While Vivh is knee-deep in crocuses and buyers remorse, here at the tip of the African continent we’re beginning to think about planting winter and spring bulbs. March is a little early, but we have had a decidedly wet and cool summer. Which must mean something, right? I mean, that’s what people who garden do: stand around, and comment on the weather and what the weather of the last 6 months will mean for the growing conditions of the next six months. So if anyone can tell me what a cool, wet summer will mean for my winter garden, please let me know.
I did take a chance on the weather, though, and bought a whole lot of bulbs this weekend. I know it’s early, but I wanted to beat the rush. There’s nothing quite like the crush of people around the bulb stand at your local nursery come Mid-May. I have, in my time, had to to elbow dear old ladies out of the way as they try to grab the last pack of babianas out from under my nose.
This year, I decided to go all indigenous (well, almost). I got babianas, ixias and ornithogalums. And, sigh, some alliums. Because I loooooove them, and I will try to grow them every year, even when they don’t work and break my heart.
The garden is, without a doubt, in the last flushes of summer. The roses are in their last, blowsy flush. The dahlias are beginning to die down and I can’t walk anywhere without getting covered in forget-me-not seeds. The cats drag them in all the time and leave them in my bed. The pomegranates are finished, and the sunflowers are on the way out (the were pretty lame this year, not even worth a photo). But my mighty daikon radishes, grown from seeds smuggled in from Japan last year, are looking fine. And so are the tamarillos. In fact, they’re better than fine. I’m completely overwhelmed by them. See those ones in the picture up top? That’s today’s harvest. Tomorrow promises more and still the tree will be bending under the weight of these weird, but rather tasty tree tomatoes. Short of lobbing them over the wall at the noisy students next door, I’m not quite sure what to do with them all. Does anyone have a good tamarillo jam recipe? Or one for a nice spicy tamarillo chutney? Apparently you can use them in beef Bourguignon, but I don’t think I like them that much.
And while I’m making demands of you – today is the last day for nominations for the SA Blog awards. See that huge button on the left? That’s the one to click…
Also, we want to know about your fruit and veggie success stories. And your dismal failures. We’ll donate a tree to Food and Trees for Africa for the best of each. So click here for more details….
