Ain't half hot mum!

    Well the week started at a reasonable temperature and then steadily climbed to reach the maximum at the front of my house of 44C on Thursday! Then it rained and very welcome it was too. All water butts now refilled to maximum! The temperature has really cooled down and is much more comfortable and I have actually been in the garden today (Sunday 28th July) digging potatoes and doing some much needed weeding.
     Enough of the weather. Last of the cabbage has been cut, Wautoma cucumbers picked, haricot vert picked, potatoes dug, peas picked, onions pulled and courgette's cut, (long and an unexpected round one). Not bad but should be better! After the rain I have sowed a small row of Great Lakes lettuce in the hope of producing a few before autumn. The ground is now dry despite the steady amount of rain. In la Creuse water restrictions are at there highest level and good part of France is also under some sort of restriction.

Squash on one sort or another!

Squash on one sort or another!

Squash on one sort or another!

Too much of a good thing you know....

    The sun continues to shine. The ground is getting drier but there is only a little sign of stress in the vegetables. The forecast is for another week of high temperatures and I fear for the veg.
   Lots of veg being picked, pulled, dug and cut. Carrots, beetroot, haricot vert, potatoes, salad onions, onions, lettuce and at last Wautoma cucumber!

Parsnips

    The grass has stopped growing but the weeds have not, typical! My daughter and her children wanted to have a picnic by the river so I had to cut the grass there. First time this year. The river is very low.
   Will the peas do anything? I am still hopeful as there are peas showing and maybe, just maybe, the peas in the pods might swell.
   On the animal front no news from the sheep. Mr and Mrs Ixworth have been moved back to their original coop to allow the chicks at number five to be moved to a larger enclosure. I am trying to find a home for the Ixworth coq. He is too nice a bird to cull at this point in time. 

Courgette

    There are severe water restrictions at the moment and are likely to remain for the foreseeable future. Does not bode well! I still have several  butts of rain water but it is not going to last long. I have restricted my watering to the cucumbers (outside and in the poly tunnel, courgettes, melons and inside the poly tunnel tomatoes). The squash is looking good but for how long?

Ripening tomatoes

First Wautoma cucumber of 2019

The sun has got his hat on! Hip! Hip! Hip! Horray......

    Yep, the sun has been shinning every day over the last week with some odd clouds making an appearance. In my department, La Creuse, a major drought has been called and severe water restrictions are now in place. The Petite Creuse river which runs at the bottom of my property is low for July. It is at the level we would normally expect to see in August. Does not bode well. Currently I have a reasonable amount of water in butts but I am rationing that to my melons, cucumbers, courgettes, my three poly tunnel tomatoes and recently sowed carrots and lettuce (carrot seed needs to be keep moist until it germinates).

Low river level

Low river level

So, what has been going on in the garden? Me dodging the sun mostly! Looks like the grass has decided it is time to slow down, no mowing! First of the second early potatoes have been dug up and the crop is very promising. More weeding (what else would  you expect?) and some more sowing. I have sowed more Touchon carrots, haricot vert and beetroot. I am still pulling lettuce although I fear I am going to run out before the next lot mature. Succession planning failure! The mange tout is now finished and has been removed. First lot of haricot vert is coming in and I should pick the first lot in the next few days. One row of carrots has been thinned out and the row looks very good. The squash is rampant and the outside tomatoes are doing well including the freebies I planted out the other week. Maybe a ripe one or two by the time of the next blog? I am hopeful for my outdoor (Wautoma) cucumbers. The poly tunnel ones were overwhelmed by white fly so the outdoor ones are the only cucumbers I have. The onion crop looks very promising with a large number beginning to swell. The main crop potatoes, Desiree, are starting to go over and it does look like the Colorado beetle strike has abated. My persistence in squishing larvae and beetles has paid off.
  On the animal front sheep are being sheep chickens are been chickens and chicks are escaping!! The chicks are growing fast.

SQUASH PATCH!

Latest from the Champeau vegetable garden

     Ok, so I am now back on track!

Latest planting of Batavia Blonde lettuce

A melon. Will it set?

   This blog will cover the seven days (1st to the 7th July) which will mean I am back on track to do weekly blogs at last.
   So, over the last week the weather has been hot and there has also been thunder, lightening and rain! The rain has been welcome despite the fact it will encourage the weeds and goodness knows they do not need encouragement! Pulled Touchon carrots, Batavia Blonde lettuce, rhubarb and dug Anoe potatoes which are now finished. I now move onto the second earlies which are Belle de Fontenay. This potato can also be regarded as a main crop potato. I am not expecting such a good crop as the Anoe as the Belle de Fontenay is an older variety and comment has been made that Anoe are more heavier cropping than Belle de Fontenay. We shall see. More of the usual, that is , weeding (but no grass cutting!) and tieing up of the outside tomatoes which are doing rather well.

Colorado bettle larvae munching my tomatoes!

   Chickens are being chickens, chicks are growing, sheep are being sheep.          
   The weather is forecast to continue to be hot and dry and in my neck of the woods it is humid.

CATCH UP PART 2 16th June to 30th June 2019

   Ok so here is the second half of the catch up blog!

   

Violet purple potatoes

 I have include some pictures in this half of the catch up. During this time more picking of broad beans, digging up ANOE new potatoes, pulling lettuce, picking mange tout and cut cabbage. Lots of very yummy vegetables to eat.
  More grass mowing, more weeding (it never ends!) and the clearing of the broad beans plants.
   My tomato's grown from seed have been very poor this year so when there was an offer of some free plants off I went and fetched them. Now I have a reasonable number of tomatoes growing in the outside garden with only three surviving in the poly

Touchon carrots

poly tunnel. Something is very bad in the poly tunnel this year. I have lost my cucumbers to aphids and most of my tomatoes. Lettuce has done well mind you! 
  The garlic has now been dug up, dried and is ready for storage. A reasonable crop and certainly as much as I could want. Winter leeks were bought and planted out to join the increasing variety of winter vegetables (swede, early purple sprouting, cauliflower). Soon need to buy Savoy type cabbage to join to them.  
  The courgettes have been a struggle. Two out of three plants died and I had to replace three plants by sowing seeds. 

Melons

Two out of three germinated so in the end I will have more than enough. Another row of beetroot have been thinned and the thinnings transplanted.
  Of course, more grass mowing , this time in the paddocks!
  Well that brings me up to the 30th June 2019 and I will now make an effort to get back to a weekly schedule after the disaster of my technology. Lots to do in the garden, as always and plenty of cold beer in the spare fridge!

Drying garlic

ANOE new potatoes

L-R Carrots beetroot carrots parsnips

CATCH UP PART 1 up to 15th June 2019

   It has been five weeks since I wrote my last blog. A lot has happened in the garden in that time so I have decided to split the update into two or maybe three separate blogs. Here is the first issue!
   Now we are into June the efforts of the previous month begin to bear fruit, well, vegetables any rate! Broad beans, lettuce, rhubarb, carrots, asparagus and first early new potatoes, variety ANOE all being picked, pulled and dug. The ANOE potatoes have been a success and I will most certainly plant them again next year. For once my Great Lakes lettuce (Iceberg type) have also been a success with the weather conditions ideal for them. The usual tasks of weeding and mowing grass took place. Gaps in the climbing yellow haricot resowed, Red swede sowed, more Touchon carrots sowed. The carrots are looking good this year too. Another lot of summer cabbage transplanted to my brassica bed so hopefully they will follow on from my initial lot which also have been very good. The first sowing of beetroot have been thinned out and a number of the thinned out plants transplanted to another bed. 
   On the animal front all ten sheep sheared. Tragedy on the chicken front. Our perdue coq Bonaparte was killed along with one generic and our Buff Orpington hen, Mrs Buffy, leaving her seven chicks orphans. Her surviving chick from her first clutch, now some twelve weeks old took on the task of looking after the chicks!. To save anymore losses all the hens are now confined and the chicks put with our incubated chicks in a secure enclosure. The large hen was placed with the main flock and is now part of that group.
  So that brings me up to the middle of June. Unfortunately I am unable to put up any pictures as I still need to sort out the mess that is my file system on my laptop! Next catch up blog soon.

COMING SOON! CATCH UP BLOG!

     I am sorry that there has not been a blog for quite a while. My laptop hard drive decided to fail and my attempts at recovery failed. I had to get help and I am now in the process of recovering my laptop with my customisations etc. Getting my blog up to date is getting higher on the list so hopefully it will not be long!

regards,

Rodger