So who is going to win? Tomato's or blight! The tomato's in the poly tunnel are ripening and I have started to pick some, however, blight has also set in. It would seem once you have blight you are likely to always get it so the race is now on between the tomatoes getting ripe and the blight killing the plant. So far the tomatoes are winning.

Gardeners Delight (Irish) tomatoes

   In the outside garden I have dug up the shallots. The leaves were badly affected by a beetle and I have not got as big a crop as I would have expected. Mind you I do not think the soil in this particular plot was very good for shallots. The asparagus bed which is now being allowed to grow away has been weeded. More Belle de Fontenay potatoes have been dug and I am coming towards the end of the plot. So it will be onto the Franceline or Rosebelle next. Still a few Belle de Fontenay squirrelled away in a couple of small areas. First picking of haricot vert (french dwarf beans) has been made. The grass mowing continues unabated with this task currently being a weekly chore. Of course once the grass has been mown the edges usually need to be cut as well! 
   Plants in the poly tunnel are growing well. The tomatoes despite the onset of blight are producing ripe produce. Happens I planted mostly grape varieties in the poly tunnel this year. Wautoma cucumbers are now in abundance and over the next week or two I think we will be sick of cucumbers. There is a melon in the poly tunnel!  Lots of sweet peppers setting along with a couple of chilli peppers.

Melon in the poly tunnel

First sun, then rain, then sun, then....

2014 Violet Garlic crop

   Then the grass grows. The weeds grow. So off we go onto, so it seems, the never ending roundabout of cutting grass, weeding beds and generally wondering how the dickens does everything grow so fast! 
   This years garlic is looking good. I need to get it dried out and then stored away for the winter. Not so happy with my shallots which I grew from my crop I grew last year. I think it is more to do with the soil condition of the bed that they are in but they have not done as well as I would have liked. Mind you, I could say that about most of the onions this year. A row of carrots has been thinned and I am now thinking of what to sow for the winter! The pea crop is all but over and I am toying with sowing more. I took a look at last years pea sowing time and I did not sow my Champion of England peas until mid July and here we are this year with them just about finished. The vine growing up and along the back side of the barn has been pruned for the second time and I daresay not the last.
   On the animal side we have lost a ram lamb to an unknown cause and our lovely Cuckoo de Renne chicken took it upon herself to die. Probably some sort of respiratory disease but she was just starting to lay some wonderful eggs! One was 93g, about twice the size of then "normal" hen egg. A number of our "meat" hens need to be culled as they are getting rather large. The geese and turkeys are doing just fine.
    So, its on with the weeding, the grass cutting, drying and getting seeds sown for the winter in the mean time dodging the rain! Bring back the sun. No don't, everything will grow again.

   I have been away for a couple of weeks. The garden on my return has required some urgent attention! Mowing the grass was a priority.
   The first potatoes were dug up on the 12th June, variety Belle de Fontenay. If these few plants I dug up are an example of what is to come then the this crop should be very good. The field beans (broad beans to you and me) showed a lot of promise. In the end although not disappointing the crop was not as large as I hoped and the beans were small. I do not mind small broad beans but it was not what I was expecting. In place of the field beans Burgess buttercup squash has been planted. Buttercup squash is supposed to be the creme da la creme of squash. We will see. Three water melon plants (Sugar Baby) have been transplanted and so now the chore of watering twice a day or more begins! If all the varieties of  melons do something I should be in for a decent crop. Those are "famous last words". I continue to try to collect my own seed and I have gathered some Kohl Rabi seed. My parsnips have not produced any worthwhile seed! Oskar peas that were left over have also been gathered for seed and are drying along with the Latvian soup peas in my porch. I am hopeful of some cabbage seed but aphids are taking their toil. I have picked strawberries, a reasonable amount but only one lot! A little disappointing but this was from a bed of plants that were planted a year ago so I am hopeful with my new bed planted out this year that next year will be a better crop.
   Harvest had begun in earnest. Belle de Fontenay and Rosebelle potatoes have been dug, lettuce and cabbage cut, peas picked. 
   In the poly tunnel the "long" radish were a complete failure so more ordinary radish have been sown - Pernot Claire and De 18 Jours race Velox both of which I have grown before successfully (oh, there are those famous last words again).
 

Geese and Turkeys

 It looks like the chickens are finally coming into lay with a regular five eggs a day being laid. Our two "Rouge" hens are now laying nice chocolate coloured eggs.  On June 30th the total number of eggs laid since January 1st was 1000!  About time too! 

Here one day gone the next

   In my last blog I said I had started to pick the cherries. Well, I picked them and we ate them and now they are gone, all within ten days! Damaged cherries, even slightly bruised ones, will go bad very quickly so its eat eat eat while they are still good. The chickens enjoyed eating the ones that I threw down while up the tree.

Second picking of cherries

   In the outside garden all is grow grow grow. The weather has been good with some hot sunny days. The ground is still quite damp an inch or so down so warm damp soil, hot sunny days equals lots of growth. I have transplanted red cabbage having managed to find a space in the cabbage plot. The tomatoes required side shoots being removed and tying up. More tomatoes are setting. Oskar peas are now being picked. There is still lots of cabbage! Last week I said that the haricots were not looking very promising but I am pleased to say that more have germinated and now look a reasonable number of plants.
Melon beds have been prepared and the main melon bed planted with Petit Gris De Renne. The potatoes are in flower which must mean they are all but ready to start digging up. 
   A really big job done this week was to wash the outside of the poly tunnel. With the farmers churning up the soil and there being a lot of pollen the outside was getting very dirty. Took most of a very hot day to do and I renewed my tan! Within the poly tunnel I have transplanted Prescott Round Blanc melon as an experiment to see how melons do in the poly tunnel. Lemon and Mammoth basil has been also transplanted. I have made up a real Heath Robinson affair to support the Wautoma cucumbers. 
  My white sage cuttings were unsuccessful and I suspect that the poly tunnel was too hot. I have take a couple more cuttings and I will try to get them to take by having them on a window sill in the house.
   This years turkey's and geese have arrived and are settling in.

Running to keep up!!!

   Another week has flown by! The cherries are now ripe and I have started to pick them. Summer leeks have been transplanted to an outside bed as have pumpkins, buttercup and butternut squash and bush courgettes. Failed Gigante runner beans have been replaced with Scarlet Emperor "normal" runner beans, so I have half a row of each! Maybe I am was a bit early but the haricots have not germinated well. I also maybe being a little impatient!
   In the poly tunnel Wautoma cucumbers have been transplanted along with Sweet Genovese and Lemon basil. My over winter peas in the poly tunnel are now at an end. I have managed to gather some seed so I will be trying again this autumn.
  The herbs are in full cry with some flowering and others not far behind - Blue Sage, Golden Oregano, Common Thyme, Chives, Bolls mint, Marjoram, Moss Curled parsley, Coriander, Black mint and Rosemary. I have been taking cuttings to dry and made my fist lot of mixed dried herbs (golden oregano, curly parsley, marjoram). 

Roma Tomato

   The tomatoes have taken me by surprise. There are already many set and the one in the picture is the biggest I have spotted so far. This plant is outside! In the poly tunnel there is plenty of growth and good numbers of set tomatoes but nothing as big as this one.
   The Rosebelle potatoes are in flower and are on course to start to be harvested by the end of June. Oskar peas are well set and are starting to swell. The Latvian soup peas have finally flowered well and are also showing signs of pods. The Champion of England peas are at last starting to grow vigorously. On request from the family I quickly got hold of some sugar snap pea seed from the UK and sowed them. They germinated within five days! I have started to cut summer cabbage, variety Louvier and Golden Acre Primo.  Least this year I have cabbage! Seems that the plot I used last year was really lacking in what cabbages need. Fingers crossed, my Brussels sprouts are well established and look good. Long way between cup and lip!
   Grass cutting continues and unfortunately I have once again managed to break the mowing machines. Luckily I had managed to complete the mowing before they gave out. 
   Lots and lots to do, not enough time to do it but hey ho what gets done gets done and what does not get done does not get done!
  

Spring rain and shearing sheep...

   It is that time of year again. Time to grab a sheep and go at it with the shearers! I have bought some electric ones to speed up the process. We managed to get four done before the weather turned against us. Electric shearers are the way to go!

   The rats in the chicken coop were just becoming too much so something needed to be done. Over a week or two I have managed to eliminate them but it took three boxes of poison blocks, two types of poison. Makes one wonder if there is some resistant in the local rodent population.

   Anyway to more happier things! The asparagus season is coming to an end and I have to admit the crop has not been as large as I would have hoped. Still, just having some is nice. Sun flowers, sweet corn, popping corn and a second row of Champion of England peas have been sown in the garden. The corn was up within a week. Most of the tomatoes are now well 

Latvian soup pea

established and I have started to remove side shoots. I had to buy another hundred and eleven metal tomato poles! Could be a glut of tomatoes. The cabbage and sprouts are looking good and fingers crossed, maybe, hopefully I will get some decent sprouts this year! The beetroot grown in modules is now well established as is a good row of carrots. There are lots of pea pods on the Oskar peas so hopefully soon I will be picking outside peas. The potatoes just look grand. I do enjoy the foliage of the potatoes each variety a different shade of green.

   In the poly tunnel cucumber, melon (musk, water and troubadour) and pumpkin have been sown and have germinated! First lot of purple spouting have been sown and I am having a go a growing calabrese but from what I read they are not an easy plant to grown by any means. 

   Out of a packet of white sage seeds I managed to get one to grow and establish itself. I have been waiting for the plant to produce enough shoots for me to take cuttings. I have now taken six cutting and fingers crossed I may get a couple more plants.

   Of course, the grass is growing and I managed once more to break the handle of my petrol mower. As it happens we have acquired a low cutting bush whacker so the grass will still be cut.

   After a period of really nice weather, sun and very warm, it has turned cool and it has been raining. If I am honest as a gardener the rain came just at the right time. The ground was getting dry and newly transplanted crops and seeds need some moisture to help get them established and growing. Must not grumble!

Haricot and sweet corn

Runner bean poles

   My rustic, mostly hazel, runner bean poles! I have sown a Greek variety of runner bean from the Real Seed Company called Greek Gigante. You eat the beans rather than the pods and beans. The beans can also be dried for storage. The first strawberries have been picked - three! One each for the grand kids! Behind the poles is a bed of Rosebelle potatoes with Franceline potatoes in the distance.

Now the threat of frost is fast rescinding I have sown haricot  - Cupion (yellow), and Borlotti. Cupion is one of those haricots that you can eat young. You steam the beans when small but also you can eat them as they develop and even leave them to store the seeds. The last of my tomato plants, Stupice, Champeau Giant yellow, Latah , Galina and Ethel Watkins Best have been transplanted to outside beds and I have removed the fleece from those already out. There is a lot of tomato's in my garden this year! Sweet corn and pop corn (yes pop corn!) have been sown with fleece over the soil to stop the chickens from scratching them up! Last year I grew most of my sweet corn in modules and some directly in the ground. In the end there was not a lot of difference between the methods. Least growing them inside the poly tunnel I know I will  get a good germination. Heck, I am running out of room to sown stuff! Of course, I am mowing the grass, oh too frequently. It will not be long and it will slow down (fingers crossed!). My summer cabbage, Louvier, and Golden Primo are looking good. The potatoes are a picture.

Bed of Belle Fontenay Potatoes

  In the poly tunnel and tomb lettuce predominates along with some nicely establish tomato plants. Wautoma cucumbers have germinated and I am expecting the courgettes and melons to follow. The weather is helping by being in the 20's (centigrade) for a few days.