Figs in February

Walking into the orchard early in the morning and discovering that the purple figs have survived the birds, is always a pleasure. I love the dark purple fruit that announces that it is February. Late summer in the garden gets brushed with purple by Mother Nature. From the purple figs in the orchard, purple grenadillas behind the cottage to the purple brinjals in the vegetable garden.

The herb garden does not escape Nature’s brush. There is purple lettuce and three different kinds of purple lavender in bloom. The flowers joining in shades of purple are the nicotiana flowers and roses.

The flowers, fruit, herbs and vegetables in the garden punctuate the progress of the seasons. One is always aware of the changing of the seasons as the fare on your plate and the flowers in the vase change.

The different seasons taste, smell and look different at Towerwater. Early autumn tastes like hanepoot grapes, apples and pears. Winter has a distinct citrusy taste with splashes of quince. Spring tastes like early peaches and apricots and summer is a riot of tastes with melon, peaches, plums and figs.

Seeing the young pears and apples in the orchard, reminds me that autumn is around the corner. But the plump purple figs bring the comforting reality that we are still in summer. There will yet be a lot of sun and pleasant evenings to enjoy, spent on the lawn under the oak tree.

I think Mother Nature enjoys a bit of chaos. It is evident in the opslag (self-sown) tomatoes in my orderly bean bed and the sprawling opslag melon in the brinjal bed.

I planted the pumpkin at the bottom of the garden next to the Seville orange tree, hoping that it would enjoy the freedom of space between the citrus trees. But instead, it has gone on a walk-about through the whole garden. The bottom-half of the vegetable garden is now a pumpkin patch, with pumpkins lying in every other bed and even in the pathways.

Nicotiana

When one uses homemade compost in the garden, you have to accept that there will be random vegetables coming up wherever the compost has been used.

I have learnt that one’s vegetable beds cannot always be neat with precise rows. As with life, you need a little madness to spice up the order of things. Nature can surprise one with melons in autumn while at the same time re-assuring you with the constancy of the summer fig season.