Back in Ontario, I never worried about giving any of my plants, including tomato plants, too much water. No matter what I did, everything usually always turned out great. If it was hot, I’d give them all water. If it hadn’t lirained in a couple of days, I’d give them water. Another thing I’ve never […]
A Tale Of Baked Tomato Plants – How Much Water Do They Need? Read More »
Last year, the olive oil harvest in Greece was almost a total write-off, and that included my wee olive grove as well as most of the other olive groves in the local area. Many people have tried to blame the horrible year on “drought,” but that is not really true. Perhaps drought in other parts
Olive Trees – Loaded With Blooms! Read More »
It has been a very cool May in these parts; normally I’d be wearing shorts and short sleeves by at least the second week of the month. This year however, we have continued to see night time temperatures down to as low as 10C, with day time highs rarely getting above 22. The past few
A Walk Around My House In Photos – May 29 Read More »
They have been through so much: Gale force winds, snow, ice pellets, a few nights of below freezing temperatures. Yet these tomato plants keep living and growing! Back in August, I was looking at the average temperatures for the coming months in my area and was curious if I could sew some tomato seeds at
Tomato Plant Champions! Read More »
As I wrote the other day, we were in Exarchos to help with harvesting olives that are going to be pressed into olive oil. On Sunday, it was raining in the morning so a decision was made to cancel that day’s planned work. So, after it stopped raining, I decided to head over to my
Preparing Table Olives Read More »
I’ve never sown tomato seeds in August before. Back in Ontario, it would be a dumb thing to do, unless you were growing in a greenhouse and could control the temperature. And here in Greece, the advice I’ve been getting is that it is “too late” to start tomatoes in August. But I’m not so
Sowing Tomato Seeds (and other things) In August Read More »
On my third visit to the local garden centre, ΚΟΚΟΦΟΙΝΙΚΑΣ, Yannis recommended I try to grow some vegetable native to Crete. At the time, I couldn’t remember the name of it, and I had no clue what to expect after planting it. So I bought four. Now, I wish I had purchased at least four
In The Garden: Stamnagathi – A Greek Cretan Superfood? Read More »
In Greece, among English speaking people, the words sheeps and ships are often interchanged. A ship becomes a “sheep” and a sheep becomes a “ship.” Lambs become “lamps.” I have often giggled and laughed and made up sayings about the ships going down to the sea to board the sheeps, bringing along the lamps with
Sheeps, Ships, & Sunflowers Read More »
In English, ΚΟΚΟΦΟΙΝΙΚΑΣ means “Coconut Palm Tree” – but I don’t think you will find too many of these at ΚΟΚΟΦΟΙΝΙΚΑΣ, between Lavrio and Keratea. Instead, you will find fantastic service and a great selection with valuable local knowledge at this garden centre I’m so happy to have discovered. When I moved to the Keratea/Lavrio
ΚΟΚΟΦΟΙΝΙΚΑΣ – An Awesome Garden Centre, Lavrio/Keratea Read More »
I remember when I was a boy, my father telling me about the use of Stinging Nettles back in Northern Ireland when he was younger, and how they were interesting to him because if you did not grasp them hard, they would sting – but if you firmly and strongly put your hands around the
Brewing Nettle Tea The First Time Read More »