For once what I asked for...

   In my last blog I hoped for drier weather. Well, guess what? Yes, I have had a drier week. One night of serious rain but otherwise it has been dry. That meant I could get on with the clearing work. As I worked the soil it was noticeable how dry it is despite the down pour over one night. The sun has been shinning and it has been warm during the day. Fingers crossed I may get one or two turnip/swedes! In the poly tunnel there is a cauliflower! This is much to my surprise as I usually overwinter cauliflowers and they are ready to harvest in the spring. Usually I sow All the Year Round but this year I bought some from the local market. They must have been autumn cauliflowers. Hey ho.
   So what has been happening? The days are short and I tend not to get going until late morning. This is mostly because I am trying not to over do things while I continue to recover from my illness. Tomato plants are being cleared and beds weeded. That is pretty much it. On the animal front one of the meat chickens is producing big eggs and they are double yokers. It is really time those meat chickens headed for the freezer.
   So autumn marches on into winter. The leaves on the trees are now turned to autumn colours of shades of yellow and red and are starting to seriously fall. The weather forecast though is for the weather to stay mild and no rain so I may catch up yet!

Autumn colour

The chicken must has had to really squeeze this one out!

   

At last really feeling up to it!

One Hundredweight Pumpkins

   At long last I feel well and almost back to normal. Of course as soon as I am wiling and able to go work in the garden it rains! Half of the lawn is mowed, the other is growing away quite merrily.  Looking at my garden log what have I done? Picked the last of the tomatoes, pulled some beetroot (poor crop) and dug up a couple of celeriac. Some critter took a fancy to my celeriac this year and many have been eaten. The little devils tunnel under the plant and then eat it from the cover of their tunnel! The  tomato plants have now been frosted and now need to be cleared. I have picked sweet peppers (yes the sweet peppers outside and in the poly tunnel are still producing although I think this will be the last) and gathered up the pumpkins. The pumpkins have been a success this year despite the dry summer. My devious plan of digging out a hole, filling it with manure, covering it up and planting the pumpkin plant on top worked out well! Some 82 kg of pumpkin. One Hundredweight pumpkins came in at 17 kg, two at 16 kg and one at 13 kg. The Justkyn pumpkins are smaller and weighed around 2 kg each. At the supermarket price of two euros ninety nine a kilo that is a tidy sum. Here is hoping for drier conditions so I can try to catch up!

Justkyn Pumpkins

Still little done...

   The illness lingers on and I am not able to do as much as I would wish. New arrivals at Watermeadows. Two Pardoue cockerels and three Indian Runner ducks. The cockerels have been named Wellington and Bonaparte (what else?).

Wellington (light coloured) and Bonaparte)

   A week flows by and I find that I have not achieved much at all! Looking at my garden log all I read is "pulled carrots, picked tomatoes". Oh I sorted out some seeds that I had drying in the poly tunnel. Bit of grass cutting. That exhausted me. Damn bug.
  On the weather front it has got colder. There has been an air frost which has killed off the cucamelon plants and I am sure set in motion the end for most other tender plants.
 The temperature during the day is now cold enough to justify lighting the wood burner and  as I am feeling under the weather I need that comfort! Silly me tripped up while chasing chickens and landed on my side bruising my ribs. Just as I was feeling more energised.

   Over the next week the weather is staying on the dry side and getting a little warmer so I  should be able to finish cutting the grass. 
   The winter veg continue to grow although the early broccoli has been attacked by caterpillars, probably white butterfly. Most of the cabbages are looking very good.
   Nothing new in the poly tunnel other than I am now closing the doors at both ends most of the day if not all day and night. Frost threats are increasing although there is not anything in the poly tunnel that would be a great loss to frost.
   With the end of October looming the real winter starts here in La Creuse. Wonder what is in store?
  

Powering on

   OK! I am now reasonably recovered from my illness. Still have a bit of a runny nose and a little phlegm on my chest but most certainly an awful lot better.

Turnip/swede

   I have started to catch up on jobs in the garden. Of course I had to cut grass and if the weather stays dry I suspect I will have one more round of grass cutting to do. I have been sorting out some of the vegetable beds. The turnip/swedes have been thinned and weeded. The carrots have been thinned and weeded. The winter cabbage is looking very good and is well established. Just need to keep the chickens off and the white butterflies away until it gets colder. Just to see what happens as I have missed out on planting Christmas potatoes I have put some turnip/swede plants in the poly tunnel.  I have prepared the garlic bed and planted it with Violet garlic bulbs. Maybe this season they will not get rust. The outside tomatoes are still ripening fruit but the plants are definitely on their way out. So far some thirty eight kilos (approx 84 Ibs)of tomatoes picked.  The pumpkin and squash plants are have now died away leaving a lovely collection of 100 weight and Justynka pumpkins. The butternut squash has been disappointing. The plants were good but the squash did not set well. I think the plants did not like being under the branches of the oak tree, however, buttercup squash has done very well. There are plenty of apples about and I have been busy picking some. I have four varieties in my pantry and still one more to add. I am not convinced that it is worth picking a lot of apples as they do not get eaten even if made into apple mush and put in the freezer. I have also been looking at the quince tree in my neighbours hedge. There is a lot of fruit on it but quince is one of those fruits that I am not convinced is really worth doing anything with.

Bed one of winter cabbage