Oh to Plough the Fields and Scatter!

We are enjoying lovely hot summer weather, but luckily here on the coast we usually have our 'air conditioning' blowing to keep us cool. The temperature between here and our nearest town, only 12 kms away, varies between 4 and 6 degrees! For instance, on Tuesday I went into town to do my one-afternoon-a-week volunteering in the local Hospice shop. When I left here it was actually quite chilly, 23 degrees with the wind coming off the sea. In town it was 29, with no breeze at all and I was so hot that I had to buy a cooler top to wear! And a couple more just in case! But, I am veering off the topic as usual!
I have always wanted to grow my own vegetables. My dad had an allotment before we left England, and he kept us going with veges almost the whole year round. I dabbled in vege growing over the years when the children were growing up, I sprouted mung beans, had saucers with watercress, and the odd struggling pot with parsley and basil on the kitchen window-sill. I planted old potatoes that had been in the cupboard too long and were enthusiastically sprouting, and like the poem, I dreamed about 'nine bean rows and a hive for the honey bee'. So, when we moved here and I was faced with a garden to plant from scratch, I planned to have a thriving market garden like you see in the shiny magazines!

But, I had not bargained with the elements! The wind is the strongest challenge here. On a good day it blows, on a bad day it howls and apart from trying to uproot everything in the ground, it also dries the soil out faster than I can water it! Plus, we have poor soil. It appears to have been treated with 'Scotch guard' as water simply runs off in all directions and doesn't soak into the ground at all! Even the addition of compost doesn't really help. We also have a lot of rocks lurking just below the surface, so carrots have a shape all of their own! And water is the next challenge. Luckily our rainwater tanks provide enough for our gardening needs. Anyway, I rose to all the challenges and planted beans, gem squash, rocket and spinach. These were lovingly tended. I chatted to them, weeded them and watered them. I removed the snails from their leaves and dissuaded the cats from lying on them. I watched them struggle, their tiny leaves unfurled and they clung to life! I was planning menus around my abundant crop! Then, challenge number four arrived. See below!

Goodbye spinach!

I mentioned the buck in a previous blog, when my beautiful wheelbarrow of pelargoniums went from full to empty overnight. Well, they decided that fresh green leaves were preferable to the dry fynbos in the green belt. What can I say?

Goodbye lettuce!

And if that is not enough, we also have the tiny stripy-headed field mice that enjoy the young and tender shoots that the buck overlook!

My crop ready to harvest, being guarded by Dopey!

So, this brings me to my latest 'market garden'. The acres in my imagination have shrunk to a trough in the courtyard, protected from wind and buck by high walls! All that I have managed to grow is one lonely tomato plant! We have had several tomatoes, they are small and sweet and I harvest them every day!

Lekker!

But, when all else fails (and it does), peanut butter is a good alternative to fresh veges anyway!