Musings

First Garden Tomatoes and a Strawberry

The title says it all, really. Yesterday I picked the first tomatoes out of the garden ... and the first lovely, sweet strawberry ...

 

 

The strawberry disappeared in a flash, and the cherry tomatoes went into my spinach salad for lunch:

 

 

Do I hear anyone saying aaaaaaah yum? Because I certainly did. Am I looking pretty smug? Definitely. I'm hoping to look even more self-satisfied as the summer days go by - if the veggie garden survives - so you may have to either put up with further annoying aaaaaahs from me or avoid this blog completely for the next couple of months!

Wishing you a delicious day. Cheers.

 

The Vide Grenier in Lourmarin

The pretty village of Lourmarin held a vide grenier on Sunday. That's similar to a giant garage sale really. As it was my birthday, I decided to get away from the computer for a morning, join some friends, and take a walk on a warm, sunny, gorgeous day. Took the camera of course ...

 

 

Had a lovely lovely morning. Wishing you a day off to enjoy the sunshine wherever you might be. Cheers.

 

The Vegetable Garden ... About Time Too

I've been itching to get my vegetables up and going for a couple of months now. But the weather has been so erratic and we've had more than a few unseasonal cold spells, so was advised to wait. Well, I'm done waiting. As far as I'm concerned this is already far too late, so I set off to the nursery to buy some seedlings - being that it's no longer feasible to stick seeds into the ground.

My efforts at vegetable gardening have been pathetic the past couple of years (pathetic being an understatement by the way) as I end up never having enough time to spend out there, especially in the months of July and August when they need my time and watering the most. Very sad. But this year I've installed a self-watering system, a holey hose on a timer. Let's hope that will take care of the water needs ...

 

Here's my little bounty of seedlings, bought over the weekend. Five different types of tomatoes including heritage ones, a sweet pepper, courgette, aubergine and basil. Sticking to 'less is best' this year:

 

 

And here are the tomatoes, planted firmly in the beds:

 

 

Don't you love these chives that somehow survived the winter and are flowering now, with absolutely zero effort on my part?

 

 

The tomatoes seem pretty pleased at having a bed to curl up in, this one has just popped a happy flower out this morning, a soon-to-be baby tomato:

 

 

These were already on the plant when I bought them. Am rubbing hands together in glee hoping I'll be able to chomp into them soon:

 

 

Who says it's a dog's life? ...

 

 

Finally, couldn't resist adding my latest crop of cherries. Picked well in time too, as the birds have already started on them ... notice the two on the bottom left? They've been thoroughly pecked at.

 

 

I've been good and left quite a few on the tree for the winged beasts as they're in hungry spring mode, gathering energy for making babies and all that. The bird seed and grain is disappearing at alarming rates! There's chirping to be heard everywhere and today is a glorious spring day so we're all in the best of moods.

Wishing all of you a gorgeous, happy day! Cheers.

 

Update on Garden Cherries

In just two days, since I last took photographs (on Sunday) as seen in my last post here, this is what has happened to my cherry tree ...

 

 

My very first hand-picked cherries of the year! I confess to eating some straight off the tree (no pesticides are ever harmed by any form of use whatever in my garden) and they were already sweet.

Why, you might ask, were they not left just a couple of days longer to get even lovelier and darker and sweeter? Because the last time anyone had that smart idea (not looking at any mirrors here) it was to find only stems and pips left, as the birds had gleefully stuffed themselves. Gorged themselves, rather. And yes, they were tidy enough to leave the pips hanging off the stems. To taunt me no doubt.

This is despite the fact that they are extremely well-fed birds here, as they have seed balls and grain laid out for them every two days, even through the winter months. Then again, perhaps that's why they were kind enough to allow me to collect two crop-fulls of the sweet delicious red fruit before they took over. Thank you birds!

Have a deliciously sweet day! Cheers.

 

 

A Stroll in the Garden

Last week the garden finally got organized and work was done on the last of the weeding, the tossing out (sadly) of plants killed by frost, the moving about of the ones left behind, and the checking on what plants were still left alive and happy. I took some photographs then, but the the last few days saw the skies washing themselves grey and laundering the countryside as well. It's been pouring with rain. Rain rain rain. A flooded garden, moody pets, dark clouds.

Yesterday the sun re-emerged and poured blessings upon us all. So out came the camera, and I trotted around checking on the grateful greenery. Rain isn't too common around these parts, so we're usually rewarded with the full appreciation of thirsty, now fully-sated plants.

The garden here is a simple one, as I don't get to spend as much time out in it as I'd like. But it's also a deep pleasure when I can and do. So stroll around a bit with me, please do ...

 

This is where I have my morning coffee and evening sips on warm non-wintry days.

 

Happy soon-to-be-strawberry flowers.

 

One of my metal cats keeping guard on the lavender.

 

Baby cherries!

 

The tiny, beautiful, Lily of the Valley flowers.

 

The last of the Irises, in pale purple ...

 

... and white. The dark purple ones are all gone now, sniff.

 

Not sure what these flowers are, but the bees were putting on a wonderful show for me.

 

Baby apples!

 

My other metal cat, tending to the mint.

 

Lavender troops by the pool.

 

 

That was what the skies looked like yesterday, as the last of the grey floated away. Today they're a clear, Provençal blue. Apparently this week we're back to spring weather, sunshine and warmer temperatures. It's late in the year I know, but I shall be off to buy seedlings for the potager (vegetable beds) with it's newly installed watering-system-on-a-timer. Perhaps the veggie garden won't get killed off this year due to lack of water (and lack of time TO water) in the hot months of July and August!

Thank you for walking around with me - I hope it gave you a sparkle of as much pleasure as it does me. There's truly not much that's as joyous as just sitting back and soaking in the sunshine and greenery and colour out in the garden.

Wishing you a day full of beauty. Cheers.

 

 

Lovely Provençal Lunch & Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day! A perfect moment to share some images from a lunch we had last week at the home of a good friend who is a mother to four-year old twins ... I'm still trying to figure out her secret, amazed at how much she manages to achieve in a day and how she maintains the energy to cope with everything that she has to do.

 

 

Love having meals at her place, just look at that view ...

 

 

They have a Wendy House in the garden. I want one too ...

 

 

The company was relaxed and friendly, the food delicious and the view stunning. You can see why being over at her place is always inspiring.

Wishing her and all you wonderful mothers out there a truly happy Mother's Day!