Although we have been gardening in the potager/verger (that's veggie garden/orchard to youse non French speakers) for almost 9 weeks, until yesterday we didn't own it. This came about through a combination of French property law (which is very thorough) and Monsieur P's wish not to maintain a garden he was selling.
The Orchard in May. It looks browner now.
This has been a really quite painless purchase. We didn't go through the compromis de vente process because the purchase price was comparatively small, so all we really had to do was make a firm offer and have it accepted. Once all the legalities like title search and advising the local farmers it was being sold, we had to write a cheque and sign some papers.Apples last month: they have come on a bit since
the photo was taken, but they won't be ripe until October
the photo was taken, but they won't be ripe until October
The Notaire advises the commune of the new landowners (that's us - and I can hardly believe it myself), and in a couple of weeks time we will get a land tax notice ("quelque euros", according to the Notaire - the last notice was 12€ annually) and in due course we can collect the title papers.Peaches: they are taking ages to ripen, we suspect
it may have something to do with lack of water.
it may have something to do with lack of water.
To celebrate we went to the garden and picked some beans: this is our first picking of beans this year, and in the past two days the beans have gone from little wispy things to full on eating haricots verts - a whole kilo's worth! Add that to the three courgettes we picked and couple of tomatoes, and we managed to eat only our own vegetables this evening. We blanched and froze 800 grams of beans, and tomorrow we pick more. We anticipate growing enough beans not to have to buy any ever again...Yesterday evening Susan stewed some plums and nectarines (separately, of course). Although the plums are not properly ripe, the windfalls are perfect usable and smell delicious. Two of the nectarine trees have finished cropping, and we await the onset of fruit from the other 3 trees (including the big one that broke).
Simon
4 comments:
Hi. I like your blog, but I'd prefer to read in my RSS reader (Newsfox). Would you mind switching the feed to full? You can find the settings under the Settings tab on the configuration page. Thanks!
Congratulations on now owning your own orchard and potager. You've reminded me of a lovely recipe where you poach nectarines and plums with white wine, sugar and a cinnamon stick. I can't remember what it's called but I won't rest now until I've found it. I hope you continue to enjoy your "allotment".
(wordverification is aiturf !)
...i thought your property was in the middle of the village. Is this additional parcel at the back/side or a not contiguous parcel?
Gil: The house in in the village (although we think of it as town), the new garden is about 600 metres away in the next commune.
Jean - sounds like you don't need to look for the recipe - that looks OK to me as it is!
Anon - what - and let you miss all our hard work on the layout?? :)
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