Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

A view of the world from an Irish hole

Tag: tomatoes

More bounty from the garden

Today Rosie brought up a handful of the tomatoes we have been able to ripen here at my sister’s garden in Cavan town. They were of various shapes, sizes and varieties, but all tasted superb, especially when eaten with our breakfast.

We have also had our first cucumber. This was an unusual variety called Crystal Lemon, which isn’t elongated like a traditional cucumbers, but is sphercal. It also tastes far nicer than many other cucumbers, lacking that horrible bittnerness which meant that we were able to eat it raw.

We’ll certainly be growing this variety again as it is far easier to grow, cheaper and less temperamental than the all female varieties. These often cost nearly £4 for a packet of three, maybe four seeds, not all of which germinate and even if they do they’re often sickly.

News from the garden

Our gardens are a riot of produce at this time of the year. The peas we sowed are producing numerous pods. It is a dwarf variety from Italian seedsmen Franchi, called “Piccolo Provenzale”. The individual peas are both sweet and nutty.

 Our French beans are also producing a bountiful crop. Amongst the varieties we sowed was a purple-podded variety from Unwins. They may not have a vast range of exotic vegetables, but their seeds are universally top class.

 Rosie has attempted to emulate the growing practices of the Mexican Indians, by growing runner beans among sweet corn, whose tall shaft supplies support for the beans. She is having marvellous success with this so far. The variety of runner bean she is growing, from Thompson and Morgan, is called “Teeny beany”, while the sweet corn is a new variety from T&M called “Rising Sun”. It was bred with colder climates in mind, and our success with it has only been phenomenal.

 In our Cavan garden Rosie has enjoyed great success with some cherry yellow tomato plants she was given. Already we are enjoying small, bright yellow globes of sweetness and flavour that are just right for salads and sandwiches.

 Bringing on a plant from seed to harvest is a most satisfying experience. In fact I would go so far as to say that it is self-transcending.

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