I realise it’s been a while since I’ve posted much about the garden. That’s not because nothing is happening there and not because we haven’t been there much. Everything is growing well in the slightly damper than usual, but still warm, weather we’ve been having this month and on dry days we’ve watered, still using the good supply of free water from the stream that runs down the hill from the source – La Resclauze, or La Resclausa in Occitan – and usually keeps running until at least the end of June. Yesterday evening we spent a couple of hours in the garden, watering, weeding and tying tomato and cucumber plants to their supports, and I took some photos of what’s happening there now:
The sweetcorn plants have grown incredibly quickly – some of them are as tall as I am now – and the male flowers are starting to appear at the tops of the plants. These should soon be followed by female flowers.
The aubergine plants are flowering – they’re such pretty flowers that if these plants weren’t useful suppliers of vegetables I think they would still be grown just for their decorative qualities – and one tiny aubergine is beginning to grow.
The snails are enjoying some of the aubergine leaves, but so long as they don’t eat too much I don’t mind.
One of our apricots is beginning to ripen and we still have a good crop on the tree despite the rain and strong winds last month having knocked a lot to the ground. This Roussillon variety is a late-ripening apricot and we usually harvest the fruits at the beginning of July – of course, they’re the tastiest apricots I’ve ever eaten!
Oleanders are flowering everywhere, especially in villages where they have been planted in public spaces, and in our garden. There are several variations of colour in the flowers, from white to apricot pink to dark red, but this pink is my favourite as it reminds me of the oleanders outside our house in Libya when I was a child. (They’re pretty, but beware: every part of this plant is extremely poisonous.)
Today we took some time off to go to the sea and found it surprisingly rough and the beach almost deserted. Not tempted to swim, we had coffee and rose-water flavoured pastries at a new Tunisian café next to the beach.
olivesandartichokes 
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Nice apricots and beach 😉
Your corn is far taller than any being grown around here, where the saying is it should be “knee-high by the 4th of July.” The oleander are such pretty flowers. Seeing them decorate the villages must be something, although I didn’t realize they were so poisonous. Nice of you to overlook the snails. That’s one pest I’ve not seen around here — and that’s fine with me. In a few weeks I’ll be battling the raccoons and squirrels for my tomatoes. My little garden doesn’t need any more antagonists.
Ah, well we don’t have squirrels or raccoons! I think the corn has to get going quickly here as there won’t be much water for it in July.
The garden looks as though it’s doing well. Damp is the word for this June in France:)
Yes, it’s a strange year – we don’t usually have any rain at all from April to September, but at least this year the wild flowers have lasted longer than usual.
Aubergine flowers are so pretty – I’m nealry regreting not growing any this year, but they really do struggle to do well in the UK. and the beach and coffee shot – fabulous!
Yes I remember trying to grow aubergines in the UK! Have you tried them in a greenhouse?
Loved this post and the shots but now am focused on my cravings for rose water flavoured pastries!
They were wonderful!
I want to go to that beach… love the photos! And don’t you think aubergine flowers are gorgeous? Lovely… mmmm…
Thanks….the beach is always there – usually more crowded in summer, though!