Leaves, lots of leaves and dumb turkeys

. I continue to rake up leaves. One strawberry bed is now weeded and mulched with chopped up oak leaves. One more to do, weather permitting. I picked two ripe strawberries from the Mara Bois bed! I have not touched the leaves in the house garden and I suspect the worms will get to them before I do. All around the trees are pretty much bare. Autumn is drawing to a close and winter is arriving. Temperatures are still above freezing but I have the cuisiniere in the house going all the time now. Forecast is for the weather to get colder.

  Forking and weeding have been the main tasks to undertake although I have pruning to do and a major job to be done with a couple of old apple trees. I really want to get those done this winter.
  In the poly tunnel the temperature is staying well above freezing and what plants are in there are still managing to grow a little. Sunrise is around 0812hrs and sunset around 1710hrs which makes for a short day! The second sowing of peas has not shown yet which really does not surprise me. The ground is wet and getting colder and I will be delighted if they do show but I am not expecting it. 
   I continue to pull leeks, carrots, celeriac and celery. Some of the later planting leeks look like they have taken a hit with the mild damp weather mould has been an issue. The chickens do not help as they forage between the plants and tend to squash them! The late planted sprouts look good but I am doubtful if they will produce proper sprouts. The winter cabbage is starting to heart up. My small row of spinach is forming "true" leaves and fingers crossed it will produce the goods, chickens permitting!
   Our female duck has taken to laying an egg a day much to my surprise I must admit. My daughter has been cooking with them and they do make a lighter cake. 

Dumb turkeys

Two of our turkeys took a bath and one got very wet and cold. She did recover thanks I think to the mild weather at that time. They are really dumb these turkeys! Plenty of garden activities to do. The battle of the nettles is currently on pause. Other jobs have taken priority.

Time for raking up the leaves

   Finally most of the leaves have fallen. The garden oak tree is starting to look bare and its time to rake up the leaves and put them on the leaf mould pile. This autumn I am also going to use them to mulch the strawberries but I am sure there will be plenty to go around. Oh, our mallard/muscovy cross duck is laying!

Raked up oak leaves

   The garden has been pretty quiet. Sprouts, cabbage, broad beans spinach, garlic and peas are all growing. Celeriac, celery, carrots, beet root and leeks are being pulled. The herbs are still ok to pick and there is curly parsley. The green manure crop, Luzerne, after quickly germinating is now establishing itself. The mild weather will help it I am sure. I continue to tidy up and I have managed to finish burning a big pile of plant material. The resulting ashes will be used on the garden along with the ashes from our wood burning stoves. This is a very good source of pot ash.

   In the poly tunnel no sign of the broad beans yet. Transplanted kohl rabi are establishing themselves and the other brassicas (purple sprouting, cabbage, cauliflower) are looking healthy. The sweet marjoram that I planted is looking good unlike the outside plants which have now died off. Fingers crossed I might get some cuttings in February. Beetroot looks ok but I fear that they are going to be all leaves and no beet! There is lettuce (Batavia Grenoblise and salad bowl) but they are small and some have succumbed to stem rot. The tunnel looks under utilised!

   The nettle battle continues and I have cleared another small patch. The nettles left are growing back! I have some major pruning that needs to be done on the old apple trees and now that the leaves are down that job is creeping up the list. I must not forget the vine.

   I very pleased to say that I have managed to pickle some of my Cheltenham green top beetroot. Despite being in the ground a long time they are still very nice to eat. They have not gone woody at all.

   Right. Lots to do, only short days to do it in! This mild weather cannot last much longer surely. In the mean time I need to get as many jobs done as I can, like clearing weeds and forking beds.

Wet, cold, sun......

    What can one say? Rain, frost and sun all in a couple of weeks. As I sit typing this the sun is shinning and the sky is clear. The forecast is for more of the same. The days are short and I find that I do not get going until about 1100hrs, that is when the sun gets over the ridge! It is gloomy by 1700hrs and dark by 1800hrs. I am just looking for excuses not to do work!
   The ground has just about come back to being workable after torrential rain. I have sown another row of the pea variety, Plein le Panier (Fill the basket), a round pea, good for freezing and early! The packets says the seeds can be sown in October, November, December and January! It will be interesting to see how they do. The first sowing is now about 4" high.

Plein Le Panier peas November 15th 2012

    Outside the poly tunnel the battle of the nettles continues.Only a few square feet cleared. The weather has not been kind, however, I have strawberries that are ripening! I keep thinking that a frost will do for them but nope they are still going.

Mara Bois strawberry taken on 15th November 2012

   Seems to me that the garden has a lot going on at the moment. Cabbage, leeks, sprouts, celeriac, swede, carrots, peas, garlic, broad beans,shallots and even some celery growing! A critter has taken a fancy to one of my leeks. It ate all that was underground and it was only because it was wilting a little that I investigated and found a big hole under it and the white part of the leek eaten! Must have been the same critter that ate my carrots last year with same result - all top, no root! A cartoon would not have been any funnier!
    In the poly tunnel I have transplanted the last of the Kohl Rabi. I have sown broad beans with the aim being that these will be my "seed" crop. Cauliflowers have been harvested and the brassicas are growing and are looking ok. The lettuce looks good although not big and "winter leaves" are up and coming along. I have put up a fleece door which is covering one entrance and at the other end I have fitted some draught excluder on the edges of the sliding doors and that has closed the gap. Hopefully both will help keep the temperature up.
   So, despite it being the middle of November I am still busy sowing seeds and pulling up weeds! Bonfire to light and far too much to do. The apple trees need pruning but the leaves have not yet all fallen so that job will wait a while!

First ice of the winter and a policy change...

  Frost and ice! On the morning of the 29th October there was a frost and the water on the ducks bowl had ice on it. The minimum temperature overnight on the thermometer outside the front of the house showed -3C. At 0840hrs it is -2C! After a couple of days of -3C starts to the day it has warmed up a little and I have managed to finish mowing the grass. Hopefully this is the last time. Now it is raining. I have started to light the fire in the evening a sure sign it is colder.
  The nettle battle continues. Progress is slow but sure and more black currant bushes have been cleared and pruned. I have transplanted self grown bushes and now have three more. In my head I have a plan coming together as to what to do with the reed bed area. It will take quite a bit of effort but I think in the end it will look very nice. The days are short so time will be the telling factor here as I still have to keep the rest of the garden in check.
   In the poly tunnel the tomatoes succumbed to the frost and I have picked what was left. They have now been cleared. The poly tunnel now contains asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, khol rabi, coriander, beetroot and parsley (flat leaf and curly) with an odd plant of basil and fennel! It will not be long until the cauliflowers are ready. I am having a good deal of success with cauliflowers (variety All the Year Round) in the poly tunnel. This is my third lot that I have managed to get to produce decent sized heads. 
   Everything is slowing down and leaves are falling more frequently. In the outside garden the over winter bought cabbage plants continue to do well as do the Brussels sprouts. I do not believe that the Brussels sprouts will be ready for Christmas though. Some others that I grew from seed look like they may produce a few helpings. Overall though growing plants from seeds particularly brassica's has not bee the most successful. The broad beans and peas survived the frosty mornings without any sign of damage. The garlic has put on a good growth already. Much to my surprise the celery also stood up well. I think it will take more than -3C to damage it.
The celeriac looks good and I should get some decent sized ones.

SPRING ONIONS

   I have decided this season to try to grow only "real" seeds. These are seeds that are not F1 or other hybrids. Some are heritage types and I am going to have go at saving my own seed. So as I have invested a reasonable sum of money in buying these seeds so I looking forward to planting and eating the results and see what difference there might be. It is interesting to see that a number of the seeds are French varieties.

2013 Season underway!

   I have closed the book on the 2012 season and have started a new one for 2013. We continue to have meals of  everything on the plate "produced and raised at Watermeadows".  Latest has been a turkey casserole. For the 2013 season I trying out seeds from the Real Seed Company. They sell rare and unusual varieties but the main thing is they are not F1's. This means I can save seed from them for the next year and also bred my own if I want to. It will be interesting to see how the seed fair. I noticed that a good number of the seeds originated in France!
   In the outside garden the garlic are now showing and the De Milan rouge turnips have germinated. Peas and broad beans are doing well. Chou Milan looks just fantastic and the late transplanted Brussels sprouts are also putting on growth.  I fear my packet of Limousin turnip seed has past its best as the row of Limousin turnips sown at the same time as the Milan rouge ones is showing no signs of germinating. I am pulling lovely carrots that number three grandson Toby is starting to enjoy. The game with the nettles around the reed bed continues and slowly but surely it is looking better. Lots of nettle roots to dig up and fortunately they are not too hard to get up as nettles tend to have roots that do not go too far down. Trouble is there is lot of them.  I am going to have to prune my black currant bushes and as a matter of urgency there is one that is crying out to be pruned! Having returned to this posting the one black currant has now been pruned. A new battle has been engaged with the fight for who gets the strawberries under way! Two rows have been protected with netting, so chickens go hang!                       

Two strawberry beds protected by netting

This autumn/winter I am trying out a green
manure called Luzerne (or Lucerne). I have wondered about green manures over the years and have never had the opportunity or space to try it out and it so happens that I have managed to work a couple of beds so that I could try out planting a green manure. It is already germinating and I have read that chickens like it! Darn! They would, wouldn't they! 
  The grass has now grown to a point where it once more needs to be mown, however, it is too wet! Fingers crossed for a few days of warm dry weather! The grues (cranes) have been gathering overhead and that is a sure sign winter is not far away.
  In the poly tunnel I have harvested another 2.5kgs of ripe tomatoes and there are a few more that have a chance to ripen before it is too cold. All in all I have been pleased with my poly tunnel tomato crop. There are also two cauliflowers which look like they will turn into something decent.  I have managed to clean the outside of the p/t and some of the inside. What a difference! It is amazing how much dirt (soil mainly) accumulates on the roof and sides. Rain is dirty! 
 Outside work has slowed up due to the weather but the forecast is for cloud/sunshine so I am hopeful to get moving again. In the poly tunnel I am making internal draft/frost doors and not being the most handy of handy man it is so far not looking too bad!

Autumn? Winter? False spring?

   What can I say? In the last couple of weeks the weather has swung from very warm and dry to freezing cold to warm to damp to flipping soaking wet! Of course, the grass which has lain dormant for at least two months sprang into life and I had to mow it (13/10/12). Hopefully that is the last time this year but I fear if it stays mild it will not be!
   Two nights of mild frost killed off my haricot vert /buerre and my runner beans which had just started to set beans again. So they have been cleared away! I have sown outside over winter peas (which have now germinated) and White Lisbon spring onions (which have now germinated). Chou Milan and Brussels sprouts planted out a few weeks ago are thriving. The Chou Milan are going to be big cabbages! I think I have lost the potatoes that I was trying to grow for Christmas dinner. It was a chicken strike! I have several rows of carrots ranging from fully grown to just germinated. The just germinated carrots are a hardy variety that I have grown under a fleece cloche which in theory should stand over the winter! Celeriac and the remaining stands of celery are still looking ok. I have had to resow the Limousin turnips (only two germinated!) and I have added a row of Milan rouge turnips just because I can. Final harvest made of the sweet peppers (over 2 kg) and they have been cleared also. They were disappointing, a bad year for sweet peppers. I have managed to clear the nettles from the reed bed and I am now starting to dig up their roots. That is going to be a long job. 

Clearing nettles from the reed bed 

   I have dug up one bed of strawberries (virtually non existent due mainly to the dry summer) and replaced them with Mara Bois strawberry plants. I took out a big pile of stones from this bed!

Rocks removed from strawberry bed number 2

   In the poly tunnel tidying up is the main preoccupation There are more tomato's to pick. I picked 500grams of yellow toms today (14/10/12) and I reckon there is at least two or three kilos of reds to come  yet. They are defying the cool nights (down to zero degrees at times). With the mild weather and the damp fungus has been an issue as it was last year. It has attacked my flat leaf and curly parsley. Nothing I can do about that except clean up the mess! Transplanted some Kohl Rabi and All the Year Round cauliflower. Lettuce, beetroot, coriander are growing nicely. Winter leaf lettuce and Red Salad bowl are doing fine. The basil has been removed and there are spaces in the borders!
  It is only a matter of time before the cold snaps in and everything slows really down but meanwhile plans for next year are hatching! The garden is still producing leeks, carrots, beetroot, potatoes and celery. We had eaten our first "all grown and raised" meal of chicken, potatoes, peas and carrots! RESULT! 

Normal?

   Rain! It has rained here in Champeau de Bas and a reasonable amount too. That is going to help the winter cabbage, carrots, turnips and swede. It also means the grass will grow!. So, not a lot done in the garden due to the rain. Continue to tidy up between showers and take a look at other clearing jobs that have been ignored over the summer. I have a large area of nettles that need to be tackled and really should be done before the end of October. We shall see. I am waiting to sow broad beans and peas until October but the temptation is great! Some of the potatoes I planted for Christmas are showing so with a bit of luck and plenty of fleece we may have new potatoes for Christmas. Chickens willing! Spring onions sown. More weeding and forking done. The outside garden is starting to look a little bare. 
   In the poly tunnel all the plants continue to grow but I am very concerned about the cleanliness of the plastic. I had bought a cheap "squeezy" mop but that was a mistake and it was broke before it got used! Serves me right. Generally, you get what you pay for! I threw some coriander seed saved from last year in part of a small poly tunnel bed just for a lark really and it is doing well! Best sowing of coriander this season so far. I have sown some winter leaves. Mixed result last year so I am not too hopeful. Latest batch of salad bowl is taking off. 
   I have discovered that the aubergine variety that I planted in the poly tunnel is a french variety that was developed to grow outside! Pooh!
  The weather has turn fair but the days are short. Sun rise is around 0750hrs and sunset at 1930hrs. Makes for a shorter working day!

Cleared and dug courgette plot