Time for something different.

Sprouting shallot

Propagating sweet potato

  I spoke to soon! No sooner had I written that the onions and shallots were not showing any signs of sprouting up they pop!
  My early crop of Little Gem lettuce that I am growing in the poly tunnel  under a cloche is having varied success. One or two have not taken and one or two have been munched! I have replace them.
  Just to amuse myself I am trying to grow sweet potato this year. The photo is on one tuber cut in half and suspended by cocktail sticks in a jam jar of water. I have placed the jars above my wood stove where it is warm so fingers crossed! It should be possible to grow them although they may only produce small tubers. Time will tell.
  This spring I have decided to create a new rhubarb bed. I will move a root from the old bed in the hope that it will transplant. I have some rhubarb seed to sow. It will be amusing to see if they grow. I have also decided to move the asparagus from the poly tunnel to the outside bed. This will fill in some gaps in the outside bed and give me back space in the poly tunnel. While moving them I found that one had started to sprout!
    On the animal front my brother in laws' Indian runner ducks have produced an egg. First one. It is also that time of year to 

Indian Runner duck egg

 start off the meat chickens. Five white meat chickens bought along with two cuckoo moran birds, hopefully both hens to add to the egg laying flock. 
  More seed sowing done. Beetroot, lettuce and a several varieties of cabbage. 
  I demolished the bonfire pile only to find a mouse in the middle of it. It must have thought is nice and warm when the fire was going!
  As I come to the end of this blog the weather has changed from sunny to drizzle. I need more dry days!

Early spuds in!

Bonnette Noirmoutier, Belle de Fontenay

   19th March and the first early potatoes are in the ground with a one third row of second earlies. Varieties: Earlies - Bonnette Noirmoutier, Second earlies - Belle de Fontenay. I have grown both of these before the Bonnette variety two years ago. The bed looked quite nice until the chickens decided that my earthed up rows were too good to not scratch flat! Chickens!
Following on from the previous I have now planted Corolle potatoes,  had a bonfire and started to mow the grass for the second time.
   In the poly tunnel I have had a couple of volunteer tomato plants which I have now put into pots. First sowing of 18 Jour radish is starting to fatten up. I have transplanted Little Gem lettuce into a poly tunnel bed and covered them with a cloche. They are small but hopefully they will pick up. Tomato seeds are starting to germinate particularly Ethel Watkins Best.
   There is still turnip-swede, cabbage and early purple sprouting in the garden. No sign of the onions or shallots sending up leaves but they are putting down roots!
    There is much to do!

Spoke too soon

  Would you believe it! The border fork that I bought for my grandson turned up. When we unwrapped it the fork was a spade! Good grief! The firm I bought it from were very good and have promised to send me a fork but it will be up to two weeks before it arrives.
   On the weather front I guess I spoke too soon. The rain has returned and the ground once more became too wet to work. Despite that I have managed to weed one bed in readiness for planting Bonnette Nouirmoutier early potatoes. These potatoes are sown in February where they originate from and are one of the earliest varieties to be harvested. I grew them a couple of years ago and their foliage is quite attractive and the potatoes are really nice.
  Once more I look back over the last week and see far too many empty days in my garden log. The major items done were to clean out the duck and chicken coops! Picked some purple sprouting which is doing rather well and cursed the chickens who have taken a fancy to scratching up my onions and shallots which I notice are putting roots down.
  As always there are lots of jobs waiting to be done and the more March marches on the longer the list gets! The grass is looking like it could do with another cut. It will need to be a drier before I can attempt that. The narcissus are a picture.

  Nothing much going on on the animal front. Chickens are being chickens although I am hopeful that egg production may be picking up (famous last words). 
   It is interesting to see how the grass has grown and how much the sheep have kept it down. In the photo the dark green is grass that has not been munched by the sheep.
   As I conclude this blog there has been a frost this morning, -2C, (Tuesday 8th March 2016) but now the sun is shinning and I must get on!

Time to get cracking!

   Taking a look at my gardening log I see that over the last week there is only one day without an entry and that was the day I decided to watch the six nations!
   What have I been up to? Mostly catching up with jobs that should have been done in the autumn. Jobs like clearing the herbaceous borders, clipping the lavender, pruning the vine. My bonfire pile has doubled in size! First 2016 cutting of the grass done. Mostly with the setting on the mower up high but still, mowing in February! Off course there is the  never ending chore of weeding.
   My eldest grandson is taking a bit more interest in gardening this year. I rough dug a patch for him and he has been forking and weeding it. He has now planted onion sets and shallots which are already showing signs of growing. I have a present coming for him. A border fork which he should be able to handle far better than my garden fork.

Onion and shallot bed

  On the planting front some 132 onion sets and 44 shallots have been planted. I have also sown parsnip seed which I have covered up with cloches in an effort to keep the rain off and the chickens away! This parsnip seed is seed that I gathered last season and is a variety call Jersey Royal. Fingers crossed!

Poly tunnel chives

   I have taken common thyme and white sage cuttings and stuck them into a pot of potting compost. They may take they may not. With the last lot of thyme cuttings I got one plant. Curly moss parsley has been sown in a pot, again my own seed. The pot of Little Gem lettuce has been thinned and I noticed that the pot of Red Salad bowl has some seeds germinated. In the poly tunnel the next sowing of 18 Jour radish has germinated but other seed I sowed, peas, leeks and lettuce have not and I will now resow. Too cold I guess but it is always worth a try.
   Leeks, turnip-swede and cabbage have been harvested this week. My youngest granddaughter, Evie, is a great fan of turnip-swede!
   Another sign spring is coming. Lots of common crane/Grue have been flying over the house heading for their summer breeding grounds.

Grue/common crane

On the animal front the chickens are having an egg strike. Compared to last year they are 50% down this February. Not really sure why other than many of the flock are now over two years old and it has been a wet and miserable February and chickens do not like the wet! Here is hoping for a pick up in March. The sheep are being sheep and the ducks are being ducks.

A gale!

   We have had a gale and there have been casualties! The main force of the wind blew right at the end of the main buildings and took out the guttering on either side of barn. Fortunately this guttering is a clip together type and I have been able to put it back together without too much trouble. Fingers crossed and the rain and wind has stopped for a couple of days. The amount of rain that has fallen has been incredible and has made the ground soggy and impossible to work, however, it will only take a day or two and conditions will change! It looks like that opportunity has come. The forecast is good.
   I continue to pull turnip-swedes and more I eat them the more I like them. Still a few leeks left and even some carrots! There is cabbage a plenty but no one wants to eat them but me. Cabbage soup anyone?
   In the poly tunnel the first sowing of radish has now germinated and the second lot sown. These 18 Jour (18 day) radish are really good for succession sowing. I have one volunteer 

18 Jour radish

lettuce! I guess some seed was dropped or brushed off the table. Still if it matures and it is looking good a lettuce is a lettuce! There is also a salad bowl lettuce. It is the one survivor of a fungal attack that killed off the rest. Still it is all but ready so I will have a few home grown lettuce leaves very shortly! I have sown some summer leeks and salad bowl lettuce in pots and brought them up to the house where hopefully with the warm room they will germinate and I can then return them to the poly tunnel. I already have some Little Gem lettuce sown the same way that have germinated and I have hopeful to get a few lettuce plants from this sowing.
   I noticed that the peach blossom buds are starting to break. This year they are earlier than the cherries. Not a good sign and I suspect it will be a poor year for peaches.
   On the animal front the sheep are being sheep but most of the rams will now come and feed from my hand. Hopefully that will continue and it will make catching them for shearing a little easier for sure. The new chickens are settling in and one is exploring the garden quite happily. The other is still sticking to the coop and we suspect she has become the chicken at the bottom of the pecking order. Hopefully she will start to explore at some point. Egg production has been down and I suspect that has been due to the weather. If they do not buck up soon there will be consequences!
   As for the weather not only did my guttering suffer but loo what happened to the swing!

Rain drops keep falling on your head...

   I am sure I have used that post title before. The rain has just kept falling. Lots of it. There must have been five or six inches of rain over the last seven days and there is more forecast. The ground is more than saturated. There are puddles in the veggie beds that are not draining.

Early Purple Sprouting broccoli

  My eldest daughter has taken a fancy to the early purple sprouting. I have too many childhood memories of purple sprouting and they were not good! So not for me.  I have turned one of the strawberry beds into a tree onion bed. The strawberry plants in that bed had given up and died unfortunately whether due to drought or flood I am not sure. In this bed were also garlic that was probably two years old and was growing rather well and a lot of it. I transplanted the best of the shooting garlic into two rows in my garlic bed. It will be interesting to see how they do. I have hand forked and weeded the asparagus bed and I plan to move crowns from the poly 

Rhode Island chickens

tunnel to the outside asparagus bed.
  Once more I have taken rosemary and sage cuttings in the attempt to propagate them. I have put the cuttings in a pot and I have brought the pot into the main house. It is warmer than the poly tunnel so hopefully I may get some success. We have been eating leeks and carrots from the  garden. Yes, carrots in February. You would not believe it would you? But that is how mild it has been this winter so far.
   On the animal front the three rams moved to next doors back garden have been moved back in with the other three rams in the paddock fields. They have already "hit" it off. Head butting recommences. New arrivals at Watermeadows. I have bought a couple of Rhode Island hens, six months old. Some of our flock is ageing and I believe that some are not laying as well as I would like them to. Once these two have settled in it will be time to figure out who is to be culled!
  I am hoping for drier days to enable me to plant out the shallots and onion sets. It does not look like I am going to get my wish for a week or so!

Old friend is on its last forks....

Damaged fork

New and old forks

         When I moved to France over five years ago I had to buy a new garden fork. The one I found had flattened blades unlike my original fork which had pointed blades. The new fork was a hit and became a favourite garden tool. Well this tool is now at the end of its life. The metal work holding the wooden handle has split and the wooden handle itself has cracked. It is only a matter of time before it fails completely. So I bought a new one. I had to go to three shops to find one similar to my old one but I did manage to get a garden fork with flat blades. I think the true use of this type of fork is to dig up potatoes. Now I do not have to worry that my old fork will give out at a vital moment!

Chitting potatoes

Crocus patch

 Out and about the garden the first signs of spring are to be seen. Daffodils in a sheltered spot are now flowering and my main bed of daffs will soon be in flower. 

Daffodil patch

Another sign that spring is going to be early this year is the rosemary. I have a rosemary plant in full bloom. Apparently it is not supposed to flower until spring or through summer. This plant is well and truly confused.
  The potatoes in the picture are already showing signs of sprouting. Guess my dinning room must be warm!
With this generally mild weather I have taken a chance and sown my tomato seeds along and some Sturon onions seed. I was not going to sow onions seeds this year but hey ho there they were in the seed box. All have been placed in the poly tunnel fleece cloche.
   In preparation for the septic tank work in the house garden I have moved an old pear tree which a few years ago looked like it was on its last legs, however, the tree has shown signs of making a recovery and it even produced a couple of edible pears last autumn so I thought I would make the effort to try to save it.
  There is still produce in the garden. Turnip-swede (had one mashed with carrot, very nice!), cabbage (big as footballs!), leeks and purple sprouting.
   I need the ground to dry out a little so that I can prepare the ground for the tree onions. It is still a little early for onion sets and shallots but the tree onions over winter well and it pays to get them separated and planted as soon as I can. The old rhubarb plant is showing signs of growth and that reminds me that I need to prepare the bed for the new rhubarb that I am going to try to grow from seed. 
  Plenty of tidying up jobs to do and I need to get on with it! LOL!

Sheltered daffs in flower