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. 

The harvest gains momentum..

   Everything is producing well, even the thinning out of the carrot row has produced a good crop. I have frozen 950 grams of the thinned carrots.

Carrot thinnings 240712

The tomato season has begun! Two small but very tasty Tumbler tomato's have been picked (and eaten as soon as they were!). Quite literally kilos of haricot vert have been harvested. Cucumbers? How many can you eat!! I should have a cucumber eating competition there are so many. Chrystal lemon, Marketmore 76 and La Diva!  In the garden haricot buerre have been sown. I have given up with parsnips. I have sowed three lots and not one has germinated and this is from two seed sources so I cannot blame the seed. Likewise red cabbage grown from seed has been a disaster so I spent 4.20 euros and got some from the local market. Guess what? I foolishly left them on the ground and the chickens took a fancy to them. Fortunately they did not eat the hearts out of the cabbages so I am expecting them to recover. Boy. Sweetheart melons are developing all over the vines! Looks like my melon bed is working. 

Sweetheart melon

Sweet peppers are growing albeit slowly. Not enough sunshine. Summer peas and sugar snap peas are not doing as well as I would have wished. Chickens? Mice? Poor germination? Who knows.
  In the poly tunnel tomato's are red and ready to pick. Celery is good, cucumbers are just great and I still have four varieties of lettuce! White fly has been a problem this year and I am looking into ways of controlling the infestation without using chemicals. Winter sowing plans are being slowly developed.
  Next years brassica bed has been identified and some muck added. More required though. So on we go, weeding, grass cutting , harvesting, planting, watering.... phew! 

The vegetable garden produces...

   It has been a mixed week weather wise. Some sun, some rain, some cloud. Not the most enjoyable from my point of view but for the veggies...they have loved it!
   I am now harvesting a whole host of stuff! Potatoes, cucumbers (x2 varieties), onions (red, white,  bedfordshire champion, Spanish) shallots, french beans (haricot vert), borlotti beans, cabbage, celery, lettuce (x3 varieties), cauliflower, kohl rabi, carrots, melon, celeriac, sweet pepper, courgette, pumpkin, butternut squash..all in all too much but hey, rather that than too little I guess!
   So what has been going on? In the poly tunnel my overhead wire to which the growing string for my tomato's was attached broke! Fortunately no damage to the plants and the result is that I have had to tie the strings to the crop bars. This has meant that there is more space between the plants so that is going to help with keeping them aired and ripening the toms. A disaster turns into an advantage. I have planted out more primo cabbage which is being my most successful summer cabbage. White fly is a problem and I need to research some sort of bio control I guess. Swarming ants which have not been a problem other than a couple of  birds have decided that they are good to eat and are coming into the poly tunnel. More lettuce sown in modules and I need to decide what I am doing as regards to winter crops. Generally I am not happy with the results from growing plants from seeds so I may just buy some in, in particular red cabbage and winter cabbage. In the "tomb" a gourd is growing away and the tomato's I have planted there are doing fine. 
  Outside the garden has gone nuts. Of course, the weeds are there too and are a continual issue. The chickens are still being a menace but in the end the damage they do is not too great and it is good fun throwing lumps of dirt at them. Rosebelle potato's have done well again this year and I am looking forward to digging up the Desiree main crop. They should be great. Borlotti beans and haricot vert are producing a lot of beans. I have a melon with many more coming on. I reckon they need a little bit more sun and they will produce an awlful lot more I am sure. 
  Preparation for next year has started. The onion/shallot bed will become my brassica bed for next year and I have already forked it over and piled on some muck. More muck is needed and it is one of many jobs to do. I have more leeks to plant out and that is a priority as I need them to be established before autumn. The carrots urgently need thinning or I will not get any big ones!
  Right. I am back to the garden before the rain that is threatening starts to fall. Weeds to pull as always and seeds to sow!

I caught up but then....

   Once more a couple of weeks have passed by before I realise that I have not posted a blog. Sorry about that folks!
   As is the way of the world I just about caught up in the garden and then it was time to depart for the UK for a week. Boy! I wonder what the garden will be like when I return? More weeds no doubt. I have found the UK wet although I have been fortunate enough to be able to do the things I wanted to do without getting myself wet. 
   In the last couple of weeks in the poly tunnel I have transplanted Pak Choi cabbage, All the Year Round cauliflower, Webbs Wonderful lettuce and Little Gem Lettuce. I hope my lettuce gap is filled! Marketmore 76 and Chrystal Lemon cucumbers are starting to become prolific producers. Any ideas what to do with spare cucumbers? The tomato's are doing well and I am looking forward to a good crop. I have manage to grow some celery for the first time and it is going well. My giant cabbage is now so large I am going to have trouble moving it when I decide to cut it. It would feed the five thousand!
  Outside the poly tunnel weeding has been a major item and my weed pile continues to grown. Those weeds do not slow down! Outside Rosebelle potatoes are being dug, haricot vert are now being picked and some black currants gathered. Most crops are looking good. The Early Onward peas have now been cleared and a row of Borlotti beans sown in their place. The next lot of peas are now showing along with the sugar snap peas. I have cobs on my sweet corn and it will not be long before I am  picking some I am sure. The onions grown from seed are doing well, far better than the ones grown from sets. I have again sown another row of parsnips. This is the third and final attempt. The carrots look good and the fourth sowing has now germinated. Probably the first job to do when I get home will be to sort out the carrots and freeze the baby ones. I have Borlotti beans! Another first for me. Brassicas are not the most successful crop outside. I need to work on getting the soil conditions right I think. Butternut squash, courgettes (round and long), pumpkins and gourds all look good and the courgettes are now being cut.
  All in the all the warm damp conditions have in the main suited the garden. A little more sunshine is now required I feel. Fingers crossed!

Weed pile

Borlotti Bean