Tag: vegetables
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April in the Mediterranean Garden: Managing Abundance
Spring is probably easy in just about any garden anywhere. It is definitely easy in our Mediterranean garden. The spring rains were plentiful again this year and so for once there are no water restrictions in force. The sun is getting stronger by the day and everything grows by leaps and bounds. Sometimes I just…
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The Potager in Winter: Cabbage & Co.
Cabbage works like a charm here – at least if planted over the winter. I usually plant cauliflower and Brussel sprouts in early or late fall. They’re just fine with colder temperatures and as soon as the weather gets warmer you can watch them grow bigger by the day. Last year I planted a little…
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The Potager in Winter: Lamb’s Lettuce & Fedia
Growing vegetables during the Mediterranean winter is as easy as sowing/planting in October/November and harvesting from January. Last fall I sowed sugar snap peas, cima di rapa, wild chicory, salsify, purple cauliflower, radiccio, lattughino, lamb’s lettuce and fedia etc. Lamb’s lettuce is one of the easiest and most satisfying lettuce crops – it’s not prone…
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Rheum – Rhubarb
Planting Rhubarb in this Mediterranean garden turned out to be a successful experiment. In August 2022 I planted a “Frambozen Rood” in half-shade. Despite regular watering it did suffer a lot from the heat. During the garden re-ordering in December 2023 I moved it next to the wall of the garden shed where the soil…
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Spilling the Beans…
It was surprisingly hard to find the kind of beans or peas that will really work for us in this mediterranean garden. Broad Beans / Vicia faba Broad Beans at first seemed a really good idea. Especially because they can be planted over the winter when the dreaded black aphids aren’t around. I planted them…
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Tulbaghia violacea
With a Filippi “code de secheresse” of 5 and its pretty as well as edible leaves and flowers, Tulbaghia violacea is an excellent plant for mediterranean gardens. This plant of the Allium family comes from South Africa and flowers in spring and fall in my garden. It tolerates up to -10°C and needs a light,…