At the back of our house is a little bit of waste ground that nobody bothers about so The Man decided he would make it a project and set about improving the look of it. He made terraces using some wooden beams taken from the roof when we made a roof terrace and arranged a wine press ( an old one that we don’t use) in an artistic way, threw in a couple of green vintage wine demijohns (even more artistic) – put down some paving and gravel. The Man generally made a rather good job of it and proudly announces to everyone, ‘I did all this without spending hardly any money, only hard labour and all the materials are recycled. I only spent €10 on screws!’
I was in charge of filling the beds so I bought lots of rosemary plants, lavender, sage and other herbs. Then I decided to put in a couple of tomato plants. Yeah what a good idea. I thought I’d bought those cherry ones and looked forward to lots of little red jewels to put on our salad.
Everyone grows tomatoes here without any problem. I watered and fed them and they grew like triffids…amazing! They grew huge and are taking over the whole of the area but they are devoid of tomatoes – or are they? I have now spotted one or two but they are the buffalo variety – shock horror – where are my dainty little gems? Sadly they are taking a long time to get to anything like the right size for picking and as for going red…hmm – I think I’ll be making a lot of green tomato chutney this autumn.
I had also put in some strawberry plants which did quite well and look as though they’re spreading well so next year there should be a better crop – if only I can stop the cat and dog using that particular area as their toilet. Not sure if it improves the taste of the strawberries as I was rather put off trying them…
On a brighter note, my flowers have done extremely well this year and I’m very proud of my cascading petunias, a wonderful burst of colour – aren’t I clever?
And – I hope I don’t speak too soon – I have six oranges on my little tree, with a bit of luck they’ll be ready for Christmas!
Ninette, I bet you didn’t pinch your laterals! Did you? Did you pinch your laterals,darling??
I did pinch a few darling, but obviously not enough! x
Lovely post. Looking forward to the chutney !
Thanks Jean… 🙂
Hi Ninette, last year I grew oodles of tomatoes, I spent several afternoons turning them into salsa and bottling them. This year I think I might have just enough tomatoes to make a salad… maybe. Even the courgettes were miserable.
I blame it on the sun and rain, I think it was a different kind of sun and rain 😉
Better luck next year
PN
Yes…we’ve had LOTS of both! Rain earlier in the year and lots of very hot sun in July, August. As you say, better luck next year.
Last week it only rained twice, once for 3 days and once for 4 days
A lovely post, and a great project. Those big tomatoes always take ages to fruit and ripen. You could try leaving them on the plants for as long as possible, then putting them in a paper bag. They often ripen well enough for cooking.
Thank you Christina…I’ll try that! 🙂
It all looks and sounds great – until italian neighbour syndrome kicks in that is!
Know what I mean????
Great effort in any event – pass the chutney please …