Zooooooooooooooom!

   It has been a week of drama! One of our ewes lost her lamb through spontaneous abortion. She is well though. Our matriarch ewe, Mrs. Sheep, has finally had her now confirmed ewe lamb and both are doing well. Of course she had to wait until the weather turned wet and cold didn't she! 

   Today, Sunday, 23rd March, a pair of pet dogs got into the grounds and attacked the chickens. We lost five, one being Little Chick who had been raised from an egg. A call to the gendarmes and eventually the owners called to collect them. Compensation pending. 

   In the garden lots of transplanting going on including Little Gem and salad bowl lettuce, more Aubergines and Ethel Watkins best tomatoes (both own seed and bought). At last the field beans have flowers on them! There are now more pea pods in the poly tunnel and the Louvier cabbage in there is growing as you watch it!

Bay Tree flowers

 The Bay tree, currently living in the poly tunnel, has loads of flowers on it. Also in the poly tunnel fleece cloche seeds are stirring. I will soon been having to transplant more tomato varieties.

  In an effort to try to get at least some sweet peppers I have sown more seed of one I grew last year, California Wonder, in to modules, however, I suspect it is too late! I have also sown in modules a first sowing of Sanguire beetroot. An experiment this year is to try to grown asparagus from gathered seed. If it works any return from them will be at least three to four years away!

  In the outside garden the rhubarb is all but ready to pick. I have been preparing beds for the peas being grown in seed trays in the poly tunnel. They germinated within three days of sowing and are supposed to be transplanted outside when they are about two inches high. I reckon they are about a quarter of the way there.

Louvier cabbage in the poly tunnel, Little Gem to the right!

   More tidying up done. Edges straightened and the drive cleared of some overgrown grass and now it has rained again which can only mean the grass growing faster and me having to get the mower out! Hey ho! 

Sun! Wonderful SUN...

   Finally a good number of days without rain. The ground is drying out slowly. Downside of having clear sunny days is early morning ground frost. So far not severe. The other down side is the grass! Its growing as you look at it. I have started mowing. Seems like only yesterday that I was mowing grass. My red onion sets and shallots have leaves and my narcissi bank is looking a picture of bright yellow. A real delight. 

Narcissi bank bed

No flowers yet on the field beans! In the poly tunnel my peas have flowers and pea pods forming! Shame that there are not that many. 

Garden view from the Narcissi bed

   I have finally got round to sorting out the grape vine growing up the back of the barn reattaching vine and pruning the dead wood. The two peach trees that are there now have open blossom. 
   In the poly tunnel I have sowed a small row of radish and in modules some Brussels sprouts. Here we go again! Once more I am trying to grow sprouts. I have sowed Latvian pea soup peas in modules and a dwarf variety called Oskar in a full size seed tray. This is to try to beat the mice and birds by germinating the peas in the relative safety of the poly tunnel! This worked quite well last year for the early peas.  I have made the first sowing of carrots outside putting them under a cloche to try to aid germination as really the soil is still a little cold for seed. I have started to tidy up the perennial beds at least by re-establishing the edges. These plants are amazing at how much they grow every year.
   I am continuing to split wood down by the river but there is not a lot left to do. There are a few piles of split logs to bring up to the wood hanger usually one barrow full a day. It is a fair ole haul from the river bank to the wood hanger.

Darn grass!

   It is only a matter of days now and I will start mowing the grass once more. It is looking very green and it is most definitely growing. Pooh!
   I have spent a lot of time over the last week down at the river bank splitting  logs. Our wood pile is all but depleted and we have at least six to eight weeks before once can stop lighting the wood burners. As it is I am  going to have to buy another three chords. Whatever is left will be a start for this autumn.

Growing split wood pile

   In the poly tunnel I have transplanted 100 Roma tomato seedlings to pots and placed them in a fleece cloche. Other germinated seedlings in the poly tunnel are Moss Curled parsley, early Louvier and Golden Primo cabbage. I have transplanted some Little Gem lettuce and there a few peas in flower! The coriander is still looking good as are the winter leaves. The Kohl Rabi is now past its best. My early potatoes are hanging in there!
   Up at the  house I have Ethel Watkins Best tomato's up, both my own gathered seed which is very pleasing and bought seed. I also have cauliflowers, aubergines, tree onions, a few Spanish onions and  celeriac all growing away.
   In the vegetable plots I have just planted Jerusalem artichokes. I have once again started to fork the beds but in all honesty in parts the soil is just too wet. I have spring onions germinated under a cloche and every day you can see the rhubarb increasing in size.
  Here in la Creuse we have hit a sunny period and it looks good for a few days. Hopefully that will be enough time to dry out and warm up the soil. I now need to look to see what to sow next in modules, seed trays or pots. 

Time flies!

  Well, I do not know where the time has gone. I just noticed today that I had not updated my blog for over two weeks. Shame on me. 
  The weather has not been particularly kind. There has been more rain but there have been one or two really nice days and I have managed to get on.

Violet Garlic

 The field beans and garlic are looking good. I am really pleased with the garlic.
Winter leeks are standing well but the parsnips and swede are now done. I have left a couple of parsnips to hopefully go to seed.
   The narcissus are growing well and the crocus are a nice splash of colour. On the warmer days the bees have be active.

Crocus pot

    Since the beginning of February seeds have germinated and grown. I have just transplanted fifty Roma tomato plants into pots and placed them in the poly tunnel fleece cloche. More tomato seed has been sown, Latah, Ethel Watkins Best, Millefluer (home produced!) Irish Gardeners delight, Stupice, Galina and Champeau Yellow Giant to name some. This year I will plant grape tomato's in the poly tunnel and all else outside. I continue to try to find a cabbage that will grow reasonably well. So far little success, however, I have sown early Louvier cabbage sown which have now germinated. This variety looks promising so maybe I will have cabbage! It looks a bit like a primo.  I have some I over wintered in the poly tunnel and they look good. Some spring cabbage in the outside garden also looks good so fingers crossed there maybe some cabbage from the garden this spring!  Cauliflower, aubergine and celeriac are growing and the cauliflower will soon need to transplanted to pots. Spring onions have been a hit and miss crop with last year the only success was with ones sown in the autumn. It was too wet to do that last autumn and so this year I sowed them outside under a cloche. Yes! Success! They have germinated under the cloche. I have dared to sow parsnips. Two varieties. Tender and True and de Guernesey (french seed). I have put some fleece over these to keep the chickens off and I am sure the fleece will also help warm up the soil a little.
   I dug up my Jerusalem artichokes and got a large amount of tubers. Not so sure as to whether or not we like these. 
   I have also been splitting up the felled oak tree and moving the wood to the wood hanger. One barrow full a day is as much as I want to shift from the river to the house! What I need now is more dry days to enable me to get on with preparing the vegetable beds.

Warmth!

   There is warmth behind the sun! As has been the case in previous years once February turns up one can really feed the warmth in the sun when one gets it! Seed potatoes are bought and are set out in seed trays to chit. Rosebelle (red), Desiree (red), Belle de Fontenay and Franceline. Franceline (french for Frances) would seem to be a newish variety. More seeds have germinated - Little Gem lettuce, Roma tomatoes, Ambition shallots, cauliflower and celeriac. In the "bulb bank" a lot more crocus's have flowered. Fruit buds are showing the early signs of swelling.

Seed potatoes chitting

 Maybe I should eat my words? The weather has turned wet and windy although it is still mild. Long may the mild weather continue.  The ground being very wet I have not been able to do much on the veggie plots. I have managed to turn over an area in which I will be sowing parsnips. The soil is saturated. There have been a couple of days where I have managed to get out and do some winter clearing up. The house garden now looks a little tidier but still more to do. I have been climbing up the plum and apple trees pruning away and allowing light to get to the centre of the trees. I do not think anything has been done to these trees for a good number of years. I am happy with what I have done this year but more needs to be done with them and will now have to wait until this autumn. I now have another pile of wood to burn! A quiet week really. The vegetables that are still left in the garden are now really coming to an end. Turnips, a swede or two, spinach and a few carrots. My late sowing celeriac look like they will give us something, better than nothing I guess. Still to dig up Jerusalem artichokes and oca.
   In the poly tunnel the potato's continue to survive and the French shallots look good. I have peas growing and they are going to need to be supported despite the fact they are dwarf ones! No sign of the spring onions yet. Winter leaves are hanging in there as are the few salad bowl lettuce plants. Time to tell the rain Gods to switch off!

Wet, wet, wet

   Nothing like a winter bonfire. I have now managed to burn all the wood pruned from the apple tree and some. I have started to clear the house garden and I am building up yet another bonfire! Man! In my bank border, if one can call it a border, one crocus has managed to flower and more and more narcissus are showing. I went looking for snow drops on the road ditch bank and they are about half an inch high. 

Bonfire

The last couple of weeks have been very quiet on the gardening front. More often than not too wet to do anything meaningful outside. In the poly tunnel my "Christmas" potatoes are  growing well and I am still just about able to cover them up with soil. They are also protected by fleece. Hopefully that will be enough as long as there is not a sequence of severe frosts. The pace will quicken now that January is coming to end. Onion, tomato, lettuce, sweet pepper and aubergine seed have been sown and are sat on my dinning room floor, keeping warm. The onions sown at the start of January are now well on their way. I need to go and get my seed potatoes. I like to plant a small crop of an unusual potato so I will be on the lookout for a heritage variety.
   The last of the oak leaves are now safely packed away under a tarpaulin. For once I beat the chickens!

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Whoa not so fast!

   As long as the weather holds there is plenty to do outside. Christmas and New Year is now behind me and the excess of food and drink almost forgotten. 

Plot in process of being expanded

Two plots forked, weeded and expanded

 The weather has cooperated for a change and there have been several days of no rain but sunshine and warmth. This has allowed me to get on with forking and weeding a couple of plots that had tomatoes planted in them but have not been touched since clearing the plants back in September. I took the opportunity to expand these plots by a foot or so on the length to enable me to plant another row of whatever!  The year has begun with the sowing of Sturon and Yellow Rynsburger onions in seed trays and modules. Much to my surprise after four days up popped onion seedlings! They are now growing away quite happily. My tree onion sets have also sprouted. I am holding off sowing tomato seeds but they will need to go in soon.

Sturon and Yellow Rynsburger onions

   In the poly tunnel the promising cauliflowers were badly affected by the damp and resulting mould and have been removed. Mould has been a real problem in the poly tunnel this last season a result of the very wet weather.
   In the store room I have sorted the apples and there are still plenty there. Butternut and blue banana squash are surviving well. The yellow Rynsburger onions are keeping well and living up to what it said on the seed packet that they are good store onions. I still have plenty of home grown garlic left.
  With the few days (really a few hours per day!) of relative sun I have also been able to finally prune my red apple tree. A  lot of wood came out of the tree and at last light, air and sunshine will be able to get to the centre. Knowing my luck I will have killed it off! The chickens have been their usual annoying selves and have enjoyed scratching in the forked earth.