Win some, loose some.

   This blog will be cover the last two weeks. I just do not know where time goes! My IT went belly up and I had to rebuild etc etc but hey ho nothing lost. So, week ending  19th May.
  Well nature got one on me. Around the middle of May in Champeau de Bas you get a couple of days of frost, sometimes quiet hard. Guess what? Yep, there was a hard one overnight on the 16-17th May. Poof! Sweet corn lost, some tomatoes lost, potatoes scorched. You take a gamble and sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. This time I lost. Hey ho! Least it is not too late to resow the sweet corn and go hot foot to the market and get some tomato plants! Succession sowings of cabbage made.
     I managed to kill the old petrol lawn mower so I had to get a new one. Black and yellow...bruuuuummmm!

The Beast

Week ending 26th May
   Since I wrote the above a lot of the tomato's have recovered! Amazing plants these tomatoes. The potatoes also are almost back to what they were before the frost. Guess I have just lost time. Lot of weeding done this week. After the rain comes the warmth, comes the weeds! I finally decided to dig another small bed so that I have somewhere to plant rows of seeds like cabbage outside. Beetroot (1st and 2nd sowings going well. My second sowing was done using a 12 cell plastic module, three seeds in each module. Well, it worked! All the seeds germinated and now transplanted without have to "thin" out. Result! Bolotti beans and Haricot vert are thriving. Carrots also moving along (three sowings for succession). Yolo sweet peppers transplanted (51). Soon be eating broad beans! Sweet Heart melons are still establishing themselves but I have high hopes!

Phew!

   It has been a hectic week. May is a very busy time in the garden. Lots to sow, lots to plant out. So, what I have been up to besides breaking my IT!
   Outside the poly tunnel lots of planting out. Tomatoes, gourds, butternut squash, courgettes, pumpkins, kohl rabi and a few cabbage. Succession sowing of radish and carrots. I have had a failure with my early sowing of Borlotti beans and Haricot Vert and have resown. Oh, guess what? I replanted and within two days some of the oringinal sowing popped up! Not all, but one or two! I have continued to recover an old flower border and I have planted it up with borage and cosmos with a scattering of wild flower seed. Who knows what will happen but the borage needed to be planted out. I have a wonderful display of comfrey and the bees are loving it. The grass I think has running boots on as it is growing almost as fast as I cut it!

Comfrey patch

Main crop potatoes - Desiree

   Inside the poly tunnel lots going on. I have a perfect cauliflower! Three (might be four yet) out of six is not bad for cauliflowers! Lol! The F1 Celtic cabbage have finally got to a point where they could be picked. Red cabbage and Lion King (white cabbage) germinated. Succession cabbage, kohl rabi,and lettuce sowed. The calabrese and the red cabbage have germinated. I had to buy a new packet of red cabbage seed as the seed in the old packet did not germinate at all. The Cape Gooseberries continue to thrive. A pair of cucumbers planted out but one looks a little sick so I fear the worse. This year I am trying to grow celery and have just transplanted some. I have planted up two hanging baskets of Tumbler tomatoes. All in all its busy busy busy!

My poly tunnel cauliflower

Tumbler Tomato's 

Its all grow! grow! grow!

   It has been a busy week. Why do I say that? It is always a busy week! The garden has really taken off. The grass grows while you watch it and really could do with being cut twice a week. The weather has been wet and warm but the ground has been drying fast. It is now ideal for growth and ideal for planting out. There is still a possibility of a frost but every day that goes by makes it less likely. I have dug a second herb bed. This bed will have tall herbs in it, for example, sage, borage and lemon balm. The strawberries have flowers on them.
   So what has been going on this week. In the poly tunnel the pace carries on being hectic. Seed sowing and plant transplanting goes on at a pace. In the the years I have grown broad beans I never realised what a nice perfume the blossoms have. Being the in the poly tunnel the scent is concentrated and it is very nice. I almost ran out of pots to transplant into but I decided to plant out my sweet corn and that gave me back around 90 pots. I have planted out some tomato's (Roma and Moneymaker) with the idea that they will produce earlier than the outdoors ones. We will see. My bush tomato's, variety Vilma, have flowers on them and I really need to put them out. Pak Choi has been transplanted and some Italian parsley sowed. I have four varieties of lettuce on the go - red salad bowl, Little Gem, Batavia Rene Glace, rosa de trento and a chickory! How much lettuce can one eat I wonder? Cape Gooseberry seed has germinated along with celery and chrystal lemon cucumber. That is a round cucumber with which I had great success with last year.

Transplanted sweet corn Kelvedon Wonder

Roma and Moneymaker tomatos in the poly tunnel

   Outside potatoes continue to pop up all over the place. I have transplanted Bedfordshire champion and Spanish onions grown from seed. Onion sets and shallots look good. The peas are now uncovered and pea sticks put in and I noticed that the broad beans have beans on them!

First broad bean

   I now thinking about poly tunnel sowing for the winter!! I have sown a few winter cabbage (Lion King - a white variety) already. Outside the next sowing of beetroot and carrots will need to be done. I have sorted out my first row of  beetroot (Cheltenham Green Top) which are now established and they have recovered from a chicken strike! I fear my parsnip sowing has been drowned and I may have to resow. Least here in La Creuse the growing season is long.  Has my gamble with the borlotti beans and haricot vert paid off? No sign of germination yet. So onward to this week and yet more sowing, transplanting and mowing the grass!

Quack! Quack! Quack!

   The weather continues to be miserable. Rain, rain, rain. The ground is waterlogged and impossible to work. The grass is in need of cutting and the weeds are catching up on me! I think it is even too wet for ducks! I fear I have lost one of my trees that I planted last year. The quince has shown no sign of life and I would have thought by now it would be in bud at least. All the other apple trees I planted are in blossom or close to it. There is a concern that with the wet and cloudy weather that the trees will not get pollinated as the bees are very reluctant to fly in this weather.

Apple Blossom

Tumble and Moneymaker tomatoes

   In the poly tunnel plants are growing on. I have transplanted celeriac, lettuce, chicory and butternut squash. Radishes continue to be pulled and salad bowl lettuce picked. I now have a couple of De Merville lettuce that can be harvested when needed. Tomato plants are thriving and in fact some probably could do with planting out but of course the ground is far too wet. I have a number of Celtic cabbage growing in the poly tunnel. They are massive and are very slow to heart up. They are a winter variety planted late but I am sure they will eventually make it! Kohl Rabi in the tunnel is ready to harvest and I am pestering my daughter to use them before they get too big.

   Outside rhubarb is ready to pull and I am thinking about cooking the first rhubarb crumble of the year. The Early Onward peas are now getting very close to when they need sticks to support them and that means uncovering them. Will the chickens leave them alone I wonder? Potatoes are sprouting all over the place! Bumble bees are flying amongst the broad beans, dodging in and out of each small flower. They are almost as big as the broad bean flower. The herbs are excellent with curled parsley, thyme (lemon and common), golden oregano, bolls mint, blue sage and lemon balm all having a vibrant colour and looking a picture. I have a desperate need to plant out a collection of borrage plants in a reclaimed border but the wet weather is holding that back. I may just have to get on with it rain or no rain!

Golden Oregano - from a cutting taken in 2011

Too much like England!

  Well, once more time slips away. I had not realised that it is two weeks since I last posted. The weather over the last two weeks has been a typically English spring. Cool with rain showers but in La Creuse throw in a 5 to 25km wind! There has been the odd showing of the sun but nothing like what I was hoping for. Still, the weeds and the grass like it.
  In the outside garden much has gone on. Potatoes are showing but the chickens have taken a fancy to the beds they are in and are causing havoc in places. A row of Evesham Special brussel sprouts under the cover of fleece has been planted out with a couple of left over Golden Primo. I must get into the habit of throwing these left over plants away instead of trying to find a space for them. My peas are still covered up and the chickens have shown also shown interest but fortunately have not been able to get past the covers. These birds are persistent! I have risked sowing a row of Borlotti beans and Haricot Vert. It is a gamble but hey the dice may land in my favour though I think that this spring will have nature getting the better of me. The asparagus has not been as good as I was hoping but at least some of it has survived and fingers crossed will improve over the years. I planted some herbaceous perennials into a border in the house garden that had been taken from a remade herbaceous border in the large garden which had survived being divided and left in pile over the winter and were starting to grow! These hardy plants are big enough clumps to defeat the scratching chickens!
  In the poly tunnel it is all go. It is nice to be working in the warm poly tunnel out of the wind and rain showers. Melons are up and today (Sunday 22nd April) I noticed that celery had germinated. Some cabbage (Golden Primo, All the Year Round cauliflower) planted out. Lost a couple of sweet corn plants to frost along with a couple of tomato plants. Strange how one plant can be frosted yet the one next to it is completely untouched. I wonder if it is the condensation dripping from the roof in the early morning? Melons have germinated and butternut squash is growing away. I noticed that shallot seeds has finally germinated and the onions grown from seed are looking good. The third lot of 18 Day radish are up and the second sowing is ready to pull. Hopefully I am getting into this succession lark! I have salad bowl lettuce that can be picked and a couple of De Merville lettuce all but ready to pick with Batavia Reine Glace following up. Herb cuttings (Golden Oregeno, Blue Sage) have been transplanted to larger pots. The Oregano particularly have excellent root systems already. I lost all but one of my Rosemary bushes to the winter weather and I have bought a new bush from which I have taken some cuttings. The apple trees continue to blossom and the later varieties now have buds on them.
 We have five lambs now and all are doing well. Socks, the lamb who was rejected by his birth mother, is doing fine and has been accepted by the other ewes and lambs. He is still being bottle fed. A Great Tit has been spotted gathering chicken feathers for its nest. Spring moves along at a gathering pace.
   I now need a couple of dryish days to allow me to cut the grass. I was on top of it but it is starting to get on the long side and needs doing. I hope by the next post to have done that.
Well, that sums up some of the work I have been doing over the last couple of weeks. I am sure there is more I missed but I hope it gives you a flavour of how busy it.

Pause for breath......no way!

    Well, another week has slipped by! It has been another pleasant week in La Creuse, mostly sunshine with the odd cloudy morning and a little (I mean LITTLE) overnight rain.
    Its all grow grow grow. The potatoes, which were planted just over two weeks ago, are already showing and I am having to patrol the beds morning and evening covering up those leaves that show themselves. In the outside garden a row of parsnips has been sown, some brussels sprouts and golden primo transplanted just to try to get ahead of the game later in the year. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. I am resisting sowing too much in the outside garden as there can be late frosts. Peas! Have I broken the curse of the peas? Maybe. I now have a row of germinated Early Onward peas all covered up to keep the chickens off and protect from any possible frost. I will nurture them! The newly planted apple trees have come out in blossom so I am well pleased about that. The biggest completed job this week has been to have dug and manured a reasonable sized bed. Yes, bit late to manure maybe, but I am planning to plant sweet corn and things like squashes so I do not think it will matter that much. Our large lavender bed was very badly affected by the cold winter weather and I believe we will have lost a lot of the plants. Some are showing signs of recovery but they will not be the glorious display that they were last year and I may even give up on them. Lawn mowing is becoming a regular chore and will continue to be so unless there is a prolonged dry spell.
    In the poly tunnel watering has started. I have transplanted Little Gem and chicory, replanted cucumbers which failed to germinated as it was too cold, transplanted sweet peppers and sowed some celery! I have harvested x2 cauliflowers which were grown over the winter and of course radishes. Well pleased with both of those. The F1 Celtic cabbage is taking over. There are only four of them but the leaves are enormous and the plants are just about showing signs of turning in. Kohl Rabi is slowly but surely getting there and Sweetheart melon seeds have germinated but only two out of six so I have resown four more and already one has shown. I need four to six for my melon bed. Celeriac has germinated. Tomatoes are thriving. The lettuce is doing well but I could do with it now! I should be picking red salad bowl lettuce leaves this week. About time too what with the price of lettuce in the shops here at about £1:25p a head.
    I guess that sums it up for last week. I am sure next week will be just as busy. I am thinking about sowing an early row of haricot vert but I am wary of the possibility of a frost. Hey ho, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I must check last years garden log and see when I planted the first haricots to see if I am being a little too adventurous and I need to check on my succession sowing! Boysoboysoboys!
  

Its all go go go..

  A fine week weather wise! Lots of sunshine and of course longer days. Cool nights but not much in the way of frost. That means everything continues to grow. Many more seeds have germinated in the poly tunnel and the peach, pear and cherry blossom has flowered at last. The apple blossom is not fair behind. Last of the parsnips have been pulled and turned into spicy parsnip soup. There are now a few bedraggled leeks left in the garden and some curly kale. For some reason no one likes curly kale! Radishes, chives and parsly are being  harvested.
 I have started to overhaul my compost heaps. This is a major earth moving exercise and will take some time. I have also started to clear the nettles from another border and that too is a large project that will take some time to complete.
 I am fated never to grow peas. Despite my precautions the chickens have managed to nip off the tops of the peas. Roast chicken is currently on my menu! They have also made dust baths amongst the shallots and they continue to reduce my borders to flat beds. Funnily enough though there is not much damage to the plants. One good thing is that when they see me they run!
  The rhubarb is looking very good and the shallots and onion sets are starting to grow.
  Lots of potatoes planted this week. It seemed to took forever to plant them. 10kgs of Rosebelle, 5kgs of Blue Auvergne, 5 kgs of Desiree.
  I have dug a melon bed. The bed is a trench filled with manure, covered  with soil and black plastic sheeting on top.You leave that for a few weeks to allow the manure to start to rot so producing heat. You then plant the melon plants on top of the bed. Melons it would seem like to have warm roots and lots of food!
  I have planted some lettuce in the tomb. The tomb is what we have nick named the construction that used to be used to cover a french grave. It is a solid construction of metal and glass and serves as a glass house of sorts. The small beds in there tend to dry out so require regular watering.
   In the poly tunnel the transplanted tomatoes are establishing themselves well. Many seeds have now germinated and are growing away - sweet peppers, gourds, various flower seeds to mention a few. I have sown 98 sweet corn seeds (supposed to be 100 but the packets contained 45 and 53 seeds respectively!) in pots to get them off to a good start. My over winter cauliflowers are small but least I have cauliflowers! The asparagus has sprouted and will more than likely be left alone this year. Outside it has yet to show. Brassicas are growing well. I have pulled the first radishes of the year and the second sowing has been made. Chives have been trimmed and put in salads! Red Salad bowl lettuce is growing fast along with Latitude and Batavia Reine Glace lettuce. No sign of the spring onions yet! As a boy I used to grow spring onions and used to get very good results. Not any more but I persist. Had some rogue ones grow outside over the winter where I had sown them with some carrots and forgot they were there. Maybe that is the way to proceed. The row of carrots is showing signs of germinating.
  Here in La Creuse we do get some good weather in March. I have made a note to try to get some lettuce started in the poly tunnel in January next year so that we have some salad in March.
 All in all the season is well underway.