We have come a long way from a run-down croft house in a tussocky field to a refurbished cottage with a working vegetable garden, fruit cages and a polytunnel. However, the dream of spending my winters by the fireside with bulb and seed catalogues remains ephemeral, as once again I’ll be out and about in
Describe the humble tomato as a love apple, pomo di mori, pomi d’oro, or pomo d’amori and it immediately conjures visions of beautiful fragrant, juicy fruits, Mediterranean skies and the mingling aromas of basil, garlic and fresh grassy olive oil. A far cry from the perfectly engineered, orange globes manufactured in Dutch mega glasshouses. The
Broad beans are one of my most reliable vegetable crops and I am usually rewarded with a rich harvest – enough to eat during the summer and sufficient to freeze as one of our winter staples. They are one of those vegetables that you either love or hate – eat them small with just a
While the gardener was away the chickweed made a bid for world domination in the vegetable beds and secured its empire with an outer defense of 3 foot high nettles. Now this is obviously a tribute to the fertility of my soil but I must confess that after a month of neglect I was probably
June flamed briefly but has now retreated into a sulk adopting a grey cloud mantle and a cool demeanor. The vegetable beds still look very forlorn, the plant growth can only be described as sluggish even though the levels of moisture in the soil are good and we’ve had plenty of sunshine. It is obviously