Ooops! Forgot the title..

   The weather continues to be clear and sunny with a hard frost in the morning. Most mornings have been -3C at the front of the house and the ground is now unworkable because it it frozen! I cannot win at the moment.
   Having -3C every morning with frost has meant that my celery is now done for. The fennel is just about hanging in there and the root crops, parsnip, turnip, swede, orbis and beetroot are surviving. The few parsnips that I have dug up have varied between being very good and completely destroyed. The long period of soaking wet ground meant that some had started to rot and those are a complete right off. I have been raking up leaves and I have mulched the strawberries. I have also started a new leaf mould bed using the well rotted stuff on the poly tunnel beds. The plum tree that had broken branches due to an overweight of fruit has been trimmed and pruned. I need to get pruning the old apple tree! Despite saying to myself that I would get rid of it I have staked up an old pear tree. It has produced a number of new shoots which have fruit buds on them so I will give it another year. I have also had to stake up one of my new apple trees which is top heavy and leaning in the wrong direction. 
   The days are short and despite the sunshine not a lot gets done. It will soon be mid-winter and before I know it I will be sowing onion and tomato seed. Christmas is now just a few days away and the turkeys and geese have been dispatched. Looks like we have some very good birds this year.

Two geese and four turkeys.

Crack on!

   Gee! Two weeks has past since the last blog, not that there is much to say. The weather has taken a turn for the better. Cold, yes, frost yes, a little sunshine yes, but rain no! Hooray! Just need the ground to dry out a little and I will be able to do some forking. Famous last words those. Of course the frosts have got harder which means the ground is hard until the afternoon and of course once you get past three o'clock french time the day is pretty much over! Pah!
    Our eldest home reared chick now nicknamed by me as Big Chick, has been confirmed as a cockerel! He was spotted being seduced by a brown hen.
   In the poly tunnel the potatoes planted for Christmas have shown. I do not think we will be eating them for Christmas but if I can protect them we could have new potatoes early in 2014. Some french shallots (torpedo shaped) that I planted to see what might happen are starting to show. Winter leaves are now being picked and very nice they are too.  I have a good crop of coriander and the kohl rabi are swelling nicely. I am hopeful for a couple of spring cauliflowers.
   In the outside garden I have been trying to gather up fallen apples and rake up leaves. The chickens have other ideas. The oak tree is dropping leaves but there is still a lot to fall. I want those leaves for the strawberries!
   Heath Robinson has nothing on me! I fixed my front gate which was had a broken slat and the gate was sticking. Bit of spare wood, sand paper, some wood screws and old bit of plastic pipe and hey the gate closes without sticking or falling apart! 
   So all in all I have spent more time putting up Christmas decorations than doing gardening. Such is the way of things. Still, there is plenty to do if I get the chance so onward to Christmas!

Still too wet but improving!

  What can I say? Very little done over the last week. Too wet. The ground is too wet to do any work on. I have cleared the perennial beds and tried to light a bonfire a couple of times with limited success! Of course, soon as I wrote that the weather has taken a turn for better! Dry, overcast and a cold wind but at least the ground is drying out a bit! I have apples still to pick and weeds that need removing not to mention a vine to prune and bullock hoof impressions and mole tunnels to fill in to mention some of the tasks still waiting to be done and Christmas is around the corner!

Clearing the perennial beds and bonfire

   Unfortunately the farmers bullocks got out of their field and wandered into the garden. Ten or more bullocks weighing probably half a ton each wandering around on saturated turf did not do the ground any good at all! At least I was able to keep them off the majority of the garden but there are some hoof prints in a couple of the plots. Minor damage to the garlic and the rest is just cosmetic. Where they walked on the grass though is a mess and will require some tender loving care in the spring. Man! Bullocks and moles not a good combination.
   Autumn/winter animal husbandry moves on. The white turkey was starting to unsteady on her legs and was being picked on by the others so we decided to dispatch her. After processing we got 6kgs (14lbs) of meat. Next to go will be are old cockerel, Wally2, who is looking his age. One of our chicks who we believe is a cockerel will replace him. Coq-au-vin is on the menu! 
   In the outside veggie garden last of the early leeks and carrots have been pulled. Spinach, fennel, orbis,beetroot, celeriac (small but edible), celery, carrots, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes still available. In the poly tunnel I have planted french shallots (as an experiment) and there is lettuce, cauliflower, kohl rabi, celery, fennel, sweet peppers and herbs. Not a sniff of my Christmas potatoes. What is the betting that they grow straight after Christmas. 

Sometimes the weather works against you!

   Not really a lot to say this week. The weather has really been against me. Wet, cold and on/off rain. The ground is wet and sticky and I really need to leave it alone, however, I had to rescue my over winter onion seedlings so a small patch was hand forked and weeded. Unfortunately I only rescued eight plants! The chickens had struck and eaten/scratched up the rest!
    In the poly tunnel I continue to pick sweet peppers, red and green ones. The end is close though as I am now picking quite small peppers. The kohl rabi is promising and fingers crossed I may get a cauliflower or two come spring. There is some lettuce, winter leaves, coriander and parsley (curly and french). The asparagus is going over inside and outside the poly tunnel. Guess it will not be long and it will be sprouting again! I have top dressed a couple of the beds.
   Outside there are leeks, celery, small celeriac, swede, parsnips, orbis, large turnips, Jerusalem artichokes and carrots to harvest. I will probably dig up the artichokes and use them to expand the bed this year. Depends I guess on how many there are. The garlic and field beans are standing up to the weather just fine. I think I got my garlic in at the right time as at least they had time to sprout before it got really wet.  Runner bean sticks have been taken down and the remaining beans (variety Czar) left gathered, dried and hopefully will be used as "butter beans". The Champion of England pea poles have also been taken down and a few peas gathered for seed. I have been very pleased with this variety of pea and even more surprised that I managed to get a autumn crop off them. I have gathered a lot of windfall apples but there have been so many apples this year. I am now waiting for the trees to loose there leaves so that I can get on with pruning. The plum trees need attention as they had so much fruit some branches broke. The grape vine is now loosing its leaves but very few grapes are being eaten by birds. Last year they took the lot in a very short time. Chickens love them though!
    How I managed I do not know but I got the grass cut! High setting on the mower but least it took the worst off. Several stops to clear out the blade cover of wet cut grass! Hopefully, fingers crossed etceteria no more grass cutting till next spring.

Rain runoff pouring down the road

Water flow down the lane at the side of my property

   

Rain? More like the tropics but not so hot.

    This week continues to be wet. The weather is on the mild side but with lots of showers. This means the ground is still unworkable and although the grass needs cutting I cannot do it! Water is running on the surface of the ground and in places it it decidedly muddy.
    I have at least managed to plant my large bag of narcissus and small bag of english daffodil bulbs. Assuming that the mice do not have a winter feast of them there should be a nice display come next March.

Bottle cloches

    In the poly tunnel the sweet peppers are still clinging on. The peas I sowed are now showing and are covered up with bottle cloches. Other crops in the poly tunnel are fairing well. Kohl Rabi and cauliflower are doing ok. No sign of my christmas potatoes! Hey ho! Another failure at this. Next year I am going to plant early potatoes for christmas rather than second earlies or main crop.

Front to back - celery, fennel, corriander

   In the outside garden the only real work being done is either picking up windfall apples or pulling carrots, swede and turnips! The ground is so wet that to walk on it invites clods of wet sticky dirt on my boots. So, it is left for the weeds and boy they are still growing.
   The final four table chickens have been despatched and processed. The freezer has at least 20 chickens in it!
   Well, I guess what I need to do is to plan where  next years sowings and planting is going. It certainly does not look like I am going to be doing much else for a while!

Still wet...

   Another wet week with little being done, however, I did manage to get one day to wash inside and the outside of the poly tunnel. It is always surprising to me how dirty the cover gets. I now need to disinfect the inside and I am waiting for a dry day to do it! I have sown some dwarf peas in the tunnel for over wintering (round peas not wrinkled) and they have already sprouted. I have sown them in such a way I can put "plastic bottle cloches" over them. I have also sown some spring cabbage in their too more in hope than expecting anything much. Kohl Rabi and All the Year Round cauliflower are growing well along with the sweet peppers and various herbs.

   The frame supporting the Champion of England peas finally collapsed under the pressure of size and weight of the peas and the high winds. No damage to anything else. I just need to clean up the mess! My over winter onion seed that was ravaged by the chickens looks very sad. The germination has been poor (not helped by the fact they were germinating and the chickens struck!) and I am thinking that I might move those that are big enough to another bed or inside the poly tunnel.

   The new season has opened up with the sprouting of the garlic and field beans. Yes, field beans not broad beans. Field beans are related to broad beans but are a smaller plant that does not grow so tall. It is the bean that farmers grow apparently. They are still supposed to crop quite heavily.

Field beans and garlic for 2014

  I have managed to spend some time starting to clear the bank where I want to plant my spring bulbs. The ground is very wet here and quite heavy. This is the second year of clearing this area and it is most definitely easier this time.

  So, lots to do but time is now against me. Once November is here the temperatures will start to go below freezing making it more difficult to work the ground. Better get my skates on!

Wash out...

   Only a short write up this week. It feels like it has done nothing but rain over the last week or so but of course there has been the odd day or few hours where it has not rained or drizzled or been too wet to do anything in the garden. The vegetable beds are still pretty much unworkable being very wet. It makes no sense to even try. Having said that I have noticed that the garlic is up and the over winter broad beans have sprouted.
   Autumn is very much under way. The leaves are turning quite quickly now with more autumn colours showing. 
   I continue to pull carrots and pick haricot buerre, variety Minidor. The haricot have been very prolific and I have been very pleased with them. They are a dwarf variety but they are just jammed packed with beans. The grape vine has produce a lot of fruit and much more than we can eat. The chickens like the grapes and I have been surprised not to see the birds eating them more. In the poly tunnel I have transplanted in a few fennel and a couple of celery plants. The sweet peppers in the poly tunnel are still producing much to my amazement.
   Moles are a real problem this autumn. I am going to have to do something about them I think. They are making a real mess of the house lawn and I can see that I am going to have to do some serious repair work in the spring. 
   

Short days

    At this time of the year the days are short and getting shorter almost every day. It is now not light until 08:00hrs and it is dark by 07:15hrs. Add to that the miserable weather, overcast, rain, it is difficult to really achieve anything. The ground is wet and only just about workable although I am reluctant to even try. Still, plenty of other tidying up stuff do as long as I do not mind getting a little damp!
   The grass needed mowing once more and looks like it might require one more cut before I can call it a day.
   The Mare du Bois strawberries continue to produce. There are still lots of flowers but I have to get the berries as soon as they turn as the rain and slugs can beat me to it. I  have again this year planted garlic between the strawberry plants. I have read that they are companion plants and certainly it did not do any harm last year. 
   In the poly tunnel still no sign of my, ahem, Christmas potatoes. I do not think we will be getting new potatoes for Christmas somehow. I have transplanted some fennel and a couple of celery plants into the tunnel. I have also left the sweet peppers in place as I have read that in a poly tunnel they can continue to thrive until December. We will see. The last tomatoes have been removed from the poly tunnel. These were the millefleur variety which I had hope might produce a few more toms. Result was only few small green ones.  I have transplanted some salad bowl lettuce in an attempt to stretch the lettuce season a bit.
  In the outside garden it has generally been too wet to do anything on the beds. I have manage to fork and weed the odd patch but the ground is really too wet. 

2013 Sweet Peppers main crop

    

Autumn sowing and starting to think about next season...

   Knew I had spoken too soon! The chickens have taken a fancy to the Pak Choi and my two once nice looking rows are now hen pecked and with leaves full of holes. The chickens have also taken a fancy to my beetroot and just about all the leaves have been eaten. Man!

 

Waltham Butternut Squash

Hundredweight squash

   I continue to pick and pull a variety of vegetables. The tomatoes are now finished and the final few trays are being processed. I have collected Millefleur and Champion Champeau tomato seed. It is remiss of me not to have got some Latah and Ethel Watkins!.
   Butternut squash has been picked. A good number of squash and a couple of large ones. I also grew some Hundredweight pumpkins to try to have some for the grandchildren at Halloween. Below is a picture of the biggest one. Over twelve inches diameter. There were three smaller ones but each still a decent size.    There has been a massive rain storm which has caused some damage to the garden. Lots of water running off the road, down the drive into the vegetable plots. Soil has been washed away on one side of a bed leaving a deep scar in the earth. Hey ho, such as it is. Upside. The earth is too "sticky" for the chickens to scratch. LOL!
   Once again I am trying my luck with brassicas and I have transplanted a few spring cabbage into a bed that I know grew decent cabbage. So far so good. Most have established ok and I have protected them from the chickens who I am sure would just love to eat them.
   It is a sure sign the season is at an end  and a new season is dawning when you plant garlic and sow broad beans. The garlic is once again a locally bought variety called Violet (100 gloves planted) and this winter I am sowing field beans, variety called Wizard, in preference to the usual broad bean Aquadulce Longpod. Winter lettuce is in (again covered to keep my feathered friends at bay) and White Lisbon spring onions sown to get that early spring crop. The first sowing failed to germinated. This sowing has been affected by the heavy rain so I guess I will be sowing some more later. 
   There are lots of apples on the properties original apple trees. Unfortunately the varieties are unknown. They are not the most inspired eaters so I am turning some into stewed apple and freezing it while also producing apple crumble and the odd apple pie. The apple trees I planted have had mixed results with two trees of five doing quite well. one, Blenheim Orange, doing very well. I fear for my Bramley which really looks a little sad.
   One would really like to believe that the gardening was slowing down. Naaa! The grass needs mowing again, hopefully for the last time this year. We will see.

Food, glorious food!

   My last blog was almost three weeks ago. I have been back to the UK for a week and boy even at this time of year a week away and the garden still manages to surprise me on my return.
   With Autumn all but here (the wood for the wood burners has arrived) it is time to clear the beds, fork and weed and get prepared for next season as well as nurturing the remaining plants that will provide some food into the first half of the winter. 

2013 Wood delivery

   Also consideration for something to plant to be ready for next spring. I have planted out some spring cabbage, Baccalan de Renne. Yes, I am persisting with brassicas despite the abysmal failure of them this season.
   I have been a little slack with pruning this year. The black and red currants need to be done and I do need to clear off the strawberry beds. Three beds to clear, two down one to go. The third is going to be prepared for planting with Mare du Bois strawberries. The bed is cleared but forking and weeding is proving hard. The ground is dry and I do not think it has been dug for a long time. I have now managed to finish the third bed but I had to re-introduce myself to my mattock to enable me to dig it up!

No 3 strawberry bed

  I have continued to pick tomatoes and those that can be have been and the main bed has been cleared ready for digging. I still have some millefleur in the poly tunnel, flowering and producing tomatoes. I can leave those for a while yet.
  I have a lovely crop of turnips, certainly the best I have grown here in France. The parsnips should be very good this year as long as the critters do not take a fancy to them. I also have a very nice looking couple of rows of Pak Choi! I have tried Pak Choi in the poly tunnel with little success and so I thought I would try it outside at the end of the summer as is suggested. Success and the chickens have not eaten it! So, what does one do with Pak Choi? The swede is looking good and I am still hopeful that the celery will come good but I fear the majority of the celeriac, mostly eaten by escaped sheep earlier in the year, will not. I have an established row of spinach with the first picking being made, however, the chickens love spinach and I have had to cover them with cloche's. The winter leeks are well established and we still have not finished the early ones. Haricot buerre, Champion of England peas (love these peas), carrots, sweet peppers (and there are red ones too!!) and more still being picked/cut. The runner beans have been disappointing although I did get some but not the prolific crop one usually expects. It is a bountiful time of year.
  Of course there are many jobs to do as always. I will be lifting my main crop purple potatoes, Violette, as the tops have finally started to die off as a priority. The poly tunnel is in desperate need of cleaning and I really must get it done before the cold weather sets in. There is pickling to do and apples to pick and process. Anyone want to come and help? 

Serious harvest time...

Damson Plums

   September is well and truly upon us. Lots of lovely produce to pick and eat. This has been a good year for fruit. Lots of plums and apples. The Mara des Bois strawberries are now well bedded in and there should be a good autumn crop. The apple trees I planted had produced a good number of apples only to suffer from aphids and black spot fungus. Three out of five of the trees had small shrivelled diseased fruit and then lost their apples. Two have proved to be very resistant to aphid and fungal infection and have a good number of apples on it. Cannot win them all! I think the fungal infection has come from the old pear tree. 
   Here in La Creuse I can expect frost free weather up until at least the middle of October and more likely to the end of October. This allows me to take a chance with some crops, for example, the Champion of England peas. They will probably tolerate some cold but a frost will start to kill them off. Peas are already formed and I am expecting to pick the first ones within the week. (As it happened I picked a handful on the 8th September). The swedes, variety Joan, is growing fast and I hopeful for a number of large swedes. Parsnips and Orbis look grand. The onion crop has been good, particularly the variety Yellow Rynsburger. Bedfordshire champion and spainish onion have been ok but nothing like last years big onions. After the sheep attack the celeriac is a sorry looking crop, nothing like last years at all.

"Joan" swede

Champion of England peas

The sunflowers have lasted a good long time. The birds are now eating the seeds on those that have set. 
   Anyone seen the rain? Umph! Mention rain and it rains. Yes, there has been some rain since I wrote that sentence. Not a lot but enough. Still, there has not been any reasonable amount of rain here at Watermeadows for a couple of weeks now and watering is now becoming a major task. 
   Time to harvest the melons whether they are ready or not. The vines have died back and it looks like the Troubador melons are mostly ripe. There is a real smell of melon from the bed. I needed my Radio Flyer truck to transpot them from the bed to the storage shed!

Troubadour melons

   My gamble with the peas and haricot buerre look like it will pay off. I have picked some peas and some haricot and lots more on the way. I am well pleased. Lots of Roma tomatoes being picked and my daughter is in full swing making pasata. The outside tomato crop has been good despite the chickens!
   The new chickens, laying hens and table, are settling in well and the laying hens are already starting to lay, albeit small, eggs.
   This autumn is going to be busy!

Surprise! Surprise!

   We had a surprise at Watermeadows. One of our ewes gave birth. That was not expected at all! We also have had three chicks hatch out another surprise arrival.

Mother ewe and lamb August 2013

   In the garden the battle against the weeds continue. I am now picking running beans along side the haricot vert and I fear it will not be long and we will not be able to eat them quickly enough! The freezer is calling. There are lots of tomatoes ripening so it will be out with roasting tray to make peseta. Since writing that sentence the tomatoes are being picked by the seed tray full! 

   Other produce is being picked/cut on a regular basis and in increasing amounts. Cucumbers have been a success again this year (La Diva outside, Watouma in the poly tunnel). We are overwhelmed again with the summer squash, patty pan, despite planting out less plants. Lots of courgettes but I think about the right number of plants (5). A very good crop of haricot vert with too many to consume! A couple of melons have finally ripened but it is proving hard to determine when they are ripe! Another success this year has been aubergines. A poor start but the plants have produced a good number of aubergines. Just starting to harvest sweet peppers again they had a poor start and I thought that the crop would be poor. The weather has cooperated and there is now a good crop. Will the Champion of England peas produce? They are looking good but is there time for them to produce? The plum tree in the house garden has suffered from over producing and has several broken branches. There are lots of plums which are now ready to pick. I believe they are damsons. 
   I am trying to save seed and have collected moss curled parsley seed to add to my broad bean seed. I will try to save seed from the haricots and very probably others.   
 Our first round of eleven table chickens have been processed and the freezer is well stocked with chicken. The grass refuses to stop growing and once more "The Beast" has been in use. I managed not to break it this time though!
   I started to write this entry on the 15th August. It is now the 1st September. In those two weeks the weather has changed. The mornings are now cool (6 - 8C or less) with day time temperatures more in the lower 20's. Autumn/winter crops planted in hot sunshine are now picking up and growing well. The Marie Bois strawberries are in flower and producing another crop of strawberries. I just love this variety. 
   More new arrivals at Watermeadows. Another twelve table chickens and eight "point of lay" chickens. Hopefully we will re-establish our egg laying flock. A good sign is that the new hens are already laying, some what small, eggs.

It all comes at once...

    I beat the rain and I have lifted the Desiree potatoes. A good crop.  Yet more rain but it came at the right time. My transplanted beetroot, variety Sanquina, are now well established after what could have been a very poor start. All the melons are well set and swelling. Picking lots of courgettes, cucumbers, and french beans. Started to pick tomatoes in earnest. The sweet peppers are now looking good and I am very hopeful for a useful crop. My earlier fears of a total disaster have not been realised. Just shows that rain, sun, rain, sun really does keep things moving along. The aubergines can now be picked and I have managed to grow some Rosi de Trento lettuce without the chickens destroying them! Yeah!

Rosi de Trento lettuce

Clutch of three aubergines

  The cucumbers are producing well, generally one or two a day! I have dug up the red onions and they are drying in the poly tunnel. I also pulled a number of small Spanish onions. They have not done so well this year. The haricot vert have also done well with several kilos picked. The runner beans are coming on and should be producing close to when the haricot vert finish. Result! The white onion variety Rynsburger are looking good and the leaves have yet to die back. They should swell a little more.  The dwarf pea, Hatif d'Annonay has now finished and the giant pea vine (up to 7 feet!) Champion of England is growing madly. Courgettes. Umm, courgettes. Currently picking two or three a day! We are getting fed up with courgettes!!
   Melons. Well what can one say about the melons. I have three varieties (Petit Gris and Troubadour) and water melons. They are just fantastic! There are over 30 melons on the Petit Gris vines and at least seven water melons. I have not counted the Troubadour but there are lots! I picked a Petit Gris melon but it was not quite ripe.

Clutch of 10 Troubadour melons

   The Hundredweight pumpkins are just as amazing! Currently there are four with one more coming along but the four are enormous already and still lots of growing time to go.
   Most be just about time to start to harvest the sweet corn. It is looking good and the cobs are quite well formed. Need to try one!
   In the poly tunnel I have planted potatoes for Christmas. This time I will be looking after them real well. I am determined to have Christmas spuds this year! Lettuce and sweet peppers look good, the toms I am very disappointed with. Tomitillios look good but are not producing yet. Lettuce is ok and the cucumber exceptional once more.
   Preparation for winter and the hungry gap has begun. Swede, turnip, carrot, fennel, spinach all sown and germinated or established plants.Celeriac, celery, parsnips, leeks, beetroot and Orbis (root parsley) already growing well. Plenty of jobs still to do.

Humming the desert song..........

   ...and it thunders and rains! The Belle de Fontenay main crop potatoes have been lifted. Man, that was a job and a half! I must have perspired a pint. Nice looking potato and a good crop though and very little bug damage. Lifted a few Vitelotte purple potatoes. Very strange having a purple potato on you plate especially when you cut it in half and it is purple all through!
  There has been a thunder storm and a light to heavy rain fall. I reckon about half an inch over a couple of hours. This has refreshed everything and I am sure everything (that means the grass as well) will grow. I took the opportunity to weed and fork the ex-shallot bed which brings that plot back into probable use. I have beetroot and swede growing in modules that will need a home soon. Now I need to lift the main crop of Desiree potatoes! 

Violette (purple) potatoes in flower

   The first lot of sweet corn has come in flower, if that is what you call it and cobs are forming on the plants.  There is a cucumber on the La Diva plant. This is an outside cucumber and looks like a large courgette when ready to eat. The rain will have help it for sure. The courgettes are becoming productive with a second lot picked. How long before a pate pan squash appears I wonder? Found one on the 23rd July. Melons are beginning to set. Could be a good year for melons. Started to pick the dwarf peas, variety Hatif d'Annonay.
   Sanguira beetroot, grown in modules, has been transplanted to an outside bed. I fear it will be too hot and I will loose a lot of them. Another row of carrots, Long Lisse de Meaux, a good storer, has been sown. Rosi de Trento, a smooth leaf lettuce, has been transplanted to an outside plot and the chicks found them! Darn. The Champion of England pea has finally germinated well. Once I started to water them they started to appear. I will need to keep up the watering to make sure the achieve their full height (6 to 7 feet!). No need. It has rained frequently!!! More Great Lakes lettuce has been transplanted to pots and I have had to resow the Minidor yellow dwarf french beans. Only a few germinated. The replacement celeriac has been transplanted and I keep my fingers crossed for these. They may not have enough time to fully grow.  In  the poly tunnel Great Lakes and Little Gem lettuce are growing well. The sweet peppers are looking good with peppers setting. The cauliflowers are looking a little sad as are the tomatoes. The leaf mould on the toms in the poly tunnel is really starting to have an affect although I am still hopeful for a reasonable crop but not the bumper one that I was expecting. Broad leaf and curly parsley is slowing growing, cucumbers and basil are doing well. No sign of of salad bowl lettuce or corriander yet.
   The beast (lawn mower) has had an outing. The grass was not particularly long but need a trim and I really needed to do it before the rain effect kicked in. 
   It has been a busy time at Watermeadows and I am late in publishing my blog. This copy brings me up to the 24th July and I am working on getting the next  one out as soon as possible!
Lots to tell.
.

Thinking about rain....

   Well, since I last published my blog it has not rained (a few spots that only just about made to the ground one evening!). The ground is now starting to dry out more than a couple of inches down. I am having to water every evening and my water store, five large butts, is lasting two to maybe three days but the produce is demanding more. Cubits (courgettes, squash, melons) require regular watering as do the peas and they really need quite a bit of water. The lettuce I am watering twice a day and in the poly tunnel I need to check three times a day to make sure the plants are not drying out. Now I have started I have to keep on going. Pah! One of the downsides of gardening I guess!
  Still attacking weeds. Lots of hoeing. Now sowing seeds for the winter - swede, Kohl Rabi, cauliflower. Another week or so and I will have another go at sowing winter/spring cabbage. 

   In the outside garden the potato harvest has begun in earnest. The second earlies, Rosebelle, have now been dug up and replaced with autumn and winter leeks (Jaune de Poitou and Blue de Solaise) and the main crop of Belle de Fontenay potatoes need to be lifted too. Better do that before it rains! Too late! (see below) Started to pick courgettes. The shallot harvest has been gathered and has been laid out to dry (pickling shallots RED SUN and french, JERMOR, what I call banana, shallots).

2013 Pickling Shallot harvest variety RED SUN

Autumn and winter leeks

      



The Hundredweight pumpkins have set fruit (fruit or vegetable?). 

First One Hundredweight pumpkin

Guess what? My new barbecue arrive and yes, it rained. (19th July) As I write this I am looking out to the front of the house to a steady, gentle fall of rain. I really need to be careful what I wish for.

The sun has got his hat on, Hip! Hip! Hip! Horray!

   It is the 6th July and the sun and heat has arrived! The last couple of days has been sunny and hot and the forecast is for it to continue. That means a lot of watering to be done. And it has continued. I am writing this on the 12th July and every day since the 6th has been hot and is forecast to continue. There has been a thunderstorm and a shower of rain but really nothing much at all. First time this year I have had to refill the water butts from the well.

New metal tomato poles

   In the poly tunnel my tomato's have leaf mould. Not good. I have had a lot of problems with mould in the poly tunnel. Not surprising really as it has been wet and warm and so very humid. I just hope that the tomato's can produce before the mould gets them. As it happens leaving the doors open all the time on the poly tunnel has slowed up the progress of the mould.  In the poly tunnel the toms are started to turn red with a vengeance particularly the Latah variety. Outside the bed of ninety have been staked with new metal tomato poles and tied up. That was a mammoth job.  I have sown beetroot in modules which was quite successful last year and more lettuce. I have also added more coriander and a row of White Lisbon spring onions. Great Lakes lettuce and some Little Gem has been transplanted In the outside garden I have all but given up on the brassicas and my Oregon sugar snap peas have not germinated well. Out of four sowing of peas, admittedly different varieties, only two types have germinated well. The courgettes are coming along well and I expect to start picking them in three or four days (written 09/07).  Well, that did not happen. Guess I should have watered them. My late sowing celery is now out in the outside garden and I am hopeful that given the longer growing season here they will manage to mature ok. It is time to start thinking of what to sow for the "hungry" gap. ( end of March to the start of June).
   The beast (motor mower) has let me down again. The handle has broken again. I just hope it can be fixed as the break is above the weld from a previous break. It is not as if I had used it excessively since the last fix! The beast was fixed and the grass mowed. I even bush wacked three of the sheep paddocks. The sheep did seem pleased to see the grass cut, lol.
   The grass in the big field has been cut and baled. The summer is moving on.

Cold night but then....

   Its the 26th June! 0815hrs and the temperature is two degrees Celsius! Almost a nip of frost.
You would not have believed it would you?  Melons have been transplanted. Watermelon, Petite Gris and Troubadour. Cucumbers have been planted in the poly tunnel and outside. The row of Orbis and Cheltenham Greentop beetroot have been thinned out and darn it the chickens have found the beetroot and started to eat the leaves. Parsley and Marjoram have been transplanted. Busy time still. Chickens are making a nice job of destroying my brassica's no matter what I do.
  I am always surprised at how much sowing there is still to do. Lettuce, radish, peas, cauliflower need to be sown to have a succession of crops. 
  In the poly tunnel there are signs of a ripe tomato's! With sun forecast over the next couple of days of sun due (30th June and the temperature hits 30C (1st July hits 31C) for the first time this summer) it will ripen rapidly I think. The Latah variety is living up to its hype. 

1st LATAH tomato picked 3rd July 2013

I have invested in one hundred metal arty tomato poles. They look really neat. Now I have a hundred tomato's to tie up and remove shoots from.

Some of the Violet garlic crop

  First batch of peas picked and frozen. Just over twelve ounces frozen. 
   As I sit looking out at a cherry tree I can see birds picking off the cherries. They are fully ripe now and the birds are making the most of it. There is a blackbird in the branches and a magpie on the ground picking up fallen cherries.
   The last of the garlic has been dug up and is drying in the porch. A good crop worth some 70 euros if you go by E'Leclerc 's price of 1.50 euros a bulb! 
   We are picking strawberries. Not masses but handfuls every few days and also a few raspberries. Certainly the best strawberry crop since we have been here. The Mara des Bois are particularly good.
   New arrivals at Watermeadows. Two goslings have joined our table chickens and turkeys.
   With the new tomato poles in place I have spent time removing spurs and tying up the toms and weeding between them. It is surprising how much growth they have put on. Already there are tomato's set. The metal poles are lot easier to tie the tomato's too than sticks cut from the woodland. I have planted some basil in between and plan to also plant some parsley. These are companion plants so should have a beneficial affect on the tomatos. We shall see!

The party is in full swing!

   Sugar snap peas (Oregon Sugar Pod) sown and summer/winter squash and pumpkins transplanted. Then it rained overnight - result! Just what was required. Broad beans harvested and over 3 kilogrammes frozen. Great Lakes lettuce from the poly tunnel cut and the cherry trees scaled and a good amount picked. There were almost  too many to eat but we managed a good number! Still, quite a few got away! Cauliflowers from the poly tunnel cut and frozen. Last of the "Christmas" potato's dug. up. Starting to pick peas. Beetroot thinned out. Minidor yellow french dwarf beans sown and more Great Lakes lettuce transplanted in the poly tunnel. Lettuce leave and lemon basil transplanted, also in the poly tunnel. Phew!
    Sunday dinner (23rd June) was all Champeau Bas produced produce - roast chicken, broad beans, carrots, peas and potatoes. 
   Weeds, weeds, weeds. Always weeds! And the grass - umm. I can only mutter dire threats against the grass. The weather has suited the garden but not me. I would love to see some sunshine last longer than just a couple of hours and without broken cloud please!  It has been  on the cool side (for this area) and damp. There have often been rain showers and the soil is warm to the touch which means everything grows fast. including weeds and grass. 

Tomatillo in the poly tunnel 

   
  

There are things to eat in the garden....

Digging the runner bean trench

   The next sowing of peas has been done, variety Hatif d'Annonay dwarf pea. I am making use of the old sheep fencing to support the peas. French dwarf beans have germinated. Lots of plants to transplant and I am in a 

Giant cauliflower All the Year Round   

real hurry to get them out before the weather turns too hot. I have now transplanted 200 tomato plants - Moneymaker, Latah, Champeau Giant Yellow, Millfleur, Oregon Spring, Edith Watkins Best and Romano. The last eight went into the tomb and now need to be staked up. I also have cucumbers to transplant. These will be going outside, variety Wautoma. Time also to transplant squashes and courgettes! Soon need to plant the next lot of beans and carrots.
   The sweet peppers and aubergines transplanted a while back are looking very sick. They look like they have been attacked by some sort of aerial fungal disease. It is a problem here when it is very humid. It is also very noticeable in the poly tunnel. My wonderful looking Little Gem lettuce has also been badly hit although we are managing to eat the majority. There is also the problem of there being too much rain and leaching of trace minerals manifested in the pale green leaves of the parsnips and carrots. The soil here is short on magnesium at the best of times.
   I have had a nice surprise. One of the cherry trees that I thought was a sour cherry turns out to 

Freshly picked cherries

be a sweet cherry tree. This year it has had a lot of fruit on it and it is fast becoming a competition to pick the fruit before the birds get it. Fingers crossed this year could be a bumper year for fruit.
   Turkeys and table chickens have now arrived at Watermeadows. 

Time to get on!
 

Ever forwards rain or no rain....

   29th May.
    The start of the week has been cool and wet. I struggle on, weeding and cutting the grass whether border verges or the lawns.
    Finally I have celery germinating. It has taken four sowing's of half seed trays of seed to get them to germinate. Guess the celery did not like the cool conditions! Hopefully with the long growing season here I will manage to produce some. Tomato's are now becoming a urgent case to transplant outside and my attention turns to them. The tomato beds are ready for planting just need a pause in the rain! I got the pause and 90 tomato plants transplanted - Moneymaker, Millefleur, Champeau Yellow Giant, Romano. Also the sweet corn I have planted in modules is germinated and growing well. The sweet corn bed needs attention! The strawberry beds need weeding! Arrgggh!
    Broad beans in the poly tunnel are now ready to pick and I think I will take a serving and leave the rest, as planned, for seed. The tomato's in the poly tunnel are growing well with the variety Latah in flower and hopefully they will soon turn into tomato's. The tomato's I have grown with the hope that they will grown on into the autumn are also growing well in their pots - Oregon spring and Ethel Watkins. Both are supposed to tolerate cooler conditions.
    There are now spout and cabbage plants that need to be transplanted and there are tomatillos too that need to go out. Sprouts and cabbage have been put out but now I have pigeons to deal with! 

Pigeon strike!

 And what caused this damage to my potatoes? It happened overnight while the chickens were shut up. Badger? Fox? Deer? So far I have not seen any other clues. I do not think whatever it was is after the potatoes as the tubers are not yet formed. Ants and their eggs are more likely but a lot of dirt has been moved. 

   Today I have seen the first tomato in the poly tunnel. It is a Latah tomato and it is only the 4th June! Yep, this variety are most certainly early. It will not be long and the summer/winter squash and courgettes will also need to be found space. In the mean time the grass and weeds grow! I noticed that the vine is now well and truly taking off. That will need pruning before you can say Jack Robinson! Busy busy busy!

DAMN SHEEP!

   This country living lark has its ups and downs. Last night (20/05) was a down. The flock of ewes and lambs plus the ram escaped from their paddock. Looks like the ram must have head butted the gate once too often and it had opened. So out they came bleating away. I heard the little bug***s while in bed but did not act. So this morning what do I find? Sheep and lambs at my front door bleating leaving little messages on the floor (one or two were big ones!). There was no problem getting them back to their paddock. They knew where to go and I drove them without any problem. Only once I had them back did I begin to see what they had done. They had eaten all my celeriac plants that I had transplanted yesterday. They also ate my Cheltenham Green Top beetroot that I was growing for seed and were about to flower - takes two seasons to get beetroot seed! Annoyed is just a mild version of how I felt! I will need to assess the damage more closely but I think I will need to resow the celeriac. I should just about be able to get away with it but those plants looked really good and I am very disappointed. Guess what? Yes, you guessed it. The chickens. I sowed some late leeks a while back and they were growing well. I had covered them up to stop the chickens from using the bed as a somewhere to scratch. I decided to sow some Chou Rouge and F1 Lion King White cabbage seed in the small plot and leave it uncovered. Mistake. First sign of the ground looking dry the cockerel decides to take a dirt bath. I hate sheep and chickens!

Sheep munched beetroot

  Ok, three things working against me! Sheep, chickens and the weather. Heck do I have a chance I wonder? The weather continues to be wet and the ground is staying soggy to say the least. In between the rain when the sun shines a little I am mowing the grass. I am sowing seeds in the poly tunnel but the tomatoes now need to be transplanted outside very soon. Waltham butternut squash, Petit Gris de Rennes melon, Kohl Rabi and lemon grass all sown in the poly tunnel. Within a few days the squash had germinated and I am looking out for the melons! Outside I managed to get a row of De Colmar coeur rouge carrot sown but I have covered most of the row with cloche's to keep the soil warm and a little drier. This helped the first sowing to germinate which are now up and have their first full leaves. 
   In the poly tunnel I spied my first slug! Another "thing" to add? It has eaten one small cabbage plant. It very quickly took a flying lesson through the door of the poly tunnel. Other crops in the tunnel are looking good - Little Gem, Great Lakes and red Salad bowl lettuce, cauliflowers (lost three due to what I call soil rot - the stem rots where it enters the soil. Fungal disease no doubt), tomatoes, asparagus (still throwing up spears), radish and parsley. Outside asparagus, broad beans, peas, garlic, second early and main crop potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, onions (four varieties - gone mad on onions this year!), shallots (pickle and "banana"), orbis (root parsley), beetroot, rhubarb, parsnips, carrots, lettuce, early leeks and although at first I thought it was a weed okra are  growing away. Guess I should not be too disappointed! 

Carrot and Parsnip

   In the poly tunnel I have transplanted four Millefleur (centifleur type) tomatoes. First time trying to grow these. These should produce large quantities of  grape like bunches of tomatoes. I now have 32 tomatoes planted in the poly tunnel, four varieties. I have plans to plant at least one more row of four plants probably Moneymaker.
   First lot of sweet peppers have been transplanted outside and this year I have decided to plant aubergine outside. The variety De Barbentane is a french variety bred to grow outside. It will be interesting to see how they do and to find out whether or not I am not to far north to grow them outside successfully. 
   Still much to do around the garden as always. I have sorta got on top of the grass mowing in-between rain showers and I am now cutting the grass "short". There is much "tidying up" type work to do and as always weeding and cutting grass around the beds. Hey ho! I am wishing for better weather and now June is nearly upon us I am ever hopeful. You have to be to be a gardener!

   

As they say...go! go! go!

  Well, all h***  has let loose over the last couple of weeks. It has been a busy time at Watermeadows. There have been gite guests, an Aussie couple staying for a week and also some friends of my daughter/son-in-law staying with them! Houses were full!
  In the garden its go go go! A week of warmer weather has meant that the grass has need to be mown every three or four days and a lot of transplanting/sowing has been done. All the fruit trees has been in full blossom and the scent has just been wonderful. No frost so hopefully a lot will set! There are cherries on the sour cherry tree and I am informed that next doors cherry tree has masses of cherries on it! I think it will be a good year for fruit (famous last words!).
  It is manic in the polytunnel. Broad beans to pick, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and more growing away! Quinoa, sown for the first time, germinated within 24 hours! Lettuce and radish to cut and pull, corriander and parsly to pick and All the Year round cauliflowers to admire! The Full White celery has been a disappointment and despite sowing three lots not one seed has germinated. I sent an email to the Real Seed Catalog just to let them know really and they are going to send me some more seed. I thought that was beyond the call really but hey thanks guys! Asparagus, inside the poly tunnel and out, has been cut quite reguarly but only three/four spears at a time. Still, good result year four and hopefully next year will be better.

Transplanted in the polytunnel:
Champeau Yellow giant tomatoes (home bred!)
Latah tomatoes
Amish Paste tomatoes
Romano tomatoes
Ethel Watkins tomatoes to pots
Oregon Spring tomatoes to pots
Wytches yellow tomatillos to pots
Curly parsly to a large pot, small pots and to p/t bed
Kaibi sweet peppers to pots
 
Sowed:
French breakfast radish p/t bed
La Diva cucumber in pots
Patty pan squash in pots
Blue banana squash in pots
Achocha exploding cucumber - more about these as they grow!
Straito di Napoli courghette in pots
White celery in small seed tray (third sowing!)
One hundredweight pumpkins in pots
Water melon in pots
Sweetheart melon in pots
Teizer celery in a small seed tray  

Transplanted to the tomb!
Latah tomatoes  
     
Transplanted in the outside garden:
Spainish and Bedfordshire Champion onions
Red cabbage to the rhubarb bed (cabbage and rhubarb complement each other!)
All the Year round cauliflower
Juane (Early) leeks

  In the outside garden the potatoes are bursting through and I am nearly at a point that I will not be able to cover them up with soil. Jerusalem artichokes are pushing up and the lettuce is now ready to cut. Onions and shallots sets are going well as are the onions from seed. Lots of grass clipping around the veggie borders and I have clear the edges of the strawberry beds and I can now see that there will be some strawberries this year.  First sowing of Cheltenham Green Top beetroot is up as is the Orbis (root parsly). The first row of Tender and True parsnip is looking good and the second row has now germinated. My over winter attempt to grow peas has now been declared a failure and I have started to remove the support sticks, however, the second sowing is doing well. The over wintered carrots, more of a mistake than diliberate attempt, are growing well and when pulled look good.
  Still lots to do and the days are slipping away! This week should see the last of the possible frosts with the usual dip in temperature expected at the end of the week. After that the weather should get a lot warmer and hopefully drier. I will let you know!