Broccoli

This year I haven’t been very good at growing vegetables: the courgettes were eaten up by the slugs, as well a the kohlrabi and most of the lettuce; beans and peas were decimated by mice; the potatoes and tomatoes suffered from fungus etc. etc.

 

One thing I am very proud about, however, is my broccoli. While last year was a catastrophe because it was top of the list with the caterpillars, we managed to have a few meals from the four plants that survived the slug attacks in the spring. (Though the first time I overlooked some caterpillars, which is why the rest of my family prefer broccoli from the shop.)

 

 

Here you can see last year’s broccoli — quite a difference, isn’t it?

 

End of Summer Blues

Autumn is coming fast this year; the first leaves are turning showing bright reds or dull browns. The night are rather cool so that I have no hope left of getting any more tomatoes or paprika, which as usual grow on the south side of the house as I have no green house. Although this is the most protected place in the garden, it has been too cool and wet all summer, the plants being torn by sharp gales and pressed down by strong rains so that I could only get a few meagre fruits from them. The remaining green ones I will have to take into the house and hope that they will ripen there. At least they will look decorative on my window sill.

The fields behind the house have just been plowed leaving a wet, earthy scent in the air — our daughter even said it reminded her of winter! (I object to even thinking of that yet.)

Potatoes

In German we have a saying “Der dümmste Bauer erntet die dicksten Kartoffeln” (The thickest farmer gets the biggest potatoes — meaning that intelligence isn’t necessarily needed to be lucky or successful). As can be seen from the picture, I don’t qualify, which is not much of a consolation. I had really been looking forward to a neat crop of these beautiful rose-coloured potatoes, however, spring was too dry and both June and July too wet, so that only this sorry little heap could be dug out.

At least there is enough of them for a few meals. My favourite is roasting them in the oven with sesame seeds. For this I grease a baking tray, then spread it with sesame seeds, salt and pepper. The scrubbed and halved potatoes are then stuck upside down on the seeds and then baked for about half an hour at 200°C. Served with sour cream — delicious.