This blog is not written by professionals. There are wonderful blogs out there, for learning, improving, doing things "the right way". This one only aims to share life with you, the little joys and misfortunes of a vegetable garden, which will primarily serve to delight our guests. In this vegetable garden, chemical products, products that could cause harm to insects, bees, birds, and... humans, are prohibited! We eat what we produce!
"From the point of view of Nature, a garden is any environment under the initiative of humans, whose purpose and direction have been given by humans, and whose maintenance is carried out by humans. It is humans who demand that a garden exists. We consider an environment to be "in friendship with nature" when humans understand that the elements used to create a garden work best, if they respect the dynamics of Nature. "
- Machaelle Small Wright -
JUNE PINK was first recorded in 1900 by Johnson and Stokes. It is an indeterminate plant with regular leaves that produces clusters of 4-6 beautiful, uniformly round pink tomatoes. It is a perfect market tomato because of its visual appeal with sweet flavours. JUNE PINK produces well until frost and appears to have good disease resistance. For good salads and a tomato for canning. Prolific for warm regions. (I hope so!)
Tomato of Swiss origin (Basel, as the Swiss German name suggests). Large plant with spiny type leaves producing huge clusters of delicious, 4-5 cm, oval, red pear-shaped fruit. A wonderful tomato acidity balanced with pulpy sweetness.Tomato planted in the last two years in the vegetable garden.
Developed in 1985 by the famous tomato designer Tom Wagner, this is an unusual and exquisite green tomato. The 6-8 cm round fruit ripens to a golden yellow with dark green zebra stripes. The flesh is a lime-amber colour and has an invigorating lemon-lime flavour. A SUPER green tomato to brighten up salads and other tomato dishes. For over 10 years at the Mas Conil vegetable garden!
It is a dwarf, indeterminate growing (tree-like) plant with rough, even-leaved foliage with good yields, pale yellow, heart-shaped fruits with light skin and yellow flesh. with light skin and yellow flesh. Excellent, delicious, balanced, sweet flavours. Developed between 2008 and 2015 by members of the Dwarf Tomato Project from a cross between Roza Vetrov and Anna Banana Russe, it has taken this long to stabilise this tomato cross. This variety is associated with the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI).
This tomato has been de-hybridised for many years. It is an open pollinated variety. A standard in the garden for those who want a reliable plant, abundant crops of red tomatoes with good flavour. This variety is a favourite of those who have difficulty with higher acid tomatoes. Ace 55 is a vigorous plant that grows tall and has been bred to keep its fruit from bursting. Well resistant to Fusarium Wilt, and Verticillium Wilt.
A red, pea-sized blackcurrant tomato that holds fruit on clusters until all are ripe. A very sweet and tasty treat loved by chefs and gardeners alike. Hawaiian blackcurrant tomatoes are a sure winner in gardens gardens around the world. Planted for 3 years, a real delicacy, despite its very small size, that brings spots of colour and novel flavours to dishes served at the table d'hôtes
The name says it all: a true classic Italian heritage. These seeds produce plants that yield a load of big, beautiful tomatoes, red, soft-fleshed, fat, slightly pear-shaped tomatoes that produce an abundance of rich, complex, sweet flavours that are well balanced with good acidity. All you want from a tomato revered by Italians is TASTE. It was a favourite at the 2008 TomatoFest in Carmel (USA). A good choice for cooking, eating fresh or canned.
Basil likes the company of tomatoes, and vice versa. And to vary the production a little, there will be in the garden: the large green basil, the basil with lettuce leaves, the basil with lime flavour, the opal basil (dark red colour) and the basil from Marseille. Beat will then have to make a few jars of pesto, so that winter will remind us of the flavours of the vegetable garden during the hot days.
Native to Nebraska. Perfect variety for hot, dry climates!" the catalogue writes. A regular-leaved, indeterminate-growing plant that produces large clusters of red, round, thick-skinned, crack-free fruit. Good complex, earthy flavours with a sweetness that balances with a pronounced acidity. Good acidity levels make it a very good variety for canning. Rather late, this tomato could not show its qualities in 2020. Second chance in 2021.
For zucchinis, this year I'm breaking my habits. This courgette is F1, i.e. a hybrid, and I will not be able to save the seeds for 2022. Last year's courgettes produced well, but they were not heat resistant enough. Their production time per plant did not exceed 5 weeks. I will try this kind of courgette, known, and more resistant, it seems I choose non-running courgettes, the squashes already take a lot of space.
Here too I am breaking my habits, Floridor is an F1 courgette, and therefore a hybrid. The reason for this is a 'complaint' from the chef, who finds that, until now, the yellow zucchinis that grew in the garden had too many seeds and not enough flesh. The reason is a 'complaint' from the chef, who thinks that, until now, the yellow courgettes that grew in the garden had too many seeds and not enough flesh. I tried the yellow, round ones, but without success. Culinary Essay 2021.
This year, why not melons? Since I'm going to increase the area available in the garden, I'll try melons. I hope that they will have plenty of foliage, so as to protect I hope that their foliage will be abundant, so as to protect the wells from too much heat. Charentais type with smooth rind. Older variety, vigorous. Beautiful fruits of 15 to 20 cm in diameter. Fragrant and very sweet. Does not require pruning. Very productive. I like the fact that the straw protects the roots, and as the water comes to the feet and not all around the plant, I have very few slugs or snails that come and do damage. Also, I chose this melon without pruning, I think it's easier for a first try. I hope I am right.
Second type of melon, just for comparison. Firm flesh, light green skin, very sweet red flesh. Harvest before the rind turns yellow. There will be 3 melon plants of each kind. If it works out well, we can choose which one we like best!
Still not very common in the kitchen garden and not much served at the table, the pastison is just waiting to be discovered. eaten young, it is tender and does not need to be peeled. When eaten older and therefore larger, the skin must be removed, just as it is for cooking squash. the seeds of the 'pumpkin' are organic seeds. the flesh has a slight artichoke flavour. To be seen how it will perform this summer.
It is advisable to eat the orange pumpkin young and it can even be pickled. If the taste lives up to its promise, the appearance of this vegetable will also delight the eye. It remains to be seen how productive the plants will be.
Very early (80 days) and productive variety. Good yield. Shelf life: 3 months. Firm flesh and soft texture. Elongated and regular tubers with yellow skin and pale yellow flesh. Very good presentation. In the garden: Plant in April-May at 8-12 cm depth, every 40-50 cm, in rows 65 cm apart, in a sunny spot, in deep, fertile, loose soil. Harvest from July to September. In the kitchen: This variety has a very good cooking behaviour. It can also be eaten with the skin and is best eaten boiled or steamed and in salads. or steamed and in salads.
For mashed potatoes, au gratin, fried or baked. A late and very productive variety with red skin and light yellow flesh and large tubers. It grows well in the garden, and the tubers are appreciated, culinarily speaking. It is the last to be picked.
Special "firm flesh". Note that the skin is pink but the flesh is yellow. All qualities for this relatively early variety: good yield, good culinary quality, good resistance to diseases and good cooking properties! Very good resistance to disease and drought. Oblong with pink skin and firm yellow flesh. It can apparently be picked early, the tubers are then a little small and late. But its taste and its use will be a discovery.
4 lobes for this square fruit, 7 cm wide by 9 cm high, 180/200 g., green then dark violet blue to become bright red, thick, sweet and fragrant flesh, a treat for cooks. Early plant, resistant to mosaic virus, for garden, shelter and container crops. Hard to propagate.
Square fruit with 4 lobes, 7 cm wide x 9 cm high, 160/170 g., fleshy and regular, creamy ivory with a good fresh flavour, then at maturity golden yellow with a delicious sweet taste. Mosaic virus resistant plant for garden, indoor and container cultivation. Hard to sow.
Spanish speciality from Navarra and Rioja, known for its thin skin and sweeter flesh than other varieties with a distinctive flavour. Red fruit when ripe, triangular in shape, 3-4 lobes, 6/8 cm Ø, 15 cm long, early plant, reproducible seeds.
Originally from Central America, the Espelette chilli pepper is a variety of Capsicum annuum traditionally grown in the Basque Country. It is appreciated for its red fruits with a tapered profile measuring up to 15 cm in length. Used to spice up dishes with its hot flavour of strength 4 on the Scoville scale, the Espelette chilli pepper is dried beforehand for long conservation. A non-hardy plant, its cultivation is very similar to that of the tomato. Similar to the pepper, the Espelette chilli pepper is grown outdoors as an annual, or in pots kept warm during the winter.
THE Provençal squash. It can be cooked as a dish, in sweet or savoury cakes, in soup. It can be stored well. Its chubby shape makes it impossible to not to be confused with another squash, also beige, the SUCRINE DU BERRY. The southern exposure of the vegetable garden (thus the great heats) and the absence of a shaded place make that I have never had butternut squash from Provence over 2.5 kilos. But the absence of field mice (for the moment) and the absence of humidity, and therefore the absence of snails or slugs, allowed the squash to ripen without too many problems. Squash are the most water-intensive vegetables in the garden.
Theoretically, it should be the biggest squash in the garden. I have not noticed any notable differences between the Provence Butternut Squash and the Rouge Vif d'Etampes. It simply tastes different, less sweet, and makes excellent soups for me to eat throughout the winter. I have noticed that this squash can sometimes produce a hybrid fruit, i.e. I have noticed that this squash can sometimes produce a hybrid fruit, that is to say that the bees have deposited pollen from another squash, and the result is a surprise. As I leave a maximum of 2 fruits per plant, I have never tasted this hybrid. I gave preference to a "real" squash.
This squash is probably the easiest to grow. Each year brings its own particularities. I'm waiting to see if it whether it is still easy to grow this year. All the squash in the garden are non-hybrids, so I can harvest the seeds. Squash seeds can also be used in cooking, for example by roasting them and making pumpkin seed bread!
Old variety, very large flattened fruit. The flesh of the "potiron jaune gros de Paris" is yellow, thick, tender and sweet, for soup, soufflé, custard, jam. Runner plant, reproducible seeds.
Early snap bean, can be frozen, harvested until autumn. Old stringless variety, green pods 13/14 cm, round, 1 cm Ø, good flavour. Early and compact plant, brown grain, reproducible seeds.No more information on the packaging!
Beautiful yellow, round pods, 15/16 cm long, absolutely threadless, vigorous and productive plant. Original white grain with a black spot at the umbilicus, reminiscent of an eagle's silhouette with outstretched wings, reproducible seeds.
Fine, fleshy and golden yellow, 12/13 cm pods of 7/9 mm Ø, do not mark the grain and do not take the thread, nor parchment. Compact plant, fine leaves, straight pods are easy to harvest, for fresh, preserved and frozen use. Good disease resistance, white grain, reproducible seed
Vigorous, early and upright plant, Up to 3 possible harvests it says! Dark green pods and staggered harvest, a threadless net remarkable by its colour well marked. Pod round, straight, smooth, fleshy, good flavor, 15 cm long, 8 mm Ø. Very productive, easy to harvest, vigorous upright plant, black seed. Excellent variety with good yield, reproducible seed. Very fine size. Can be harvested until autumn.
Long pods of 25-30 cm, fleshy, round, intense yellow, without threads, excellent taste, reproducible seeds.
Improved variety, producing fleshy green beans. Extremely early and hardy vegetable. Sow or replant after mid-May in the open ground. Very attractive presentation, shiny dark green threads, without threads or parchment, 20 cm long, round pods of 7/9 mm Ø, very good taste. Vigorous and very productive plant, Same qualities as the EMERITUS variety but for garden cultivation, black grain. Early maturing, excellent disease resistance, reproducible seed
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