FROST!

   Well there has been a couple of days of frost this week. I am not surprised it is about the right time of November for frosts to start in my neck of the woods. These two days have been proper frosts, icy and wide spread. Broad beans hit but they will survive. Very tough plants broad beans.

Serious frost

   My bushwhacker has been fixed! New belt put on and off I went and cut the grass. Not before time! Nothing done on the actual veggie beds, too wet and the days too short to be honest!
   On the chicken front the new chick flock has started to lay. Found four eggs but unfortunately  no idea how old. I will now be keeping a daily eye open. Of course whichever hen it was and I have a good idea which one it is, did not lay where she should have! 
   It is about time to start planning next years seed sowing and I think I will be looking to get fresh tomato seed for starters.

More rain and its turning nippy!

   Well it is the middle of November after all. Below zero temperatures forecast for the week end which if I am honest with myself is pretty normal for la Creuse at this time of year. There is a hint of snow and ice in the forecast but if it does then I do not think it will last.
   I have actually had a productive week in the garden. A couple of outside beds forked and weeded. The soil is a little on the heavy side but still workable but I am getting on with it.  I have cut another "summer" cabbage. It was a useful size for one person and will do me a couple of meals and that will actually mean a half plateful of cabbage for each meal. There has been a little wind and my early purple sprouting having managed to survive the heat of the summer and growing a little tall were blown over. I have had to tie each plant to a tomato stake. They should straighten themselves up.

Tied up early purple sprouting

   On the chicken front the "chick" flock have now moved into a new phase. Well one or two have. The coq is now showing more than an interest in them so maybe some eggs soon? He is also crowing. All the chickens are enjoying being in the garden and there are happy hens bobbing up and down finding bugs and worms.

Got what I asked for

      The rain continues. I must not complain but the grass is now getting so long! Hey ho!  The weather continues to be mild and wet but the forecast is for the temperature to drop below double figures over the next few days. Pretty much the norm for this time of year. A  new arrival at Watermeadows. A Brahma hen. She is a nice bird and is settling in well.
    In the outside garden the winter vegetables have really welcomed the rain. My first sowing of broad beans have taken off well and I now fear they will be too advanced to over winter well. Time will tell. The second sowing has just put there heads up. The garlic and over winter onions have put down roots and are sprouting. Good sign. In the brassica bed the winter savoy cabbage is playing catch up and the early purple sprouting is reaching for the sky! The summer cabbage (that's a laugh!) is also playing catch up and I am about to cut the first head. Winter leeks and parsnips have recovered well from the drought and I am expecting a good crop assuming that critters do not eat them first!

Latest addition Brahma hen

First sowing of broad beans

Garlic and onions

Savoy winter cabbage and early purple sprouting

Cabbage

Winter leek bed

Parsnips

Its dark and quiet...BOO!

   What can I say? The days are short and there are lots of jobs to do and they are not  getting done. Pooh. No paparticular reason. The weather remains mild with a little dampness so I cannot even use that as an excuse. Have one for not cutting the grass though. The drive belt on my mower snapped and I am having to get a new one online. That is going to take a few days to arrive not helped by the fact that the first site I choose is closed for a vacation!! Its OCTOBER!
    In the garden the brassicas continue to recover well from the drought. Excellent early purple sprouting and winter cabbage. The summer cabbage, of course, now late, are doing their best to produce a head and a good number of them are going to succeed. Beetroot is still growing and I guess will continue until it gets really cold so there is a chance of a few more yet. No sign of the winter onions sprouting yet or the garlic. 
    Chickens continue to be chickens and are one is escaping the coup just about every day. I found her old laying spot but she is wise bird this one and I am guessing she is now laying somewhere else yet to be discovered. In the chick coop the little blighters continue to escape and I just hope they grow a bit and put on some weight so that they will be discouraged from trying to fly out of the coop. No eggs from that bunch yet!
     Happy Halloween.

Singing that song once more...I am singing in the rain....

   What can one say? It has been raining, a lot! Very welcome although a little heavy at times. Thunder, lightening, the lot! My neighbour's trench he had dug from the drainage ditch to his pond (bit larger than a pond but not big enough to call a lake I guess) has taken the worst of the deluge away from coming down my way. So that is a benefit.
   I have sown more broad beans and planted out garlic and Stuttgart over winter onion sets. Mind you the rain has all but buried them! I have also put a few onion sets in the poly tunnel. It will be interesting to see how they do.
   My youngest daughter and her children have been with me this last few days. Nice to see them and the eldest, Evie, was keen to pull carrots, beetroot and a leek!
   I need the rain to ease up as the grass needs cutting (again!!).

Stuttgart onion bed in the poly tunnel

All quiet

Oct 2019 wood delivery

Squash harvest various varieties this year

   Oh dear what can I say? The week has flown by and when I look back at my garden log what do I see? Nothing. Squat. White space. So what did I do this last week? Well I guess two days were taken up with moving and stacking the winter supply of wood for the wood burner. One day taken up grass cutting. Yes you read it right, grass cutting. After the rain the grass has gone from crispy brown to bright green and needing to be cut. Oh my poor hand! I have a blister in the middle of my left hand from cutting the grass. Usually by now my hand would have hardened up but of course the grass has not been cut for probably three months. Oh well. The other picture here is of my squash harvest and this is despite the drought. I did not water them at all. So there is Crown Prince, Kuri, Butternut, Long Island cheese. Do not ask me which is which because the weather destroyed the labels! Note to self get a better means on writing on labels next year. My pumpkins for halloween were a waste of space again because I did not water. In the poly tunnel everything is now done for bar some parsley and thyme. It has been a poor year. Outside the brassicas (summer cabbage, winter cabbage and early purple sprouting are all doing well! Looks like I will get some summer (laughable is it not?) cabbage after all. That will make up for the loss of my cauliflowers.
 Chickens are being chickens and are still laying two to three a day. Suits me. I am going to be inundated with eggs when the chicks come in to lay which should not be long now. Still have one hen escaping. She does like to get at the green grass! The chicks are still managing to fly out of there coop, well three or four of them on pretty much a daily basis.  I need to trim their flight feathers but that is a two person job. 

Close down time...

Last of the tomatoes

   Well I cannot say it has been a busy week in the garden. I seem to have spent most of my time zooming up and down the motorway to visit the hostpital in Limoges! Nothing serious, checkups.
   I have now picked the last of the tomatoes. A unexpected reasonable crop despite the hot weather. These as shown in the picture are the most unusual ones. Blue/black in colour and goodness knows what the variety is. I thought they were all Noire Crimee where I planted these and maybe they are but just small round ones rather than pointy ones! Oh well such is the joys of gardening. I sorted out my late sown Sanquine beetroot and transplanted some seedlings to another bed. Never know they might do something early next spring. Always worth a try. Over winter broad beans sown and my early purple sprouting has flourished with the recent rain and I am hopeful of a decent crop come next spring. Other cabbage is showing signs of recovery and with a bit of luck and mild weather I may  get something off them! 
   Nothing much going on on the chicken front other than a number of them have taken it upon themselves to get out the coop and go wander the garden!! One from the main coop has also decided that outside is better than inside. I guess it is possible that the cockeral is bothering her and she is just trying to get away from him.
   So I head into autumn and as always at this time of year plenty of tidying up to do. How much will  get down will depend on the weather. It is damp at the moment and the grass has turned from crispy brown to bright green and is growing fast. I may even have to mow!