A Thrifty yet Surprisingly Fruitful Season

Even though this year I was disappointed in that I did not accomplish what I planned to due to lack of time and money, I was amazed at just how much I DID accomplish without having to spend a cent! I managed to relocate the patch to this open area running downhill, along side the olive tree/grinadella bush.  The past winter's compost heap provided excellent compost for good growing conditions and I was blessed enough to receive mom's donation of plants.  Aside from the brinjals, another new experience was growing sage.  It is an awesome plant, but sadly did not make it to the end of summer for some reason.  The time which I had to enjoy it was another great learning experience. For the first time, I started using it in my cooking and could not believe how useful it actually is.  It went great with brinjal and other veggie dishes, adding a delicious 'meaty' rich flavour. I can't wait to start growing it again!  As for the home-made compost, it served another purpose in that pumpkin /squash seeds came up and these plants, (although they did not really fruit),  provided a great 'mulch' like / canopy protection against the heat and sun and also filled up empty spaces between other plants which kept the weeds in check and also helped keep Fidget (our cat) out. I also grew green pepper, although not very successfully (they would not get big and also seemed to get eaten by something as soon as they did start getting big).  In early summer, we had loads of lettuce for making summer salads and loads of mint for late afternoon mohitos by the pool and reviving morning smoothies. Two 'late' cherry tomato plants (which came from "surprise" seedlings growing in my worm farm!) were the stars of the show when all else had retired, blessing us with loads of plump flavourful fruit up to this very day. Oh, and of course, I mustn't forget good old faithful spinach, predictably supplying us throughout the whole year with dark green nutritious leaves. (The one thing I did buy was coriander and basil seedlings, the coriander was active early summer and the basil supplied us with enough leaves to make 3 large batches of pesto for freezing in ice cubes in anticipation of upcoming winter thai green curries).