More pictures than words today, based around the theme of harvests to come:
This is my summer raspberry patch and I only wish you could hear this rather than see my rather uninteresting photos. It is simply full of busy buzzing bees, pollinating the flowers and hopefully resulting is us have a bumper crop of raspberries.
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| Raspberry patch at Eco-Gites of Lenault |
More fruit to come here too - this is my thornless blackberry which produces huge fruits in a good year.
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| Blackberry Flowers |
And the gooseberries are looking good. So do you love or hate gooseberries?
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| Young Gooseberries |
This one is for my friend Jane who assured me I could not keep basil alive. One week on and I've not killed it yet! (Please note use of word yet though!).
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| Basil - growing well! |
In the polytunnel, things are looking a bit bare compared to recent weeks but this week I have planted out 66 tomato plants, 10 peppers and 10 aubergines so there should be plenty to harvest later this summer. The overwintering onions are now ready for harvesting at a time when they are most expensive in the shops.
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| Polytunnel - late May 2014 |
I bought in 6 early tomato plants and these are now just showing their first fruits - it will be a few more weeks before they are ready but they will be so good I can almost taste them now.
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| First tomato |
Time for a quick view of outside the polytunnel - spuds and mangetout to the left, outdoor onions and broad beans in front - and a lot of grass - it has been a bit wet on and off this week making grass mowing impossible.
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| Polytunnel and veg patch at Eco-Gites of Lenault |
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| Foggy the Moggy snoozing |
Finally, in case you didn't read it can I point you to the blog I wrote yesterday. I talk about how as consumers we have been led to believe that the perfect look is what we should all attain - and in the case of fruit and vegetables this is often at the expense of taste. Do you prefer your produce perfect looking or are you happy with a few bumps and marks if what you get tastes better? Please do pop, have a read and let me know what you think.
I hope you have enjoyed my virtual tour of the garden this week here at Eco-Gites of Lenault. For more nosing around gardens why not pop over to Mammasaurus's blog and click on some of the links in the How Does Your Garden Grow (#HDYGG) linky. Happy gardening everyone!
Your friend Jane is jealous because you are so good at growing everything else! See you later, xxx
ReplyDeleteLOL - but you got to see my failures too!
DeleteThornless blackberries sound perfect - I've never heard of them before.
ReplyDeleteI love gooseberries - even straight from the bush, if it's a sweet-ish variety.
Foggy the Moggy looks as though he's been really busy - time for a good rest!
Emma :-)
I bought the thornless variety here but I do know you can get them in the UK - maybe ask at your local garden centre.
DeleteOh I'm happy with a few lumps and bumps and I especially want my children to learn the same. It upsets me to see children turn up their noses at perfectly good bananas and apples for a few spots. Foggy is very sweet looking and wishing you the very best of luck with the Basil. My mouth is watering.
ReplyDeleteIndeed - the further we go down the line of rejecting anything with a mark on it the harder it will be to turn back the clock.
DeleteOh wow! You will have to let me into your secret with the basil. I never manage to grow it inside or out! Yours looks very healthy.
ReplyDeleteIf I keep it alive I'll tell you what I did.
DeleteLovely garden! I haven't got a single green finger, though I would love the opportunity to grow on such a large scale as you.
ReplyDeleteYour cat is super cute. Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier today xx
It's a lot of work but definitely worth it.
DeleteOoh! I'm jealous of your tomato. And your snoozing cat, of course!
ReplyDeleteWow you have so much growing, you'll have a fantastic harvest! Looking forward to seeing how you get on x #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteI also have a lot of weeds growing!
DeleteWhat a gorgeous garden... my brother in law has a set of poly tunnels and land and grows lots of yummy veg and stuff. I don't mind a few bumps as long as it tastes good and is healthy. Those tomatoes are coming up good! :o)
ReplyDeleteI am hoping for a bumper tomato crop this year - his is the most I have ever planted.
DeleteFlavour over appearance any day of the week for me! Loving seeing the polytunnel from the outside too - sounding like you are well organised and in line for a bumper crop this year!
ReplyDeleteHmmm gooseberries, well I've only had them once and that was in a crumble with heaps of sugar and I like it then - would I pick one from a bush and eat it- I 'm not so sure, you may red to convince me on that one!
Loving the name Foggy the Moggy - thanks for being purrrfect and joining in again *shudders at my own pun*
And if Foggy is under a plant and I accidentally water him he becomes Foggy the Soggy Moggy! My gooseberries are quite tart eaten fresh from the bush but I love them.
DeleteYou know i dont think ive ever tried a Gooseberry? i dont think so anyways, must give 1 a try. there look lovely :) #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteThey can be very tart raw and do tend to be something people either hate or love. Let me know how you get on.
Deleteamazing, so much growth! I can almost smell those tomatoes… I can't wait for ours to start fruiting :) love the sleepy muggy too!
ReplyDeleteI could do with some warmer weather to give them a boost though.
DeleteWow, that looks like some seriously delicious growth. And gooseberries -- I LOVE them. Must put them on my list of things to grow next year...
ReplyDeleteLoving your whole blog too, I dream of doing something similar one day myself (though, I think out in the West country of the UK, rather than France, though having a read of what you're up to is persuading me otherwise!)
Aw thank you. This type of life is hard work and at times a struggle but overall I wouldn't swap it for my old life.
DeleteI could do with some thornless blackberries bushes! However since we get all of ours free from the local woods I shouldn't complain about a few scratches.
ReplyDeleteIt just shows the difference between Yorkshire and France as my tomatoes won't be showing fruit for a couple of months yet. Good luck for this year's harvest.