Round 1 ends?

   Over the last week the weather had turned from warm and sunny to wet and windy. The  ground once again is saturated so guess what? Yes, the  grass is growing fast! The difference is the ambient temperature. Night time temperatures are well above freezing and there has not been a frost for a while now. I fear I am going to get to eat those words. Frost can be expected in my area up to the middle of May. With the mild winter and early spring this year I have taken a chance and I have a lot of produce outside of the poly tunnel in the ground growing well. The long range weather forecast is for the mild weather to continue. Two weeks to go!
   I have transplanted Evesham Special Brussels Sprouts to a well prepared outside bed. I am determined this year to grow some decent sprouts and I have made an effort to use the best brassica growing patch in the garden. These two beds have produced very good cabbage in the past. So, forked, weeded, limed, compacted, planted and covered over to protect them from the chickens the first lot of sprouts and summer cabbage has been planted out and are well established. The next lot of sprouts are about ready to go out. Also I am again trying to grow Asturian tree cabbage and I have planted out  a number of plants. The Champion of England peas mostly gathered from last years sowing have germinated and are under way. Oskar "so called dwarf" peas are well established but no flowers yet. Sanquire beetroot,  grown in modules, have been transplanted and the wet weather has helped to establish them. Nantes 4 carrot have germinated and I am counting the days down to sowing the next row. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes. I have a lot of potatoes in this year and they too area showing their heads. So far I have kept them covered up but they are beginning to get too big so will soon have to take their chances. Early sown lettuce has been a great success in the poly tunnel and the tomb (French glass house type cover for graves) and a succession sowing has been made. My Tender and True and Guernsey parsnips are well established and I have thinned the rows. Again the recent rain is helping. The field beans are now over five feet tall and full of flowers and buzzy bees. I am hopeful for a large crop. The rain has also helped my onion seedlings to establish themselves just as I was getting concerned about them needing to be watered. I am cutting asparagus regularly although not in large quantities. I have transplanted some 147 tomato plants to outside the poly tunnel beds (Roma and Ethel Watkins Best) and my fingers are crossed. End of round 1?
 In the poly tunnel more space is coming free as the spring cabbage is eaten and lettuce is consumed. I  have tomatoes to plant out in the poly tunnel and they will be cherry types. Several varieties of basil have germinated and I have foiled a slug attack!
   Round 2 will be the sowing of the more tender plants (melons, cucumber, squash, courgettes and pumpkins).
   I could not resist it and I have dug another bed. This time a round one at the top of two rectangle beds. This new bed will be planted with vegetables. Well, at least this year.

   In the chicken world we have purchased some more hens - a Cuckoo de Renne, Rhode Island Red and a replacement Limousin. This brings are laying hen total to thirteen which is as many as we can really have in our chicken shed. Also purchased some hens for eating.The sheep have now finished lambing and we have five healthy lambs, three ewes and two rams. Next job with them will be to use the new electric shears!

Over winter veg, lambs and goose!

   We are now into the second half of April. I have been very pleased with the vegetables that I have been able to grow over the winter, particularly in the poly tunnel. The mild weather helps, mind you! My "Christmas" potatoes turned into Easter potatoes but still an early crop. 

Easter Sunday dinner.

I managed to grow peas, leeks and spring cabbage along with the spuds in the poly tunnel to have with our home raised goose for Easter Sunday dinner. 
  The potatoes that were planted just over a week ago are putting their heads up. I am going around covering them up as fast as they are showing.
  I have been taking cuttings of marjoram, parsley and blue sage to hang up in the poly tunnel to dry with the idea of making mixed herbs. A sowing of Champion of England peas (they grow to over six feet tall!) has been made and they are now showing. The Oskar dwarf and Latvian soup peas are standing well and should soon show flowers. The asparagus is growing well and I have cut a number of spurs with more to come. General maintenance continues with edge tidying and getting ready to sow runner beans. This year I am going for a Greek variety that are good for drying. 
   In the poly tunnel tomato plants are in abundance and I fear I am going to have to plant some out under fleece before too long. Mid May is the last frost day here in La Creuse but I think I will have to take the chance. I have been putting off sowing cucumbers, pumpkins, melons and the like until the end of April. I may chance my arm on a cucumber though! Ha!
   The fifth and final lamb has been born. The ewe needed a bit of help with the birth. My daughter and I were sheep mid-wives! We have lost one of our new Limousin chickens. She disappeared one day so we have bought three more chickens. Two will lay chocolate brown eggs and the third is a Sussex. They are young birds and are not laying yet so our egg count is low at the moment.    

Number five lamb, a ram

Trouble afoot in the chicken shed

   Our luck with our chickens is not good at the moment. After the loosing five chickens to the dog attack another two have gone missing. One of them a Limousin which had been bought as a replacement. They may yet turn up. In the mean time three more hens have be purchased, a Sussex and two others that lay chocolate brown eggs. We look forward to them starting to lay in a couple of weeks. Happier news. Another lamb has been born, a ewe lamb. We are expecting there to be two more to come.
   In the poly tunnel the first of the Louvier cabbage has been cut and eaten. Very nice too! Two more spurs of asparagus have been cut and I have now spotted a lot more growing in the outside asparagus bed. I have resisted so far in digging up the potatoes but I am going to have to  have a look soon! I have sown coriander, basil (lemon, mammoth, Genovese), Chou Rouge and another row of french breakfast radish. Evesham special sprouts have been transplanted to pots along with Stupice, Galina, Millfleur, Latah, Cour de Boeuf tomatoes and Parsley. The parsley will be used to put in between the tomatoes when they have been put outside. A slug ate a lot of my first sowing of lettuce leaf basil. As it happens the seedlings were not that big and some survived. There has been a small slug problem in the poly tunnel this spring. Not surprising given the amount of rain, I guess.
  I have populated the Tomb (is a construct that the french often use to cover graves) beds with lettuce - Little Gem, Salad Bowl and Jack Ice.
 

Shallots and Red onion sets

In the outside garden its all go. Over winter leeks are still being pulled but they are rapidly coming to the end. Four varities of potatoes have been planted (Belle de Fontenay, Franceline, Desiree and Rosebelle). A row of Nante 4 carrot, an early variety has also been sown. More onion seedlings transplanted this time a variety call Sturon.  I prepared a bed for cabbages and transplanted Louvier and Golden Acre primo. These will form the core of the summer cabbage. 

Getting on with it!

Cherry Blossom

First asparagus spur

     Spring has now arrived with gusto! It is warm and sunny, the ground is damp and that means....growth! Yep, once more the time has arrived where everything just grows madly which unfortunately includes the grass! I am mowing in earnest now and if I admit it I should be mowing weekly if not every four or five days. The upside is that all my seeds and vegetables are also growing well. Touch wood there has been little or no frost and with every passing day it get more unlikely that there will be any of serious note. Still, last frost day here is the middle of May!
   In the poly tunnel the first asparagus spur has appeared and is ready to cut. I have not seen anymore but they must be there somewhere! My "Christmas" potatoes have so far survived and I have spied small potatoes. Fingers crossed there will be a boiling of new potatoes shortly. Ethel Watkins best, Gardeners Delight (Irish variety!) tomato plants have been transplanted to pots along with Aubergines and Golden Primo cabbage. Other seeds have germinated (Basil, French Marigolds, Nictoiana, Moss parsley to mention a few). The Roma tomatoes in the fleece cloche are now well established and starting to put on growth. There are peas on the pea plants and the Louvier cabbage is heartening up. Salad bowl lettuce seedlings are now established.
   Lots going on in the outside garden as well. Jerusalem artichokes, Orca, Belle De Fontenay potatoes and Franceline potatoes have been planted. Latvian soup peas and Oskar peas have been transplanted to an outside bed and are looking good currently under a cloche to keep the chickens off. Starting peas off in seed trays looks to be a sure way of making sure that they germinate successfully and foils the mice and chickens! I have bought more Maris De Bois strawberry plants and have prepared and populated the third strawberry bed. Weeding between the garlic and field beans continues with an increasing amount of flowers appearing on the beans. I am continuing to prepare more beds to meet the increasing demand of plants needing to be transplanted.  
   Phew! I need to take a breath and suck on a stubby of Kings Brau!