Saturday, March 17, 2018

Rain!

Our little village is supposed to have one-two weeks of snow in the winter, and a week or so of rain in February. This winter, we had half a day with a light smattering of snow, and two days of rain. Last night, we had another day of rain.
And of course, a day of gentle rain in middle march means all the seeds hear the starter's pistol. When the dogs and I walked in the garden today morning, we saw many self-sown seeds- borage, parsley, sunflower, marigold that had emerged overnight.
And with everything sparkling and lush, it is a good time to share six things from the kitchen garden for this Saturday.
But first, a peek at the orchard.

1. There's vetch there, and clover, and grass. And despite that, the hens still prefer to scratch around in my seedlings. So every morning I walk them to the garden, and every morning, they follow me back home. But they are very scenic.


2. Potatoes. I have never planted them before. Actually, I haven't planted them yet. Mian wanted home grown potatoes, and G wanted to please Mian. And so one day I walked out to see G planting potatoes from his store.

3. Peas. These I definitely had a hand in planting. I used the last handful of last year's peas yesterday. Now it is time for more. These are just thinking of setting flower buds.

4. Lettuce. Merveille De Quatre Saisons. and truly a Merveille. This is our third year of planting them and they never fail to please. With a bit of frost cover, they keep chugging along through the winter, and are just beginning to bolt. Need to eat them up then.

5. Tomatoes! Brinjal! Chillies! All seed I had saved (except the brinjal). And now they are just beginning to sprout under their covers.

6. Garlic. And self-sown coriander. The garden gnomes alone know where the coriander came from, but I don't mind at all.

The 'six-on-saturday' meme is hosted by The Propagator. In his words, it's "Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a pest, a success, a project, a plan, an abject failure – anything at all!" So if you want to find out what's happening in other gardens, do go on over to his blog!


11 comments:

  1. Wow! I envy your climate, but not your hens! I have resident doves who must watch me scratch away away because as soon as I leave the garden, I hear the cooing. Wonder why all of the seeds aren't sprouting???

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  2. Getting pretty tired of them myself. Have been threatening to throw a biriyani party for the village, but now I think I will invest in a cage for them. They are villains!

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  3. Peas, salads, potatoes, garlic ... everything looks good and ahead of mine. Even if your hens are villains, they can run everywhere and certainly give you tasty eggs!

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  4. Love your seed covers on the pots!

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    1. :-) chir pine. Apparently they are 'warm' and encourage sprouting. And who am I to argue with a people who have farmed for generations?

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  5. Those peas look brilliant - mine have a long way to go to catch up!

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    1. The peas have overwintered. We plant them in November, and they hang in there till the spring warmth makes them shoot up

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  6. I'm confused about covering the seeds - what do you use to cover them & do they not get any light?

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    1. I use tufts of pine needles. And remove them once the seeds have sprouted. I don't do these for seeds that need light (my strawberries are presently covered with bubble wrap!) But toms and chillies don't seem to mind it. If I don't cover them, it is very hard to keep them moist and untroubled by birds. And I don't trust myself to remember to go down with a spray bottle several times a day!

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  7. Walking hens to the garden in the morning where they can scratch under the trees is the stuff my dreams are made of. I also like your pot covers, simple but clever. If I remember, I'll be copying for my garden pots next winter as it will keep soggy leaves away from the plants. Thanks for your comment on my blog, I'm enjoying reading back through yours, for once pleased that it's raining here in London.

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