get their arses into gear, they might get quite big in time for halloween. If we don't get a frost which kills them before that.
I've loved growing veg this summer. I've learned a lot of lessons and I can't wait to expand the garden next year and put all those lessons to good use.
Jul/090
Proud father of a Pak Choi
And in other news, my little toy vegetable patch is starting to produce. With all the potatoes, spinach, lettuce & pak choi etc coming out of the garden at the moment, I've hardly bought a vegetable for a fortnight.
Check out this bad-boy pak choi (chinese cabbage) which I took out today. My dad brought some titchy seedlings over from the UK in the car when visiting in May, and amazingly they grew into.... well.... stuff that looks like this. I'm very proud.
Real, proper veg that I grew myself.
Jul/090
Mountain Goats
I was down in Argentiere this morning. It's the next village down and has a small supermarket, but it's still a small village. It was busier than I've ever seen it. Turns out there was a market going on, and penned in by the church were a couple of hundred goats and sheep.
I was so tempted to buy a couple of goats. They look like cool animals to have around, keeping the grass down all summer and perhaps providing milk I could make cheese from. Aside from the many more obvious reasons for not buying a couple of goats, the reason which fully made up my mind was wondering how I would explain to them the difference between my vegetable garden and the grass they were allowed to eat.
Shame. I'd love to have seen how my cat would get on with a couple of goats too. Would she be the boss even though she's less than a quarter of their size?