le bon potager avec soleil

My mini potager is now bearing some fruits, I have tomatoes showing, my chard is ready to pick and my courgettes male and female are blossoming. Marc says he has eaten the courgette flowers before, and i have told everyone over the last five years that you can eat them...but i never have, only because you have to more or less pick them and eat them (see link below) they open up in the morning and by the evening they are very much closed, so you need to pick them on the morning you are going to eat them and put them in a zip lock bag, and then put them in your salad box. I am going to stuff mine for lunch with herbs and mozzarella dip in batter and lightly fry.

I grew cosmos from seed which has taken a long time but has finally taken off.  I lost three cucumber plants from the market as baby plants but have grown four from seed. Coriander, lettuce, sweet peppers, sorrel and purple basil all did well to begin with, but the utility room is just to hot.

At the start of the week i was given an old french recipe, for maybe some insects but on further reading it is good for any fungus or parasites in the soil and so rich in minerals it's good for us to.

for further reading on the uses and benefits of the nettle

The old french recipe is simple, boil up lots of younger stingers, perhaps twenty tops and just cover in boiling water. Later when it has cooled down sieve the nettles to put in your spray.It can also be used as a feed slightly more diluted as it is rich in minerals.

one bucket with some nettles

nettle  concentrate (that's what i am calling it) for my sprayer

chard looking ok, have lost a few outer leaves to munchers

our very first coeur de boeuf

concumbre from seed

my first courgette in France!
delicious recipes for courgette flowers

small courgette flying saucers from seed...i do not know how well they will do in pots

Other things that are doing well in the garden despite early negligence, not being here or having the energy to prune, is the grapevine and the Mirabelle plum. The Mirabelle has had high winds late on to knock the fruit off and an obnoxious spring to slow down the whole process but is still looking good.

still laden with fruits, and this time we will be competing with the birds from the start

the utility room which happens to be wall to wall glass and a very easy way to germinate my seeds