Good grief! Two weeks has gone by.

   Well, I do not know! The time has flown away again and two weeks has passed since I posted anything. Apologies about that!

Rhode Island red, Cuckoo Renne and a Limousin

    Lots and lots has been going on. In the chicken world three new birds have joined the egg laying flock. Thirteen (should have been twelve (it would seem the french cannot count!) hens have arrived which will be grown on for our consumption. There has been a bout of chicken conjunctivitis with one hen having a bad time. Treatment with human eye drops has sorted them out and all are recovering. 
   In the garden I have taken a gamble and I have planted out under fleece a large number of Roma and Ethel Watkins Best tomatoes. Two reasons. Firstly the spring has been unusually mild with very few hard frosts and a calculated risk (oh boy that brings back memories of work!) was called for. Secondly again due to the mild spring the plants have grown well and needed to be transplanted! Two rows of Sangine beetroot grown in modules and more Evesham Special Brussels sprouts have been transplanted. A row of Lisbon spring onions has been sown. We are going to look like onions this year! The field beans are now over six feet high! Crazy! The scent from the flowers is really nice. Of course, grass mowing is now a regular chore. The asparagus has been good although not as heavy cropping as I would have liked, however, we are only about one third of the way into the season so hopefully it will improve. The last of the winter leeks been dug up with some going to seed. Time to prepare the runner bean trench and set up the poles. I have a Greek variety this year to grow. Instead of eating the pods you leave the pods to dry on the plant and you store the beans. 
    In the poly tunnel lettuce is being harvested (Little Gem and Salad Bowl) along with radishes (French Breakfast and Pernot Clair). Another row of radish, this time, Candela di fuoco, a long rooted variety. Tomatoes have been transplanted, Gardeners Delight, Dr. Wytches tomiltillo, Millefleur and Galina and are now well settled in. This year I have concentrated on growing grape varieties in the poly tunnel. 
   Round two has now been entered with squash, pumpkin, melon, cucumber and courgette being sowed in pots. 

Excavation in progress!

  I decided that I was fed up of walking on a slope when looking at my strawberries, which by the way, are doing just fine. So I embarked on a task to level out the paths. The two photograph's are of the top path. The lower path had to be cut through yellow/orange clay! 
  Phew! Well the above is most of the things I have been up to in the last couple of weeks but I am sure I have missed out something. I will try to be a little less tardy with my posting!
  

A more level path!