The Indian summer came to an abrupt end overnight with what must have been the whole of September’s rain falling in a matter of hours. Blocked drains and ditches have caused flooded lanes, waterfalls are appearing out of nowhere and even the greenhouse is under two inches of water! The dry weather of the past few weeks has meant that I got out and managed some long overdue gardening. All the bulbs are in – the Pheasant’s Eye under the newly planted hydrangeas, crocus and alliums in front of a mixed evergreen hedge, daffodils around the two pet graves (Bert the dog and Ollie the cat), and the dwarf daffodils on top of a stone wall which I have been attempting to plant up for ages and have now finally started. Gone-to-seed-lettuces are in the compost bins and green manures of phacelia and fenugreek have germinated quickly in the warmth.
As far as crops are concerned, this year has been good for onions, garlic, potatoes and beetroot. Courgettes and lettuces have struggled. Everything in the green house has done well. Tomatoes, including the beautiful and sweet Yellow Butterfly, started late but soon caught up. I always grow hot chillies (mainly for T who eats them raw with everything !) which begin green and turn bright red. Many years ago I bought a packet of Cayenne Chilli seeds and each year the previous crop’s seeds have produced bigger and hotter fruits. I also grow a Hungarian pepper which starts off black and matures to bright red. They have a little heat to them and are delicious roasted or pickled. This year I appear to have bred a new chilli. The plant has produced long, healthy black fruits which are slowly ripening to red and, I’m told, are very hot - a mix of Hungarian and cayenne. So, here’s to the new Bere Island Chilli!! Not bad for a soggy, windswept island at the western edge of Europe!
Back to the rain! A gloomy time lit by a few bright things. The rose hips are magnificent at this time of year and when it gets cold will be loved by the blackbirds. The nasturtiums grow like weeds and have to be constantly managed to avoid complete domination!
But it can rain, blow, snow or freeze on Bere Island for the next week. We shan’t mind. We shall be experiencing the different culture of the good old Costa Blanca! We fly from Cork to Alicante for a week for some well earned time out . I’ll let you know what it’s like!
