Need rain!

   So much for the rain! What fell did not have much of an affect, at least on the garden. The grass has greened up a little and I think the sheep are a little happier.
   In the garden another week or so has gone by with little done. I am reluctant to attempt to turn the earth over with it being so dry. Maybe I need to consider a no dig policy? In the poly tunnel the tomatoes are coming to an end and I have sorted out the self seeded beetroot. Never know I might get a few! I have picked a few miserable apples. There are plenty but they are small. A result of the dry weather methinks. Still picking tomatoes but they are definitely coming to an end know. The forecast is for colder weather so I think that will finish them off. Also day light is short!
    On the animal front the chickens are laying well and the Ixworth chicks are growing. The Ixworth coq is starting to assert himself and the senior hens are taking notice. I fear for the other Ixworth coq and I guess he will end up in the freezer. The senior hens have still not started to lay again after the demise of Mr. Ixworth. Maybe the rats are taking them but the new coop is pretty much rat proof. Mind you they have been going through a moult and this variety of chicken does seem to take its time in recovering from a moult.
    So onwards into late autumn/early winter. I still need to plant some garlic but again the ground is too dry. They will not root. Getting really desperate for some rain. There is now a total ban on the use of hose pipes etc in La Creuse.

Being watched by Bonaparte

Its been a quiet quiet time

  As I sit here typing this it is, yes, it is raining! The nice steady type of rain, not to light, not to heavy and it has been like that for about an hour and is continuing.
   So, since the last blog what has happened? Not a lot as I have been back to the UK to see my newest grand daughter, Lorelei. It was wonderful to see and hold her and of course to see my other grand daughter Evelyn and my daughter Samantha. Still, in the garden over the last week or so it has remained dry. No work on the plots.  The cucumbers inside the poly tunnel and outside are now finished. It has been a reasonable crop this  year. The butternut squash have been cut and stored. Again a reasonable crop considering the long dry spell.  I have picked more tomatoes and it is strange to pick ripe outdoor tomatoes in the middle of October! To be honest they are all but done now. Still some good sized ones in the poly tunnel and fingers crossed they may yet ripen on the vine!
    On the animal front the sheep are being sheep, the chickens are laying well and the ducks are quacking. The ducks are about to go to a new home to live amongst some female runners! I think they will like that some how.
     Looking to the weeks ahead there is plenty to tidy up but there is little in the garden. Some very poor looking Brussels sprouts, beet root and purple sprouting, two decimated rows of parsnips (voles) and a little clump of very bright green moss curled parsley. How long before the chickens decide that looks too good to leave alone.
     In the poly tunnel there is some beetroot, one sweet pepper plant with a sweet pepper on it and a number of Alberto Loco's chili's that have flowers on but they will surely not produce anything now? Well, I will leave them until they succumb to the cold. You never know!

Frist two jars of pickled onions

Alberto Loco chili in flower in October

What can I say?

    It is hard to find words to write. The dry weather continues, the ground is now too dry to do anything with and here I am hoping to get some garlic in. No point unless there is a bit of rain. Still, I have a couple of weeks yet before it is too late for a over winter sowing of garlic. There are some tomato plants hanging on in there particularly in the poly tunnel and are still providing a few ripe toms. 
    So what I have been up to? Nothing much in the garden expect picking a few tomatoes and the odd cucumber. The cucumbers have now gone over and I will soon be cutting the squash to put into storage. The winter supply of wood has arrived and been stacked. That took the better part of four days, moving from the delivery point to stacking under the hanger. Two lots, one from my local farmer just around the corner and the other from a farmer in the next village. So, wood stored and dry here is hoping for a little rain!

First delivery

Second delivery

Finished stacking!

And it did didn't it:

   Well I have mentioned that there has been a long spell of hot sunny weather. Yes, the weather did the dirty on me and it rained. Steady down pour. It did not last too long but it was welcome. Looks like the weather is taking a turn towards late autumn and the mornings are most definitely cooler and the length of daylight is shrinking (currently roughly 0800hrs to 2000hrs).
  So what has happened over the last week? Not a lot I am afraid to say gardening wise although there is plenty to do. Picked tomatoes, one round courgette which is probably the last courgette and cucumbers, little bit of poly tunnel weeding but nothing more. To be honest the ground is now too dry to fork or do anything with. Despite all the cucumber crop has been very good. I do like the variety Wautoma. They do very well outside the poly tunnel and they continue to produce to the end of September. The tomatoes are now coming to an end and again despite the weather the crop, especially of Champeau Gardeners Delight and Champeau Jens Orange, has been ok, not fantastic but satisfactory. I guess if I had watered there would have been a lot more larger tomatoes.
  On the animal front the hens I think are starting to slow up a little on egg production and the ducks and sheep are being ducks and sheep. 

Champeau Gardeners Delight

It getting boring...

   Yes the sun is still shinning and yes the temperatures during the day are in the upper twenty degrees Celsius. The garden is now as dry as a bone. I have one crop - hops! The hop vine has grown well up the side of the barn. I think the deluge of rain earlier in the year

Hops

has something to do with its vigorous growth to be honest!

Desiree main crop potatoes

Another crop that came in well this year were the potatoes.

NICOLA(earlies TOTAL:		24.835 Kg
RIKEA (second earlies) TOTAL:		32.580 Kg
DESIREE (main crop..storage) TOTAL		68.17 Kg

I was particularly pleased with the DESIREE, 68 kg from a five kilogramme bag of seed potatoes. Cucumbers, especially the outside ones, are doing well and continue to produce one or two every other day or so. I have now been round the outside tomatoes tidying up and cutting off dead or blighted leaves. Still a few to ripen and I am continuing to gather a handful of ripe Champeau Gardeners Delight (grape tomatoes) every day. In the poly tunnel tomatoes are ripening and I should get quite a decent crop considering they were planted late. Despite regular watering the lettuce in the poly tunnel has suffered from the excessive heat in there and have not done well. This is the pattern it would seem. Lettuce is grows well in the poly tunnel early in the season but it get too hot during the middle to end of the season for it to grow successfully. I need to find another crop for the poly tunnel that would like the heat more. Maybe I should try melons. Cucumbers do not do so well either. 
  In the animal world just normal maintenance. The chickens are still laying well but I am expecting a decline soon as the days draw in.
  So autumn is all but here and I have little or no winter crops. Those planted out in August have just suffered with the heat and dry conditions. Watering was really not an option. Oh well there is always next year.

Chickens in the shade....

Its staying warm

   The rain continues to miss my patch of France. Up the road, about five kilometres away, it rained. As I write this looking out of my front room window the sky is dark with clouds that look heavy with rain. Will it rain here I wonder. The garden is as dry as a desert!
   In the poly tunnel lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and basil hang on in there. Hopefully the nice looking green tomatoes will have time to turn red or orange! I have planted out a good number of beetroot in the poly tunnel more in hope than anything that I may get some this year. Those in the outside garden have suffered from lack of rain and I have not pulled any this year. First of the main crop potatoes have been dug up, variety Desiree. The rest of the crop looks promising. Outside tomatoes are now well and truly finished with one or two hanging on in there with the promise of few more tomatoes to come. There is a good number of butternut squash ripening and the outside cucumbers are still producing one or two every few days. Some are starting to go over now. 
   I have been busy cutting down hedges and clearing out overgrown areas in the front of the house. Half of my barn roof is currently being replaced and my long suffering rear garden (from the fosse installation a couple of years ago!) is once again being battered from falling roof tiles.
   On the animal front Mrs Chick lost her third chick, probably to a rat. The hens are laying well, five to seven a day. Sheep are being sheep!

Its just around the corner...

    Yes autumn is just around the corner. August is closing fast and September will be upon me. All the plants and trees are beginning to show signs of closing down for the oncoming winter.
    In the outside garden the last of the second early potatoes, variety NICOLA, have been dug up. I have been disappointed in the total amount of NICOLA potatoes harvested. From a three kilogramme bag of seed potato just over twenty four kilogrammes harvested compared to the three kilogramme bag of RIKEA seed potatoes first earlies I harvested nearly  thirty three kilogrammes. I have a couple more NICOLA plants to harvest, one in a pot and another two or three in a spare piece of ground when I found I had a few seed potatoes left over. The may produce another kilogramme or so between them. Main crop DESIREE left to harvest. Several melons picked along with a continuing harvest of cucumbers (Wautoma, Market Maker, Gagante), mixed variety tomatoes and courgettes. It has been a very poor year for haricot vert and not the most brilliant for tomatoes. A success this year has been the bramley apples. The tree was absolutely covered in apples this year. First time there has been a bumper crop. They are on the small size but that must be due to the hot summer and lack of rain. Anyway I still harvested a crate full! See photo. There is a good number of butternut squash and given another week or two of reasonable weather the harvest should be good.   

In the black box the Bramley apple crop

   In the poly tunnel I have transplanted few more beetroot more in hope than anything else. Nothing ventured nothing gained! The lettuce in there are having a real hard time  getting going with the hot weather. Hopefully now it has turned a little cooler (22C rather than 32C!) they may start to do something. I have some tomato plants in here too and they were late planted and look really good! No blight (famous last words) and tomatoes are starting to ripen. Fingers crossed I may get an extended crop!
   In chicken world nothing really new. Mrs Chick continues to raise her one surviving chick which is growing nicely now and the four chicks at my daughters are growing fast and becoming more adventurous. Egg production has possibly been on the low side but I think several of the hens have been in moult. Certainly lots of feathers about!

Four chicks in a row

    The start of autumn brings about the desire to make cakes and with the brilliant apple crop make stewed apple etc etc.

Cherry cake

Bramleys being stewed