Too hot ?

   Just as one thinks that the weather is against one either too hot, too cold or too wet it changes. The last week has been warm to hot and dry. I was about to get my concerned hat on and the weather has gone cooler and it has rained. Excellent. Most things are growing well and now with the bit of rain the transplanted plants and newly sown seeds ought to get moving!
   Spotted the first colorado beetle on the 17th and have now started to patrol the potato patches to try to catch any. So far I have caught and squished a good number.  First volunteer (that is potatoes that have grown from spuds not harvested last year) potatoes dug up. These were purple ones, variety Violet. I have also dug up some Volunteer Desiree potatoes too. All in all several free kilos of spuds! The squash bed is now fully poputated with varieties American Tonda and Kuri added to the Sibley and Waltham butternut. The second sowing of broad beans has now been picked and cleared. Over two kilos of shelled beans harvested and froze!  I have created a small seed bed at the back of my poly tunnel where is it shaded most of the day. It is getting too hot in the poly tunnel for seeds. I have sown Great Lakes lettuce and some 18Jour radish in this bed. In the place of the broad beans (once forked and weeded!) I have put my first lot of cucumbers, variety Tamra. New one to me. Hopefully they will do ok outside. Last years cucumbers in the poly tunnel were a disappointment. Winter vegetables have been now been transplanted into my winter vegetable bed. This bed has been prepared with manure over winter and then lime added when planting out. Found this worked well last year with my Early purple sprouting. So, two varieties of Brussels sprouts and Early Purple Sprouting have populted this bed. One variety of Brussel Sprout is a dutch variety. My early sowing of haricot vert and buerre has been very disappointing. I have resown with a hope they do better in the warmer soil. The borlotti beans have not done much better and I will resow in the gaps.
  On the chicken front Mrs Brahma sits tight although she has been seen off the nest (quite normal). I had to put one chicken down who was suffering from some respiratory ailment and she had lost a lot of condition. We have also swapped our plastic coop and the old duck coop and moved the flock that has been using it. This is to allow us to move Mrs Brahma and her chicks (and maybe before) to a more safe environment. 
   So onwards I go! Lots to do and not enough time to do it all in. Oh well one can only do what one can do and I try hard not to over do things.

Shelled broad beans

Pumpkins on top of the Hugelkultur bed

Desiree potatoes 

First lot of Brussels sprouts planted out. That white stuff is lime.

   

Cool and damp but ....

   The weather has entered the cool and cold middle of May. In France the ice saints dates are the 11th, 12th and 13th May when there could be frost. No frost in my neck of the woods this year and local lore is do not plant anything out until the 15th May. Over recent years I have taken a chance and planted out tomatoes and cabbages during the first two weeks of May and have got away with it. Climate change? Who knows but when I first moved here ten years ago and started planting veg I would not have dreamed of planting out until after the 15th May although I have always chanced my potatoes and mostly got away with it.
   Lots of weeding and grass mowing. It is the time of year where everything just grows very fast. I am already thinking of autumn and winter. Champion Red Top swede sown in modules in the poly tunnel (which by the time I publish this blog have germinated), more 18Jour radish and a french cabbage variety whose name translates to Hope. More tomatoes transplanted to pots and the count of those transplanted or waiting to go out stands at sixty one! I think it will be unlikely that I will bother to transplant more seedling to pots as the total tomato count stands around one hundred. The pea/mangetout bed has been weeded and where there were gaps seeds have been sown. In my mind is the idea that I need to sow another lot somewhere! More tomatoes transplanted. In this tomato bed I have made an effort to allow two feet between plants, horizontally and vertically. This will allow plenty of space for airation and reduce the spread of blight. Least that is the theory! My squash patch is all but ready and I had started to transplant Sibley and American Tonda squash. Much to my alarm I had forgot to sow butternut squash in the poly tunnel. Hey ho! I have sown swom seed in the squash bed. They should be ok.
   As always lots to still to do and the weeds and grass do not let up!

AGATA second early potatoes

Cabbage patch

Busy busy busy.....

  

     New arrivals at Watermeadows! Nine chicks have been hatched either by our hen Mrs Buffycross or in the incubator. Mum and chicks doing fine!

     It has been a busy week. I am usually wary of planting out until the middle of May which is when the last frost date is for the area I live, however, it has been mild and sunny with showers and the forecast for the next week is for it to continue to do so. A little risk maybe but I think only a very very small one that there might be a frost. 
    So what has been planted out? A old favourite of mine - Greyhound cabbage. This is a pointy summer cabbage that I have grown successfully over the years and have decided to give it a go here in France. I have transplanted tomatoes to an outside (the poly tunnel) beds. Varieties (all Champeau seed!) Jens Orange, Gardeners Delight, Crimea Noiree, Potiron Ecarlate, Noire Crimee). In the poly tunnel a couple of unkown tomatoes types and Great Lakes lettuce. Seedlings are coming along nicely. A number of sweet corn seedlings have been move outside in a sweet corn bed. Half of it is sown seed and the other half will be seed germinated and grown in the poly tunnel. In theory the sown seed should catch up with the transplanted plants! I have noticed the early potatoes in the poly tunnel are very close to flowering. I am still harvesting lettuce and radish from the poly tunnel and broad beans outside although they are starting to come to an end now.
  Other jobs? Well, weeding, mowing grass and I have finally lit my bonfire! Plenty to do and lots of plants to set out.

 

Transplanted tomatoes

Preparing to transplant tomatoes

Donner und blitzen!

    Yes, thunder and lighening, wind and rain! It has been that sort of week, however, much has been done despite the weather.
   Haricot vert, haricot buerre and borlotti beans have been sown. Very poor germination of the parsnips this year so gaps in the row resown and fingers crossed!  More Touchon carrots sowed. More weeding (never ends!) done.  Over winter leeks have now gone to seed and have been removed. In the poly tunnel tomatoes and basil transplanted to pots and Sanquine beetroot sown. First lot of beetroot did not germinate so fingers crossed for this sowing. Next sowing goes outside the poly tunnel. Brussels sprouts and early purple sprouting thinned out. More grass mowing but I broke the handle again. Managed to get it repaired pretty quickly and once I resummed mowing it rained! In between rain showers I managed to tranplant some more Glory of Enkhuisen summer cabbage. Picked a good number of broad beans although a disappointing crop. My first over winter sowing of broad beans looked really good but they were hit by blight (rust) and a lot of the plants died off. My second sowing is looking a little happier and fingers crossed I will get a bigger crop off them.
   Hens are laying well and Mrs. Buffycross still sits tight. Hopefully next week I will have some news to report of newly hatched chicks.

Emerging Violet (purple) potatoes

Picking of broad beans

Sunshine and rain, sunshine and ....

   What can I say? The weather has been perfect really. Increasing temperatures, April showers and some heavy rain to refill the water butts. All in all grand growing weather which means....yes you guessed it! Mowing grass. Well after the disaster of my bush whacker dieing on me much to my surprise I managed to get my old petrol mower going. Just in time too! The grass was getting a little long and you could almost see it growing!! Well it is now cut but of course it took two sessionis to completet the whole lot and of course by the time it was all done where I had started from was starting to look like it could do with another cut! 
   So lots to write about. All potatoes are growing well and I am keeping my eye on the over night temperatures. Mid May is last frost date so it is possible that frost could strike. The garlic is looking real good so fingers crossed for a good crop. Onions and shallots doing well but my first sowing of broad beans which were looking so good for so long are now a sorry state. Badly affected by rust the crop I am likely to get will be light. The second sowing does look good and I am hopeful for a decent crop. Lettuce is now being cut from the poly tunnel. The first summer cabbage have been transplanted to an outside bed and are being kept snug under bottom cut off plastic water bottles. The purple sprouting has now been removed and the bed they were in prepared for sowing haricot beans of one sort and another and probably more mange tout. The first sowing of peas and mange tout are now showing. Small round carrots sowed in and out of the poly tunnel and more mossed curled parsley as the first lot failed to germinate. After a conversation with my daughter I have sowed Kohl Rabi in the poly tunnel. The chickens managed to destroy a row of french spring onions so they have been resown.
   The chickens continue to lay well and Mrs. BuffyCross is still sat tight on her eggs. As we head for May spring is well sprung with the haw thorn now is flower and the meadow grass at knee height.
   My daughter and her friend harvested a "super" of honey from the bee hive which produced sixteen 370g jars of honey and that was without really trying to extract the honey. It is a dark colour proably caused by the wonderful crop of blackberries we had back in the autumn of 2019.

16 Jars of home produced honey

Scrapping of the caps

Its rained!

   Mostly very warm days this last week with some cloud, however, I hate to say it but there has been some thunder, lightening and rain! To be honest the rain has come just at the right time. I have one major problem. I managed to break my bush wacker which it the only means I have to mow the grass. Really could not have happened at a worse time!
   Another "finally" managed to do job done. I have a small bed at the bottom of my lavender patch which I have ignored for probably the better part of eighteen months. It is now cleared and ready to be planted. 
   In the poly tunnel mostly in pots and modules I have now sown sweet corn (to be transplanted outside the poly tunnel when large enough), Tamra (a new one to me) and Marketmore cucumber, Kuri, Sibley, and Pacific Giant (these are for halloween hopefully) squash/pumpkin, Blacktail water melon (usually successful in getting a couple of reasonably sized water melons), and Verde Di Milano dwarf bush courgette.
   The early purple sprouting has now gone to flower so that is the end of that. A good crop considering the drought last year. Off to a good start this season with early purple sprouting seed germinating already in the poly tunnel. First lettuce pulled from the poly tunnel. This is one that had over wintered!
   Trying to consume the leek bed! They are showing signs of going to seed so I need to eat leeks! Early potatoes are starting to show as are those I planted in large pots. Always worth a go with the odd few seed potatoes left over. Usually get a boiling or two. So its potato patrol every evening covering up those that have poked their heads above the soil or been exposed by scratching chickens. The first lot of broad beans I sowed are looking a little sorry for themselves and are being very slow in producing pods. They have been badly affected by a rust fungus. The second sowing are still looking good so I am hopeful. Onions and shallots are now looking a little happier after the rain. I decide to transplant tomato seedlings as they were large enough to handle - Auroa bush, Jens Orange, Andine Corne, Poitron eclarte, Gardeners Delight and Crimee Noire - grand total of thirty five plants! Not nearly enough but there are at least as many again at an early stage of growth.
   My eldest daughter, Sophie and a friend, Simon, braved the bees and have harvested one super of honey. The hive has not been harvested for at least two years and probably longer. Last year the colony swamed and we thought we had lost them. The bees were very cooperative with only Simon being stung once and that was away from the hive. I stayed out of the way as a couple of years ago I was stung and reacted to it. Sixteen jars of honey so far recovered and bare in mind this is without a centrifuge! It is hoped that another super will be tackled next week.
   On the chicken front one chicken had to be killed as she had developed a prolapse. Not a injury that can be fixed easily or to the comfort of the chicken. Our buff oprpington cross continues to sit tight and we have put a dozen eggs in the incubator. Fingers crossed for a few chicks.

Early potatoes in the poly tunnel

Transplanted tomatoes

Sophie and Simon ready to tackle the bee hive!

   
   

Despite all

   The sun continues to shine! Despite CV-19 work continues in the garden. Much has germinated in the poly tunnel. I pleased that I have cabbage and basil growing. Both are quite often problematic to grow from seed although they should not be. The tomatoes are probably not a good as I would like but there are plenty of plants growing so I am hopeful that I will have enough although not of the variety I would have liked. I have been picking the purple sprouting and freezing it with the hope that I can extend the period of harvesting. So far so good! I have finally got round to weeding my Egyptian (walking onions) bed. Must have been over a year since they were done last. More of the usual taska...mowing grass and cleaning out chickens who continue to lay well and I am becoming overwhelmed with eggs. Better too many than not enough I guess! 
   Easter is here and our annual easter egg hunt has been conducted by the grand children. Some strange sites around the garden.....

Shallot with strange growth!

Dried herbs

                                                           

Egyptian onion bed after weeding

Sturon onion patch