It’s a case of flowers, finally, for the crop-bearing plants growing at the flat. Which is both a blessing, and a curse.
After 5 weeks of waiting, and seeming to be much further behind than the crops at the house, the tomato plants that are growing in my sunny and warm study are now bearing the tiniest flowers. Unopened of course, but flowers none the less, or at least that’s what I think they are. All of which means, the fruit can’t be far off from appearing either.
I also now have a quite impressive row of delicate white blooms on the top of one of the basil plants, which will mean that it will go to seed unless I pich them. Trimmed 3 weeks ago when we made the soup, the leaves of the four plants that I have left are slowly turning yellow (especially in the lower reaches). If the flowers are pinched and they don’t pick up, then I think their work must be done. (Apparently the leaves must be pinched, too, for a healthier, bushier plant). So, tonight I trimmed all of the canopies which were still mid-green and popped them in the freezer, to use at another time.
Basil flowers
It seems a shame to think that I may not get any more useful foliage off them, but they have provided me with two plastic boxes of leaves which will be used for cooking. Growing them all from seed makes the whole process a little more meaningful, though, and gives me the slightest of self-sufficient feelings.
While the basil stems are very much alive (and still smelling strongly of basil, despite the yellowing leaves), the same can’t be said of the coriander plants. Moved outside when the tomato stems arrived – and to keep the new pepper tree and strawberry plants company – they now look very sorry for themselves. I’d been warned that coriander is one of the most difficult herbs to keep alive, and so they’ve proved. Limp, dry, and brown, it’s definitely time for them to be cleared and maybe some new seeds sown.
And I thought they was picking up this week, due to new stems (or ones that I’d missed when I trimmed it the first time around) reaching for the sun on my balcony porch.
It’s still all go for the chives, though. Cut and frozen the same week as the basil and coriander, the plants have since regrown, and are almost as tall and lush as they were before. Maybe they are an easier variety to keep, if you can find enough uses for them in the kitchen.
Finally, the lavender seems to be getting larger at a slow but steady rate, and the strawberry plants, while healthy enough, just aren’t doing anything. As at the house, they seem to want to concentrate their efforts on replicating themselves, rather than producing any fruit. So, after we got rid of the Chelmsford plants last weekend, maybe these will have to go, too.