FROM GARDEN TO TABLE!

25th June - CENTRAL PORTUGAL

‘Thunderstorms’, isn’t nature wonderful? - two weeks of sunshine causing one hour of watering every evening (which does have a tendency to become very tedious) and along comes the bounteous rain in copious amounts (but like certain guests and fish, three days is really enough at one time).

So everything, including weeds, is enjoying ‘growth’. Courgettes seem to grow at a meteoric rate, if left for two days they resemble ‘Dirigibles’ - strange to see an ‘Art Deco’ ‘Zeppelin’ establishing itself on the vegetable terrace. Had an excellently flavoured overgrown ‘Romanescu’ baked in the oven and stuffed with a ‘hot’ chilli con Carne for dinner this evening.  Tomorrow it could be a round green ‘Eight Ball’ thinly sliced and fried with garlic until crispy on both sides – now this is part of the ‘joy’ of gardening. (He hopes! - HG)

courgettes and their flowers hiding amongst their leaves

           

Just along past the courgettes there are four varieties of ‘Winter-Squash’ doing their ‘thing’. The green ‘Burgess’ grow large without any conscience and the ‘Gourd’ like ‘Harriers’ grow with ‘gay’ abandon (splendid for squash soup).

Two varieties of winter squash

 Cucumbers are doing so well that they are already being used to make and excellent ‘Chilled’ summer dinner party soup - just add a little garlic, mint, lemon juice, yoghurt and season to taste – utterly delicious on a hot evening.

young cucumber

 (Note from Head Gardener - have you noticed how he's publishing all my best recipes?)

 Seem to have eradicated the fearful ‘Brown Blight’ on the tomatoes, fruit now forming on at least ten of the fifteen varieties under cultivation (planted some emergency seeds on the 10^th June when the ‘Blight’ appeared, just in case, and  ‘Red Alert’, ‘Roma’ and ‘Tigerella’ are now in individual pots and are showing the first signs of embryo flowers, so looks like Tomatoes well into November (probably have to buy another freezer to accommodate the crop).

Nice trusses of green tomatoes

"Just in case" young plants

The ‘Erythrina’ (Brazilian Dragon Flower) is bursting into incredible flower with long sprays of vermillion buds, hence the native Brazilian name ‘Crista Galli’(Tears of Christ), easy to grow but very difficult to propagate cuttings.

can't wait for these buds on the Erythrina to open!

Fuchsias and Geraniums just get better by the day. Keep frugally watering the Geraniums and feeding and watering the Fuchsias to keep the ‘Show’ on the road.

The seriously hot small, yellow, Peruvian Chilli plant that was ‘over wintered’ has come up trumps with the first chillis formed and ripening with a mass of flowers just about to be fertilized into a very heavy crop of mouth ‘burning’ fruit.

Not the best angle on the yellow chillis, half hidden by fuchsia flowers!

Pot grown Strawberries are now producing sweet perfectly formed crimson fruit and look set to continue for quite some time if the ‘flowers’ are any indication, just the wonder of ‘Miracle Grow’ yet again.

Spot the ripe strawberry!

Whoops, that sounds like the Head Gardeners bell, must dash as the umbrella is probably required on the upper terrace.

See you soon,

Stuart