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.