Yesterday (September 1st and officially the first day of autumn for the Met office) our neighbour Alice–beekeeping teacher–arrived with a basket of summertime goodies.
She and Meredith had been collecting honey from her many hives and our ONE in the garden.
There has been precious little “summertime” this year, so the honey harvest is modest
and the basket a reminder of what might have been–peches de vignes, tomatoes and delightful looking little red chilis, the last–“tres forts–attention!” warned Alice.
This year our tomatoes were “carried off“–as they used to say about people who caught the plague–by mildew.
According to Alice, this has happened to many gardeners–but not to her tomatoes because she saw the signs and acted to stop the rot.
The unusually wet weather with little drying sunshine is the cause.
Result–in our case–a quick demise of the entire crop; we were away when the plague struck.
Alice advised keeping a few seeds from the largest tomato, for planting next year which we’ve done, but not before a bit of coarse “look at the size of it!” acting.
It’s now in the fridge–a tasty sauce waiting its turn in the limelight, which maybe tonight as part of the stuffing for one of its cousins.
Robin Ellis 
Robin Haha, lovely what a giant tomato, that’s gonna be a lot of stuffing must be about 600-700 gr ??Have a nice evening, hughs from Antwerp to both !
Hello Robin and Meredith: I know fall is just around the corner when you report on how much honey Meredeth was able to collect for the summer.
;0) Norma
Hi, Robin & Meredith!
The leaves on our phlox (tall flowers) were all mildewy this year after a bout of rain. (Prob’ly doesn’t help that they are in a partly shaded area!) What do you do to stop it? It didn’t kill the flowers–just made the leaves look yucky.
We were away when the mildew hit the tomato plants (Robin filming his cameo in the new Poldark)–so it ruined all the plants. My neighbor uses something the French call boue bordelaise which is blue and ok for organic gardeners–but you have to spray the plants before the mildew gets going (or so I was told–I’m no expert!) –Meredith
Is that BOUILLE bordelaise? I looked it up to see where to get it & found this kinda scary article… then noticed it says “news from the Tarn” at the top! http://tag-on-line.blogspot.com/2014/08/blue-bordelaise-to-use-or-not.html
I’m guessing from what I’ve seen that this is a Brandywine, which can be a huuuuge tomato, often weighing 2-3 pounds, over 1.5kg. I would have had a hard time making sauce with it, as I prefer to slice it and turn it into a caprese salad or stacks thereof.
If the source I found is correct, in the US we would call les peches de vines “Indian Blood” peaches. I swear they are the most intensely flavoured peaches I’ve ever had, and I’ve only been able to eat them twice. They come in cling and freestone, and yes, the season is incredibly short. These might have been the peaches that the Navajo prized so much before the Long Walk. In a series of marches starting in 1864, 9,500 Navajo and 500 Mescalero Apache were forced by the U.S. Army to walk 400 miles from their reservation in northeastern Arizona to the edge of the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico; like the forced march known as the Trail of Tears (the forced relocation of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included many members of the following tribes, who did not wish to assimilate: Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, among others, from their homelands to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River), thousands died.
In California vineyards, roses tend to be used instead of these wonderful peaches as an early warning for diseases or pest which might infect the vines and their fruit. One such pest, the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter, loves to live in Crape Myrtle trees, which are plentiful in CA as street trees and yard ornamentals. That they are still being sold in Wine Country is perplexing to me!
Thank you for this–both fascinating and terrible. Good to be reminded of the names of the tribes. You are right about tomato and peach I think.
It’s “tomato time” here in the Northeast and we have had a pretty good crop showing up in the farmers markets in NYC this year, but still Meredith’s picture made my mouth water! Enjoy!
Nancy N
We have a long narrow garden and the top hundred feet or so is literally a meadow with blackberry,hawthorn and various wildflowers. We would love to keep bees but don’t know anyone who has actually done it.
Would you recommend it now that you have done it yourselves ?
Yes!–need an expert to guide you though.
Meredith adding a reply here: Julie, my neighbor gave me the colony of bees and I had to buy the hive which wasn’t cheap–though I think you can get them second hand. We didn’t launch into it for the honey, but to do our bit to support honey bees, who are vital to our environment and under serious threat. It turns out to be more work than I expected but I enjoy it. Could never manage without my French neighbor taking me on as an apprentice! It’s more fun keeping bees with a partner too and when it comes to harvesting the honey, it’s much easier with two people. Our local agricultural college (we live in rural France) runs a FREE course in beekeeping–but so many people attend that I couldn’t cope. Maybe someone near you offers a course as I wouldn’t want to start out without quite a bit of back-up and support.
PS That tomato looks like a shrunken beanbag ! Could imagine one of your hedgehogs curled up asleep on there.
At least your tomatoes ripened! Mine are still like little peas and not enough to even make a chutney out of them! Still, we have had a good summer here in Kent so can’t complain. Will have to plant them earlier next year so it’s probably my fault they haven’t done very well yet. Hope we get some recipes from you soon – have missed them. Take care
God Bless Alice.. that tomato looks wonderful and so red!!!
What a wonderful photo of you Robin. Perfect for the cover of your next book …
Thank you for the reply Meredith. Like you we would like to give a boost to the beleaguered honey bee population ( we have seen far fewer this year ) We will make some enquiries..there is a stall that sells home produced honey at our monthly farmers market so they may be a good place to start.
Ironically,two years back, a local bric-a-brac shop was selling a beehive for thirty pounds…I wish we had bought it ! Thank you so much for the advice it is very much appreciated.
Meredith writing: Happy to help! It’s what we’re here for….:-)