This blog pretty much covers two weeks. In that two weeks I have managed to dig up the main crop potatoes, variety Desiree. Good crop despite the drought. It would seem my planting was timed correctly to catch the most of what rain we have had over the last couple of months. I have picked melons, a little on the small side but sweet and very edible. Wautoma cucumbers continue to produce, these and courgettes and poly tunnel tomatoes (only three plants!) are the only plants to get watered and I am running out of rain water. Only the onions grown from seed left in the ground and those are there because the leaves have not yet started to turn brown so there is some hope they may get a bit bigger. Shallots have now all been processed into pickled onions and are under the stairs in jars waiting for Christmas. Picking the odd courgette which for me is fine. One or two a week as far as I concerned is more than enough. A few tomatoes continue to ripen and there are still quite a few to come but with the continued dry weather who knows how they will do. I bought another fifty winter leeks from the local market and planted those out more in hope than expectation.
On the chicken front another chick has been lost to a predator of unknown type so the rest have been moved to what is hoped to be a more secure compound.
No sign of the weather letting up. The Creuse is the driest department in the whole of France and Gueret, the capital of the Creuse is running out of water. The mayor has declared that water for drinking will be pumped from a lake in the city. Dire times. It has been stated that the aquifers are at their lowest level for two hundred years. Does not bode well for the garden!
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| Harvested Red Sun shallots |
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| Peeled and salted shallots |
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| Rinsed and dried shallots |
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| Jars waiting to be filled |
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| The end product, pickled onions! |
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