Food, glorious food!

   My last blog was almost three weeks ago. I have been back to the UK for a week and boy even at this time of year a week away and the garden still manages to surprise me on my return.
   With Autumn all but here (the wood for the wood burners has arrived) it is time to clear the beds, fork and weed and get prepared for next season as well as nurturing the remaining plants that will provide some food into the first half of the winter. 

2013 Wood delivery

   Also consideration for something to plant to be ready for next spring. I have planted out some spring cabbage, Baccalan de Renne. Yes, I am persisting with brassicas despite the abysmal failure of them this season.
   I have been a little slack with pruning this year. The black and red currants need to be done and I do need to clear off the strawberry beds. Three beds to clear, two down one to go. The third is going to be prepared for planting with Mare du Bois strawberries. The bed is cleared but forking and weeding is proving hard. The ground is dry and I do not think it has been dug for a long time. I have now managed to finish the third bed but I had to re-introduce myself to my mattock to enable me to dig it up!

No 3 strawberry bed

  I have continued to pick tomatoes and those that can be have been and the main bed has been cleared ready for digging. I still have some millefleur in the poly tunnel, flowering and producing tomatoes. I can leave those for a while yet.
  I have a lovely crop of turnips, certainly the best I have grown here in France. The parsnips should be very good this year as long as the critters do not take a fancy to them. I also have a very nice looking couple of rows of Pak Choi! I have tried Pak Choi in the poly tunnel with little success and so I thought I would try it outside at the end of the summer as is suggested. Success and the chickens have not eaten it! So, what does one do with Pak Choi? The swede is looking good and I am still hopeful that the celery will come good but I fear the majority of the celeriac, mostly eaten by escaped sheep earlier in the year, will not. I have an established row of spinach with the first picking being made, however, the chickens love spinach and I have had to cover them with cloche's. The winter leeks are well established and we still have not finished the early ones. Haricot buerre, Champion of England peas (love these peas), carrots, sweet peppers (and there are red ones too!!) and more still being picked/cut. The runner beans have been disappointing although I did get some but not the prolific crop one usually expects. It is a bountiful time of year.
  Of course there are many jobs to do as always. I will be lifting my main crop purple potatoes, Violette, as the tops have finally started to die off as a priority. The poly tunnel is in desperate need of cleaning and I really must get it done before the cold weather sets in. There is pickling to do and apples to pick and process. Anyone want to come and help? 

Serious harvest time...

Damson Plums

   September is well and truly upon us. Lots of lovely produce to pick and eat. This has been a good year for fruit. Lots of plums and apples. The Mara des Bois strawberries are now well bedded in and there should be a good autumn crop. The apple trees I planted had produced a good number of apples only to suffer from aphids and black spot fungus. Three out of five of the trees had small shrivelled diseased fruit and then lost their apples. Two have proved to be very resistant to aphid and fungal infection and have a good number of apples on it. Cannot win them all! I think the fungal infection has come from the old pear tree. 
   Here in La Creuse I can expect frost free weather up until at least the middle of October and more likely to the end of October. This allows me to take a chance with some crops, for example, the Champion of England peas. They will probably tolerate some cold but a frost will start to kill them off. Peas are already formed and I am expecting to pick the first ones within the week. (As it happened I picked a handful on the 8th September). The swedes, variety Joan, is growing fast and I hopeful for a number of large swedes. Parsnips and Orbis look grand. The onion crop has been good, particularly the variety Yellow Rynsburger. Bedfordshire champion and spainish onion have been ok but nothing like last years big onions. After the sheep attack the celeriac is a sorry looking crop, nothing like last years at all.

"Joan" swede

Champion of England peas

The sunflowers have lasted a good long time. The birds are now eating the seeds on those that have set. 
   Anyone seen the rain? Umph! Mention rain and it rains. Yes, there has been some rain since I wrote that sentence. Not a lot but enough. Still, there has not been any reasonable amount of rain here at Watermeadows for a couple of weeks now and watering is now becoming a major task. 
   Time to harvest the melons whether they are ready or not. The vines have died back and it looks like the Troubador melons are mostly ripe. There is a real smell of melon from the bed. I needed my Radio Flyer truck to transpot them from the bed to the storage shed!

Troubadour melons

   My gamble with the peas and haricot buerre look like it will pay off. I have picked some peas and some haricot and lots more on the way. I am well pleased. Lots of Roma tomatoes being picked and my daughter is in full swing making pasata. The outside tomato crop has been good despite the chickens!
   The new chickens, laying hens and table, are settling in well and the laying hens are already starting to lay, albeit small, eggs.
   This autumn is going to be busy!

Surprise! Surprise!

   We had a surprise at Watermeadows. One of our ewes gave birth. That was not expected at all! We also have had three chicks hatch out another surprise arrival.

Mother ewe and lamb August 2013

   In the garden the battle against the weeds continue. I am now picking running beans along side the haricot vert and I fear it will not be long and we will not be able to eat them quickly enough! The freezer is calling. There are lots of tomatoes ripening so it will be out with roasting tray to make peseta. Since writing that sentence the tomatoes are being picked by the seed tray full! 

   Other produce is being picked/cut on a regular basis and in increasing amounts. Cucumbers have been a success again this year (La Diva outside, Watouma in the poly tunnel). We are overwhelmed again with the summer squash, patty pan, despite planting out less plants. Lots of courgettes but I think about the right number of plants (5). A very good crop of haricot vert with too many to consume! A couple of melons have finally ripened but it is proving hard to determine when they are ripe! Another success this year has been aubergines. A poor start but the plants have produced a good number of aubergines. Just starting to harvest sweet peppers again they had a poor start and I thought that the crop would be poor. The weather has cooperated and there is now a good crop. Will the Champion of England peas produce? They are looking good but is there time for them to produce? The plum tree in the house garden has suffered from over producing and has several broken branches. There are lots of plums which are now ready to pick. I believe they are damsons. 
   I am trying to save seed and have collected moss curled parsley seed to add to my broad bean seed. I will try to save seed from the haricots and very probably others.   
 Our first round of eleven table chickens have been processed and the freezer is well stocked with chicken. The grass refuses to stop growing and once more "The Beast" has been in use. I managed not to break it this time though!
   I started to write this entry on the 15th August. It is now the 1st September. In those two weeks the weather has changed. The mornings are now cool (6 - 8C or less) with day time temperatures more in the lower 20's. Autumn/winter crops planted in hot sunshine are now picking up and growing well. The Marie Bois strawberries are in flower and producing another crop of strawberries. I just love this variety. 
   More new arrivals at Watermeadows. Another twelve table chickens and eight "point of lay" chickens. Hopefully we will re-establish our egg laying flock. A good sign is that the new hens are already laying, some what small, eggs.

It all comes at once...

    I beat the rain and I have lifted the Desiree potatoes. A good crop.  Yet more rain but it came at the right time. My transplanted beetroot, variety Sanquina, are now well established after what could have been a very poor start. All the melons are well set and swelling. Picking lots of courgettes, cucumbers, and french beans. Started to pick tomatoes in earnest. The sweet peppers are now looking good and I am very hopeful for a useful crop. My earlier fears of a total disaster have not been realised. Just shows that rain, sun, rain, sun really does keep things moving along. The aubergines can now be picked and I have managed to grow some Rosi de Trento lettuce without the chickens destroying them! Yeah!

Rosi de Trento lettuce

Clutch of three aubergines

  The cucumbers are producing well, generally one or two a day! I have dug up the red onions and they are drying in the poly tunnel. I also pulled a number of small Spanish onions. They have not done so well this year. The haricot vert have also done well with several kilos picked. The runner beans are coming on and should be producing close to when the haricot vert finish. Result! The white onion variety Rynsburger are looking good and the leaves have yet to die back. They should swell a little more.  The dwarf pea, Hatif d'Annonay has now finished and the giant pea vine (up to 7 feet!) Champion of England is growing madly. Courgettes. Umm, courgettes. Currently picking two or three a day! We are getting fed up with courgettes!!
   Melons. Well what can one say about the melons. I have three varieties (Petit Gris and Troubadour) and water melons. They are just fantastic! There are over 30 melons on the Petit Gris vines and at least seven water melons. I have not counted the Troubadour but there are lots! I picked a Petit Gris melon but it was not quite ripe.

Clutch of 10 Troubadour melons

   The Hundredweight pumpkins are just as amazing! Currently there are four with one more coming along but the four are enormous already and still lots of growing time to go.
   Most be just about time to start to harvest the sweet corn. It is looking good and the cobs are quite well formed. Need to try one!
   In the poly tunnel I have planted potatoes for Christmas. This time I will be looking after them real well. I am determined to have Christmas spuds this year! Lettuce and sweet peppers look good, the toms I am very disappointed with. Tomitillios look good but are not producing yet. Lettuce is ok and the cucumber exceptional once more.
   Preparation for winter and the hungry gap has begun. Swede, turnip, carrot, fennel, spinach all sown and germinated or established plants.Celeriac, celery, parsnips, leeks, beetroot and Orbis (root parsley) already growing well. Plenty of jobs still to do.

Humming the desert song..........

   ...and it thunders and rains! The Belle de Fontenay main crop potatoes have been lifted. Man, that was a job and a half! I must have perspired a pint. Nice looking potato and a good crop though and very little bug damage. Lifted a few Vitelotte purple potatoes. Very strange having a purple potato on you plate especially when you cut it in half and it is purple all through!
  There has been a thunder storm and a light to heavy rain fall. I reckon about half an inch over a couple of hours. This has refreshed everything and I am sure everything (that means the grass as well) will grow. I took the opportunity to weed and fork the ex-shallot bed which brings that plot back into probable use. I have beetroot and swede growing in modules that will need a home soon. Now I need to lift the main crop of Desiree potatoes! 

Violette (purple) potatoes in flower

   The first lot of sweet corn has come in flower, if that is what you call it and cobs are forming on the plants.  There is a cucumber on the La Diva plant. This is an outside cucumber and looks like a large courgette when ready to eat. The rain will have help it for sure. The courgettes are becoming productive with a second lot picked. How long before a pate pan squash appears I wonder? Found one on the 23rd July. Melons are beginning to set. Could be a good year for melons. Started to pick the dwarf peas, variety Hatif d'Annonay.
   Sanguira beetroot, grown in modules, has been transplanted to an outside bed. I fear it will be too hot and I will loose a lot of them. Another row of carrots, Long Lisse de Meaux, a good storer, has been sown. Rosi de Trento, a smooth leaf lettuce, has been transplanted to an outside plot and the chicks found them! Darn. The Champion of England pea has finally germinated well. Once I started to water them they started to appear. I will need to keep up the watering to make sure the achieve their full height (6 to 7 feet!). No need. It has rained frequently!!! More Great Lakes lettuce has been transplanted to pots and I have had to resow the Minidor yellow dwarf french beans. Only a few germinated. The replacement celeriac has been transplanted and I keep my fingers crossed for these. They may not have enough time to fully grow.  In  the poly tunnel Great Lakes and Little Gem lettuce are growing well. The sweet peppers are looking good with peppers setting. The cauliflowers are looking a little sad as are the tomatoes. The leaf mould on the toms in the poly tunnel is really starting to have an affect although I am still hopeful for a reasonable crop but not the bumper one that I was expecting. Broad leaf and curly parsley is slowing growing, cucumbers and basil are doing well. No sign of of salad bowl lettuce or corriander yet.
   The beast (lawn mower) has had an outing. The grass was not particularly long but need a trim and I really needed to do it before the rain effect kicked in. 
   It has been a busy time at Watermeadows and I am late in publishing my blog. This copy brings me up to the 24th July and I am working on getting the next  one out as soon as possible!
Lots to tell.
.

Thinking about rain....

   Well, since I last published my blog it has not rained (a few spots that only just about made to the ground one evening!). The ground is now starting to dry out more than a couple of inches down. I am having to water every evening and my water store, five large butts, is lasting two to maybe three days but the produce is demanding more. Cubits (courgettes, squash, melons) require regular watering as do the peas and they really need quite a bit of water. The lettuce I am watering twice a day and in the poly tunnel I need to check three times a day to make sure the plants are not drying out. Now I have started I have to keep on going. Pah! One of the downsides of gardening I guess!
  Still attacking weeds. Lots of hoeing. Now sowing seeds for the winter - swede, Kohl Rabi, cauliflower. Another week or so and I will have another go at sowing winter/spring cabbage. 

   In the outside garden the potato harvest has begun in earnest. The second earlies, Rosebelle, have now been dug up and replaced with autumn and winter leeks (Jaune de Poitou and Blue de Solaise) and the main crop of Belle de Fontenay potatoes need to be lifted too. Better do that before it rains! Too late! (see below) Started to pick courgettes. The shallot harvest has been gathered and has been laid out to dry (pickling shallots RED SUN and french, JERMOR, what I call banana, shallots).

2013 Pickling Shallot harvest variety RED SUN

Autumn and winter leeks

      



The Hundredweight pumpkins have set fruit (fruit or vegetable?). 

First One Hundredweight pumpkin

Guess what? My new barbecue arrive and yes, it rained. (19th July) As I write this I am looking out to the front of the house to a steady, gentle fall of rain. I really need to be careful what I wish for.

The sun has got his hat on, Hip! Hip! Hip! Horray!

   It is the 6th July and the sun and heat has arrived! The last couple of days has been sunny and hot and the forecast is for it to continue. That means a lot of watering to be done. And it has continued. I am writing this on the 12th July and every day since the 6th has been hot and is forecast to continue. There has been a thunderstorm and a shower of rain but really nothing much at all. First time this year I have had to refill the water butts from the well.

New metal tomato poles

   In the poly tunnel my tomato's have leaf mould. Not good. I have had a lot of problems with mould in the poly tunnel. Not surprising really as it has been wet and warm and so very humid. I just hope that the tomato's can produce before the mould gets them. As it happens leaving the doors open all the time on the poly tunnel has slowed up the progress of the mould.  In the poly tunnel the toms are started to turn red with a vengeance particularly the Latah variety. Outside the bed of ninety have been staked with new metal tomato poles and tied up. That was a mammoth job.  I have sown beetroot in modules which was quite successful last year and more lettuce. I have also added more coriander and a row of White Lisbon spring onions. Great Lakes lettuce and some Little Gem has been transplanted In the outside garden I have all but given up on the brassicas and my Oregon sugar snap peas have not germinated well. Out of four sowing of peas, admittedly different varieties, only two types have germinated well. The courgettes are coming along well and I expect to start picking them in three or four days (written 09/07).  Well, that did not happen. Guess I should have watered them. My late sowing celery is now out in the outside garden and I am hopeful that given the longer growing season here they will manage to mature ok. It is time to start thinking of what to sow for the "hungry" gap. ( end of March to the start of June).
   The beast (motor mower) has let me down again. The handle has broken again. I just hope it can be fixed as the break is above the weld from a previous break. It is not as if I had used it excessively since the last fix! The beast was fixed and the grass mowed. I even bush wacked three of the sheep paddocks. The sheep did seem pleased to see the grass cut, lol.
   The grass in the big field has been cut and baled. The summer is moving on.