This summer has been strongly reminiscent, for me, of two Mediterranean summers from my youthful travelling years — one in France in a small coastal town near Nice, another in a village on Rhodes.
The feeling came with the summer’s warmth and sunshine, the cucumbers and zucchini, tomatoes, onions and, of course, the fresh, juicy garlic cloves from last month’s harvest, with the garden’s mint to spark up flavours in some favourite Mediterranean dishes.
Small batch: fast feast. Those of us who have spent a major portion of our lives raising families have been left with an entrenched habit of preparing meals to feed a number of voracious appetites. Many do not easily transition from family meals to creating portions for two — or one.
I’ve had a few years practising meal preparation for one and have gradually learned to tame ingredient quantities to manageable levels. Leftovers are lovely, for a few days.
One recent small victory in small-batch feasting involved my immersion blender and the 500 mL container that came with it. I looked at the first Sweet Success cucumbers to reach useable size and had a sudden longing for cold and creamy cucumber soup with Mediterranean flavours that linger in memory.
I did not measure the ingredients precisely. Amounts will depend on how garlicky, lemony or strongly mint-tasting a flavour is desired.
I began by filling a little over half the container with peeled, seeded and chopped cucumber and then added one clove minced garlic, lemon juice, a small drizzle of olive oil, salt, two small sprigs of spearmint, and plain Greek yogurt to almost fill the container.
The immersion blender quickly turned the blend into a not quite perfectly smooth, tangy soup that I relished with a piece of buttered focaccia. Half for lunch, half later in the day before dinner. I’ll be making this near-instant, cool, refreshing soup often this summer.
Wily gardening. Once again this summer, I’ve been forced to assume a cartoonish role similar to Elmer Fudd in pursuit of a “wascally wabbit.”
The marigold barrier did not work. Chicken wire does, but its use is limited to easily enclosed spaces.
When a batch of miniature romaine lettuces had grown to transplant size, I tried a risky experiment. The marigolds having proven a failed deterrent, I moved on to squash.
Rabbits, I have read, “tend to avoid” squash. Potatoes and tomatoes, too. The potatoes and tomatoes have not been eaten. I decided to plant the small lettuces under and between two large Romanesco zucchini bushes.
It has worked. The large squash leaves gave the young lettuce plants some respite from the hot summer sun as they also offered protection from bunny munching. The lettuces survived to provide me with several light summer salad dinners.
Uncertain sunflowers. Though I love having the blooms in the landscape, sunflowers have not always been an assured success in my garden. But I don’t give up easily. Determined, I made four small-group outdoor seedings in the spring, two in the front garden and two at corners of vegetable plots in the back.
Over the years I’ve experimented with both direct outdoor sowing and indoor seeding with followup transplanting. I’ve come to agree with many current recommendations that direct seeding produces stronger plants with robust root systems.
Both back garden seedings germinated well. I covered them during the germination period with fine mesh screening and, with sprouting, I encircled the plantings with pliable chicken wire type fencing. A group of tall, stately Double Quick Orange sunflowers have produced huge, fluffy, orange-tinged golden blooms. Dwarf Sunspot has borne large flowers on 60-cm stems.
The Double Quick Orange seeding I encircled with wire in the front garden has grown and bloomed. Another nearby planting, unprotected, was nibbled down to the ground.
Conditions in our gardens do not remain forever unchanged. It’s adapt or be conquered.
GARDEN EVENT
Plant propagation. Dinter Nursery, 2205 Phipps Rd., Duncan, is presenting a Plant Propagation and Division seminar on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 10 to 11 a.m. Learn about propagating plants from softwood and hardwood cuttings and from divisions and basic seed saving. Cost is $10 + GST. Registration in advance, with payment, is required as space is limited. Book a place with credit card over the phone or in person at the nursery. 250-748-2023. dinternursery.ca.
