The SUN is shinnnng...

   The sun is shinning. At last a prolonged spell of sunny weather is forecast. Well that is this week. Last week? No heavy rain, some sun, not bad. 
   On the animal front it has been a sad week. Our Buff Orphington cockerel was killed by our Ixworth coq. I am not really surprised,  however, our Buff Orphington hen has gone broody and is sitting on a clutch of seven eggs. Hopefully we will get some chicks. Our Ixworth chicks are growing and the first two are becoming more aware of their world and are now outside in an enclosed space. We continued to shear sheep, only one left to do. Usual maintenance, that is, cleaning out, of the coops done.

RIKEA potatoes and peas

First round courgettes

   In the garden early potatoes in abundance and the first courgette has been picked. A very good crop of peas so new potatoes and peas dominate the dinner plate! Some mange tout but it is a poor crop which given the good pea crop  is a surprise. Lots of lettuce and it looks like I am going to have a gap in my lettuce production! Darn it.  In an effort to mitigate this gap I have transplanted some lettuce to pots. The idea being that they can grow to a decent size to then be planted outside. Time will tell if my idea is worth anything! Ha! I have found Great Lakes lettuce seed in the local agricultural shop. I love Great Lakes lettuce. It is an iceberg type. Tomatoes are mostly doing ok but blight is setting in. Hopefully my diversification plan will at least allow some to produce tomatoes. Colorado beetle have and are being a pain but at least the potatoes are at a stage where they can be harvested. A sign of the year zooming buy...first sowing of swede in modules done. More Touchon carrots sown and it will soon be time to start to pull the first round. More still need to be sown though. More beetroot transplanted. Growing in modules is definitely the way to grow beetroot. I have been surprised by by haricot vert in that they are climbers!! The cucumbers in the poly tunnel are picking up which has come as a surprise as I thought they had been attacked by aphids. Hopefully I may get some cucumbers as the outside ones are currently looking very sad as are the melons. I fear no melons this year.
  So the season moves along and thinking for more winter crops is kicking in. 

The rain continues

Chickens clearing the gone to seed lettuce

    Sometimes they are a help, other times a menace! I allowed my chickens to clear the "gone to seed" lettuce and as usual they did a good job.
  In desperation more than anything I transplanted my water melons and five dessert melons to the melon bed. I do not  think we will be getting any melons this year. The plants do not look happy. Too wet, too cool. More lettuce picked. It is being a good year for lettuce and I am not starting to pull my own home grown lettuce
rather than plants that were bought from 

Violet garlic crop

local market. The weather is still mild and damp. I have been able to do some weeding and I have got the next patch of ground ready to sow more carrots. I noticed that the peas are ready to pick. I have three lettuce leaf basil plants that I have now transplanted out in the poly tunnel. More Jack Ice lettuce transplanted in the poly tunnel. The Colorado beetle menace is still present in the new potato crop but I am hoping to get them dug before it gets too bad. In the mean time its hunt and squash! Of course grass cutting continues and rain has interrupted the latest round.

   On the animal front we have finally managed to start to shear our eight ewes this last week with four having been done. We caught and examined the female runner duck. She has a swollen ankle and has done for a while. No infection or indication of a break so the guess is she has pulled or twisted something. Need to try to keep her in the coop for a few days. We have two more Ixworth chicks from the last batch of twelve we incubated. The two from the first batch continue to thrive and are growing quickly.

Its raining, its pouring, the old gardener is snoring....

   Well what can I write? The last week has seen thunder, lightning, heavy rain, floods and roads being destroyed or damaged in our little hamo. One side of my garden turned into a river with the flow being divided by the tomb and the garden is now saturated. To make

 matters worse our little community started to put things back together and guess what? Another storm appeared, more heavy rain but fortunately this time not so intense. Despite the bad wet weather plants in the garden continue to grow quite happily. I am very late in getting my water melons and five dessert melons in. It has just been too wet!
  Due to lack of germination I had to buy some moss curled parsley which has been planted in the poly tunnel. More haricot vert  

Water is starting to pour into the poly tunnel

sown into modules and the three peppers I had transplanted into a bed in the poly tunnel. Outside I transplanted some Wautoma cucumbers which were promptly set upon by the chickens. Two were destroyed. I have a love hate relationship with our chickens. 
  On the animal front we are now left with nine ewes. Everyone else has now gone. We were going to keep two rams but Socks, our first bottle fed ram, died and that left Boxer, our second bottle fed ram, on his own so he had to go to a new 

Water is disappearing down a mole hole!

home. The chickens are laying well and our two Ixworth chicks are currently thriving. They are developing feathers on their wings. So I have a desperate need to get on the beds to weed and to transplant some more plants. I am hoping for drier weather but the forecast is not good.

Its all looking good....

   For a plant or seed the weather has been perfect. Warm and damp with a day of sun and then a day of showers. Perfect growing conditions which, of course, includes the grass and the weeds!
    Lettuce has been pulled on a regular basis. These Batavia Blonde from the local market really do the job and provide a continuous supply of nice crunchy lettuce. I will soon be pulling Jack Ice lettuce from the poly tunnel and they next lot are growing away in a seed tray.  I have prepared the bed for and planted out pumpkins, winter and butternut squash. With the weather as it has been they have settled in beautifully. In the poly tunnel the bed was prepared for the cucumbers and Marketmore and Germana cucumbers transplanted. I have wautoma cucumbers to go outside but I need to get their bed ready and the rain is stopping me! Haricot Bolotti plants have been transplanted to an outside bed. This is the first time I have grown haricot in modules in the poly tunnel. A reasonable success but I think the seed is getting old. This has been the same for the haricot buerre too. I have bought new haricot vert seed and have planted up modules in the poly tunnel with the thought of succession sowing in mind. This week also saw the picking of the first cherries of the season. Not that the season lasts long in my garden because as soon as the birds get an eye on them....whoosh! They are gone. Off course there is that usual chore...cutting the grass! Unfortunately for me my mower and brush cutter are now both broken for one reason or another. My English neighbours were down for the bank holiday week and very kindly lent me their mower which did the job brilliantly.

Tomatoes in the foreground, potatoes as you look away

   On the animal front it is pretty quiet.The last of the sheep we wished to go have not gone and we have a core now of eight ewes and two rams. The ducks are being ducks and I suspect enjoying the rain. The chickens are laying well. Our buff Orpington hen has been moved to the main flock as she was being badly abused by the Ixworth coq.

   So on we go into the growing season. Plenty to do as always. Just need there to be a little less rain to give me the chance to get on.

Planting out continues apace!

   Here we are now into the middle of May and sowing and transplanting starts to warm up along with the weather. One hundred and three tomato plants of various sorts have been transplanted outside the poly tunnel. I am not going to grown tomatoes in the poly tunnel this year. More Provence Thyme transplanted to pots. Courgettes, round and stripy ones also planted out.  Lots of general tidying up work done in an attempt to beat the grass! Some hope! More beetroot sown in modules and more lettuce. Lettuce being pulled on a regular basis. The area designated for the pumpkins and squash is being prepared and I need to get the poly tunnel area ready for the cucumber plants!
   On the animal front the missing generic red hen reappeared, safe and sound. We now only have two Ixworth chicks left. We have little idea as to why they have died but fatality amongst chicken chicks can be quite high. The reduction in the Champeau flock continues. Only three rams left with one about to go soon. On the ewe side only ten left, two more also about to go. Once that has happened our flock will be down to a level that is more suitable for our requirements!

Time rolls by!

   Ok so where did the last week go? This week I am  going to start with the animals. We knew we had too many sheep. This week fifteen (fourteen ewes, one ram) went to a new home. Homes for four more ewes, one ram and lamb have been found. This will reduce our flock to a core of eight ewes, seven rams and one lamb. Homes for more rams are on the cards so that in the end we will only have our two bottle fed rams left and  the eight ewes and one lamb. That is a more manageable number.  On the chicken front four new generic brown hens have joined the flock. Also we managed to get hatched out using an incubator five  Ixworth chicks. Long way to go though. I would be happy to get two or three to sixteen weeks of age, that is, point of lay!

First to hatch! Ixworth chick 110518

Three out of four new arrivals

Peas and mange tout

Batavia Blonde lettuce

  In the garden it has been busy busy busy. Nothing new there then for this time of year. Pulled rhubarb, lettuce and radish and cut asparagus. There has been a handful of peas from the poly tunnel. These were an over winter experiment which has proven to be more successful than I expected. This winter I will make sure I give them something to climb up. More Batavia blonde lettuce plants purchased and transplanted in and out of the poly tunnel. More weeding and tidying of border edges completed. Always more of that to do! The last of the leeks which were going to seed have been removed and the bed prepared for tomatoes. Transplanting tomatoes is going to be the next big job. This will be undertaken after the 15th May the last frost date for this part of France. New experiment for me. I have sowed Haricot Buerre and Borlotti beans into modules, one seed per cell. When I was at the local market I saw one plant stall holder had done this and the I saw the light and am giving it a go! 
   The weather over the week has varied between hot and cool but mostly very  good for gardening. On Saturday 11th May it rained. That was welcome as it will refresh everything and away it will go again!

Onwards and upwards

    What a week for weather! 29/4 we had thunder and very heavy rain. Today, 04/05 it is clear and sunny. In between it went on the cool side but is now warming up again. Hopefully we are now out of the cold weather and can look forward to warmer days, however, last frost date is the 15th May!
   So despite the weather I have prepared a bed and transplanted Evesham Special Brussels sprouts. I was not going to grown sprouts this season but I had the seed and they were given to me by my youngest grand daughter so I could not really not. They are looking ok and have got over being transplanted. Lots of weeding done. Small bed prepared for the courgettes and the parsnips thinned out and blank spaces filled with those removed. Did some concentrated work on the herb beds and now they look a little tidier! More tomatoes transplanted to pots. There are now over one hundred plants. Not the mix I would have really liked but hey these grew! Thyme transplanted to pots and am currently pulling lettuce on a regular basis. There are still a  good number to go and hopefully the next lot with enable me to carry on pulling lettuce into the summer.
   On the animal front we have succeeded in finding homes for a good number of of Ouessant sheep. Our numbers will now drop to a sensible size for the ground we have. We still need to get rid of some more rams and hopefully not to the abattoir.

Egyptian tree onions

One herb bed