Our main garlic crop was planted just a few weeks ago, but there were some cloves sowed last autumn so the mellow sweetness of fresh garlic is available presently for the table. Very little skin and an undivided bulb makes for easy preparation.
Because The Calm One doesn't measure ingredients for his splendid Three-Cheese & Three-Pasta speciality, he sometimes has a surplus of cooked penne, shells, and corkscrews. The cleaned, trimmed, and roughly chopped garlic along with the cold pasta, thyme, and Parmesan got tossed with olive oil plus a good sprinkle of apple cider vinegar. A dusting with fleur de sel/freshly ground black pepper was the final touch for this easy dish boasting the health benefits of resistant starch (reheating would result in an even greater decrease of a spike in blood sugar).
Our garden and potager continues to embrace spring. The ivy's new growth is brightening up the pergola.
Honeysuckle joins the ivy in another corner. Through the haze of the asparagus bed's feathery foliage, a neighbour's tall evergreen (not a church steeple!) can be seen.
The wild area is not only good for biodiversity, but for beauty as it completely covers an old shed. If you look closely, you will see a neigbour's black and white, long-haired cat (Elmo is our nick for him) rolling in the sun between the raspberry patch and a dilapidated cold-frame overgrown with weeds. Perhaps this is the season I will mulch the frame with cardboard!
Coming from the back of the garden, I always enjoy seeing this lovely melange of plants before my dipping inside the sous-sol to put back/get tools.
Along one side of our house, a path winding through flowering sage, yet-to-flower rosemary, already bloomed sweet violets, bearded irises, hardy mini-gladiolus, and roses leads to the front garden lit by the setting sun.
Our entrance includes a stairway leading up past the sous-sol to a balcony which affords a lofty view of the front garden.
Entwined with the balcony railing is the robust, velvety, deep-crimson, and potently perfumed climbing rose, Étoile de Hollande.
Dirac the Young cat left his sentinel position on the doormat to supervise my pruning.
À la prochaine!
 |
| The major planting will be harvested in July, then dry-cured for storage |
Because The Calm One doesn't measure ingredients for his splendid Three-Cheese & Three-Pasta speciality, he sometimes has a surplus of cooked penne, shells, and corkscrews. The cleaned, trimmed, and roughly chopped garlic along with the cold pasta, thyme, and Parmesan got tossed with olive oil plus a good sprinkle of apple cider vinegar. A dusting with fleur de sel/freshly ground black pepper was the final touch for this easy dish boasting the health benefits of resistant starch (reheating would result in an even greater decrease of a spike in blood sugar).
 |
| Though its flavour is more delicate, fresh garlic's flesh is juicy and meaty |
Our garden and potager continues to embrace spring. The ivy's new growth is brightening up the pergola.
Honeysuckle joins the ivy in another corner. Through the haze of the asparagus bed's feathery foliage, a neighbour's tall evergreen (not a church steeple!) can be seen.
 |
| Ferdinand Pichard, a fragrant, bi-coloured Bourbon rose |
The wild area is not only good for biodiversity, but for beauty as it completely covers an old shed. If you look closely, you will see a neigbour's black and white, long-haired cat (Elmo is our nick for him) rolling in the sun between the raspberry patch and a dilapidated cold-frame overgrown with weeds. Perhaps this is the season I will mulch the frame with cardboard!
 |
| Iris foliage, glads, newly planted garlic & shallot bed, to-be weeded bed, pea & potato beds |
Coming from the back of the garden, I always enjoy seeing this lovely melange of plants before my dipping inside the sous-sol to put back/get tools.
 |
| Creeping sedum, bee-loving abelia, perennial geraniums, bearded irises, calla lilies & roses |
Along one side of our house, a path winding through flowering sage, yet-to-flower rosemary, already bloomed sweet violets, bearded irises, hardy mini-gladiolus, and roses leads to the front garden lit by the setting sun.
Our entrance includes a stairway leading up past the sous-sol to a balcony which affords a lofty view of the front garden.
 |
| Weigela, soapwort, yellow rose & lavender |
Entwined with the balcony railing is the robust, velvety, deep-crimson, and potently perfumed climbing rose, Étoile de Hollande.
Dirac the Young cat left his sentinel position on the doormat to supervise my pruning.
À la prochaine!
