AUGUST

    My small garden has progressed! Courgettes, tomatoes (round red, pear shaped red, Jens orange, a heritage variety grown from saved seed) are all being gathered and enjoyed. There are still Paris (white round) salad onions and Touchon carrots. The cabbage planted way back is recovering from flea beetle attack and looks like I will get something. The other cabbage, which you pick the leaves and it continues to grow up is doing well and I am about to try it out. Wild black berries are in abundance in my hedge and are easy to pick and are also being enjoyed in crumbles and mixed in with stewed apple. Of course there is the continual problem of weeds particularly in the gravel! Real pain to remove but I have made the effort on the front drive which is now cleared and I am monitoring every day for weed growth! The wild flowers growing round the pound are starting to go to seed and I will let them scatter in the bed around the pond in the hope they will flower again next year. My common thyme sown in a triangle bed in the middle of the patio at the front of the house is thriving.

Thyme bed

Wild flowers round the pond

Tomatoes and courgettes

Touchon carrots

BEEN A WHILE

     My last post was in October 2022 just after I had moved from number 6 Champeau de Bas to number 5 Champeau de Bas. This post will bring the story of the garden in number 5 Champeau de Bas upto date and hopefully I will now regularly post a blog!

Starting to dig the veg plot 120223

Two casulites!

Plot all but done 140223

Sprouting garlic 230323

Cabbages 

Tomatoes Courgettes 210523

Batavia lettuce 210523

1st crop! 18Jour radish

Front of house triangle bed sowed with common thyme

1st early potatoes from a pot sown by Toby 180623

Sunflower from bird seed holder!

1st tomatoes 150723

5 Champeau de Bas

     So 6 Champeau de Bas is now in the past and I now move onto 5 Champeau de Bas and a different but smaller challange with more emphasis on flowers I suspect.  I still intend to have a small veg patch but I think it will be for salad type stuff with a small potato patch to grown some new potatoes and a few tomatoes! We shall see!

The start 081022

12 years and now its over

     Since the last blog entry on August 14th I have finished lifting the main crop potatoes, Desiree, with a reasonable crop some 54 kgs and total crop for this season of 87.5kgs. Not bad but definately smaller than previous years. That pretty much concludes my gardening exploits at Watermeadows. Ther might a cabbage to cut and a few carrots maybe before the new owners take charge on the 20th September 2022 but that is it. Onto a much different and much smaller garden and a blank canvas to work with. My aim is to grow some veg but probably just a few lettuce and maybe a cabbage or three but no over winter stuff. We will see. No chickens! It will be strange not to have ones own eggs.

    34 eggs were laid up until the remaining four chickens went off to pastures new.

    The next blog will be about the garden at 5 Champeau de Bas and that will probably be sometime in October.

    It has been fun and an experience!

Watermeadows March 2011

IT IS HOT!

   Another week goes by and the weather has been hot hot hot! The ground is very dry and the grass, well , what grass? Even the weeds are starting to give up. My small sowing of sweet corn is struggling and I do not think there will be any. If maize is struggling, its hot and dry!

   Nothing done in the vegetable garden and or any part of the garden. Cut a cabbage, the last one, lifted a few AGATA potatoes and dug up a few carrots. 

   The chickens are not enjoying the hot weather but they have been laying a little better. Round about two eggs a day over the last seven days with only one day with one egg.

Someone enjoys the weeds...Tabitha Sophies cat

The garden still give

     

Agata spuds Grehound cabbage Touchon carrots

Two weeks since the last blog. Agata potatoes lifted, the last pointy (this one a Greyhound) cabbage cut and some Touchon carrots dug up. The weeds continue to grow although they are showing signs of suffering from the lack of rain!

   Looks like my blog will be every two weeks rather than every week as my activity in the garden has dropped to next to nothing. I did manage to cut some hedging though! 

   Egg laying is pathetic to say the least with maybe one a day if I am lucky. I lost another hen so now have four left. They are being kept shut in for their own safety. I am stopping putting the average daily lay in the blog as the egg count is so low.

   It is sad to see my veggie plots go to weeds but the priority is to my move and there is lots to do! I do wonder though with the drought we are now suffering as to how much whould have grown successfully this year.

Stopped

    Well any work on the vegetable garden and the garden in  general has pretty muched ceased. Some lifting of potatoes, watching out for Colorado beetle, cutting the odd cabbage and pulling a carrot or two is about the sum of my activities. The weeds and hedges are growing and I look at the grass thinking that I need to mow and I need to cut the hedges! My time is now spent on my move rather than the garden.

    I lost Mrs Brahma hen this last week. She has been off colour for a while and I think the heat finished her off. No real sign of any illness. Her comb was bright red and she was still getting about without any sign of effort. Chickens are very good at hiding any illness. So down to five hens now and the beggars are not laying! Average daily lay this last two weeks is 2.

   My field was mowed for the last time under my ownership and it was mowed rather than cut for hay. I did not need any bales and I guess the farmer did not either.

    This is how it is going to be over the next six weeks or so but I will have to spend a day cutting the hedges that is for sure.

Mowed field

Even less

    This is late posting mainly due to there not being a lot to say about what has been going on in the garden mostly due to my sorting stuff out for my pending move.

    So, grass cut, cabbage cut and potatoes lifted. The odd onion pulled. Talking of which the onions are looking quite good! Weeds are growing well and I guess at some point I should try to remove some.

   I think the heat is hitting the chickens. Average daily lay this week was 2.4 eggs. A drop on last week and I suspect I have another broody hen!

Wheat harvest under way locally

Slowing down

      It is strange to be winding down my vegetable garden. After eleven years to nnow let it go and not be working the soil and not sowing and planting out and thinking of what to be doing for the autumn and winter.

      Over the last week I have mowed grass and lifted AGATA potatoes. Not that impressed with the AGATA potatoes. A reasonable amount of potatoes per plant but on the large size and that is not what I want from a first early potato! The weeds are growing well and I need to harvest my shallots which because of the weather have finished growing rather early this year. Too hot and dry at the wrong time! Onions are now benefiting from the latest bout of rain and I am hopeful for a decent crop. My two rows of carrots planted early in the year are giving me a decent number of roots, certainly for the amount I need. Parsnips are a complete waste of time most of which have gone to seed. The golden batam sweet corn is looking good and as I have probably said before sweet corn is tolerante of a hot dry spell. 

     So just to put some gardening stuff in this weeks blog I have included some work done on Sunday 3rd July. Usually my blog week goes from Sunday to Saturday. So on Sunday I decided it was time to tackle some of the weeds. Summer cabbage, onion and a potato patch cleared. To my dismay I discovered Colorado beetle on my main crop Desiree potatoes so now it will be a daily check for beetles and eggs and no doubt squishing of said beetles and eggs! 

    Egg production up this week. Average of four eggs a day. I have decided to let them out to room the garden with hope that they may eat some of the Colorado beetles (some hope that is! Lol!).

Cabbage before weeding

Cabbage after weeding

Onions before weeding

Onions after weeding

Rain, glorious rain...

    Ok, you can have too much of a good thing. Too much sun, too much rain! Man! No a lot achieved. It has been a damp to wet week. Lifted some Agata first earlies. So far not impressed with this variety and if I were planting next year I would not bother with these. Good ole Touchon carrots are producing again. I love this old varity and have had success over multiple years. Cut off the broad been stalks. Left the roots to so as to fix nitrogen in the soil from them. Violet garlic lifted. Poor crop but at least some! Elephant garlic has been a disappointment with most going to seed and the rest not producing any sort of Elephant garlic at all! Did some tidying up of the chicken run area. The forsythia as usual was trying its take over bit along with the lemon balm. Looks like it is going to be a damp week so very likely not a lot will get done.

    Chickens are not laying well and the suspect of all things is Wilba the cat!! Empty egg found on the drive way of my daughter house. The egg split neatly in halve and the contents devoured! Never would have thought a cat would eat an egg. Well an average of 2.9 eggs a day this last week up on last but still not as good as it should be.

No, it is not in the garden HONEST!

Yes more sun

    Vegetable gardening can be a fickle thing. You can go from success to failure in such a short time. Over my time here in la Creuse I have had successes and failures and I have had tremendous fun trying to grow unusual veg and trying out things like Hugelkultur and no dig beds. This year is one of failure I fear. Grass mowing, vine pruning and new potato lifting done this last week. The grass is brown and I was really just mowing off the weeds. A good start to the year with warmth and rain and an early planting out of lettuce was sucessful. Summer cabbage plants also planted out and fingers crossed I may get something from them. Now the sun is beating down at very high temperatures. I have lost my squash, pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumber plants despite watering.  Water melon plants are small and as I will have more than likely have moved by the time they produce I doubt if I will bother to plant them out.  A very poor germination rate of beetroot and other seeds.  Parsnips have gone to seed more so than usual and the shallots have already died back and are very small. Onions are small but are hanging in there but I am not expecting great things. Even the garlic has been poor. Success was had with over winter broad beans but the early sowing of peas was not a great success. On the upside strawberries have been good and it looks like I will get a decent potato crop. Not as large as last year but still decent. The sweet corn is going well and maize is a little more drought tolerant I think.  Early sowing of carrots are at least giving a crop that can be pulled. 

  The hens do not enjoy hot weather. Egg production over the last week has been poor with an average of 2.1 eggs per day. 

   So as the days go by I have to start to wind down my veg garden as the day draws closer to calling it a day on my time at Watermeadows.

Wilba cat on the poly tunnel roof!

SUN, more SUN, yet more SUN

     When it rains one wants sun, when its sunny one wants rain! Such is the desires of a gardener! Lol!  Lots of sun in la Creuse at the moment. There was a thunder and lightening storm with hail stones this last week but it missed us and there was just a few patters of rain. Not enough to make any difference or fill up the water butts!

    

Alouette 1st early potatoes

Italian herb Stridolo Sculpit Silene Inflata

First pick of Aquadulce broad beans

   It has been a busy week! Dug up some BF-15 and Desiree "volunteer" potatoes which means that I have not bought potatoes for over a year! First time ever! Finally got round to weeding the poly tunnel and transplanted some beetroot that had self seeded. Lots of weeding done this week in an effort to overtake the rapid growth of stuff! Hopefully weeds and grass will now slow down with the onset of the sunnier weather. Gone to seed lettuce pulled and given to the chickens. The first broad beans picked. Some Hopi cabbage grown from seed transplanted to the brassica bed. Butternut squash seedlings translanted but I fear that the sun will kill them off. We will see. Picked around three quarters of a kilo of Mari de Bois strawberries and transplanted some Suyo Long cucumbers to an outside the poly tunnel bed.

   Two hens have gone broody which means my daily egg production has dropped by fifty per cent! No point in them trying to hatch eggs as I no longer have a cockeral! Daily average of 2.85 eggs a day.

FORK AND WEEK FORK AND WEED

     Lots of forking and weeding this last week. Trying to get ground ready for transplanting butternut squash and cucumbers. Maybe wishing for sunshine was not a good idea as daily temperatures have been on the high side. Of course the usual mowing of grass! Produce has started to be picked and pulled. Lettuce, first lot of broad beans and some "volunteer" potatoes (Desiree and BF-15). These are potatoes grown from ones I failed to dig up last year. Not unusual to get a few but I must have missed quite a few from what I can see coming up in the previous years potato plots!

    Chickens are being chickens. Unfortunately I have lost my cockerel and a hen to probably a fox. The remaining hens are being kept shut up for now. They are not impressed. Average daily lay of 5.4, slightly down on last week.

Flowering onions with bees

First pick of broad beans

Somtimes one wishes come true

     Yep, my blog title last week was "Give me sunshine" and sure enough the sun has shone all week and the temperature has crepted up as the week as progressed.

    

Broad beans coming along

Weeded and remulched strawberry bed

   So it has been a busy week getting the outside garden looking at least tidy. With my house now on the market I need to try to make it look attractive! So, clearing weeds etc at the front of the house and around my well, mowing grass (never ends this time of year!) and clearing brambles and mowing a path to get access to the river done. One major job done which was to weed and remulch the strawberry bed. Lots of flowers so I am hopeful for some strawberries at some point. I did pull a couple of lettuces from the poly tunnel!  The radish sown in the poly tunnel look very poor unfortunately. I am not starting to get concerned over the lack of rain and the forecast does not look good. Still, plenty of work to do particularly getting the plot ready for the butternut squash plants.

   Chickens are doing well and I guess they are enjoying the sun and of course the longer day light hours. An average of six eggs a day this last week, up on last week. I have 10 laying hens so most days I am getting 7 eggs.

Give me sunshine

       The sun has been out a lot this last week. Very pleasent temperatures and quite nice riding around mowing grass!!

   Despite spending a lot ot time mowing grass a number of other jobs have been completed. Golden Bantam sweet corn sown in an outside the poly tunnel plot but they could do with some rain. Tomato plants transplanted and to be honest they are not up to much at the moment but hey given time, given time. Given the rise in temperature and that shinning thing in the sky making a daily appearance I have sowed Blacktail Mountain water melon and 5 Dessert melon seeds in pots and placed in the poly tunnel fleece cloche. Hopefully the temperature will remain high enough in the poly tunnel to germinate them. Also sown in pots two new varities of cucumber, Suyo Long and Tamra (a rare heritage variety so I am going to take good care of these and try to make sure I get some seed) and the good old stand by Marketmore. First lettuce of the season pulled and asparagus spurs cut. Early and second early spuds are up but no sign of beans on the broad bean plants yet. Plenty of work to do!!

   Chickens are being chickens being throughly spoilt with handfuls of black sunflower seeds. Average daily egg production is up, 4.6 per day and a couple of days of seven per day (I have ten laying hens). 

   

First asparagus spurs with toast and boiled egg.

    

Yes you know

     Yes more grass mowing. Seems to never end. Hey ho! More seeds sown in pots and put into the poly tunnel - Giant Pacific Pumpkin and Champ Waltham butternut squash. Some 2021 carrots pulled and they are still quite edible. Large Hugelkultur bed weeded and restored after the chickens decided they wanted to try to flatten it! Outside the poly tunnel lettuce plants look established and there are lots of flowers on the strawberries. Bought some Chou Cabus Pointu Poet (a pointy headed cabbage) to try to get some early summer cabbage and planted those out in the brassica bed. I have removed the cloches from my early sown carrots and have been surprised and please with the results.

Touchon carrots 

    The chickens have been gathered together in the main coop more for their own safety than anything and kept in for a few days to reset their little brains! Got to the point where the cockeral and a couple hens decided the garden looked a better bet and started to escape so I had to let them all out. Fortunately it was a few days after they had been shut in. Dailyu average of 3.9 eggs this week down on last.

    1st May Sunday breakfast consisted of freshly cut asparagus, first of the season, brown buttered toast cut into fingers and a cup of tea! Was rather good.

 

Grass, flipping grass!

    This time of year the grass along with the weeds grow very fast indeed! Grass cutting is currently about every six days (if I am lucky!) so pretty much once a week. This will carry on until it gets a lot warmer.

    In the veg garden it has been a busy week. Forking and weeding, trimming bed edges. Sowed Ciboulail (spring onion type), Great Lakes lettuce in the old seed bed, sowed caulifower Merville, Greyhound, Hope and Milan cabbage in the new seed bed. Some beetroot popped up in the poly tunnel so they have been transplanted. A couple of Gardeners Delight tomato plants made the the effort to germinate in the propagator and have been transplanted to pots. They are a little "weedy" but hey one has to try. The last of the Desiree main crop potatoes have been planted. First earlies have started to show. Some leeks dug up, just a few left now and they need to be dug up before long or they will just go to seed. 

   Annual bonfire has been lit and not everything I would have liked to have burnt has been but I had to get it done while it was dry and before the end of the month. 

   Lost another chicken to probably a fox so all birds consolidated into the main coop and they will be kept in for a few days. Main coop clean out. Average of 4.28 eggs per day this last week a drop on the previous week but not surprising if a fox has been stalking them. 

   Next week I will be starting to sow the squashes and melons. 

Poly tunnel spring lettuce 

Busy busy busy

    The weather has been good with sunshine and the temperature getting to 20C. Off course this means three things. 1. The grass grows rapidly, 2. the weeds grow rapidly, 3. there is a hurry to get stuff into the warming up ground! So, grass mowing, forking and weeding and sowing/planting has been the order of the week.

   I have weeded my small asparagus bed but I fear that the crowns have died. No sign of asparagus yet and I would have expected to see some by now. One never knows and maybe there might be a crown or two still alive. Most of the seed potatoes are now planted with just a handful to find a space somewhere. Being inspired by a reply to a post in the Gardening in France group on Facebook I have constructed a Stout bed and planted with Desiree potatoes. I happened to have a lot of hay which is only good for mulching. A Stout bed is just another form of a no dig bed just happened to be made up of hay although one can add other organic matter. The bed is a foot high and the potatoes are planted on top of an eight inch layer of hay and another four inches of hay put on top of them. I was not aware that we only plant potatoes in trenches to stop them from going green.

Stout bed

     My first row of Touchon carrots are up and I have sown row number two. Onions and shallots are growing well along with broad beans which have flowers on them. I bought another lot of early lettuce plants and have planted some in my new no dig bed outside the poly tunnel. Taking a chance as there could still be frosts till the middle of May but these are spring lettuce so will be a little hardier. 

    No doubt the grass will need mowing again before the week is out but I have a bonfire to light and deal with and there are seeds that I need to sow. It will no doubt, weather permitting, be another busy week ahead.

   I lost one of my cockerals this week to probably a fox so that just leaves one. Daily average of 5.28 eggs this week in line with last weeks total. I have eleven hens but only five or six eggs a day? Umm. 

Spuds, spuds and more spuds

    What can I say? Lot of time dodging rain showers planting the Aoluette second early potatoes. Almost done. I have about a dozen seed potatoes to plant and then its on to the main crop, Desiree. 

   Some carrots dug up. There still are some more but they are showing signs of starting to grow. More forking and weeding of the major plot that the main crop potatoes will go in,however, I have been reading about another method of no dig to plant potatoes in. It involves a lot hay which as it happens I have a lot of. So todays thinking is to try this method out and see what results I get. Seed sowing has started with some 18Jour radish sown in the poly tunnel and mixed sweet peppers and tomatoes sown into propagator modules. No sign of germination with the tomato seed sown in seed trays in the fleece clouche in the poly tunnel. 

   The weather has been awful at times with high winds and torrential rain. Much to my surprise the ground has been workable (Well, mostly. Found a bit that was pretty much liquid mud!). Also some frost just to let me know that winter is not quite out but the general temperature is on the rise!

   Chickens are being chickens and being a menace scratching around wherever I dig or fork. The broody hen is still sticking to her eggs despite loosing the first batch. 5.29 daily average this last week. 

Never ending forking and weeding

EARLIES IN!

    On my return from the UK I have been busy mowing grass before it snowed and rained and getting my early potatoes, variety AGATA, in. Despite the rain and snow the ground has been good enough to dig a trench to plant spuds! Second earlies and main crop to go!  Dug up some leeks and some carrots. 

Planting 1st early potatoes

   Our broody hen is still sitting on her eggs. The first twelve she was sitting on have all been removed by something so another twelve have been put under her and she is staying put for now. Fingers crossed she manages to hatch a few chicks. The average number of eggs, over thirteen days rather than seven due to being away, laid per day was 4.2. Down on the previous period but we suspect something is stealing the eggs!