Home Grown Crops On The Dinner Table

Home Grown Crops On The Dinner TableThe produce is rolling off the land now both in town and country. The food we eat at lunchtime and evenings nearly always has home grown produce in it. It is exciting have the end product on you plate and tasting as good as it does. There is something very special about doing something like this.

Let’s start and see what on the dinner table on a day-to-day basis right now. We have had a continuous supply of onions and garlic and these will last us right through the winter. The lettuce now has finished its season and the space that was left has been filled with more peppers. After May it becomes too hot for lettuce here and you can’t freeze or preserve it.

Home Grown Crops On The Dinner TableThe strawberries were the next; we had two crops and are still in the middle of the second. Not enough o make jam with but this is the first year they have been laid down. Always enough for a family dessert at the weekend as they are grown in the village. I am not too sure whether I will keep these here next year. The reason is they need watering regularly for a good harvest and that isn’t happening, hence the relatively small fruits we are getting from them. Also, they need to be harvested every day and that isn’t happening either so a lot of waste form over-ripe fruit each weekend.

The beans I though was going to be a complete failure. I planted 12 rows of beans and only two survived. I didn’t know why. Locals tell me that the seeds were old, but I felt that the two rows that did survive would indicate another reason, perhaps over-watering. Anyway the crops that come from the ones that survived where great. We got at least 8 kg of superb white beans from just that little crop.

Home Grown Crops On The Dinner TableThe potatoes looked fantastic with the foliage and flowering more pertaining to a flowerbed than a potato crop. All the Colorado beetle and other gorging vegetarian insects were contained with no damage throughout the crop. There was however a massive disappointment on pulling up the first crop. Only a couple of potatoes were found and they were the size of golf ball. It was later realised that this was the shallow end of the troughs made for the watering and apart from the first couple of plants that stood there the rest were a fine crop. It is such a joy to see some potatoes of different shapes rather than the uniformed specimens in imported potatoes in supermarkets.

The beans and potatoes made into a soup by Baba and we just couldn’t get enough of it eaten hot or cold or in a secret raid of the fridge between meals.

Other crops aren’t quite ready yet and we can’t wait. This will be the most successful season growing here because for the first time I have been listening and watching and copying the Bulgarians. Still never as good and it never will, they just seem to have the magic touch with growing here, but I will improve each time I’m sure.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

17 comments:

  1. Hi Martin,
    Congrats on all your produce "rolling" in!! Sounds like you're all enjoying the fruits of your labor...and that soup sounds great!!

    Have a great day,
    Sher :0)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The idea of eating soup made from your own produce must be highly rewarding. Sounds like you've got quite a variety of tasty vegetables at your disposal. Much nicer than anything from a supermarket.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Back on EC Martin.)
    JUst drop 50 a day..))!
    And enjoy the fruits of your labor.
    Kindest
    hans

    ReplyDelete
  4. Martin, the fruits of your hard labor look to be pouring in and those potatoes look excellent. There is something about eating your own home grown food...it tastes so much better.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Martin, I left a comment ,but don't see it on your post for comments , anyway computor problems on this end for a bit ,fixed now, hope all is well with you and yours and glad the produce is starting to get to the table Malcolm

    ReplyDelete
  6. Romancing Italy4 July 2009 at 08:43

    Hey Martin, all that work is paying off! Your post made me think of a show "Little house on the Prarie", working hard during the summer and canning for the winter. Only the zuchinni have matured here. After harvesting a couple to eat, a neighbor insisted on giving us a bag of his. Guess which ones we chose to eat first....

    Glad all is well with you Martin.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ohh! Nothing beats a freshly picked bunc of vegies from your own backyard! :-)

    Passin by to drop some EC love

    ReplyDelete
  8. There is nothing like eating the fruit of your hard work. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:03

    Hi Sher,
    Each week that goes by right now the food load on the table increases. Great time of the year with much more to come. Hope you are well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:03

    Hi Mark,
    You said it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:04

    Hi Hans,
    50 a day was planned :)
    Are you still planning to go to Yambol?
    Take care

    ReplyDelete
  12. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:05

    Hi Talen,
    Those potatoes tasted as good as they look!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:06

    Hi Malcolm,
    Sorry you had problems. All's well this end and hopefully just as good in your neck of the woods!
    Kindest
    Martin and Galia

    ReplyDelete
  14. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:09

    Courgettes abound from what you say. There are many generous neighbours all around the world it seems. I just got two litres goats milk put on my doorstep as I write this!
    Hope the summer continues well for you.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:10

    Hi Daisy,
    Thanks for the drop and comment. Have a good weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Martin In Bulgaria4 July 2009 at 14:11

    Hi Grampy,
    Funny though, it doesn't feel like work, more a hobby and a very useful one!
    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, I really do love reading about your garden! Congratulations on such a bountiful harvest!! I think it was worth a try on those strawberries, as I am sure you miss them. Can you just have a pot at your home? Just for a little treat? And I love potato soup--any time of year! Do you have enough potatoes to put by for the winter?

    ReplyDelete

Awards

Expat Blog Award