Grown-up Babies

Some of my vegetables as of June 15:  artichokes, tomatoes, and onions.

Some Harvest

I got five fave, five strawberries, some cime di rapa, two zucchini and fiori (flowers) di zucchine.

I have dipped the zucchine flowers (similar to squash flowers) in a mixture of beaten egg, flour, gawgaw (maize flour) and some milk then deep fried.

The strawberries went straight to my mouth.

The cime di rapa I sauteed with garlic, eaten at lunch. A bit hard though. They should be harvested and eaten with the flowers still as buds, together with the tender leaves and shoots.

The fave I will eat together with pecorino cheese at dinner .

The two zucchini I will make into soup: sauteed in garlic and olive oil, plus broth, plus basilico, salt, pepper.

Buon'appetito!

Balag ng Kamatis

Ipinagtatayo ng balag ang mga halaman ng kamatis dito sa Italia. Mahaba o mataas ang karaniwang katawan ng kamatis na umaabot ng mahigit isang metro. Kung hahayaan lang ang halaman ay gagapang ito sa lupa, at kapag nasa lupa ay maaaring hindi makatanggap ng sapat na init at liwanag ng araw ang mga bunga nito. Maliban dito, maaari ring maakit ang maraming insekto at amag na bubulok sa halaman. Habang tumataas ang halaman, ang mga sanga nito ay itatali sa kawayan.

Mulch Works!

Had I laid enough mulch, less or no grass at all would have invaded the spaces between my onion plants.

Slugs

A quick tour in my vegetable garden this afternoon gave me the chance to observe some tiny slugs (about 5mm) devouring the tender leaves of my carrot plants. And they eat only the carrot leaves(!) ignoring the grass which has grown prolific next to the carrots. A very humid and rainy week with temperatures ranging from 10°-20°C has given life to many organisms in the garden, including them. Maybe I would have discovered other pests around have I stayed longer.

Slugs are gastropod mollusks without the shell (hubad na atol o islàg?)They like humid environments and appreciate most the tender shoots of many plants. As a gardener though who expects to benefit from the culture of these vegetables, I would like to eliminate some of them, before they wipe out my future meals(!). I should try to set some beer traps (they are drunkards!), or mock beer traps because they like the smell of malt yeast. Or, I can opt to use diatomaceous earth (a powder of silicon origin) also used in the disinfestations of animal fleas and seed devouring insects, or crushed eggshells or coffee grounds, all of which function because they can stick and wound the slug's slimy body.

Salad

An unusually rainy spring has produced early plenty of salad leaves. Salads are very nutritious and very easy to prepare - just wash them thoroughly, add carrots, carciofi, olives, also cheese, tuna... anything!!... dress with the classic olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and the meal is served! Spring time is always a busy period and a quick but delicious meal is all we need.

Some Vegetable Plants

Some of my vegetables: a mix of salads, fava (Vicia faba), carciofo (Cynara cardunculus), patata (Solanum tuberosum), cipolla (Allium cepa), and sedano (Apium graveolens).

I have mulched the ground with grass cut nearby, and also with dried leaves. The mulch keeps the ground moist, discourage growth of weeds, prevent soil erosion and compaction, and will eventually enrich the soil when decomposed.