Its a desert!

   Well the weather has gone cooler but no sign of any serious rain. Least I do not have to cut the grass! The ground is dry and most crops are suffering. I am keeping the melons, cucumbers, chili, cucamelon, lettuce, aubergines, celery, celeriac, squashes and pumpkins going but most anything else, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, sweet peppers, french beans, gigante beans, Jerusalem artichokes and peas is having to take its chance. Fortunately the potatoes had pretty much finished  growing and are now being dug up which I might add in the dry soil is not always easy! My lettuce rotation continues to work although I think I might be about to hit a patch without any available to pick for a few days. I have put up netting around the outside tomatoes to keep those feather beggars off. 
   In the poly tunnel things are not much better despite regular watering with well water. The tomatoes are starting to crop well, mainly Milefleur, Galina and Gardeners Delight. The Roma tomatoes look a little sad to say the least. Blight is starting to take hold so who knows how many more tomatoes I will get. Sweet peppers and chili look good. The cucumbers after an initial flush have slowed up and is also beginning to start looking sad. I have planted out beetroot in the poly tunnel in an effort to get some beetroot this year. Least I can water it without the chickens eating the leaves! The hundredweight pumpkins continue to do well. 

100wt Pumpkin (one of 5)

   I found this woodpecker under one of my nets. It was interesting to be so close to it.

   

Ain't half hot Mum!

   The weather continues to be hot. No rain at all. Even the morning dew is light. So every evening I am watering all the melons, pumpkins, squash, chili's, aubergines. celery and celeriac with now and then whatever else takes my fancy!

Troubadour melon

 The melons are loving the hot weather. Water melons abound (current count is 7) and Troubadour melons are just prolific (current count 17). The photo does not do justice to the number of melons there are. 

Nigels Outdoor green chili

  My Nigel's Outdoor green chili's are doing well in and out of the poly tunnel. It is going to be a bumper year for chili's I think. Maybe next year I will try a different type as well.
   About half of my celery has gone to seed despite regular watering. I have left one to gather the seed from but I have dug the rest up. It did look good but I guess once again its the weather that is playing havoc with the veggies.
   My rotation of lettuce is still going well despite that fact I lost a number when I transplanted them and the next day the air temperature hit 42C. They just shrivelled up and turned to dust. I had to wait for a cooler day. Still at the moment the lettuce bed is fully occupied with lettuce being pulled as required. 
   With the rapid growth on the pumpkins, squash and melons I had regularly checked for set fruit and then cut off the growing tip. Hopefully this will encourage larger produce but I fear it will also encourage side shoots.
   Despite the weather I still had to bush whack the grass and ferns down by the river.    The grass was not overly long but I had to use the bush whacker to get the ferns down. That activity desired beer I can tell you! 
    The sheep, geese and chickens (meat and hen) are holding up well. Unfortunately we lost a ram lamb to reasons unknown. Our speculative thought is that there is a congenital problem as we lost a ram lamb at the same time (week earlier) last year. 
    The weather forecast is for continued hot weather with a possibility of a thunderstorm and a little rain. I will believe it when I see it. 
  

Tom diddy tom tom...

First picking of tomatoes

   The tomato season is upon me! The first tomatoes have been picked all 205g of them, followed a couple of days later with another 220g. There are many more to come and fingers crossed they will ripen before anything gets them (chickens, blight, fungus, slugs etc etc).
   In the outside garden it is water, water and water. All the melons, cucumbers, squashes and pumpkins all need to be watered at least once a day. That means every three to five days I have to refill my water butts from the well. Despite the chore of watering everything looks good. Very pleased with the basil, early radish aubergines, chili peppers, courgettes, pumpkin's, potatoes, tomatoes, melons, french beans, shallots, onions, cabbage, early purple sprouting, lettuce, potatoes and disappointed with the runner beans beetroot, carrots, parsnips and peas (damn them chickens!). I have undertaken one more attempt at growing Champion of England peas and this time I have put up a netting fence to keep my two legged egg laying feathered friends off. The shallots have been dug up and are being dried off as I type. The weather in La Creuse has been sunny sometimes very hot with no rain and little cloud. Plenty of weeding done and I have all but caught up with it and I now wait for the next rain fall to germinate the next lot of weeds. Another sowing of french beans has been made this time just plain old green ones rather than "gourmet" fillet type beans.
  In the poly tunnel cucumbers are being picked along with the tomatoes. Beetroot seedlings have been planted out. Pipache, Mexican coriander, has been transplanted with some going outside the poly tunnel to see how they do.
   In the squash come pumpkin come courgette bed the pumpkins (particularly the 100 weight variety) are just going mad. Lots of pumpkins setting along with many strands of vine! The job I need to do soon is to cut off the growing tips. I have watermelons set with one the size of a tennis ball. 

Shallot harvest

Its tropical!

Wautoma cucumber

   Over the last week or so the weather has been tropical! On average the temperature during the day has been in the mid to upper 30C and at night in the low 20C and humid. Not good for transplanting lettuce as I found out to my cost. The plants just shrivelled up and turned to dust, almost literally, within twenty four hours. Anyway, other plants loved the hot weather. Courgettes, pumpkin, squash, melons, tomatoes all have grown well. There have been some days where I have not been able to work the garden and others where I have just "melted".
   In the poly tunnel the Wautoma cucumbers have gone mad and I expect to pick the first one by the 6th July. The sweet peppers have flowers and Nigel's Green chili has chili's! The tomatoes are doing well but I fear blight is 

Nigel's Green Chili

beginning to take a hold. Fingers crossed the tomatoes are advanced enough to produce fruit unlike last year where the blight very quickly wiped them out. The Wautoma cucumbers are looking fantastic.  I had to resow my savoy cabbage and swedes after the original sowing ended up in the bottom of one of the water butts! I have grown a new herb this year called Pipache (Mexican coriander) which I have now transplanted to pots and expect to plant out in the poly tunnel. I have taken advantage of the hot weather to dry some herbs and make some mixed herbs for the kitchen (Common thyme, marjoram, blue sage, golden oregano). I have another lot drying this time to include basil and parsley. 

   In the outside garden the chickens continue to play havoc with some crops. My beetroot took a hit and the small row of spinach. They love to make dust baths and their current favourite spots are at the end of a row of tomatoes and at the side of one of my butternut squash plants. I have tried to cover crops up but they are persistant and at the end of the day they do need to dust bathe so I tolerate it to a degree. I noticed that Troubadour and Black water water melons have set as have courgettes, pumpkins and squash. Early days but I am keeping my fingers crossed! There are lots of tomatoes and I am hopeful of a good crop from the outside plants. Of course the weeds are growing well but the grass has slowed up.

  As I come to finish this entry the weather has become more cool and thunder storms are passing over. Not a lot of rain has fallen. The garden could do with some even if only to ease my need to water!