Nature is fickle. Umph!

   Serves me right! The night after the day I had said that a frost was needed there was a frost! Pooh! Killed off my runner beans, courgettes, haricot buerre and haricot vert. That has just about finished this season for me. Really is time to move on.
    Most time has been spent on getting the strawberries sorted out. I really ignored them this season and they have suffered. There are three beds of strawberries. Well, there were. There are only two with plants in and they all needed weeding and forking. No problem with bed 1 as it was a new bed dug last year and was cleared up quite quickly. Bed 2 was another matter. I found once I started to clear the weeds that all the strawberry plants had died. I decided to dig the bed and replant. Mistake. I think the bed had never been dug. I think someone just put down a load of soil and planted the strawberries into that. About four inches down it was pretty much solid clay and that was for over half of the bed. The rest was not much better. So it was to Irish navvy class for me and I learnt how to swing a pick axe! Several days later all is done. Bed 3 still had plants in it so I decided just to fork it over and remove the weeds. Even so it is going to be the same problem as bed 2. That will be next Septembers job!

Three strawberry beds

Rocks removed from bed 2

   











 
  Outside tomato's have now been cleared. There is more and more open ground as crops are cleared and beds given a fork over. 
   In the poly tunnel the tomato's continue to ripen and look a picture. They will have to be picked soon. Other plants continue to grown and cauliflowers are forming. I fear these autumn ones are not going to be as good as the spring ones. We will see.
   Over the next few weeks broad beans to sow and winter peas. Seed box needs sorting and consideration given to buying new seed is required. Next years crops need to be decided on now and an action plan put in place! Not that an action plan always helps! Nature has a way of upsetting the best laid plans of mice and men!

Stepping into the new season

   Here we are in the middle of September and it is time to start to plan and get set for the new garden season. 
   My compost experiment laid down in the spring and encouraged by my good friend Keith who has had good results by it, I have declared a success. Layers of leaves and grass cuttings have turned into a very useful mulch for my new apple trees. I am sure the chickens will not be able to resist scratching in it though.
   In the poly tunnel brassicas are being seriously attacked by slugs, caterpillars and white fly. I need to resolve this issue or maybe I will not bother with brassicas next year. The tunnel plastic is in need of a wash and I really need to do it before winter kicks in. Tomatoes continue to ripen, lettuce, cauliflower, beetroot, kohl rabi, purple sprouting are growing away. The toms in hanging baskets are all but done now and I have removed one. The other still have viable toms on it and I will leave them to ripen. Thinking now of creating the poly tunnel fleece clouche.
  Outside Chou Milan and the brussels sprouts planted the other week are going great guns. Celeriac and celery still look good. I have picked ripe (red) peppers and got two "quart" freezer bags worth. Still some to pick. Carrots looking good and I am currently pulling from one row. Harricot Vert/Buerre are in flower and as long as the weather holds I should get something from them. Runner beans are in their second flush of flowers and there are even some beans forming. Better than the first flush. Courgettes are all but finished as is the sweet corn. Leeks look good and I am pulling some and others are growing well. I still have some onions in the ground and according to the label they are shallots but they do not look like shallots to me although I have learnt that you can have shallots that do not divide! Weeding and forking continues getting ground ready for the winter.
   Work to do includes clearing the strawberry beds and dealing with the raspberries. I have cleared, weeded and forked one strawberry bed. There were still some plants left! Not so good on the second bed. Having cleared the weeds I found very few strawberry plants. I have removed those that did survive to plug the gaps in the first bed. I have started to dig strawberry bed 2 but it is proving to be hard work! The bed has had little work done on it since I started in this garden.
  Ok, enough for now. The warm sunny spell continues and I am having to water every evening but that is paying off in that plants are growing well still. About a month to go before the possibility of a frost...ha!

What can one say? Report time.

   The rain that fell freshened up the crops and they now look a little happier. The grass though has not budged. Horray! Downside. Leaves are falling and I have been gathering them up for the leaf compost heap.
   I decided to dig up all the rest of my potatoes and that has taken some time. Reasonable crop but a fair few have been got at by bugs. Note to self. LIFT THE POTATOES EARLIER! Still, I am happy with them. Desiree, Blue Avergne and Rosebelle. I have cheated and bought some winter cabbage and brussel sprout plants. As it is fairly late for these it will be interesting to see how they do. I reckon to have (fingers crossed) about five, maybe six more weeks before the winter really kicks in. I have concluded that growing cabbage from seed is almost not worth it. Golden Primo works well for me but just about everything else fails. For this season I even prepared a brassica bed last autumn but it did not make any difference. Cheltenham green top beetroot has done well and I will be sowing them again. Haricot vert not so good this year but again this year the De Colmar carrots have been good. Must remember to plant more in the middle of the season rather than just one row. Parsnips were a disaster! Melons excellent and I shall grow them the same way next year, celery very good, sweet peppers very poor. Onions grown over winter and from sets poor, onions from seed brilliant! Shallots good. Leeks from sown seed, ok but could have been better, leeks from bought plants good and I believe I will have a good crop over the winter. Runner beans - jury still out. Outdoor tomatos were ok but that earlier frost caught me out and I feel happy that I got any at all! Sweet corn - first lot grown in pots in the poly tunnel were frosted after being planted out, however, a sowing of seed directly into the ground did just fine. NOTE - forget growing sweet corn in pots in the poly tunnel. Courgettes - not happy with the variety, they grew into large courgettes too fast! Broad beans grown over winter were a big success. Cucumbers outside successful, in the poly tunnel just amazing! Butternut squash has been ok, 13 so far, fingers crossed for two more!  My herb beds are now well established and I am very happy with them. For the first time I managed to grow peas successfully. Result. I am going to try to grow some over winter and I have bought a variety that should be ok. We will see!
   In the poly tunnel I have now planted beetroot, kohl rabi and corriander. The tomato's are still doing well but the days are getting shorter, less sunshine and less time when the air temperature is high enough to ripen them. Still, considering the setback of the frost in May I feel overall I have done ok this season.

Rain? Whats that? - bah! It rained!

  No rain to speak of. Even when the forecast said rain, it did not! The threat though was enough for me to pull my onions grown from seed and what a crop! Delightfully large onions! Spainish, Bedfordshire champion and Red Baron. This has made up for the disappointment with the red onions grown from sets.

Red Baron and Bedfordshire Champion onions grown from seed

  Autumn work has started. Leaves are being raked up to put onto the leaf compost heap. I continue to water the celery, celeriac and sweet peppers. The sweet peppers I think are a lost cause but I will continue! I should have watered the runner beans earlier than I did and the first flush of beans barely transpired. Hopefully the next lot will be better.  Blue Auvergne potatoes dug up and stored. Everything looks dry.
  In the poly tunnel the tomatoes are harvesting well. The autumn cauliflowers are going well but the winter cabbage looks a little moth eaten. I have continued to plant out lettuce and I am trying some beetroot.
  Ok, I spoke too soon. Since starting this blog it has rained. Probably something like two inches in half inch showers. Also thunder. This means one thing - everything will start to grow again! Least I do not have to water now! Clearing up continues. Outside cucumbers now gone and some weeding done.
  Bonnat agricultural fair on Saturday (01/09) which means I will be buying garlic to plant out. For me this is the first sign of the new season to come.

Phew!

  No sign of rain yet despite the forecast of thunder and rain. There is a plus side. No grass cutting! Very few weeds. RESULT! Crops in the poly tunnel and in the outside garden are really suffering. In the outside garden the sweet peppers are looking very sad and I do not expect to get much, if any, of a crop. The celery and celeriac have both been scorched by the sun and I am fighting a loosing battle trying to water them. On the plus side I have had a great harvest of melons. The cucumbers are now all but finished and they too have done well. The sweet corn has been good and the chickens are also enjoying it. Another week will see the end of that. The tomatoes this year have been very poor compared to last years excellent crop and I am again trying to save what I can. I am going to plant more yellow ones as the chickens have left those alone! Onions grown from see, Spanish, Bedfordshire champion and Red Karmen, are now drying off well and are a very good size. The Brussels sprouts and cabbages are looking very very sad, however, the carrots are looking good but the follow on rows have yet to germinate. The grape vine growing on one of the side walls of my barn has grown a lot this year and has produced a good crop of grapes. Hopefully I will get to them before the birds!
  In the poly tunnel the cucumbers have now been removed. The giant cabbage finally gave in and died. The tomato's here are looking healthy and are turning red. The toms in the hanging baskets have produced a very good crop of yellow tomatoes although one basket is very much at the end of its life I think. Salad bowl and Little Gem lettuce are being picked. There is still one or two Golden Primo cabbages waiting for harvest. The cauliflowers are growing well. Pak Choi (Chinese cabbage) is near to the end of its life and will soon be chicken feed. The goose, ducks and turkeys love a lettuce!
  It is hard to believe that it is the end of August and autumn is just round the corner. Soon be time to batten down the hatches for winter. Catch ya'all soon!

Giant Courgette

It ain't half hot Mum!

  It has been hot hot hot here in La Creuse. Hot means no rain, means me having to lug cans of water about, means some crops are suffering!
  Inside the poly tunnel temperatures are regularly reaching a maximum of over 50C. Good for some, bad for others. The cucumbers are on their way out. They have been overwhelmed by a fungus infection. A big problem this year has been dust. The outside of the poly tunnel is very dirty with dried on soil. As I am only 5' 10" and the poly tunnel is at least 7' high in the centre and curved it has proved very hard to clean. This means reduced light and plants tending to bolt. The dust is caused mainly by the local farmers harvesting and hay cutting. Tomatoes in the tunnel are doing well along with aubergines, salad bowl lettuce, little gems, broad leaf parsley and cauliflowers. The white fly issue has abated. I do not think they like the high temperatures! Another sowing of salad bowl done. Salad bowl in the poly tunnel has been a real success. It is too hot in the tunnel for any sowing of seed in modules so I am having to put those outside.
  In the outside garden sugar snap peas are being picked, carrots pulled, potatoes dug, cucumbers cut and the odd melon picked. More carrots have been sown. Courgettes are turning into footballs and marrows! We cannot eat them quick enough. The sweet corn is being harvested but the chickens have moved in! The grass is turning brown and is now growing very slowly. Runner beans are starting to appear and I look forward to a reasonable crop. Soon be time to sow swede and turnips. As I did last year, which was very successful, I will sow the swede in modules and plant them out rather than sow a row of seed.

Golden Sunrise from the poly tunnel

Rosebelle potatoes before lifting

  

   The summer moves on and here in Champeau the summer visitor are now here and its barbecue time with lots of cold beer, wine and food.

Spoke too soon?

   Umm, the weather has turned warm and dry. The runner beans are growing away. The haricot vert are all but over and my onions grown from seed still look good. Haricot buerre are up. I have so many cucumbers grown inside the poly tunnel and also outside that I am giving bags full away and still have too many! Some sugar snap peas and peas picked.
   Inside the poly tunnel watering has been the main task. Tomato's are now being picked along with cucumbers and primo cabbage. Cauliflowers have started to grow away and another sowing of red salad bowl is now ready to pick. The giant cabbage is still there and shows no signs of splitting or going to seed.
   Most of my time this last week has been trying to get the house garden in order. Lots of plant growth removed and general tidying done. The dry spell is starting to show its effects and those plants in sheltered areas are wilting. Least the grass has slowed down!
   In the outside vegetable garden I have finally managed to grow some leeks from seed that are worth transplanting. I have transplanting them and I am hopeful to get something from them. 

Transplanted leeks

  My friends (not) the chickens have finally managed to destroy my rosemary cuttings, bar one! They just like a dust bowl and the rosemary was where they wanted to dust their bums!
  The first melon of the season has been picked and eaten. Lots of melons on the vines so hopefully many more to come. The melon patch has been a this years success story. The outside tomato patch looks a little sorry for itself and I am not too hopeful for a good crop. They need some rain. Sweet corn is being picked and it is very nice too. The courgette patch continues to produce many courgettes and I am forced to feed them to the chickens! Least they are not going to waste. One of the old apple trees has is producing what looks like a reasonable crop and the one of the new apple trees has a couple of apples on it. 
  Autumn is just around the corner and there are already signs that is it coming. Hard to believe really.