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!