Growing Your Own !

I'm afraid that neither DH or I are what you would call 'gardeners' . Don't get me wrong, I like to be surrounded by flowers and shrubs and we both do our bit to keep the grounds looking pretty good but - we both lack the passion that makes what I think of as a true gardener !

Since moving to Brittany we've noticed that lots of our fellow ex-pats have taken up the tradition of a French 'potagerie' ( kitchen garden) and grow their own vegetables ,which they (admittingly) wouldn't think of doing 'back home' ! Me, I have nothing but admiration for them as I hate the thought of all that weeding so we don't have a veggie patch !!!

We are very lucky though in respect that our French neighbours are generous to a fault ( also probably feel very sorry for our inadequacy !) and keep us supplied with a steady stream of seasonal produce. Lettuce by the bag full ; tomatoes by the bowl ; beetroot, radish and 'baby' new carrots by the bunch soon to be followed by courgettes (zucchini), , French beans and peppers ! Early potatoes are grown in the potagerie , whilst the main crop comes out of the field in mid September - last year we ended up with 6 sacks full for 2 of us !!!! So you can see that really we have no need to 'grow our own' vegetables and in my (lazy!) view this way is a lot less hard work !! However !! Like all the British ex-pats that I know, we do make one concession - and that is to grow a row of Runner Beans!!!

I can't even try to explain the difference between French beans and Scarlet Runners, but it's there ! At the moment our little row is producing so many beans that its our turn to supply the neighbours with 'English' beans, and they are going down a treat ! This is today's crop, a bit down on the last few days, but already we have a home for them with our biggest convert from 'French' to 'English', my 74 year old neighbour !!! Well , why not - after all there are only so many beans you can eat in a week !!!

I've managed to stay upright (!!) for 3 days now but am still on 'light duties', so I 've had a little time in my sewing room but have kept to smaller projects not to tempt fate too much !

A couple of Runaround Bags , such a lovely, easy and quick to make pattern, I just need to find my 'box of goodies' to make something to put on the zipper tabs.

QA inspection by the big boss, William !!

Plus a couple of trial Snap Happy Pouches

So not a totally wasted week after all ! Today I hope to finish off a couple of wall hangings that have been around for some time now !!!

Just to mention that I've had the results of my test, a couple of problems but nothing big, so I will write more about that later!