Short and sweet!

    I took a look at my garden log since the my last  published blog. It is blank. That is not good. What excuses can I find? Run up to Christmas, Christmas celebrations, run up to New  Year, New Year celebrations? Well yes but not really. Just have not got out there! Really need to. What is doing ok are the French broad beans, garlic, over winter onions and the Egyptian (walking onions). All have benefited from the mild and damp weather. The chickens got into the early purple sprouting bed and mind you, I really did not do much to stop them! Shame on me!

    The chickens are laying well despite the short days when they are supposed to pretty much stop and the sheep are being sheep. Over 1500 eggs this year compared to over 1300 eggs last year. So where have those eggs gone? Ok, I have also sorted out my seeds and I have in mind what I want to grow and where. So I guess that is something. Anyway anyone reading this blog I hope you have had a good Christmas and I wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

All quiet....

   I have twice sat down to write this blog. Twice I have now looked at my gardening log and all I see is virtually blank entries! Weather, short days, other things to do have ganged up on me to stop me from getting out there and pressing on with stuff that really needs to be done as soon as possible. Hey ho! Now Christmas will get in the way! So, what is in the log? Cleaned out the chicken coops and cleared some brambles (not many I might add!!).
   I did notice on my trip to feed the sheep and Ixworth chickens that some of the garlic has sprouted and also some of the over winter onions. Just shows how mild it is. Also it has been damp, by that I mean showery weather and mild. The forecast is for that to change next week. The last of the apples are falling and that is another job on the list! Clear up the apples. Even the chickens have decided that there are just too many to eat!
   Well is is hoping to some dry but probably cold days and maybe, just maybe, I can get off my bum and move away from my nice warm comfortable home and get some jobs done outside!

Golden Apples. The leaves have fallen.

Red Apples. The leaves have fallen.

Cold?

   The weather has been mixed. Few days of frost in the mornings followed by cloudy and mild days. I guess winter is starting to take hold but it is taking its time.
   One of the joys this autumn and early winter has being able to pick ripe tomatoes from the poly tunnel in November!  I have managed to pick more Champeau Gardeners Delight (Champeau Gardeners Delight because the plants were grown from seed gathered within my garden rather than bought from a seed merchant) and they have been very tasty too! Note to self plant poly tunnel tomatoes later! They are now though finished. Two harsh frosts did them in and they plus some chili's that were just there in case they might produce have been removed. The poly tunnel is now pretty much empty, just some Sanguine beetroot that is looking quite good! I am wondering whether or not to plant some broad beans in the poly tunnel and maybe some peas. I got a few pickings of early peas this season from ones I sowed in the poly tunnel. Maybe a little more thought as to how I plant them, that is, in proper rows rather than scattered! Found two reasonable sized parsnips for one of my dinners. Least the voles have left one or two for me! All the outside beetroot have been harvested. A poor crop but hey something is better than nothing. I am very pleased to have pruned my apple trees, well at least what I call the "new" ones. They are over seven years old and produced well this year. This is the first time I have pruned them. Do or die? I will see. I have started to clear brambles with every intention of dealing them a knock out blow but it will depend on the weather. Rain is forecast. Course it is.
   On the animal front the chickens continue to lay two a day but having said that today (24/11) I got three! Maybe we are turning a corner here? One of the light Sussex is in moult and the poor girl looks very feather bare. Sheep are fine.
   I had a request for some horse radish seed and root. The root I dug up was a little large so I made a jar of horse radish sauce and put it under the stairs with the pickles. Waste not want not, worth a go!

Normality? Well almost.

   There has been a decent rainfall. I noticed from the garlic that has been yanked up by some bird or another that they are putting roots down. Amazing how a little warmth and moisture and away plants  go! To date it has been a mild November. Temperatures have reached the upper teens and down to around six centigrade overnight. That means  stuff keeps growing. I do not usually say this but I am pleased that the grass has greened up and it putting on some  growth. According to the weather forecast it will all end next week with temperatures in the low teens in the day and below freezing overnight. Oh well what can one expect for November?
   Much to my surprise I have picked another large handful of Champeau Gardeners Delight from the poly tunnel plants. Surely that must be the end of them? I have planted out some small onions that really were too small to eat. I have never over wintered onions other than the Egyptian walking onions so it will be interesting to see what happens. I am not holding my breath! Much to my delight when in my local agricultural dealer I found broad beans! I have bought a packed and I have sowed  a good number to over winter. Hopefully broad beans in the spring! I have finally got round to picking what grapes are left which I must say were more than I expected. The birds must have better pickings! Not really knowing what to do with them I have washed and frozen them. Still do not know what to do with them but hey ho think of something no doubt. Finally removed some lettuce from the poly tunnel. They were a complete failure, to hot, no growth, finally did nothing! Also removed the last of the basil and brought a couple of barrows of well rotted chicken manure in.
    Nothing much to report on the animal front. The hens are on strike. Now down to two eggs a day from ten hens. A couple are in moult but I think it is the short amount of daylight that is affecting them more than anything.
    Still plenty of jobs to do. One I really must do this winter and before Christmas is prune my apple trees. They really do need a good sort out.

Material waiting to be burnt

Turn my back and ....

   I went to visit my youngest daughter in the UK for her birthday and Halloween. Of course as soon as I left it rained. Before I went though I cleared the broken apple tree branch and 

Carved Champeau pumpkins

cleaned out the Ixworth and chicken coops and for the last time the duck coop. The ducks have gone to a new home with a few lady ducks to chase!
   I managed to pick a few more tomatoes but on my return all outside tomato plants were dead. They have now been cleared. Finally  managed to plant some garlic. The rain while I was away was enough to make the soil workable. I also threw in some broad beans in but the seed is very old (2012!) so I am not going to expect too much and I will feel lucky to get any! There is still much tidying up to do and on the top
of my list will be to sort out the Egyptian 

I reckon a garden witch!

 (walking) onions. Once more I am leaving them to over winter. This will be the last time as I will need to dig them up next year to separate the bulbs and start again. As I write this the sky is dark and spots of rain are falling so maybe there might be some more rain.    On the chicken front up until I returned from the UK they were laying well but since my return they have pretty much stopped. Probably due to the short length of daylight at this time of year. The two chicks that survived, both males, are now fast approaching the time for them to be dispatched and put in the freezer. Shame really they are attractive birds but we do not need any more cockerels!

Need rain!

   So much for the rain! What fell did not have much of an affect, at least on the garden. The grass has greened up a little and I think the sheep are a little happier.
   In the garden another week or so has gone by with little done. I am reluctant to attempt to turn the earth over with it being so dry. Maybe I need to consider a no dig policy? In the poly tunnel the tomatoes are coming to an end and I have sorted out the self seeded beetroot. Never know I might get a few! I have picked a few miserable apples. There are plenty but they are small. A result of the dry weather methinks. Still picking tomatoes but they are definitely coming to an end know. The forecast is for colder weather so I think that will finish them off. Also day light is short!
    On the animal front the chickens are laying well and the Ixworth chicks are growing. The Ixworth coq is starting to assert himself and the senior hens are taking notice. I fear for the other Ixworth coq and I guess he will end up in the freezer. The senior hens have still not started to lay again after the demise of Mr. Ixworth. Maybe the rats are taking them but the new coop is pretty much rat proof. Mind you they have been going through a moult and this variety of chicken does seem to take its time in recovering from a moult.
    So onwards into late autumn/early winter. I still need to plant some garlic but again the ground is too dry. They will not root. Getting really desperate for some rain. There is now a total ban on the use of hose pipes etc in La Creuse.

Being watched by Bonaparte

Its been a quiet quiet time

  As I sit here typing this it is, yes, it is raining! The nice steady type of rain, not to light, not to heavy and it has been like that for about an hour and is continuing.
   So, since the last blog what has happened? Not a lot as I have been back to the UK to see my newest grand daughter, Lorelei. It was wonderful to see and hold her and of course to see my other grand daughter Evelyn and my daughter Samantha. Still, in the garden over the last week or so it has remained dry. No work on the plots.  The cucumbers inside the poly tunnel and outside are now finished. It has been a reasonable crop this  year. The butternut squash have been cut and stored. Again a reasonable crop considering the long dry spell.  I have picked more tomatoes and it is strange to pick ripe outdoor tomatoes in the middle of October! To be honest they are all but done now. Still some good sized ones in the poly tunnel and fingers crossed they may yet ripen on the vine!
    On the animal front the sheep are being sheep, the chickens are laying well and the ducks are quacking. The ducks are about to go to a new home to live amongst some female runners! I think they will like that some how.
     Looking to the weeks ahead there is plenty to tidy up but there is little in the garden. Some very poor looking Brussels sprouts, beet root and purple sprouting, two decimated rows of parsnips (voles) and a little clump of very bright green moss curled parsley. How long before the chickens decide that looks too good to leave alone.
     In the poly tunnel there is some beetroot, one sweet pepper plant with a sweet pepper on it and a number of Alberto Loco's chili's that have flowers on but they will surely not produce anything now? Well, I will leave them until they succumb to the cold. You never know!

Frist two jars of pickled onions

Alberto Loco chili in flower in October

What can I say?

    It is hard to find words to write. The dry weather continues, the ground is now too dry to do anything with and here I am hoping to get some garlic in. No point unless there is a bit of rain. Still, I have a couple of weeks yet before it is too late for a over winter sowing of garlic. There are some tomato plants hanging on in there particularly in the poly tunnel and are still providing a few ripe toms. 
    So what I have been up to? Nothing much in the garden expect picking a few tomatoes and the odd cucumber. The cucumbers have now gone over and I will soon be cutting the squash to put into storage. The winter supply of wood has arrived and been stacked. That took the better part of four days, moving from the delivery point to stacking under the hanger. Two lots, one from my local farmer just around the corner and the other from a farmer in the next village. So, wood stored and dry here is hoping for a little rain!

First delivery

Second delivery

Finished stacking!

And it did didn't it:

   Well I have mentioned that there has been a long spell of hot sunny weather. Yes, the weather did the dirty on me and it rained. Steady down pour. It did not last too long but it was welcome. Looks like the weather is taking a turn towards late autumn and the mornings are most definitely cooler and the length of daylight is shrinking (currently roughly 0800hrs to 2000hrs).
  So what has happened over the last week? Not a lot I am afraid to say gardening wise although there is plenty to do. Picked tomatoes, one round courgette which is probably the last courgette and cucumbers, little bit of poly tunnel weeding but nothing more. To be honest the ground is now too dry to fork or do anything with. Despite all the cucumber crop has been very good. I do like the variety Wautoma. They do very well outside the poly tunnel and they continue to produce to the end of September. The tomatoes are now coming to an end and again despite the weather the crop, especially of Champeau Gardeners Delight and Champeau Jens Orange, has been ok, not fantastic but satisfactory. I guess if I had watered there would have been a lot more larger tomatoes.
  On the animal front the hens I think are starting to slow up a little on egg production and the ducks and sheep are being ducks and sheep. 

Champeau Gardeners Delight

It getting boring...

   Yes the sun is still shinning and yes the temperatures during the day are in the upper twenty degrees Celsius. The garden is now as dry as a bone. I have one crop - hops! The hop vine has grown well up the side of the barn. I think the deluge of rain earlier in the year

Hops

has something to do with its vigorous growth to be honest!

Desiree main crop potatoes

Another crop that came in well this year were the potatoes.

NICOLA(earlies TOTAL:		24.835 Kg
RIKEA (second earlies) TOTAL:		32.580 Kg
DESIREE (main crop..storage) TOTAL		68.17 Kg

I was particularly pleased with the DESIREE, 68 kg from a five kilogramme bag of seed potatoes. Cucumbers, especially the outside ones, are doing well and continue to produce one or two every other day or so. I have now been round the outside tomatoes tidying up and cutting off dead or blighted leaves. Still a few to ripen and I am continuing to gather a handful of ripe Champeau Gardeners Delight (grape tomatoes) every day. In the poly tunnel tomatoes are ripening and I should get quite a decent crop considering they were planted late. Despite regular watering the lettuce in the poly tunnel has suffered from the excessive heat in there and have not done well. This is the pattern it would seem. Lettuce is grows well in the poly tunnel early in the season but it get too hot during the middle to end of the season for it to grow successfully. I need to find another crop for the poly tunnel that would like the heat more. Maybe I should try melons. Cucumbers do not do so well either. 
  In the animal world just normal maintenance. The chickens are still laying well but I am expecting a decline soon as the days draw in.
  So autumn is all but here and I have little or no winter crops. Those planted out in August have just suffered with the heat and dry conditions. Watering was really not an option. Oh well there is always next year.

Chickens in the shade....

Its staying warm

   The rain continues to miss my patch of France. Up the road, about five kilometres away, it rained. As I write this looking out of my front room window the sky is dark with clouds that look heavy with rain. Will it rain here I wonder. The garden is as dry as a desert!
   In the poly tunnel lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and basil hang on in there. Hopefully the nice looking green tomatoes will have time to turn red or orange! I have planted out a good number of beetroot in the poly tunnel more in hope than anything that I may get some this year. Those in the outside garden have suffered from lack of rain and I have not pulled any this year. First of the main crop potatoes have been dug up, variety Desiree. The rest of the crop looks promising. Outside tomatoes are now well and truly finished with one or two hanging on in there with the promise of few more tomatoes to come. There is a good number of butternut squash ripening and the outside cucumbers are still producing one or two every few days. Some are starting to go over now. 
   I have been busy cutting down hedges and clearing out overgrown areas in the front of the house. Half of my barn roof is currently being replaced and my long suffering rear garden (from the fosse installation a couple of years ago!) is once again being battered from falling roof tiles.
   On the animal front Mrs Chick lost her third chick, probably to a rat. The hens are laying well, five to seven a day. Sheep are being sheep!

Its just around the corner...

    Yes autumn is just around the corner. August is closing fast and September will be upon me. All the plants and trees are beginning to show signs of closing down for the oncoming winter.
    In the outside garden the last of the second early potatoes, variety NICOLA, have been dug up. I have been disappointed in the total amount of NICOLA potatoes harvested. From a three kilogramme bag of seed potato just over twenty four kilogrammes harvested compared to the three kilogramme bag of RIKEA seed potatoes first earlies I harvested nearly  thirty three kilogrammes. I have a couple more NICOLA plants to harvest, one in a pot and another two or three in a spare piece of ground when I found I had a few seed potatoes left over. The may produce another kilogramme or so between them. Main crop DESIREE left to harvest. Several melons picked along with a continuing harvest of cucumbers (Wautoma, Market Maker, Gagante), mixed variety tomatoes and courgettes. It has been a very poor year for haricot vert and not the most brilliant for tomatoes. A success this year has been the bramley apples. The tree was absolutely covered in apples this year. First time there has been a bumper crop. They are on the small size but that must be due to the hot summer and lack of rain. Anyway I still harvested a crate full! See photo. There is a good number of butternut squash and given another week or two of reasonable weather the harvest should be good.   

In the black box the Bramley apple crop

   In the poly tunnel I have transplanted few more beetroot more in hope than anything else. Nothing ventured nothing gained! The lettuce in there are having a real hard time  getting going with the hot weather. Hopefully now it has turned a little cooler (22C rather than 32C!) they may start to do something. I have some tomato plants in here too and they were late planted and look really good! No blight (famous last words) and tomatoes are starting to ripen. Fingers crossed I may get an extended crop!
   In chicken world nothing really new. Mrs Chick continues to raise her one surviving chick which is growing nicely now and the four chicks at my daughters are growing fast and becoming more adventurous. Egg production has possibly been on the low side but I think several of the hens have been in moult. Certainly lots of feathers about!

Four chicks in a row

    The start of autumn brings about the desire to make cakes and with the brilliant apple crop make stewed apple etc etc.

Cherry cake

Bramleys being stewed

And the sun beats down....

   The weather has been relentless. Day after day of sunshine. Oh there was one day where it was cloudy all day and dark clouds too but did it rain? No, it did not. So the ground is becoming drier and is now impossible to work. The only thing that one could do is hoeing but that is hot work in the sun. Tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes all being picked. Nothing else. The brassicas are virtually a complete loss and I am not going to start watering them. I water my poly tunnel plants (lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, thyme) and outside the melons, cucumbers and squash. Everything else has to take its chance. I am still digging up second early potatoes and the crop is proving to be good. I have missed the chance to buy leek plants in the local market much to my annoyance. They have been available for several weeks now and when I decide to buy, none! Man! Looks like I will not have leeks this winter in the garden. In fact, I will be fortunate to have any winter crops I think.

   On the animal front the sheep are managing with the hot weather. All the Ixworth's (two mature hens, probably two immature cockerals and two immature hens are all together and are now living in the new plastic coop. Mr Ixworth, our aggressive Ixworth cockeral, has been dispatched and is now in the freezer waiting to be slow cooked as coq au vin. Mrs Chick has lost two of her chicks. Rats are suspected for one and the other is an unknown fatality. The five chicks at my daughters continue to grow and now have a larger run with the move of the Ixworths.

   The weather forecast is for more sun over the next week with no rain in sight.

RAIN!

Chicken damaged tomato

   Vegetable gardening on the scale I attempt it has ups and downs. Keeping animals like chickens adds to the downs and ups. Like in the picture.  Chickens like tomatoes. Seems it does not matter if they are ripe or not they will go for them. There is a preference for the red bits but if the weather is dry then they will eat the green bits too. They also like anything  young and green, like lettuce, beetroot, kale and cabbage! Having said that the amount of slug and snail damage I get to anything I grow is minimal. I am happy to say that one of our hens we call Mrs Chick (do not ask why)  has managed to hatch out three out of six eggs she was sitting on. We have also managed to incubate four Ixworth chicks and have obtained another five chicks from a friend. Our current Ixworth cockerel will now be heading for the freezer. He is just too aggressive.

Three latest arrivals...

   All in all not a lot done in the garden or the poly tunnel this last week. It has been too hot and as I have nothing to plant at this time. Picking cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, digging up some potatoes and harvesting tree onions is about as much as I could manage! Of course, watering has been done in the poly tunnel also the melons and squash still had to be done. There has been a little rain this week accompanied by a stonking thunder and lightning storm so sitting back and sipping an ice cold beer has very much been the order of the day. All the first earlie's, variety Nicola, (new potatoes) are now dug up. Thirty three kilos harvested from three kilos of seed potato. Reasonable crop I think. In the supermarkets here new potatoes cost around 1 euro 60 cents a kilo! A very small number of borlotti beans have been picked, de-podded  and put aside to use in stews etc. They had dried on the plant. It has been that hot. Failure of another lot of own sown lettuce has meant the purchase of another lot of Batavia Blonde lettuce from the Aigurand market. I lost eight out of twenty four of these to the hot weather and the rest are now established in the poly tunnel. Now I will not have any till the end of August for lettuce. Annoying as my succession planning was working well.
    So, what is on the horizon? Next Friday I will purchase winter leeks from the market and plant those out. No swede this year, seedlings killed by the heat. I may strike lucky and find some in the market but it is not a usual plant to find there. Hopefully it will get cooler and maybe a bit of rain? Who knows. Fingers crossed.

Summer heat

Stutgarter Risen onions

Red Sun shallots

   It is about two weeks since my last blog entry. That is quite some time in the vegetable garden at this time of year. I
 was away for a week in the UK to see my youngest daughter and grand daughter up in Gods own county, Yorkshire. Plants grow quickly and before you can say "Bobs your Uncle" you are inundated with produce. And so it has happened. On my return I harvested shallots, onions, cucumbers, haricot vert, carrots, haricot buerre (yellow beans), potatoes, mixed variety tomatoes, courgettes, parsley and lettuce all being harvested in various quantities. The last week has seen daily temperatures of thirty degrees plus Celsius and not a lot cooler at night! I only water the plants in the poly tunnel and outside cucumbers, melons and squash. The rest take their chance and unfortunately the winter vegetables (cabbage, purple sprouting, sprouts) are all starting to look a little tired. Despite the continued hot weather when I was digging up potatoes the turned over soil was still damp. A testament to how much rain we had earlier
 in the year. I continue to sow lettuce seed 
to maintain a supply. Slugs managed to 

Sibley winter squash

demolish half of the last ones I had grown but fortunately I still have enough to eat! So it is back to the market to get lettuce plants to cover the gap while waiting for the seeds to germinate and  grow to a size that they can be transplanted.

Waltham butternut squash

   On the animal front things have been happening. The female duck and the Limousin hen have died, however, a lamb has been born and one of our hens (Mrs. Chick, do not ask) is sat on seven eggs and is two weeks into her brood (eggs should start to hatch at about twenty three days). Our first pair of Ixworth chicks are now close to being integrated with the others and the second pair now have adult feathers. It looks like we have an Ixworth chick coq so our Mr. Ixworth will be replaced by his son.

Burrowing critters eating the carrots

Cucumber and mixed variety tomatoes

Summer is moving along

Cucumber

   Here we are in the middle of July. Time flies. There will not be a blog next week as I will be away from the garden visiting my youngest daughter and grand daughter.
   Despite the long run of sunny dry weather the garden as it is is holding up well. The soil is still damp a couple of inches down and reflects the amount of rain we had earlier in the year. 

Sturon onions

So in the garden digging up potatoes continues with a good crop of earlies and second earlies and the promise of a decent amount of main crop to follow despite Colorado beetle. Sometimes planting early pays off and with the potatoes it certainly did. I have a decent crop of onions with the variety Sturon looking the better of the two varieties I planted. I gathered my first Sanguina beetroot seed and removed the plants from the poly tunnel. More Touchon carrots sown with the hope of getting a decent germination and growth for the winter. More haricot vert sown to try to keep a succession going. Harvesting courgettes and a few cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes are a disappointment so far this year but I changed my mind and have been putting in tomato shoots in the poly tunnel and as would have it the poly tunnel plants are looking good. The outside Wautoma cucumbers are once again starting to produce so there should be a few from them. The chickens has reeked havoc on my few aubergines and are trying hard to get at my lettuce plants! Lettuce in the poly tunnel is looking good with the next lot of plants starting to show. Once again germination of the lettuce has been poor but I persist!!
  On the animal front Mrs Buffy (Buff Orpington) has abandoned her nest, however, Mrs Chick (unknown variety) has now gone broody and is sat on at least three eggs! Our incubated Ixworths are growing steadily and we have obtained another five chicks to raise. Most will probably end up in the freezer. As always lots to do and more than enough to occupy my day. 

Time....

Sturon onions

    Time. How it flies. Two weeks more or less since my last blog. Somehow I missed a week. I put it down to the weather. Sunny and hot.
    So what has been going on in the last two weeks. Well mowing grass for one! That aside the vegetable garden is beginning to produce and plants are really starting to take off. The bit of rain we had certainly was welcome and certainly encouraged the plants to get going. Courgettes, spring onions, onions, peas, potatoes, a little haricot vert and a little mange tout have been harvested. Oh nearly forgot there has been a couple of ripe tomatoes! Least I got to those before the chickens.  Plenty of weeding done and more to do. More lettuce sown, cucumbers transplanted to an outside the poly tunnel bed, more beetroot transplanted and resowed lettuce and swede where seed had failed to germinate. Another small row of Swiss chard sown. Not my ideal vegetable but my daughter wants to try it. Volunteer (not deliberately planted) violet potatoes dug up. One of the Wautoma cucumber plants has a cucumber growing on it. In the poly tunnel the cucumbers are in flower and they are growing rapidly. The three chili plants look good and I am hopeful that I will get something from them. Having decide not to plant tomatoes in the poly tunnel I have now changed my mind and have been taking side shoots from other plants and growing them on. I gathered beetroot seed from the plants left in the tunnel. Gathering vegetable seed is very satisfying. The parsnip seed is all but ready to gather.
   On the animal front the last sheep has been sheared and normal maintenance completed (cleaning out coops). The hens continue to lay well, between seven and ten eggs a day!  Over two hundred eggs laid in June. Mrs Buffy has not yet hatched her egg (she only has one left out of seven) and I suspect it will not be viable. Our four Ixworth chicks are growing fast and the first two are now seven weeks old.

Squash patch

Parsnip gone to seed

First tomatoes..Gardeners Delight and Jens orange

The SUN is shinnnng...

   The sun is shinning. At last a prolonged spell of sunny weather is forecast. Well that is this week. Last week? No heavy rain, some sun, not bad. 
   On the animal front it has been a sad week. Our Buff Orphington cockerel was killed by our Ixworth coq. I am not really surprised,  however, our Buff Orphington hen has gone broody and is sitting on a clutch of seven eggs. Hopefully we will get some chicks. Our Ixworth chicks are growing and the first two are becoming more aware of their world and are now outside in an enclosed space. We continued to shear sheep, only one left to do. Usual maintenance, that is, cleaning out, of the coops done.

RIKEA potatoes and peas

First round courgettes

   In the garden early potatoes in abundance and the first courgette has been picked. A very good crop of peas so new potatoes and peas dominate the dinner plate! Some mange tout but it is a poor crop which given the good pea crop  is a surprise. Lots of lettuce and it looks like I am going to have a gap in my lettuce production! Darn it.  In an effort to mitigate this gap I have transplanted some lettuce to pots. The idea being that they can grow to a decent size to then be planted outside. Time will tell if my idea is worth anything! Ha! I have found Great Lakes lettuce seed in the local agricultural shop. I love Great Lakes lettuce. It is an iceberg type. Tomatoes are mostly doing ok but blight is setting in. Hopefully my diversification plan will at least allow some to produce tomatoes. Colorado beetle have and are being a pain but at least the potatoes are at a stage where they can be harvested. A sign of the year zooming buy...first sowing of swede in modules done. More Touchon carrots sown and it will soon be time to start to pull the first round. More still need to be sown though. More beetroot transplanted. Growing in modules is definitely the way to grow beetroot. I have been surprised by by haricot vert in that they are climbers!! The cucumbers in the poly tunnel are picking up which has come as a surprise as I thought they had been attacked by aphids. Hopefully I may get some cucumbers as the outside ones are currently looking very sad as are the melons. I fear no melons this year.
  So the season moves along and thinking for more winter crops is kicking in. 

The rain continues

Chickens clearing the gone to seed lettuce

    Sometimes they are a help, other times a menace! I allowed my chickens to clear the "gone to seed" lettuce and as usual they did a good job.
  In desperation more than anything I transplanted my water melons and five dessert melons to the melon bed. I do not  think we will be getting any melons this year. The plants do not look happy. Too wet, too cool. More lettuce picked. It is being a good year for lettuce and I am not starting to pull my own home grown lettuce
rather than plants that were bought from 

Violet garlic crop

local market. The weather is still mild and damp. I have been able to do some weeding and I have got the next patch of ground ready to sow more carrots. I noticed that the peas are ready to pick. I have three lettuce leaf basil plants that I have now transplanted out in the poly tunnel. More Jack Ice lettuce transplanted in the poly tunnel. The Colorado beetle menace is still present in the new potato crop but I am hoping to get them dug before it gets too bad. In the mean time its hunt and squash! Of course grass cutting continues and rain has interrupted the latest round.

   On the animal front we have finally managed to start to shear our eight ewes this last week with four having been done. We caught and examined the female runner duck. She has a swollen ankle and has done for a while. No infection or indication of a break so the guess is she has pulled or twisted something. Need to try to keep her in the coop for a few days. We have two more Ixworth chicks from the last batch of twelve we incubated. The two from the first batch continue to thrive and are growing quickly.

Its raining, its pouring, the old gardener is snoring....

   Well what can I write? The last week has seen thunder, lightning, heavy rain, floods and roads being destroyed or damaged in our little hamo. One side of my garden turned into a river with the flow being divided by the tomb and the garden is now saturated. To make

 matters worse our little community started to put things back together and guess what? Another storm appeared, more heavy rain but fortunately this time not so intense. Despite the bad wet weather plants in the garden continue to grow quite happily. I am very late in getting my water melons and five dessert melons in. It has just been too wet!
  Due to lack of germination I had to buy some moss curled parsley which has been planted in the poly tunnel. More haricot vert  

Water is starting to pour into the poly tunnel

sown into modules and the three peppers I had transplanted into a bed in the poly tunnel. Outside I transplanted some Wautoma cucumbers which were promptly set upon by the chickens. Two were destroyed. I have a love hate relationship with our chickens. 
  On the animal front we are now left with nine ewes. Everyone else has now gone. We were going to keep two rams but Socks, our first bottle fed ram, died and that left Boxer, our second bottle fed ram, on his own so he had to go to a new 

Water is disappearing down a mole hole!

home. The chickens are laying well and our two Ixworth chicks are currently thriving. They are developing feathers on their wings. So I have a desperate need to get on the beds to weed and to transplant some more plants. I am hoping for drier weather but the forecast is not good.

Its all looking good....

   For a plant or seed the weather has been perfect. Warm and damp with a day of sun and then a day of showers. Perfect growing conditions which, of course, includes the grass and the weeds!
    Lettuce has been pulled on a regular basis. These Batavia Blonde from the local market really do the job and provide a continuous supply of nice crunchy lettuce. I will soon be pulling Jack Ice lettuce from the poly tunnel and they next lot are growing away in a seed tray.  I have prepared the bed for and planted out pumpkins, winter and butternut squash. With the weather as it has been they have settled in beautifully. In the poly tunnel the bed was prepared for the cucumbers and Marketmore and Germana cucumbers transplanted. I have wautoma cucumbers to go outside but I need to get their bed ready and the rain is stopping me! Haricot Bolotti plants have been transplanted to an outside bed. This is the first time I have grown haricot in modules in the poly tunnel. A reasonable success but I think the seed is getting old. This has been the same for the haricot buerre too. I have bought new haricot vert seed and have planted up modules in the poly tunnel with the thought of succession sowing in mind. This week also saw the picking of the first cherries of the season. Not that the season lasts long in my garden because as soon as the birds get an eye on them....whoosh! They are gone. Off course there is that usual chore...cutting the grass! Unfortunately for me my mower and brush cutter are now both broken for one reason or another. My English neighbours were down for the bank holiday week and very kindly lent me their mower which did the job brilliantly.

Tomatoes in the foreground, potatoes as you look away

   On the animal front it is pretty quiet.The last of the sheep we wished to go have not gone and we have a core now of eight ewes and two rams. The ducks are being ducks and I suspect enjoying the rain. The chickens are laying well. Our buff Orpington hen has been moved to the main flock as she was being badly abused by the Ixworth coq.

   So on we go into the growing season. Plenty to do as always. Just need there to be a little less rain to give me the chance to get on.

Planting out continues apace!

   Here we are now into the middle of May and sowing and transplanting starts to warm up along with the weather. One hundred and three tomato plants of various sorts have been transplanted outside the poly tunnel. I am not going to grown tomatoes in the poly tunnel this year. More Provence Thyme transplanted to pots. Courgettes, round and stripy ones also planted out.  Lots of general tidying up work done in an attempt to beat the grass! Some hope! More beetroot sown in modules and more lettuce. Lettuce being pulled on a regular basis. The area designated for the pumpkins and squash is being prepared and I need to get the poly tunnel area ready for the cucumber plants!
   On the animal front the missing generic red hen reappeared, safe and sound. We now only have two Ixworth chicks left. We have little idea as to why they have died but fatality amongst chicken chicks can be quite high. The reduction in the Champeau flock continues. Only three rams left with one about to go soon. On the ewe side only ten left, two more also about to go. Once that has happened our flock will be down to a level that is more suitable for our requirements!

Time rolls by!

   Ok so where did the last week go? This week I am  going to start with the animals. We knew we had too many sheep. This week fifteen (fourteen ewes, one ram) went to a new home. Homes for four more ewes, one ram and lamb have been found. This will reduce our flock to a core of eight ewes, seven rams and one lamb. Homes for more rams are on the cards so that in the end we will only have our two bottle fed rams left and  the eight ewes and one lamb. That is a more manageable number.  On the chicken front four new generic brown hens have joined the flock. Also we managed to get hatched out using an incubator five  Ixworth chicks. Long way to go though. I would be happy to get two or three to sixteen weeks of age, that is, point of lay!

First to hatch! Ixworth chick 110518

Three out of four new arrivals

Peas and mange tout

Batavia Blonde lettuce

  In the garden it has been busy busy busy. Nothing new there then for this time of year. Pulled rhubarb, lettuce and radish and cut asparagus. There has been a handful of peas from the poly tunnel. These were an over winter experiment which has proven to be more successful than I expected. This winter I will make sure I give them something to climb up. More Batavia blonde lettuce plants purchased and transplanted in and out of the poly tunnel. More weeding and tidying of border edges completed. Always more of that to do! The last of the leeks which were going to seed have been removed and the bed prepared for tomatoes. Transplanting tomatoes is going to be the next big job. This will be undertaken after the 15th May the last frost date for this part of France. New experiment for me. I have sowed Haricot Buerre and Borlotti beans into modules, one seed per cell. When I was at the local market I saw one plant stall holder had done this and the I saw the light and am giving it a go! 
   The weather over the week has varied between hot and cool but mostly very  good for gardening. On Saturday 11th May it rained. That was welcome as it will refresh everything and away it will go again!