Official: We Are A Caveat

This morning CJ and I were watching the weather forecast. Given that the weather today was totally pish (a technical term meaning less than clement - by a very very big margin) I'm not sure we needed to be told. Carol Kirkwood (a Scottish weather presenter, employed by the Met Office and best known for forecasting the weather for BBC Breakfast and various other programmes) ended by saying that there was a caveat in relation to today's national weather: The Western Isles. 

I know I'm beginning to sound obsessed by the weather but if you have for the first time in decades started growing vegetables and so on this early summer has been very intimidating and rather disheartening. However today I did harvest my first vegetable: a radish. CJ and I had half each at lunchtime.

Now all I have to do is remember why I am growing curly kale. I had some last year and I must have liked it enough to grow some. Ah well that's the advantage of the internet.

Anyway the weather does give me the opportunity to show you some of the rather splendid haar photos.

Home Grown

A few weeks agoMargaret from Margaret's Ramblings blogged about Lost Potatoes.  In my comment I said that I had a friend, Iain, who grew potatoes both in the ground and in sacks.  I said that I would seek his views and tell Margaret.  Iain and Carol came to dinner last night bringing some of the results of his efforts  It gave me the opportunity to quiz him on the subject of potatoes.  He has had an excellent and abundant crop in the sacks.  He grows them in a mixture of his own and bought compost.  We have had a great deal of rain but Iain's view is that even so you need to give them lots and lots of water when they are developing.  These particular ones are Kerr's Pinks which are very popular on the Island.

Scriptor Senex is not alone in having remarked on the dearth of butterflies this year.  Iain has had a bumper crop of root vegetables this year but has lost all his brassicas to caterpillars.  There's been no shortage of butterflies here this year.

A Patisson or a Patty Pan

I have always loved produce stalls in markets and have blogged on them in my New Zealand Blog. There will be a 'proper' market blog after the Civray market next Tuesday (please don't let it rain - whoever it is that has a say in these things) but when I was in Charroux a few days ago the market was in full swing (all six stalls - it is a small place). The small vegetable stall which was for some reason tucked away in the open Market Hall was not noticable if it hadn't had a vegetable none of us had seen before: a Patisson.

The result was that I wrote a blog entry about a Patisson. None of us here had any idea what a Patisson is. So I went onto a French website and managed to mis-read it and thought that a Patisson was a Jerusalem Artichoke. Niece, Helen commented:

"I'm afraid that this isn't a jerusalem artichoke, that being a tuberous root and not a squash.

In England we often call the pattison a 'patty pan'. I first heard of them due to Beatrix Potter and her book 'the pie and the patty pan'. Ian bought us some from a local seller a couple of years ago and we stuffed and ate them. Yummy.pointed out that she was afraid that it wasn't a jerusalem artichoke, that being a tuberous root and not a squash and that in England we often call the pattison a 'patty pan'. She first heard of them due to Beatrix Potter and her book 'the pie and the patty pan'. Ian bought tus some from a local seller a couple of years ago and we stuffed and ate them. Yummy."

In future I will read my French websites more carefully. In the meantime, thanks Helen.

From The Sublime....

We went to the Otter Nurseries this morning - one of the largest nursery and garden centres I've been to. The plants we saw combined with discussions amongst us and a book on grasses which CJ kindly bought me have supplied me with lots of ideas for the garden for next spring.

Prize Vegetables on show

When the recipe said 'a large onion'.....

I just couldn't believe these

or these (though secretely..)

And iron decorative hens?