So who is going to win? Tomato's or blight! The tomato's in the poly tunnel are ripening and I have started to pick some, however, blight has also set in. It would seem once you have blight you are likely to always get it so the race is now on between the tomatoes getting ripe and the blight killing the plant. So far the tomatoes are winning.

Gardeners Delight (Irish) tomatoes

   In the outside garden I have dug up the shallots. The leaves were badly affected by a beetle and I have not got as big a crop as I would have expected. Mind you I do not think the soil in this particular plot was very good for shallots. The asparagus bed which is now being allowed to grow away has been weeded. More Belle de Fontenay potatoes have been dug and I am coming towards the end of the plot. So it will be onto the Franceline or Rosebelle next. Still a few Belle de Fontenay squirrelled away in a couple of small areas. First picking of haricot vert (french dwarf beans) has been made. The grass mowing continues unabated with this task currently being a weekly chore. Of course once the grass has been mown the edges usually need to be cut as well! 
   Plants in the poly tunnel are growing well. The tomatoes despite the onset of blight are producing ripe produce. Happens I planted mostly grape varieties in the poly tunnel this year. Wautoma cucumbers are now in abundance and over the next week or two I think we will be sick of cucumbers. There is a melon in the poly tunnel!  Lots of sweet peppers setting along with a couple of chilli peppers.

Melon in the poly tunnel

First sun, then rain, then sun, then....

2014 Violet Garlic crop

   Then the grass grows. The weeds grow. So off we go onto, so it seems, the never ending roundabout of cutting grass, weeding beds and generally wondering how the dickens does everything grow so fast! 
   This years garlic is looking good. I need to get it dried out and then stored away for the winter. Not so happy with my shallots which I grew from my crop I grew last year. I think it is more to do with the soil condition of the bed that they are in but they have not done as well as I would have liked. Mind you, I could say that about most of the onions this year. A row of carrots has been thinned and I am now thinking of what to sow for the winter! The pea crop is all but over and I am toying with sowing more. I took a look at last years pea sowing time and I did not sow my Champion of England peas until mid July and here we are this year with them just about finished. The vine growing up and along the back side of the barn has been pruned for the second time and I daresay not the last.
   On the animal side we have lost a ram lamb to an unknown cause and our lovely Cuckoo de Renne chicken took it upon herself to die. Probably some sort of respiratory disease but she was just starting to lay some wonderful eggs! One was 93g, about twice the size of then "normal" hen egg. A number of our "meat" hens need to be culled as they are getting rather large. The geese and turkeys are doing just fine.
    So, its on with the weeding, the grass cutting, drying and getting seeds sown for the winter in the mean time dodging the rain! Bring back the sun. No don't, everything will grow again.

   I have been away for a couple of weeks. The garden on my return has required some urgent attention! Mowing the grass was a priority.
   The first potatoes were dug up on the 12th June, variety Belle de Fontenay. If these few plants I dug up are an example of what is to come then the this crop should be very good. The field beans (broad beans to you and me) showed a lot of promise. In the end although not disappointing the crop was not as large as I hoped and the beans were small. I do not mind small broad beans but it was not what I was expecting. In place of the field beans Burgess buttercup squash has been planted. Buttercup squash is supposed to be the creme da la creme of squash. We will see. Three water melon plants (Sugar Baby) have been transplanted and so now the chore of watering twice a day or more begins! If all the varieties of  melons do something I should be in for a decent crop. Those are "famous last words". I continue to try to collect my own seed and I have gathered some Kohl Rabi seed. My parsnips have not produced any worthwhile seed! Oskar peas that were left over have also been gathered for seed and are drying along with the Latvian soup peas in my porch. I am hopeful of some cabbage seed but aphids are taking their toil. I have picked strawberries, a reasonable amount but only one lot! A little disappointing but this was from a bed of plants that were planted a year ago so I am hopeful with my new bed planted out this year that next year will be a better crop.
   Harvest had begun in earnest. Belle de Fontenay and Rosebelle potatoes have been dug, lettuce and cabbage cut, peas picked. 
   In the poly tunnel the "long" radish were a complete failure so more ordinary radish have been sown - Pernot Claire and De 18 Jours race Velox both of which I have grown before successfully (oh, there are those famous last words again).
 

Geese and Turkeys

 It looks like the chickens are finally coming into lay with a regular five eggs a day being laid. Our two "Rouge" hens are now laying nice chocolate coloured eggs.  On June 30th the total number of eggs laid since January 1st was 1000!  About time too!