HARDY PLANTS

The vegetable garden in early May

It continues to rain, every day since the beginning of May, and more is announced. It may be finally the “Ticino monsoon”, a period of intense rainfall in April and May. It’s been four years since it happened. It is hoped that this will recharge the water tables, to relieve Italy and the river Po in particular.
Nighttime temperatures are slowly rising, allowing planting to begin in the vegetable garden.

We do not buy seedlings anymore, to avoid hybrid plants. The idea is to recover the seeds for the following year. So we sow seeds from Zolllinger Bio, guaranteed non-hybrid, under cover from February.
The main vegetable garden is protected by anti-hail nets. For two years we have been bombarded at the end of June/beginning of July, from rigs like pigeon eggs.
Carrots sown 3 weeks ago. Next to it a row of still tiny eggplants.
Last year I used seeds collected from blooming carrots at the end of the season. It worked, more or less, but with 25% of “male” carrots, the ones that grow tall without developing the root. They have to be pulled out otherwise these males take up all the space. So this year we leave with bought seeds and we start again.
Spinach grows quickly in the spring. Sown three weeks ago, they are ready to be eaten as salad. You just need patience to harvest them.
This spinach, on the other hand, is to be cooked. Sowed 5 weeks ago.
Last year’s leeks that overwintered. We will let 3 or 4 of them bloom for the seeds.
This year’s leeks, just transplanted. They are planted in the hollow, to be covered in part with earth afterwards, three times in principle, to obtain the most white possible.
Broccoli are planted well apart, at 40/50cm. You have to because they get very big.
Peppers, variety Frigitello. The fruit is small (10/12cm), horn-shaped, first green then red. In our opinion much better than the big square peppers.
Along the wall, the pickles. Last year the tomatoes planted there completely roasted. The wall is made of granite, it reverberates a lot of heat.
Will the pickles stand up to it? They make a lot of foliage, so we planted a good number of them and hope they will cover enough.
The onions seem to be rather big this year, the bulbs were planted in November.
Another plot of onions, bulbs planted in April. This is the second vegetable garden, here the soil is rather clayey, rather poor in nutrients.
They are much smaller, only one month of growth, yet they will be ready in June/July, like the others.
The garlic also seems bigger than usual.
The black cabbage (kale) grew all winter and became huge, a meter the largest. They do not form a head, but the leaves can be eaten from December to the following spring.
The chard also survived the winter and is growing new leaves.
Rhubarb has the largest leaves, at least 60cm.
The first outdoor tomatoes. They’re a little down, but they’ll bounce back. San Marzano variety, the small Italian long tomato, very firm and especially suitable for making sauce.
The raspberry grove in the vegetable garden. At this time of the year, it is important to keep an eye on the white bindweed (Calystegia sepium) and to pull it out absolutely before it rolls up and gets mixed everywhere. If you wait too long it becomes really inextricable.
Some radishes and other tomatoes. Vesuvio, a Sicilian variety with bunches, to dry or also for the sauce.
Let’s go look in the greenhouse.
The tomatoes are more advanced there, replanted three weeks ago.
Babuschka variety, large tomatoes for salad, a new product from Zollinger Bio.
The green salads are ready, Sucrines (or Cocodelo), this variety does not grow much more.
A new harvest season is starting, with chard, rhubarb, lettuce and radishes.
In the evening, when the sky is clear, the mountain behind us casts its shadow on the city. It is the shadow of the “Cima dell’Uomo” (2390 meters).
In front of us on the right the Camoghè, 2200 meters. On the left Corno del Gesero, also 2200. Between the two the Val Morobbia. And just behind the white barrier in the middle is Italy. No road, only on foot along an old smugglers’ path through the San Jorio pass.
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