Darn the grass!

Toasted buttered English muffin, asparagus and poached egg

Well all I can say is "Damn the grass!" It is that time of year where the grass grows almost as quickly as you can cut it. Now both of my mowers are out of action and I need to cut the grass!

  The weather has been really good. A couple of days of hot beautiful 

Early purple sprouting and savoy type cabbage

sunshine with others a little overcast but warm and very pleasant. Lots of blossom on the apple trees.

Lots of jobs done, lots of jobs still to do! As the picture shows the first asparagus has

Parsnips Jersey Royal

been cut and eaten! Lots more coming on but a cooling of the weather slowed it up. Even thought it is spring thoughts already turn to autumn and winter vegetables. Early purple sprouting and Piacenza savoy type cabbage have been planted out and the two small rows of parsnips look well established. The potatoes are now coming through and among the evening tasks is earthing up to protect from any frost. Frost is possible till the middle of May in this part of France. I have also transplanted beetroot to an outside bed and I need to transplant the spouts as soon as possible.  Once more I am trying to grow my own leeks from seed and I have sowed a couple of small rows in an outside bed rather than in the poly tunnel. We shall see! Inside the poly tunnel we are pulling radish and lettuce. I have been transplanting tomatoes and I have getting on for eighty or ninety done. Still more to do!  More weeding and forking done, more grass cutting until my mowers broke! Yes, mowers. Both my normal petrol mower and my bush whacker are in need of some loving care. 

Our two lambs (so far)

   On the animal front another lamb has been born, another ewe. The female runner duck still has a dickey leg and our Buffy hen got abused by the Ixworth coq and is now being kept away from him while she recovers. Hopefully she will be fine. Egg production is an average of four a day. Not excellent but is meeting our requirements. Four new point of lay hens have been ordered. My daughter Sophie has taken it upon herself to try and hatch out some Ixworth eggs and has a dozen in an incubator. I guess we will now find out whether or not Mr Ixworth is firing blank shots or not!

At last!

   I am sitting here typing this and the sun is shinning (17th April). I am feeling mellow after lighting up the BBQ and having had a burger and a glass or two of rose wine for lunch. Guess what? Not much done in the garden this afternoon!
   I cannot believe another week and more has passed. Work in the garden has involved transplanting tomatoes to pots, digging up leeks, pulling radish and sowing a whole range of seeds! (Cucumber Wautoma, La Diva, Gergana (new this year), courgettes, basil, water melon). I also transplanted some Jack Ice lettuce to a small poly tunnel bed. We have now started to eat the lettuce I bought a couple of weeks ago at the local market and transplanted into the poly tunnel. The early potatoes are now showing and I now must check them every evening and cover up if they show themselves. Frost can be expected in this part of France until mid May.
  On the animal front normal weekly maintenance (clean out coops). Three ewes have been moved to my back garden to get the grass down. Today (17/04) a ewe gave birth to a ewe lamb. Our female duck has a poorly leg but she is  getting around ok. The chickens are laying reasonably well but could do better.
  As always lots of work to do. More seeds to sow, more grass to cut, compost heaps to relocate and a host of other jobs to many to mention. 

Emerging rhubarb

Early potatoes start to show

Go! Go! Go!

   It is all go in the garden. Even the cherry trees are now showing signs of going into blossom burst. Onions, shallots, lettuce, radish, parsnips all growing away! I have even seen one (yes only one) pea popping its head up. Seeds in the poly tunnel are germinating and it will only be a couple of days before I will have to start transplanting tomato plants to individual pots. Finally got the last of the potatoes planted dodging rain showers at the end. First lot of carrots are in along with some spring onions. Spring onions (White Lisbon) are a hit and miss in my garden. The only success I really had was when I grew them over winter,  however, it has been wet so a sowing is worth the gamble. Just the melon bed now to clear of weeds. A mammoth effort this last week in getting the last large plot cleared. Among the weeds were a good crop of carrots! I had forgotten about them and the weeds had hidden them from view.
   On the animal front the egg production this last week has been an average of three a day. Not brilliant but good enough. Hopefully now the weather is getting warmer and drier more of the hens will lay consistently. Sheep are being sheep and are enjoying the sunshine. The ducks are being ducks. No duck eggs yet though.
  As a comparison the pictures are of Red Sun shallots taken on the 22nd February and the 7th April. 

Shallots 070418

Shallots 220218