In The Boiling Pot

We currently have a few “projects” on the horizon. Their implementation will depend on various factors, but mostly the availability of the vital ingredients: time and money.

Project #1 relates to gardening, where we have no type of facility where the girls can grow cooking requirements, herbs, and some pretty flowers to attract the bees, nor any formalised veggie patch with proper soil in decent sunlit conditions. First prize will be a trellised square directly behind the house, in close proximity to the kitchen. Known as the “potager jardin”, this project has been discussed for a number of months, with ideas building up a picture – the term translated from the French is “vegetable garden”, consequently “kitchen garden.”

Whilst nothing is set in stone as yet, with no finalised details, it is likely that the potager will be approximately 10x10 directly behind the garage, fenced with a trellis (to keep puppy feet from trampling the delicate herbs and flowers). It could also site the gas BBQ, the metal outdoor dining table and chairs, and perhaps, sometime later, accommodate a pizza oven as well. The very first concept draft was drawn on the back of an envelope, but the final picture could look completely different…

(Above): The famous Potager Du Roi – probably a little bigger and grander than “Potager Du Chartwell”, but, hey, some people have veggies to grow… and garlic, too…

(Above): The pebbled area with the brown pipe-stand is the approximate location of where we would like to site the potager.

The other “project” in the boiling pot is a chook-coop (chicken run), which we would like to build to accommodate a team of laying hens, sufficient to provide us with eggs for a  family of six, and still have some left for omelettes and baking needs. Their existence will depend on their ability to give us eggs valued at least at the cost of their feed and upkeep. Free range organic eggs in New Zealand vary in price between 55 and 70 cents each (in SA terms that’s R5.00 to R6.40 each)…

All Greek to Me

Whilst I have never really been much of a successful gardener, nor have I gained much knowledge about plant propagation, seed and bulb types, or ideas about the proper care and maintenance of pot plants or flower beds, I am able to recognise attractive displays, both in formal gardens as well as in natural surroundings.

In the kitchen garden (more properly the jardin potager, as my French friends would say) there was a fairly dense border of low-growing leafy things. And that’s what they were for the months of December and January. I don’t know who planted them there, or whether they are a legacy from the previous owners.

At one point I tried to tidy the pathway bordering the j.potager, and I hacked the parts of these plants which overhung the cement walkway and dropped their rotten debris on the hard surface. The main plants apparently suffered no harm by the hacking process.

Then, in February, the plants started becoming more dense, and little buds started appearing in March. By the middle of March, we started seeing these purplish blooms appearing.

 

The interesting thing about this en masse display is that we did not water them at any time – natural rainfall has been their only supply of moisture. So, water-wise is good, even though they may be invasive and alien.

According to the garden handbook, they are probably something like Grecia Windflowers, or Greek Anenomes, known to the Latins as Anemone blanda.

I understand that we let them die down after flowering, cut the dry stems and dig up the tuberous material for re-planting? Any readers with good advice, please comment below, so that we can get them going next season.

Mid-summer harvest

Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Harvest commonly refers to grain and produce, but also has many other meanings. We refer to harvesting as the process of picking, plucking or collecting any part of any tree or plant for eating or daily use. I guess it excludes our biggest harvest by far – clippings from lawn mowing and grass from weeding!

Because the trees bear fruit at different times of the year, there will naturally be a number of mini-harvests instead of a major big one. Sunday 12 January 2014 was just one such mini-harvest: In our sights was the ripened crop on the plum tree (and, for another reason entirely) bounty suspended from the three lemon trees, like Christmas decorations in December.

Tyler hard at work (0567) stripping the lemon tree while Brynn was getting busy with her most favourite – the green beans growing near what will eventually become the jardin potager (the ‘kitchen garden’ in French).

I suspect that he has just let loose one of his famous sayings, judging by the look on the face!

Tyler worked industriously without belly-aching (which he always does, bless him – in stark contrast with so many other teenagers) and soon the laundry basket (0573) was half full with lemons – at least 10 or 12 kilos, and the trees were, so to speak, completely empty! Here he goes, taking the harvest to the kitchen for further processing – just not sure what process, though…

Around the same time, Brynn arrives (0574) with her Red Riding Hood basket. Luckily, there had been no wolf to interfere with her harvest. She completed the green beans and had already started on the plums near the Main Lawn.

Back at the harvest fields (at the plum tree), Brynn discusses (0579) intently ways and means to pick the plums, most of which are hanging from branches high up, w-a-y out of her reach.

Brother Tyler stretches up on tip-toe (0580) to reach the fruit on higher perches without too much effort, while sister Brynn stands by, and offers voluminous unwanted advice to the labourer.

Brynn’s basket (0583) is reasonably filled with a selection of produce, which she plans to take with her as sustenance at Pony Camp as from Monday 13th.

Tyler, bless his gumboots, will always come up with something to say: Let’s hope he stays this way: sometimes it is just a little frustrating, but it always has some sort of entertainment value and is always upbeat. Here he is (0584), perched somewhat precariously at the highest point in the plum tree, and out of the blue, has just quoted a line out of a Monty Python sketch, “Hey, I can see my house from here!”

Whilst the picking and harvesting the fruit, and looking at your house from the top of a tree may be over, Brynn still had piles of work for the rest of the afternoon, including juicing dozens of lemons. Here (0587) she makes a fruit joke while washing the crops before further processing. A huge Thank You to the young labourers. What a change from having to watch the telly!