A trip into the deserts of Africa (+ pics)

This post's title, and the fact that I am actually posting here, are NOT a joke. Happy April (Fool's Day), everyone! :)

I once again had lots to do this year so far, and winter is admittedly a slow-ish season for the gardening community (I know, still no reason not to post!) - but I hope you all have survived the bitter temperatures and piles of snow!

Over here I only saw snow once this winter, a very light dusting, for about 4 days - otherwise it has been above freezing! I know, I know. So mild. This explains why I am already seeing local asparagus in the supermarkets (albeit for 20€/kilo)!

Nevertheless, I managed to get away for a week to much warmer and milder (and more exotic) climates - I took a trip to Tunisia, which was pretty interesting and fun!

I'm only including some gardening/nature-related pictures from my trip here, otherwise there would be too much for this post (although I may post more if anyone requests). Not that there was a whole lot on this topic thanks to the desert climate - enjoy a few highlights of traveling around northern Africa!

some fresh artichokes at the market in downtown Sousse

an indoor vegetable market downtown

driving through the desert, headed south - still some green at this point

the most important agricultural crop - olive trees!

we visited a mountain oasis in the desert

mountain desert oasis waterfall!

you see some interesting sights driving through the countryside, like this main (resting under the olive tree) selling is beans on a roadside stand

heading back up north there was a bit more vegetation

an olive tree near downtown at the archaeological museum

a close-up of olives

Seeds started, no April Fool's joke!

seeds started in my mini greenhouse

I hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend! I did - finally got some seeds started a few days ago, and here are the results!

• #1 and #2- cherry tomatoes
• #3 and #4 - tomatoes, bottom one is actually a variety made for pots
• #5 and #6 - zucchini
• #7 and #8 - "white lightning" habanero chili peppers
• #9 and #10 - purple jalapenos
• #11 and #12 - jalapenos

So excited! I had ordered a few kinds of chili pepper seeds last summer from Amazon, but since they came late I decided to hold onto them until this year. Am looking forward to seeing how they do - I have had a fair amount of luck with chili peppers on my balcony in the past few years, so I am excited to try a few different kinds of fresh chilis - the taste of the actually pepper is amazing!

I decided to forgo and cucumbers or squash this season for two reasons:

1. I haven't had any of my squash plants bloom, ever!
2. I think I need bigger pots for squash and cucumber, but I'm not sure that I want to sacrifice the space for a plant that may not produce again!
3. It's too windy on my balcony for vertical gardening, so there is little space for the vines even IF they had bigger pots

zucchini flowers (front in a box)
sold at Campo de Fiori outdoor market, Rome

Nonetheless, I am going to try zucchini again - not giving up on that quite yet! I did get a few to come last year, but were very small (like 3-4 inches long), but I got lots of flowers.

My thought is that if I can tell that the vegetables aren't going to get bigger, I can just eat the flowers! On my trip to Rome with my mom last May, we got to try fried zucchini blooms, a local specialty. I've heard of them served filled with cream cheese, but what we tried were just lightly dusted with flour and deep (or pan?) fried. We even saw where you could buy them with the mini zucchini still attached - at the Campo de Fiori outdoor market in Rome. They look to be about the size that I have produced on my balcony.

A special treat! Here's a recipe from About.com to try, or a stuffed version from food & style. Can't wait!