TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS, AND AUGUST HEATWAVES

Well it feels like we have been absent for a while.  Certainly it has been some time since all our collective members have been together up at our little plot..  Indeed, two have travelled over the big pond and are still Stateside, the rest of us have had family visitors or simply been wiped out by the heat.  I think we have just come out of the hottest summer I remember and even the meteorologists are talking about records having been broken.  Despite these adverse circumstances we have kept up our visits to the field and have many adventures to regale you with.  To give  you a wee prologue here....Storms  ( the felling of Mr Darcey), Thefts ( minor to major), Insect Attacks  and yes  Produce Galore..

Lets start with the vegetable news.  As we said we had had some problems with bugs on the toms, so generally I would say they have  been disappointing. EXCEPT  the cherry toms, which need to be harvested no  not in the tens but hundreds.

Similarly successful in their abundance  and all varieties are the peppers.  Courgettes and Aubergines also are being plucked in abundance, in a variety of shapes and sizes  which is all very amusing  after Sarah s two big melons we now have Helena and..........

.......actually I'm lost for words at this one.2nd CAPTION  COMPETITION    one for Helena and ppleaseee what on earth is Brenda thinking in the background..

So general produce good  Herbs   BASIL  (Fawlty Towers skit here)    You have grown out of all proportion   Madness  total madness  I mean there is only so much pesto you can make.  Herbs good  both kinds of basil growing wildly ,  Parsley  not so much   although being sat on umpteen times by a big dog does not help.. (ATILLAAAAAA)

The melons have also  been disappointing although the watermelons doing better  we never seem to be able to pick them at the right time   .  Either they are not red and juicy in the middle yet,  so under ripe or we leave them too long and they are mauled by dogs or other creature leaving horrible scars caused by unimaginable beasts that I would rather not dwell on.  (R ###S)

Something that  as a non gardening person has somewhat surprised me is just how much space water melons and melons do take up,  Everyone said  plant them far apart and not near anything else and Gordon Bennett  given the chance they would just take over everything.  I think for next year the ideal place to plant melons and watermelons is...the next field....

So ending this section on the good news   lots to eat!!   and generally de bloody licious,...

STORM DAMAGE


Now the challenges.... One day  it rained  and it must have been quite windy as most of the cane supports and even Mr Darcey blew down.  The canes with toms and peppers, aubergines were replaced and Mr Darcey re erected.  However you can see he has developed definite leaning to the left.  A possible response to tough times, or the obvious impotence of our elected leaders in Greece  or even a comment on the European  dictatorship of Greek politics.   Or maybe  we just didn't have a ladder to git him straight agin... You decide.







THEFT..  SOMETHING AND NOTHING......

Damn dogs stole one of my shoes, well actually  caught the damn thing which had grabbed my camera case and was scooting up the hill with it . I hotly pursued and succeeded in grabbing the camera case  only to discover there was a partner in crime    TWO ATTILAAAAAAAS.  Atillla number 2  got a shoe and off it went.  shoe never seen again

.  Much more serious, a car was broken into while we were gardening. 10 meters away..  The perp. escaped out the gate.  In full view.  Note to ourselves always lock cars and go in pairs  Difficult Days

Meanwhile back to gardening... and then there is the weeding  and more weeding and more weeding.Oh  I do do it    but mostly just taking photos  Oh  Insect Attack  note to self  TUCK SOCKS IN TROUSERS.   EUUUUUUGH.  Gross really   but i felt this think crawling up my leg.  Pulled trousers down  somewhat rapidly and ejected a huge centipede  EUUUUUUU. Refreshments time..





In the dark days that we have here in Greece at least we still feel  despite some setbacks that we are working together, achieving something positive, planning ahead,  moving forward, learning from our mistakes and eating better. Now we need our full team back as we need to start planning for the winter.  I guess its time to sow more seeds.

We will ,   as ever keep you posted

The Attack of Attilla

Really is it not bad enough that we have to fight off ants, white fly, drought and other Biblical Plagues!!!!!Now we have had to deal with the attack of Attila , the farm dog (from hell)  Look I love dogs, all shapes,  all sizes,  all temperaments,   BUT  when they attack out tomatoes and cucumbers  my hackles rise grrrrrr.

So you remember last week how we had toiled under 
the hot sun to erect our lovely green netting to protect
our produce from the heat of the very very very hot sun.  
Well evidently Attila thought it was a great place to play 
and during the week ripped it  tore it  pulled it down 
and in the process all the cane we had put up and 
destroyed a few plants grrrrrrrrr.  

 A couple of toms plants and cucumbers were destroyed and all the cane and netting was down.  Helena and Theresa did a sterling job of putting things back together on the Wednesday then Brenda and I took over on the Sunday .  We basically untied everything then tied it back up again.  Until it got dark.  the dog appeared  not looking sheepish (no pun intended) and Brenda uttered a few choice expletives

Well, after a couple of hours we had done the best we could and as night was falling  or had indeed  fallen we decided to call it a night.



One cherry tom remained to be recovered and retied up, but of the rest we were fairly confident they would survive.  Two of the cucumbers had to be consigned to the compost heap (want not waste not), we treated for an ant infestation, did a bit of weeding and retired to come back and fight another day.

The one piece of good news is that the watering system seems to be working and everything else was looking quite perky.  This was Sunday night and I vowed to return on Tuesday with Sarah to finish Operation Save The Toms!!!!.

Tuesday came and we went early  at 6pm.  The previous day temperatures in Kalamata had reached 40 odd degrees so this was a real labour of love.  We reset the water so it should come on 7 til 9 twice a day and retied the remaining poorly tom, then went hunting for produce


(NOTE   THIS IS A CAPTION COMPETITION.  PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR CAPTION IN THE COMMENTS BOX)

More melons and water melons

Courgettes

and some cucumbers from a different part of the garden than  where Attila attacked.

All in all we felt quite pleased with our efforts and collected some nice goodies to take home.  It remains to be seen if the dog attacks again and we hope next time we go up to re  erect the netting  maybe keeping it further off the ground so Attila cant get at it or even trying to fence the area off.







Watch this space to see who is the winner in the war of the tomato plants versus Attila the farm dog  (du du du duhhhhhh)   And  have a go at the caption competition ....

Beat the Heat

A quick up date this week.. for those of you who don't live in Greece  I would like to inform you that ITS HOT   BLOODY HOT.. daytime temperatures between 22 and 38 today and likely to get hotter.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/261604


That's no fun for us poor humans with so much water in our bodies  you walk round wondering if your blood is actually boiling.  Shortened tempers are also a common side result of this  hence the reply when someone asks politely how you are,  you bark back  "Hot  what do you think!"  Then growl (grrrrrr)


But  if we mere mortals are suffering then our beloved veggies are having an extremely rough time of it.  As you may remember from .last week  a few plants were looking a little parched  so priority this week is water and shade


WATER

To facilitate automatic watering we bought two automatic timers .  Total cost 55 Euros and they were fitted easily (Ahem with help from Thannasis)
and are now programmed to water for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.  Sorry the photo didn't come out so I will take more and let you see them in action (Actually they just sit there  but well you know what I mean)
Ok so watering  DONE!  lets hope we see some improvement in that area.  next moving on to the shade.




SHADE
Most veggy growers here use green netting.  its quite cheap  we calculated that to cover an 8 x 9 meter area would cost about 22 euros.  Two things::  you can get different thicknesses  depending on how much light and heat you wish to allow through and if you are careful you can reuse it for the next year.


Well thankfully again our benevolent land owner comes to the rescue and says he has extra green netting so  off up to the farm to collect and put in place

Ok so green netting going up over the toms and cucumbers.  Again very thoughtfully  our netting came with little hooks on the side which made it easier to  fasten to the fence,  ground or poles.

We did think that perhaps next time when  we plant toms and put up the cane  we might arrange the cane into a kind of box shape shape  rather than wig wam type shape as this would facilitate the laying of the netting.  I think it remains to be seen now how long our erecting efforts will last.  One good wind could pull everything down  but hey this is trial and error anyway so on-wards and upwards with the learning curve folks.
so  Shade  DONE 
(We may add a bit more next week)

Ok  so after all those exertions and a bit more weeding, we really felt we had done enough in THE HEAT..... So other produce was pruned and collected.  there are actaully lots of toms growing and the courgettes look yummy

We optimistically thought the melon was ready so Sarah bravely harvested it and we tried it  .  result  really needed another week  but would be fine if marinaded in Pimms.  I bow to Sarah s superior judgement in this

Brenda weeded away til the proverbial goats came home and Helena and Theresa sorted out the produce to be collected this week.  We are certainly getting some nice bags of food each week  and more each week.  Now as you can see some aubergines (egg plants  US friends),  cucumbers , lettuce, toms, spring onions and basil.

Well as i was hoping for a British win at Wimbledon  my contribution was the bottle of champagne  We didn't win the tennis so we toasted the watering system and the green netting.   CHEERS




(Sorry about the t shirt, it' s my happy face   looks really daft)


Next week we will update on the effectiveness of our shade and watering efforts  till then  have a cold shower and try to stay coooooool

And So We Enter July

June has finally departed and we bring our little gardening project into full summer.  July is here and boy is it hot.  This is a time in Greece for relaxation, beaching it, swimming everyday and of course wonderful Greek salads and tzatziki and bread. (More of which later)  Politically and Economically we are well and truly screwed so lets grow some more food folks


Although in theory it is holiday time  our members of the collective are still busy as heck, meaning that for a long time we have not ALL been up to the garden at the same time..  We have had a couple of weeks of successes and some increasing concerns.  As we all know in Greece when its hot  you need to water early n the morning and late at night.  You  cannot (Coz you will expire) and should not water in the heat of the sun. Not having an automatic watering system has meant that we are visiting the plot individually or in pairs maybe five out of seven evenings.  This is the result.  As you can see things are wilting a bit.  

 At first we thought it might be white fly

 As we did have rather a lot of them,  but with persistent spraying with water with a touch of liquid soap, and  then spraying water with marigold essence (sounds like a yummy cocktail)  I think we are holding the little buggers at bay.  Anyway  your opinions would be welcome.  We are also considering  due to the intensity of the sun here whether we should cover the toms with protective netting..
while we are on the subject of toms  A thought perused its way through my diminishing brain cells.  Some tomatoes we planted secondarily and without plastic sheeting to keep the weeds at bay,   do not seem so water starved  (if that is indeed the problem)  as those that have plastic sheeting down.  So,  I dug round the roots and widened the gap  round each plant  and lets see if that makes a difference
Again your feed back would be extremely welcome.


On to a  more happier note.  The lettuces and spring onion have been doing marvelously well and are now coming to an end.  while the other summer crops are not looking too bad.  Helena talks to them a lot, Brenda sings or hums and I  throw buckets of water

We are regularly picking cucumbers, and still have rocket coming up which although looks a bit mangy is absolutely delicious.

 The melons are growing   somewhat slowly though  but I guess that's what they do.  They just  don't appear overnight.  I don't know does anyone else  make the connection between melons and natural childbirth... may be this is why i expect the melons to appear fully grown???

 Courgettes and aubergines  (eggplants for US readers)  both looking ok.  Peppers need a little more lurrrv and attention  Helena  come on talk the talk here.  The basil is superb  (lots of pesto) but embarrassingly enough the dill has not taken  so I walked out of the filed and picked it from the hedgerow (DUHHHH).  Generally we are satisfied with our efforts and  still enjoying it immensely.  Oh a little old Greek village lady passed by last night and said how wonderful our Mr Darcey was and what a good job we had done on him  (She said nothng about the food we were growing !!! HUM)  The she pointed out in the inimitable Greek way of   .... Look I'm not really interfering but you could do it better if you did it my way.......   That Mr D had lost a glove  (we kinda knew)  and we should find him another glove so he was symmetrical (AGAIN not a word about the plants...)  the she toddled off.  I was tempted to shout after her  but instead  I offered up an extremely polite  ' thank you for your concerns and interest.  Have a good evening"   (But what about the plants!!!)   grr

Helena  watering

Brenda  spraying

Theresa  contemplating life I think

Mr Darcey   

The last of the lettuces

 so  Lettuce see what happens this week  (did you get that!!!!) meanwhile here is what you should be doing with those cucumbers,  Oh Helena is puzzling why our cucumbers are not straight..  I said surely better as they are not stuffed with GM   Some are quite curly  but I don't think it really matters

Ok  so  How To make Decent Tzatziki

Ingredients
Yogurt (Greek)
Garlic (loads)
Cucumber (from garden)
Salt n Pepper
Olive Oil
Parsley/dill (from garden) if you want

First peel and grate the cucumber

then using your hands  squeeze the liquid out of the cucumber.

Add Yogurt  to cucumber  I used 6 tablespoons

Add garlic , 6 cloves  more or less to taste, salt pepper then as much oil as you feel it will hold

Done   eat with crispy bread.  I added a bit of parsley and dill from the garden.  sometimes I add paprika .  You can add lemon juice if you like   or a bit of vinegar...  Delicious and very healthy

ELECTION WEEK

There is undoubtedly a connection between food and politics, or even the food of politics, or the politics of food. These thoughts were uppermost on our minds this week as Greece  approached its second election in as many months.  In many countries farmers tend to support more traditional right wing parties. I wonder if this is true for organic farmers.??? I know we generally  do not,  Despite most of us being disenfranchised and unable to exercise our democratic right to vote we nevertheless debated keenly the events of the moment.
                                                           

So back to the garden  A mid week visit to  weed and water was productive.  We have  been talking about the necessity of going more than once a week for a couple fo reasons.  One being we need to check the watering system (Turn on  turn off)

We discovered we can't automate it as the pressure is too great.  Gotta to be a solution to this though  and secondly to collect produce.




So we returned again on Sunday election day  again for more weeding,  fertilizing, de buggin, and tie-ing up (of plants  not people)

Theresa and Sarah  helping tie each other up

Brenda   star weeder

Sergio,  just - a - fixin - things


Some good growing going on  I was impressed by the toms which are approaching their tine to be chopped up and put in a salad date and the  melon which is getting bigger.

Melon looking good nice shape  not too may bugs, now lets see a few more. 

Toms really coming along well and needing the least weeding but the most pruning.  You can already see the shapes of the different varieties coming out
















And finally for this week we need to meet up mid week for both watering and to get the next batch of tomatoes in.  .  As it is getting fairly hot I think we may need to consider some shade for the toms.. see how that one goes I think by next week we will be coming to the end of the lettuces for the moment., but we tend to eat what is in season here anyway  so tomato based salads during the summer and lettuce based salads in the winter..

Basil picked...Pesto made

Ok instead of a tip this week as we all took some some basil  here's show you do a quick pesto sauce..

Ingredients

3 handfuls of basil leaves 
1handful toasted pine nuts
1 handful of; Parmesan
bit of garlic
olive oil
squeeze of lemon
salt and pepper


Home grown stuff here is the basil, lemon, olive oil (thanks to the ex.)


This pic. only shows one handful  of leaves,we will have to get more.....

Bung basil and garlic in a blender (or if you have  bash in a mortar and pestle\) and then whizz them up.  Meanwhile throw nuts into a well heated pan and toast  (not burn)


then add them to basil mulch and simply add as much olive oil as you think its needs, the Parmesan ,  salt pepper and a dash of lemon to bring all those flavors out.

And so here we are.  I wish I had a better camera as this picture does not do the colour justice.


Anyway mine will get sprinkled on a rocket and lettuce salad tonight with a bit of avocado




Bon Appetite