Andy had his pigeons and vegetable garden.
My father in law, Allen, had roses and his vegetable garden. He was a serious rose grower, winning some very prestigious rose shows. You knew when a show was imminent as little conical caps would be placed over potential show blooms. With roses came the art of pruning which I am pleased to say he shared with me. First, the secateurs, the tools – he preferred “by- pass” action rather than anvil, and promoted spending a bit of money on them as they would then last a life time. Second came courage – do not be afraid to be bold and prune hard. Strong plants come from hard pruning. Thirdly – know your plant, when and where to prune could be different. For roses it was a light prune in the fall and a hard prune in the spring.
Anyway, back to vegetables – Allen was quite a sophisticated grower. As well as a productive plot, he also had a greenhouse and ( uncommonly for the time) was the proud owner of a chest freezer! The greenhouse allowed him to grow things like tomatoes,courgettes,cucumbers whilst the freezer helped him accommodate crops which tended to mature en masse – peas, runner beans and the like. CP often remarked that the timing of family holidays was such so as not to clash with vegetable harvests. Another predictable event was that when you sat down to Christmas lunch Allen would take great pride in letting you know which veg had been home grown – a pleasure shared by the whole family. He truly was a serious gardener.
Allens connection with his vegetables did not stop at harvesting – he enjoyed making soup. His signature was chunky vegetable. It was a process – the knife sharpened with a steel, the veg precisely cubed with a curated selection giving a colorful offering of green,orange yellow and white. CP claims that this is still her favorite soup – as opposed to my quick make blended soups!
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