FROST

    Four out of seven mornings this week has seen a frost on the ground. Tad cold in the morning! Another week slips by and not a lot done! Do not get it! Where does the time go? Carrots dug up and  repairs made the the two Hugelkultur beds made after chicken raids! I have been putting their dirty bedding on the beds and there is some grain/chicken food amongst it and chickens being chickens this food is far better than the stuff in their feeders! Also there is a layer of leaves on the beds and once they have been down for while the chickens love to scratch and look for bugs and worms. Finally managed to arrange for the three cockerels to be despatched. Two went in the freezer and a small one became the foxes dinner. Sorry to see them go but peace now reigns in the garden once more. Egg production is well up with an average of 6.1 eggs a day being laid. That is more like it!

   There will not be a blog next weekend! Its Christmas! Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New. Lets hope 2022 is a lot better than 2021.

My Christmas tree 2021

Damp, just damp!

      What can I write? I look at my log and what do I see? Blank entries! Well, almost. On two separate days, clean out the wooden chicken coop and lifted some BF-15 potatoes! Talking of which nearly done with lifting them now. One more lot I reckon. But it has been a very quiet week. Why? Do not know. Have not been anyway, done anything in particular. Three days of morning frost but not really cold enough to stop doing stuff. Must have done something! Lol!

    So this blog will be more about the chickens than the vegetable plot. There are still cabbage, carrots and swede in the beds and there are onions, garlic, squash (butternut and another) and kilos of potatoes in the pantry! In the freezer broad beans, chili's,haricot vert and haricot buerre. The chickens. Well, they have come back into lay with a vengeance! Total of twenty four eggs this last seven days making a daily average lay of 3.4 eggs! Well done chickens! The excess cockerels will dealt with next week and readjusting of the flocks will need to be done incorporating the new hens into the other flocks. That is probably going to be a challange!

    Two weeks to Christmas day! 

Home made short bread

ANOTHER QUIET WEEK

    It  has been dark, damp, cloudy and miserable! Not a very good combination to try and do some work in the garden. Those conditions and short daylight days do not make to encourage one to get out and do some stuff. Very little done this last week. Some BF-15 potatoes lifted (another four kilograms!) and a little forking and weeding. There are now three chickens laying although not every day and the average daily total is now up to 1.6. A significant improvement!

   Yes there is lots to do but the conditions are not good and I am happy to get on with Christmas preparations/decorations. First batches of mince pies made and some short bread to accompany the glass of sherry while decorating the tree. Here is hoping for a drier week (I should be so lucky!) and being able to do some work in the garden.

QUIET WEEK

     Yes a quiet week. Lifted some BF-15 potatoes, did a little forking and weeding. Cleared the small Hugelkultur bed which is now going to receive the soiled chicken bedding when I clean out any coop. This will act as mulch and manure over the winter. The ground is getting too wet to do much and the days seem to be so short!

     Chickens are being chickens as usual, however, the youngsters are now finding their feet especially the cockerels. Egg laying is improving with the weekly average going up to 0.4 eggs per day, however, things are on the up with two eggs laid on Sunday (28/11/21). So that means two hens are now in lay.

First snow of winter 281121

Eggs return..

    Yes one hen has started laying this last week. Two eggs! Hopefully a sign of things to come! 

    It has been a quiet week in the garden not for any particular reason. The weather has been reasonable but the days are short. Lifted some BF-15 potatoes which I must admit are showing signs in their cooking of getting a little long in the tooth for second early potatoes. Pulled some excellent carrots and cut what was left of the pointy summer cabbage as they too were showing signs of being past their best. Grass cutting done mainly to gather leaves but given some dry days the rest of the grass will need cutting too.

   Nothing to do with gardening but the 21st November 2021 is stir Sunday. It is the day when Christmas pudds are mixed and stirred by the family with everyone making a wish.

2021 Christmas puddings

FROST! Brrr...

    Another week of no eggs! That is now four weeks without a single egg being laid. I do not think we have ever gone this long without them laying. Oh well they will come good eventually.

     As per title there have been frosts this week although the day temperatures have not been bad. A little rain but nothing serious. This time of year is clearing up time. Last of the chilli's and tomatoes removed from the poly tunnel. The leeks have been weeded which was if I am honest with myself was over due. Some leaves mowed up (easier than raking!) and off course grass cut! Will that job ever end I wonder? I have started to lift the last of the BF-15 potatoes but comparing with what I have already lifted form this area I reckon there is still some twelve plus kilograms to lift. Broad beans are up and there is the odd garlic poking its head above the soil too. It is time to start thinking of next years sowing and planting.

   So on with tidying up as and when the weather allows and of course my enthusiasm for doing it!

Sprouting broad beans

Dried haricot vert for making baked beans

Still no eggs

    Another week of no eggs. There are still several hens growing new feathers and in my current flock I have a lot of new/young hens. Hopefully they will start laying soon! Coops cleaned out and the one wooden one moved to fresh ground as there is lot of activity from critters underneath it.

    In the garden the last of the tomatoes and chilli's have been picked. Cabbage cut and I even got a couple of reasonable sized cauliflowers! The last of the BF-15 potatoes which were grown in a large bed have been lifted. Still some more yet to do in another small bed. Finally got round to cutting hedges, well, at least some of them. One good thing about having a ride on mower is collecting fallen leaves! As long as they are dry using the ride on mower to gather the leaves is far easier than raking them up! These are going to be used in the construction my latest no dig bed.

Home Sweet Home

Eggs? What eggs?

    The main topic this last week has been the lack of eggs! A week of no eggs. I had to buy some. That is no joke! The weather has been mild with some sun. Only one morning of frost.

    The last of the tomatoes have been picked and despite the blight the overall crop has been ok. Would have been a lot better if there had not been blight but least I got some! Picked the last of the Hot Stuff chilli's which now just leaves a couple of Scotch Bonnet plants with a few fruits on them (yes, I was surprised to read that chilli peppers are fruits). Of course grass cut, mainly to clear up leaves. Lot easier than raking! Lol! Cabbage and cauliflower cut, BF-15 potatoes lifted. Only a few haricot vert left drying in my porch which I doubt will now dry successfully which will be turned into baked beans! In my brassica patch I deliberately left the cabbage plants once I had cut the main cabbage. The plant then throws up mini cabbages so you get a bonus! In our local market they were selling these for thirty cents! (25p).

    So the main task this last week has been to attack the plague of rats. I need a pied piper! I have cleaned out the chicken coop and applied the necessary stuff repeatedly but there are lots of them. Going take a few applications methinks.

Brassica patch

Weeds and grass

    Well I finally decided that I needed to attack the weeds and grass on my bulb bank. The bulbs are starting to grow and the bank was thick with weeds and grass despite me having had a go at it a while back. So this last week has mostly been spent doing that...clearing the spring bulb bank. This is one of problems of having a garden in the country side. One is surrounding by weeds and grass so it is continuous effort keeping weeds down. I have a "weed bank" where I take quite literally barrow loads of weeds and pile them up to compost down. It must now been some thirty feet long by three to four feet high. Of course this is several years of accumulation but every year a significant amount is added.

   So, what else? An area of ground was cleared, forked, weeded, raked and planted up with Germidour and Elephant garlic and over winter broad beans sown. This year I found my favourite broad bean which I grew in the UK, D'Aguadulce. Germidour is not the usual garlic I grow. In previous years I have planted the variety Violet. BF-15 potatoes dug, cabbage cut. Yes, I still have BF-15 potatoes in the ground and there are still quite a few to lift. No point in lifting them to store as they are second earlies and will not store well. Finally took down the cucumber netting and frame and tidied up the large Hugelkultur bed. Started to remove the haricot vert plants and gather any dried pods which I have plans to turn into baked beans! Couple of Scotch Bonnet chilli's picked along with several ones call Hot Stuff. Now we will see if they make my eldest grandson's eyes water!! Yes the usual task of mowing grass undertaken. Seems to never stop growing!

   Chickens are being chickens and the little (some not so little!) blighters are not laying at all now. Coops cleaned out. I am fighting a battle with rats of which there has been a population explosion. 

Bulb bank clearance end of day 1

Bulb bank clearance

Frost!

     Did a short visit to the UK and what do I come back too? FROST! First serious frost of the year and that has finished off the sweet peppers and any life left in the squash and pumpkins. Last of the water melons picked and only one lost to, believe it or not, being over ripe! Carrots, butternut squash, sweet peppers, potatoes (yes, I have some second earlies still in the ground!), haricot buerre (which I have been very pleased with), cabbage, poly tunnel chili's, the last courgette and poly tunnel tomatoes (all but done now) all harvested over the last two weeks. 

     With the onset of frost the last of the sweet peppers and haricot buerre have been picked. The total weight of haricot beans, vert and buerre, has been 19.74 kgs, of which 5.53 kgs have been haricot buerre.

     Of course grass mowing continues and hopefully with the frosts it will now slow down. Chickens are still not laying well most likely down to the short days of day light and moulting. Over the the last two weeks an average of 0.7 eggs laid daily. Very poor!

Waltham butternut squash 

Haricot buerre and mixed sweet peppers

   

     Water melons continue to be picked and very much enjoyed. Haricot vert and buerre picked, BF-15 potatoes (yes, I know they are second earlies but...) lifted, mixed sweet peppers, aubergines,tomatoes picked. Yes, lots of produce still in the garden although now noticeably coming to an end. Thoughts of where to plant garlic and broad beans being made but it is still a little early and I will leave that until I come back from the UK later in October. I have bought a different garlic variety this year, Germidour and I will plant these along side some Champ Elephant garlic and probably along with some Champ Violet. Yes, it is autumn but the grass here continues to grown so the grass had to be mowed. I suspect once again this task will go on well into the autumn!

    Chickens are being chickens with coop maintenance done. Egg production is down again not surprising given the shorter days and moulting. Average daily production 1.1.

Haricot buerre 4.070kgs

Mixed sweet peppers

Pickle collection 2021 onions beetroot eggs

Autumn creeps on

    Autumn is here. The length of daylight is very noticeably shorter. The chickens are being let out later in the morning and being brought in earlier in the evening. Egg laying has dropped, not unusual with less daylight and some are moulting. Average per day egg laying down to 1.4.

   In the garden the first water melon has been picked and tried and found to be ripe and delicious! There are eight more only slightly smaller than this one. Despite everything the water melons have done very well.

Blackwater Mountain water melon

    Carrots pulled, haricot vert, tomatoes and the first two chilli peppers picked. A scotch bonnet and a hot stuff. My grandson enjoyed the scotch bonnet which I think was not fully ripe. The spaghetti squash has been cut and stored. Of course the grass was mowed! Some forking and weeding done and I now thinking where to sow over winter broad beans. 

    With the onset of autumn it is time to make pickle onions.

Pickle factory 

Peeled and salted shallots

Two of the four jars of pickled onions

     Another sign of autumn with the delivery of wood for the wood burner. Two cords delivered onto my driveway and stacked by yours truly the same day. 

Harvest

      The gathering of produce from the garden continues. Haricot vert (14.5kgs so far), strawberries, sweet peppers, carrots and beetroot all taken this last week. Despite the poor start to the year the season has ended up being quite bountiful. Jack Ice lettuce seed gathered and dried haricot vert shelled and ready to try to make baked beans! The strawberries continue to surprise with another approx half a kilo picked and weather permitting there are still more berries on the plants to ripen. The grass this year does not seem to have stopped growing at all! Grass mowed once more and there has been more rain so no doubt the grass will grow again. 

   The weather has been quite acceptable for the time of year, some sun, some rain and temperatures generally upper teens.  

   The chickens continue to be chickens and the chicks are growing with one or two showing signs that they are actually cockerals. Egg laying is pretty much as it has been over the last few weeks with an average of two eggs a day this last week. It cannot be long before the new hens start to lay.

Haricot vert patch number 3!

Gathering seed

       Time to gather seed for next year. I have gathered chocolate sweet pepper seed, Jens Orange tomato seed, parsnip seed, haricot vert seed, woad seed and moss curled parsly seed. More will follow once the squash has ripened. The weather has been very good with some overnight rain but mostly sunny during the week. 

       Despite the poor start to the year as expected the autumn is proving to be very productive. The more damper cooler spring has meant crops like summer cabbage and successive sowings of lettuce and haricot have actually worked this year. The strawberries have been just amazing and some of it must be down to the wetter conditions I am sure. My experiment with the spacing out of Desiree potatoes was a success and I will be following that up next year. The sweet peppers looking so sorry for themselves earlier in the year are now coming into their own. Plenty of good sized peppers and I reckon as long the temperature holds up there will be many more. Carrots. Man, never had such a good succesive sowing of carrots. Six lots and all producing nice sized roots at a sensible interval. Have to say  a good year despite the poor start. Of course there has to be a down side and the tomatoes outside the polytunnel were all blighted and lost as they had fruits ripening. Those plants in the poly tunnel have produced a good quanity of nice sized fruits. Melons. Well, I have had better years with the 5 Dessert but the Blackwater Mountain water melons are looking good and on course for producing upto eight fruits. Onions. Not good. The onions did not like the damp conditions and a few were lost to rot. A harvest was gained but not as good as other years. Shallots were good and probably about the same as last year.

       The last of the 5 Dessert melons have now been picked and the plants are pretty much done. The strawberries continue to give, another five hundred and eight grams picked. As are the straight and round courgettes which have also done very well. Much to my surprise and pleasure the sweet pepper plants are producing well as are the aubergines. The Golden Bantam sweet corn has done well as have the three sowings of haricot vert. The haricot buerre are in flower and I am hopeful for a crop before it gets too cold. Cucumbers have been a disappointment this year with only a few produced and those have been small. Well, one cannot win on everthing! Butternut squash is good with a surprise Crown Prince plant appearing amongst them. There is one good Crown Prince squash. 

       With my youngest grandson, Toby, we went and picked blackberries. It is a good year for them and I really need to get out and pick more!

      Chickens are still not laying well and I suspect that will be the case for a few more weeks yet. Daily average this week is 2.1 eggs per day and it is an good improvement on last week.

Aubergines

Picking blackberries with Toby

Selection of sweet peppers 

Time to start fighting the hedges....

     A good week. The usual tasks of weeding and grass mowing done. The magificant 7 (this years batch of chicks) have found one of my lettuce patches, pushed their way through the netting and managed to reduce the lettuce plants to stumps! Plenty of produce picked, cut and pulled! Cauliflower (only one so far!), carrots, tomatoes, 5 Dessert melons, strawberries (over 5kgs picked so far), haricot vert, courgettes and cabbage. I decided to mow the paddocks before the grass got too long. In one it is and I will have to think again on how to reduce it! It is time to start attacking the overgrown hedges and trees. Plenty of it to do and no doubt it will be a job I will be doing throughout the winter. While admiring my butternut squash patch I came across two (one quite large) Crown Prince squash. A very pleasent surprise as I had not planted out any Crown Prince plants to my knowledge! The strawberry bed after picking 1.450kg of strawberries was weeded and mulched. There are still lots of strawberries to come. Fingers crossed the weather holds up for while. The tomato plants in the poly tunnel continue to give, Jens Orange and Noir Crimea being the most prolific.

   Egg production is stuck at an average of 1.3 eggs a day, just like last week. When there guys do decide to lay again I think I will be overwhelmed with eggs.

Poly tunnel tomatoes

Crown Prince squash

Autumn is in the air

     A week can make a big difference when you are gardening and the passing of this last week I think was one of those weeks.The signs are there in the garden and in the hedgerows. Autumn is coming. The haricot vert (1st sowing), courgettes, spagetti squash, cucumbers and melons are all showing signs of coming to their end. Lots of blackberries in the hedgerows and what apples there are are falling from the trees. Weather wise the mornings have been cool and yes the sun has shone but mostly to a maximum of around 20C. The evenings are pulling in!

Golden Bantam sweet corn

Sweet peppers aubergine haricot vert

1kg of strawberries

    At last the Desiree main crop potatoes have all be lifted. Grand total of some 131 kgs of spuds! Roughly twice as much as last year despite the blight. It has been a long time since I have had a good crop of sweet peppers. A success this season has been the no dig strawberry bed. Latest picking, a kilogram, is shown in the photograph. A few tomatoes are being picked from the poly tunnel which is a little compensation for loosing all my outside ones. Hitting a lettuce scarcity patch as one lot rapidly came to an end, the chickens decided that they fancied another lot and the third lot have only just about established themselves. As usual grass mowed although I have to say the grass does seem to have slowed up. I  guess that is because there has not been any significant rain. 

  On the chicken front average daily egg production is way down this week. Only 1.3 eggs a day. Half of last weeks average. I cannot think of any particular reason except its August and very often at this time of year a hen will stop laying. Mrs Hen has now abandoned her chicks to their fate and rejoined the cockeral and hen. 

Its coming together....

       Many plants are a week or more late in maturing this year, however, there is most definately a burst of growth going on and stuff is catching up with itself. Oh, there has been a good crop of weeds! Sweet peppers, melons, squash, pumpkins are all at last showing signs of getting somewhere! Winter leeks have been planted and the winter cabbage is well established and looking good.

VERY large beetroot from the polytunnel

Winter leeks planted out

Butternut squash

   Tomatoes have been a disaster this year being struck down by blight. Fortunately my potatoes having been planted early did not suffer so much. I have had one or two potatoes dug up rotten but not in large numbers. Lettuce, sweet peppers, haricot vert, cabbage, courgettes (oh boy how many courgettes can one eat I ask) and carrots all harvested this last week. Usual mowing of grass and weeding and the lifting of potatoes continues! I have started to gather some seeds and I managed to get a few tomato seeds from one plant that I had been given and whose tomatoes are very nice indeed! Variety Burpee.

   On the chicken front egg production has remained steady with a slight increase to 2.6 eggs a day. One of the cockerals, who we had named Mr. Angry, decided to attack the ride on mower and this time he came off second best and badly injured his leg. I had to despatch him. He was due to be culled sometime anyway as he was a very aggressive bird.

I say POMMES DE TERRE you say POTATOES

    The final figure for the weight of DESIREE potatoes lifted from my large triangle bed came to around fifty four kilos. Makes up a little for the virtual total loss of the tomato crop. All onions have now also been lifted and are drying. A reasonable crop but not what I have been used to over the last few years. I have transplanted Great Lakes lettuce and I expect that to be the last for this season.  More weeding done and of course grass cut! It looks like I am going to get some cucumbers of which I am very pleased, however, the melons, water and 5 dessert do not look too good. Haricot vert continue to crop well and are surely coming to an end! Lettuce is good and I have pulled (well my grandson pulled) some very good sized carrots. In the poly tunnel I have pulled some self seeded beetroot and they are enormous! Borscht anyone?

Desiree potatoes from the large triangle plot

   On the chicken front I have to report the loss of one hen who has been hanging in there for a while now. Otherwise egg production is 2.5 eggs on average per day.

BLIGHT!

    The blight has finally struck! Chatting to fellow gardeners in France on Facebook blight has struck across the country. Seems that even commericial growers have been hit. Well, it has finally arrived in my garden. My tomatoes have been hit hard. I am finding the odd rotten potato as I have been lifting the main crop, Desiree. Not in over forty years of growing potatoes have I experienced blight in them. Just shows how weather conditions can affect things. The weather continues to be damp and cool. Where is the summer? According to the forecast it would seem next week might see things improving somewhat.

Blight affected tomatoes

Blight affected tomatoes

   As I mentioned above I have started to lift my main crop potatoes, variety Desiree. This season I have conducted an experiment. I have a bed that I have used this season to plant out Desiree seed potatoes with plenty of room between the seed potatoes. The idea being that given more room I should get bigger potatoes! Well I have to report that so far and I am about half way through lifting them from this plot that I can say that the experiment has been a success. I have larger potatoes and most definately a higher number of potatoes per plant. I have yet to weigh them but I am confident that it will a heavier crop than usual.

  More courgettes, more haricot vert! More than I can eat that is for sure! With this cooler wetter weather I am having great success with Great Lakes lettuce and I have transplanted another lot out. It is unusual to be able to do this at this time of year. It is usually too hot. Another crop that is doing well is my new strawberry bed. The plants are full of a second lot of flowers so I am expecting another lot.

   Chickens are being chickens and over this last week average egg production has dropped to two a day. Pretty poor really! I can only put it down to disturbance in the flock with the introduction of four young hens. Still, I would hope, egg laying can only get better! The chicks are growing fast and it will not be long and they will not be able to tuck up under Mum! I have had to remove one of the oldest chickens who was at the bottom of the pecking order as she is starting to suffer from harasement from the flock. Again I am sure the introduction of the new hens has not helped her. She is now seperated from the flock in her own coop.

Strawberry plot

   

Pick, pick and yet more pick...

Haricot vert over 2kgs

      Yes it is rapidly coming to that time of year. So many different  vegetables to pull, pick and cut! Courgettes (straight and round), haricot vert (see the picture that is just one third of the weight of haricot picked this last week), carrots, tomatoes (small and large), potatoes (currently BF-15 but Desiree and Violet to come), cabbage, onions, sweet peppers, shallots (two types), lettuce and beetroot. So much stuff! I have been giving it away to the neighbors but even then there is still a large surplus. I am freezing haricot vert and I will pickle shallots and beetroot and store onions and potatoes. I also dug up the elephant garlic and I am pleased with the results. Next year should be even better. Oh, the strawberries. They too have done a lot better than I expected and I am picking a good bowlful for dessert quite regularly.

     So work in the garden has been, besides pick and cut, mowing the grass (goes without saying really), weeding (they grow faster than I can remove them!) and attempted and failed with transplaning some Red Top swede seedlings. They just did not take despite me watering. 

On the chicken front the new guys are settling in and are getting the idea of where they are supposted to roost. Guess it will be another week before I dare let them room the garden. Coops cleaned out and dead rats disposed of. Finally upto a daily average of 3 eggs a day this last week.

Elephant garlic harvest

   

Summer arrives

    The heat arrived with a vengence this last week. Days at over 30C although looking in years gone by it has not been as hot as it has been in the past at this time of year.

     Most of the week has been spent cutting hedges at my daughters house and they really needed to be done, however, some work has been done in the vegetable garden. Hopefully next week I can concentrate on the vegetable garden as there is a lot to do (not unusual really!). Courgettes have come in with a vengance with round and straight ones seemingly growing to cutting size overnight! Shallots, banana and round have been dug up and dried and the round ones await being made into pickled onions! First picking of haricot vert done. I have sown some haricot buerre whose season extends into September. Second sowing of haricot vert now showing.  A small bed that had some mint in I thought I had cleared. The mint thought otherwise. See photo below of the towering mint! Of course normal job of cutting grass done just in time too as rain fell the day after it had been done.

     I discovered that the Golden Batam sweet corn has cobs set and they can been seen in the photograph below. Cabbage, courgettes, haricot vert, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots all now being picked and eagerly eaten! 

    On the chicken front four new birds have arrived and are being integrated into the flock. Coop cleaning out done. Egg production is up slightly with an average of 2.9 a day.

The Bolls mint that got away

One or two courgettes

First picking of haricot vert   425g

Golden Bantam sweet corn

Rain drops keepfalling on my head!

   The weather continues to be damp even wet and cool. Looking back over the week on my log there are several blank entries and other days will little done in the garden. The last of the ANOE potatoes have been dug up. A good crop overall (18.5kg to buy 53 euros). Now onto the BF-15! I finally got round to pruning the grape vine and probably just in time to be honest. More haricot vert sowed and I have bought some haricto buerre seed as the season for those extends into September. Worth a go. Tied up tomatoes in the poly tunnel. I also went out, during a dry spell, into the main field and pulled up as much ragwort as I could find. The grass has still not been cut and bailed yet but I am hopeful that it will get done this following week. The weather is looking very good. I decided that I had to mow the grass which I did one late afternoon. To be honest it was a little to wet but I was going to take the opportunity!  More strawberries picked and the first ripe tomato picked from the poly tunnel. Hopefully more to come inside and outside the poly tunnel. Everything looking very green and growing well.

    The chickens are being chickens and the chicks have now got proper wing feathers and can be seen flapping away exercising their wings. Slight drop in the number of eggs per day, 2.6.

First Burpee tomato

The different Champeau chicken eggs

One day soon...

    Maybe one day soon it will it get hot! I have had memory photos coming up saying how hot has been. Thirty seven degrees centigrade was not unusual. Temperatures has been languishing in the lower twenty degree centigrade at best and more often is the middle teens! And it has been damp, yes rain. Many crops in the garden are really enjoying the cooler wetter weather but a bit of sunshine is sorely needed.

   Weeding, grass cutting are the norm. I have sorted out my strawberries and removed runners and small strawberry plants which means the bed is now fully populated. I have made a trial strawberry bed in the poly tunnel and I also have twelve plants in pots as reserves! Over fifty plants gathered. Great Lakes lettuce planted out along with Sanguine beetroot. More Touchon carrots sown as the weather favours sowing of carrot seed....cool and damp! Crops gathered this week include lettuce, cabbage, mangetout and new potatoes. The first early, ANOE, potatoes are close to the end of the crop, second earlies BF-15 to come next! My attempt are growing Brussels sprouts again from seed has failed so I gave in and bought a dozen plants from the local market. These have been planted out in the brassica bed. In a vain attempt to grow some early purple sprouting I sowed some seed in an outside the poly tunnel bed and they have germinated. Probably too late to be honest but nothing ventured, nothing gained and there is still a long way to go to the end of the season. Second sowing of haricot vert has not done well. I suspect critters rather than failure of the seed as the first sowing has been very good. Anyway, resowed in the gaps and am prepared to sow another bed come the end of July. 

  Nothing untoward on the chicken front. Chicks are growing and I get the idea Muma hen wants out of the enclosure. Found her perched on the fence line! Daily average is up marginally, 2.8 eggs, so maybe more eggs are coming! 

Blackwater Mountain water melon

5 Dessert melons

Courghette row

Still cool and damp

     So the weather continues to be on the cool side with rain showers. There has been a couple of nice days but the weather favours the garden! I have been hampered by pulling a muscle in my lower back while digging up potatoes. Sure is hard to get out of the chair!

   ANOE potatoes dug, picked peas and mangetout, pulled a lettuce and cut cabbage. Had to cut nine heads of cabbage as they had split. They will be fine stored in the cool . Dug up my lets put it in and see Violet garlic and a usuable crop has resulted. In a last ditch effort I have sown Champion Red Swede, Sangiuna beetroot, and early purple sprouting seed in an outside bed. Who knows they may do something! More Touchon carrots sown (they have done particulaly well this year) and more Great Lakes lettuce. As is normal this time of year went round the tomato plants tieing up and removing shoots. The plants are looking good and tomatoes have set. Of course, grass mowed. The battle against the dreaded Colorado beetle continues with adult beetles, larvae and eggs squished when spotted. As I write, famous last words, the amount of beetles etc currently is not high.

  On the chicken front one chick has been lost. Found dead where the hen and chicks were overnight. Egg production is still on the low side with an average of 2.7 eggs per day, same as last week.

Golden Bantam sweet corn

Golden Bantam sweet corn