Transplant, transplant and yes transplant!

Our snoozing Ouessant sheep flock

Poly tunnel tomatoes

    The weather has been variable with sun and showers. Still, it has not been too hot to work in the garden.
   The last week has been dominated by transplanting. Tomatoes, sweet peppers, (orange mini bell, yellow stuffing, Wisconsin Lake red, large orange) cauliflowers, cabbages (Precoce Louvier, Golden Acre), chili's (Basque, Nigel's Green Jalapeno pepper), basil (Lemon, Mammoth Lettuce leaf, Sweet Genoese) with still more to do. Also Gigante runner beans, Borlotti beans, dwarf french beans (haricot vert), radish, winter squash and more basil sown. Amongst all that asparagus was cut, radishes pulled, lettuce cut, last of the leeks dug up, weeding, fence fixing and mowing the grass! Phew! Busy time.
  On the animal front one of our hens, Mrs Chick, has gone broody and was sitting on six eggs. Unfortunately one egg was nibbled at by another chicken and had to be removed. We will be very fortunate I think to get any chicks. Mrs Duck continues to lay daily and the sheep, well are being sheep.

Country things....

    Living in the depths of the french countryside has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is having bullocks living in the field next to yours and the "gate" between your field and them is nothing but three pieces of vertical wood connected by barbed wire and sheep fencing! It is very common here for entrances to a field that contain cows just have a piece of string across them. Seems to work most of the time, however, these bullocks decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and they pushed the "gate" over and came into my field and ate my grass! This happened three days running and they destroyed one of my fence lines.I had got in touch with the farmer who came and got them out of my field. Pretty large animal a bullock! On the last occasion the farmer replaced the posts the bullocks had demolished and moved them to a field further away from mine. Oh what fun! In the past I would never have gone near a bullock but when you are mad and trying to get them off your grass ones fears goes out of the window! Alls well that ends well I guess.
    So, what else has been going on this last week or so. "Evie" sprouts, (seed was given to me by my youngest grand daughter for my birthday present) have been transplanted to an outside bed along with Precoce Louvier cabbage. They are now well established and looking good. Over eighty mixed variety tomato plants have also been  transplanted. I am trying a new idea this year. Instead of having one large bed of tomatoes I am planting nine or twelve plants at the ends of various beds. The idea is to avoid blight. If one batch of plants get it hopefully the others may not. In the poly tunnel early purple spouting and a winter savoy type cabbage have been sown. I have also sowed another variety of cucumber, marketmore into pots.
    I have managed to break the handles on my mower again. I am obviously using it in a way it is not designed for! Lol! Fortunately my bush whacker will cut the grass to a reasonable level although not as short as the mower.
     On the animal front chickens are being chickens. The ducks are being ducks and the female continues to lay. The sheep are looking fed up with their fleeces and need to be sheared. The rat population has taken a major hit with our new neighbours cat catching a good number of them.

It went quite...

   This  blog is covering two weeks. The first of the two weeks was very quiet with odd jobs being done, like a little wood splitting (tiring!), fix to a gate and moving sheep from the large field to a paddock to allow the grass to grow for hay making. Other work done that week was changing the duck pond water and I transplanted some Provence thyme to pots! Oh, not forgetting the cutting of a lettuce and mowing the dreaded grass.
   So the second week has been a little busier. I cleared a small bed of weeds into which I think I will put courgettes or melons. Maybe a pumpkin? Umm. I continue to earth up the potatoes to protect against any frost which is now becoming rarer, however, last frost date is not until the 15th May! More sweet peppers and aubergines have been transplanted to pots leaving just a few sweet peppers to do. The various types of basil, lemon, mammoth and sweet Genovese are growing well. A good number of asparagus spurs have been cut although the chickens got on the bed and I think have done some damage to the plants. I noticed that the first lot of carrots have dared to show themselves so it will not be long before I will need to get the second sowing done. The chickens have taken a fancy to the pea bed so I am resowing and trying to protect them Chickens are a double edged animal. Good for bugs etc bad for anything green and succulent.

Evesham Special Sprouts

First lot of outside the poly tunnel lettuce

Jersey Royal Parsnips weeded and thinned out

An uncertain time, take a gamble!

   At this time of year one is always trying to get ahead of the game. Unfortunately there are risks. Frost is a constant danger until the middle of May yet there are many seeds that need to be sown and the resulting plants protected from the potential frost until that time has passed. Still every day that  goes by should and I say should mean a less chance of frost. Currently the skies are clear and the frost comes every morning. The  temperature has been around zero first thing in the morning but once the sun comes up the frost is soon cleared. So far I have had only one or two plants suffer and no losses, yet. There has not been any rain for some time now and my water butts are all but empty. Time to pump water from the well.
   In the outside garden the potatoes were growing well with me earthing them up every evening and I will continue to do so for the next couple of weeks at least .The onset of the cooler weather they have stopped growing so fast.  I have transplanted Brussels Sprouts to an outside the poly tunnel bed and covered them in horticultural fleece. They are the best sprout plants I have managed to grow since being in France. 
  In the poly tunnel melons, squash and cucumbers have been sown and placed in the poly tunnel fleece cloche. My tomatoes are now outside the cloche but well covered up over night. I am cutting lettuce and pulling radish. The lettuce has been very good. Sweet peppers have been transplanted to pots along with Basque and Nigel's Green chili.
  On the animal front the female duck continues to lay and the chickens are being a menace by taking dust baths in my vegetable beds. The sheep are being sheep but soon will need to be sheared.

Ambassador peas

Spring sunshine

   The sun has shined a lot this last week. It has been nice to wake up before dawn and wait for the dawn chorus to start before getting up. There have been a few days of frosts but every day that now goes by means less of a chance of a frosty morning. That does not mean I lower my guard! Potatoes which are now putting up shoots need to be earthed up every evening and the more tender plants like peppers, chili's and tomatoes need to be protected in the poly tunnel.
   In the outside garden more forking, more weeding, more grass mowing and a bonfire. Only a small amount of ground to fork and weed left and that is in the area where the courgettes and pumpkins will go, so not urgent! I have sowed Touchon and Long Less de Meaux carrot along  with a row of salsify. Shallots, tree onions and onion sets are growing well. There is a good show of parsnip seedlings.
   In the poly tunnel more Evesham Special Brussels sprouts transplanted along with Provence thyme, Basque chili, White sage, Moss curled parsley, Roma and Gardeners Delight tomatoes. I am now regularly pulling lettuce (Batavia) and radishes. There is Moss Curled parsley, chives and coriander that is being used in salads. Lemon, Lettuce leaf and sweet Genovese basil has been sown, hopefully not too late.
  On the animal front the female mallard Indian runner duck is laying a lovely duck egg blue egg every day. The sheep look like they need shearing and the chickens, well, are being chickens. We have had a campaign against the rat population in the chicken coop and have killed at least six of which three were mature adults.
  So lots done, lots still to do. It never ends. LOL!

The pace quickens even more.

   What can I say? The pace in the garden just gets faster and faster at this time of year. The grass almost needs cutting twice a week! 

   In the poly tunnel I am pulling lettuce and radish as required. So far demand has not outstripped supply! It will at some point I am sure. Yet more radish sown.  I have sown a row of cauliflower seed given to me by my youngest grand daughter Evie. They are white and purple, yes purple, cauliflower. Should be interesting!. As an unusual sowing I have sown woad and have plans to make a woad bed next to my comfrey. The last of the over winter beetroot has been dug up and cooked. Tomato plants in pots are growing happily in the poly tunnel fleece along with Brussels Spouts, summer cabbage, spring onions, beetroot and white sage! Up in the house I have various varieties of sweet pepper and a couple of chilies growing slowly but surely.

   In the outside garden the potatoes are starting to show. I now need to go round the beds each day and cover up with soil any that pop up their heads. I have sown a main crop pea,variety Ambassador and I was disappointed to find that I did not  have any sugar snap peas! Need to find some quick! First lot of lettuce planted outside and covered with a cloche. I am still forking and weeding but there is less than there was!

  On the animal side the main chicken coop and duck coops have been cleaned out. The duck pond has been emptied and refilled and made just as dirty by the ducks by the time I had left the paddock! The sheep are being sheep and it will soon be time to sing the sheep shearing song again.

Row of Ambassador peas

A little late...

  I am a few days late with this posting, sorry about that. 

Runner bean poles

  In the outside garden I have dismantled and re-erected the runner bean poles. Yes, I know they should have been taken down last autumn but what with one thing and another I never got round to it. Lots of forking and weeding getting beds ready. Early (variety CHERIE), second early (variety ANAIS and BELLE DE FONTENAY) and main crop (variety DESIREE) have been planted. Planting potatoes is always a tiring job. Mark out and dig a trench, put in manure and ashes, cover with a layer of soil, plant seed potato and cover over! Then watch the chickens having a go digging them up! I have also continued to clear a large patch of brambles. The grass is growing like a weed and is in desperate need of cutting. I continue to dig up leeks and swede.
  In the poly tunnel transplanting tomatoes continues with variety ROMA (plum), UKRAINE purple and JENS TANGERINE done. I have also transplanted some thirty EVESHAM SPECIAL Brussels sprouts plants to pots. The seed were given to me by my youngest grand daughter, Evie. She must have put a good luck charm on them as I have never had much success with sprouts in France. Still more tomatoes to do if I want them. Lettuce, radish and beetroot are being harvested from the poly tunnel. The lettuce are now really getting underway.
   On the animal front the chickens continue to lay well. The sheep are being sheep and are being a pain rubbing themselves against fence posts and pushing them down. The ducks are fine but not laying yet.
   Oh, we had a severe storm here. It took the top out of the pine tree that grows outside the front of my house. Fortunately no property or other damage done. I will now need to get it taken down. It will open up the front some what.