Tag: vegetables
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Chilies and Peppers
Chilies as well as bell peppers love mediterranean climates and, if given good nutritious soil and enough water, will fruit well into November or even until the first frost. Sowing chilies has been fraught with difficulty in my experience. The plants don’t really grow strong and suffer tremendously with each transplanting. In the future I…
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Harvesting Olives
We had three olive trees, two of which had been planted in the half shade between some tall trees and the sunlit side of the house. As a result, they grew at an oblique angle and only on the side facing the light. We sold them in the spring and are hoping they are happy…
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Ipomoea Batatas – Sweet Potatoes
Pretty (though few) flowers and tasty fruit – Ipomoea batatas or Sweet Potato work well here in this Mediterranean garden. The wild form of Ipomoea batatas is native to Central America. It was imported to Asia by the Spanish and to Africa by freed African slaves. Today it’s grown in almost all tropical and subtropical…
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Summer Green: Tetragonia tetragonioides
In my Mediterranean garden spinach grows very well over winter and into spring but the summer is way too hot for it. Tetragonia tetragonioides or New Zealand spinach is the perfect “summer spinach”. It is a plant from the Aizoaceae or “ice plant” family (mesembryanthemum, delosperma & Co.). Unlike others of this family it is…
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Tomatoes
Tomatoes, well, surely tomatoes grow like crazy in the Mediterranean!? Yes and No. When I first planted tomatoes in the open vegetable plots in 2022 I was shocked to see them turn completely white on one side with “sunburn”. In 2023 I tried shading them but they still suffered and by August all plants were…
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Direct sowing or cultivation in pots?
Coming from a more Northern country I was used to start my seeds in pots on the windowsill before finally putting plants outside in the garden. I’ve tried it here as well but, lacking windowsills in this French-built house, it’s become a bit complicated and not altogether successful. I bought a grow light and rigged…