Too hot for gardening…
At long last I see red....
It is just too hot for gardening. I have now run out of enthusiasm for even watering pots and my tomatoes which I’ve looked after for months. I think they have had more attention than the children. However the twice even three times daily watering that they need has now become a chore and as my friend Jenny said…it would be easier just to buy them from the supermarket. She’s right of course. However like childbirth, by next year I’m sure I’ll be buying the seedling again, full of enthusiasm and I will have forgotten that after more than 10 weeks, I have only picked one tomatoe to date…..It didn’t taste great either!
However, after more than 10 weeks of mostly sunshine I took this photo today to remind me how lucky we are living in Southern Spain. You really do never get bored of waking up to blue skies…..
Patio gardening
Thought I’d update my photos of my patio with its little pots of vegetables. The tomatoes are bigger than the ones I thought that I had purchased and are just ready now to ripen on the vine before I pick them and eat them that same day with a lovely salad with slices of chicken, beetroot dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The peppers are looking a bit spindly but are now producing green peppers. Not the plump bell peppers but ones that are excellent in stir fries, they aren’t a bit spicy but can be a little bitter so need to be cooked with a tomatoe based stock to balance this.
The lemon tree is as healthy as I have ever seen it but this year it has been watered twice a day and been given special citrus tree fertilizer. Only problem I’m going to have is trying to keep it watered whilst we go camping later in July to Tarifa. I’m going to stick some upside down water bottles inside it, cut off the nozzle and see if that works. The lemon tree drops its lemons if it feels that it is going short on water so I’ll be really upset if I come home and see the patio littered with blackened unripe lemons. Almost a reason NOT to go away.
Off now to read my new book that a friend gave me, it is called Rumour has it by Jill Mansell, a hardback which makes it feel extra special. I know there are fans of ebooks but a Sunday afternoon curled up on a deckchair in the garden with a cup of tea and a slice of fruit cake…well that’s just perfect for me. Happy Sunday…..
