Monday, June 15, 2009

Update: How does my Swiss Garden Grow?

Now my flower... but I wish it were.
My garden is in the background.

Things in my Swiss allotment garden are going splendly really. Here is a quick update for all of you that love to hear about my 'Green thumb' adventures in Switzerland.

I have finally planted the full garden, meaning I am using up almost every available meter in my 6 x 16 meter space. At the moment, the only produce I am harvesting is salad... and boy am I ever harvesting salad. There is so much that when my Swiss garden neighbors stop by, all they can say is... 'That is a lot of salad.' And 'Man, you could sell that salad on the market.' And by the way, the word for lettuce in German is 'Salat.' So I had to translate it like it sounds in German... 'Salad.'

And they are right... I do have a lot of (lovely, lovely) salad. And feel free to read this in the Bubba Gump voice I am using in my head as a type this... There's...


American brown leaf salad....

curly green salad...
heads of robust leafy salad...

And even Asian mixed leaf salad... I think that is about all the salad there iSSssss...

As you can tell... it entertains me to no end to talk about my 'salad.' :) I planted it all because Jace nags me about not making him enough salads, so I wanted to have enough lettuce to make him a few. Now... I have enough salad to supply Cuba with surplus. Oh well. (If you are in the area and want some salad, just come on over!)

But there is more than salad that I am excited about, for example:Yellow and grean beans.

The beans came up despite not covering/protecting the seeds. I think all the old timers were surprised that the birds did not eat my beans. I told those birds, 'Stay the hell away from my beans...' And you know what, they did. It must be the American accent.

There are all kinds of pumpkins coming up, too... let's not talk about the fact that they are going to be squished because I no doubt planted them too close together. Let's just talk about how cute they are now all in a row on the straw matting I stole from the garbage and the stares I got stealing it and dragging it to the plot. :) Keeps the weeds down and is GREEN. Love it.

And let's talk about chilis.

Another crop that I will no doubt have too much of. Jace loves his chilis.

All the plants are coming up swimmingly, I am getting lots of (unwanted but nevertheless friendly) advice from neighbors about how my potatoes are not going to make it and my onions are sick and how my tomatoes are all going to get blight and die. Joy. And some old man came onto me the other day and insisted that I have a coffee at his place and get an Italian boyfriend... but besides all that I am really loving the experience and cannot wait to eat more than salad from this fine piece of Swiss land.
More updates, coming soon. :)

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6 comments:

Kristy said...

Beautiful Garden!
Get that farm girl from Michigan, "The Young Traveler" weeding for you . . I'm sure she misses working around in a home grown garden. Nice pics!

Kristy

Unknown said...

Wow - congrats. It must be exciting to see all of your returns from the labor you've put into your garden.. The lettuce looks incredible! And so does the garden....

Kerrin @ MyKugelhopf said...

LOVE the garden update ! Bravo, totally impressive how your garden is really flourishing. You should be so proud. And definitely enjoy eating those salads every night even more, knowing the hard work that went into it. So you remember my idea about your Garden Party - well, I know what you could hand out as give-aways at the end (like a kid's birthday party, yes) -- heads of lettuce of course ! I'm so there ! :)

Even mixed Asian greens, seriously - wow. I can't wait to see those adorable pumpkins. I love all types of squash !!

Tina said...

Italian boyfriend? I hope Jace likes the idea!

Loving the salad greens? Do you have a salad spinner washer? Awesome kitchen gadget.

Jessica said...

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Kristy, I just tried to solicit the Young Traveler to help me week. We will see if she bites. I offered her some free salad for her services. :)

And Kerrin, I think you might be on to something there. I could get little reusable bags and fill them full of salad and print my name on them... hahah. Oh that would be so funny - a salad favor. :)

Tina, I think the old Italian man meant he wanted to be my Italian boyfriend, which of course Jace was not too keen on... very creepy actually.

And I DO HAVE A SALAD SPINNER! I feel like I am a slave to it now though. Who wants salad!?!?! :)

stacy said...

What!? No Nüsslisalat?!? How un-Swiss... ;-) but that is my favorite, so if you had I would be on the next train...

 

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