Wet? Blooming soaking!

     I cannot say that I have been busy in the garden this week. One day working on the bulb bank. More stones removed, more bramble roots removed and the path at the bottom of the bank is now marked out to the end. Guess that is better than nothing! The weather has continued to be wet wet wet and the ground is well saturated. The river at the bottom of the property is well up and is just about contained further downstream. So, just to show spring is all but here the first daffidols are in flower. Its a sheltered posistion and this group are usually the first to show. Another job done, just before a likely lock down in France, I have bought seed potatoes, shallots and onion sets. Seed potatoes - Desiree (main crop), BF-15 (cross between Belle de Fontenay (a favourite of mine) and Flava)) second early and Anoe which I grew in 2019 (early). Onions Sturon (firm favourite) and Stuttgarter Risen (because I like a flat onion too!). Shallots are the firm favourite Red Sun. I have also sorted out my banana shallots grown last year and mostly not eaten. I will plant these (variety Mikor and Vigamor now of course Champeau Mikor and Champeau Vigamor but I have no idea which is which!). Few sprouts picked but still no purple sprouting athough there is plenty of promise! Chickens are starting to lay well with now an average of three to five a day. In fact I am unable to eat them quick enough! LOL!

  I am now wishing for drier weather to be able to get on with stuff. I have a big bonfire to light and plenty of preparation work to do. The weather forecast does not look good. Mild but darn it wet!

First daffidols of the year in flower

Seed potatoes onion sets shallots

Dry then wet...

   Typical weather for the time of year in this neck of the woods. The week started off dry and on the mild side ending up with it very wet and cold with frost!

   The milder drier conditions enable me to get out and about and start doing something about my herb beds. They had become very overgrown mainly with grass but also with herbs that to be honest were well past their best. Old thyme plants removed from one bed and mint roots from another. You can bet your bottom dollar the mint will be back! Cuttings taken from my old and well established rosemary tree which really ought to come out now and some planted in a pot in the poly tunnel and some just thrust into the ground where I had cleared the bed. There was a small rosemary, which I believe was from last year cuttings that I transplanted into a new place with the hope it will become the mamma rosemary bush and I can remove my old bush. I have created a new small bed for mugwort (wormwood, artemisia vulgaris - there are many other varities!) and sowed some seed I had. Cleared the wode bed of weeds which will allow the wode plants to thrive (I hope!). In the poly tunnel once more I am trying to grow coriander with more success than I have had before. 2020 seed sown. Yes it is early but experience tells me if I leave it till it gets warmer the seeds will just germinate and the plants bolt to seed.  More sprouts picked but no purple sprouting yet. Getting close!

  Nothing new on the chicken front. No increase in egg laying which is fine by me. 

  Everything is now dependant of the weather and the outlook is for cold and wet. I need to resist sowing in the poly tunnel even though it is mild in there. I will wait till February before sowing some tomato seed which I keep in the house to try to germinate. As ususal the first seeds to be sown in the poly tunnel will be lettuce and radish but that is still a few weeks away!

Marjoram and the lone Rosemary

Old mint and oregano bed

Garlic bed

Forking and weeding a seed bed

Forking and weeding with some helpers

MIDDLE OF JANUARY...

    So here we are in the middle of January. Time to start thinking about sowing some tomato and this year onion seeds and getting ready for the mad rush of sowing other stuff in a few weeks time. I have started to tidy up my poly tunnel which I must admit I have long neglected and now requires some major clean up to be done. There are over wintered beetroot plants in there and I am hoping that they will survive so that I can get an early crop sown.  I had a few leek plants left over from last autumn just heeled in a poly tunnel bed and have now transplanted them amongst my over winter beetroot. I would be happy just to get a few small ones. The poly tunnel fleece is now set up in anticipation of things to come soon. I am also trying to get on with my bulb bank but I do not like working in the cold to be honest but little by little it will get done. A sign that spring is just around the corner. I noticed that my rosemary is all but in flower. Time to take some cuttings! Oh well, nice to be busy! Soon need to go look for seed potatoes and I will be once more looking for a different early and second early potato to plant. Some of the foliage of these potatoes are quite delightful. In the garden the purple sprouting is close to showing its colour and over this winter I have actually managed to pick a reasonable amount of Brussel sprouts. The swede are still in the ground but there are a few that will be worth eating. The leeks have been poor again this winter and I am starting to think why bother?

   The chickens are being chickens and are very interested in the seed and pieces of fat that fall from the bird feeders. I am a little concerned about two of them. One has been having issues with a leg for a while now although I think she is getting better. The other is an elderly hen who I think is having balance issues. I will be watching them both.

Poly tunnel fleece cloche

Rosemary starting to flower

Frost and its cold!

    The weather is dry, cold and frosty! There are been a springling of snow over our houses and five kilometres up the road the town has had snow although it has not hung around!

    In the garden there has been a marked reluctance to go outside in the cold! I have started to clear the rest of the bulb bank and have removed the last of the brambles and started to remove the roots. Once more I have hit the wall hidden below the ground level and I am pulling up some big stones. I think these are foundation stones and I wonder if there may have been a building in this area. Still have sprouts to pick and it will not be long before the purple sprouting is ready to pick also. Looks like I will have some swede but the leeks are a disappointment.

   Chickens are being chickens and the roosters are trying to dominate the hens and there is a distinctive three groups. Egg laying is around four a day which is fine although I would like more four is enough to be honest. Normal coop maintenance being done.

Digging up bramble roots with helpers

Clearing brambles and leylandii

Here we go once more....

   Happy New Year! So into another year. Weather here in la Creuse is cold, crisp but dry! I have been out hacking back a bush that should have been done quite a while ago and cutting back some small trees and oh yes the ever present brambles. Oh well keeps me warm and busy. My nacissi bank is showing signs of life with green shoots showing. Brussels sprouts and parsnips were picked and dug from the garden for Christmas dinner. The sprouts are being good, the parsnips less so. Win some, loose some. Not my year for parsnips.

   Time to start thinking about this seasons planting. Tomatoes are on my mind and it will not be long before the first sowing indoors need to be made. I need to plan out my plots although at least one is already designated for brassicas. I am following last years scheme in that I use the chicken bedding spread on the bed which I will fork in and add lime in the spring. Works well and I have had two good seasons using this method. I have another bed which I am experimenting with. The idea is to turn it into a no dig bed and currently I have about a third of it prepared planted with strawberries.

   My bonfire pile continues to grow. I need a few dry days before I attempt to light it checking first of course for critters. So onward into a new season and new experiences no doubt.

The sun is coming up!

Christmas table decoration 2020