Brassicas

I'm a bit late getting the cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers in for the winter. The ground is so dry after months without rain. But I have a feeling we may get some rain in the next couple of weeks, so I've planted as if in a paddy field. I make a hole, fill it with water, let it sink to halfway then squish the plant roots into the mud. Then I fill the hole in, leaving a moat around it and water again thoroughly. It seems to work.

This vegetable garden is in the middle of our vineyard miles from any roads. Everything's organic and the produce is always extra-delicious for being grown in such a remote place.

However, all the villagers know exactly where it is and stop me in the street to comment on the state of my cauliflowers, tomatoes, spuds, lettuces, onions, garlic, artichokes or whatever - depending on the season. They are great walkers and foragers round here, collecting wild asparagus, almonds, quince and so on, but no-one ever pinches vegetables from a potager.

I have a chair in the garden and today my 80 year old mum came up to sit and watch the vegetables go in. It's a good way to pass time together. She reminisces and I get on with the job in hand whilst refreshing her memory on the bits she's forgotten. It's all very gentle.