The vegetable garden so far

In the vegetable garden things look very good and as the years pass by we gain a greater knowledge of how to grow vegetables within this specific climate and the soil conditions that we have at La Pasera. As you may see from the picture, we grow a mixture of vegetables, flowers and herbs. The lavender hedge is starting to bloom and is much appreciated by a range of beneficial insects that come to gather its nectar. I personally like its visual impact and to walk passed it in the midday sun when its scent perfumes the whole area.

This year we constructed two rustic arches out of green bamboo canes for the sweet peas to climb over, they have been in full bloom for few weeks and provide us with such profusion of colour and perfume to be enjoyed not only when we are in the garden but also inside the house as we use them as cut flowers.
French beans are growing well over the sturdy bean pole system that we designed to withstand the occasional day of strong winds that we tend to get later on in the season.

The potatoes are ready to be dug up any time now and it will not be much longer before the main crop of onions is ready to be harvested.

We continue to enjoy salad leaves, French beans, courgettes and spring onions as well as early cooking onions. The varieties of beetroot (detroit 2 and Globe 2) that we grow this are particularly tasty and sweet - the best we have had so far and will certainly aoim to grow them next year.

The grass islands, that have been spectacular over spring and early summer, have now been cut, left to dry and drop seed, then the dry grasses and flowers collected and the islands left to grow and bloom again in late summer. The dried vegetation does not go to waste and is used as valuable 'brown' matter to add to the compost heaps. This helps with the overall mix and humidity of the heap and provides us with a great source of nutritious compost that is added to the vegetable plots in winter and spring.