Indian Summer

   The last week or so has seen what I guess would be called an Indian summer. The mornings have been cool and most of the day sunny and warm with the odd day of rain. Grand growing weather and good working out in the garden weather. Only problem is life gets in the way!
    In the poly tunnel my Christmas potatoes have shown their heads! Will this year be the year of the Christmas potato? Sweet peppers continue to ripen as do the chillies. The few lettuce are growing well as is the latest batch of salad bowl lettuce. It has not been a good year for drying herbs in the poly tunnel, too damp. 

Water Melons

   In the vegetable garden water melon have been harvested and eaten! Yum! Carrots are being pulled and there is a marked reluctance to eat anymore aubergine! Beetroot are also being pulled. The first picking of  the Asturian tree cabbage has been made. Not a bad taste, very much like "spring greens" but not so strong tasting.  My daughter said it took ages to cook. The grass continues to need mowing and I am starting to look at the apple trees with a view to cutting out dead wood. Bulbs are on my mind but the area I need to plant them in is going to need some work first.
    The chickens continue to be a menace despite whatever I do to keep them off the plots. Latest casualty has been my fennel and the row of carrots along side them. Would not have thought chickens would like fennel. My garlic bed has been gone over a couple of times now.
   I am trying an experiment with Louvier cabbage seed. I have sown individual seeds and put plastic bottles over them. This is to aid germination and also to keep those feather menaces from eating the seedlings. The idea is to get the plants to a size whereby they will stand the winter and come next spring produce a spring crop of cabbage. Worth a try. The turnips, swede and winter cabbage are now picking up from the chicken strikes. I have covered them with netting. Fingers crossed I may get a turnip or two but I am doubtful about the swede. The cabbages will do something whatever. They are big enough now to stand the winter.

Will it? Will it not?

   Rain that is? As I sit typing this the clouds are rolling in, dark, black and forbidding! Looks like a storm is about to hit. Time will tell. I need it to rain as my water butts are now all but empty. If it does not rain I will have to get out the hose and pump water from the well!
   I guess the weather got to me. It took me far too long to weed and fork over one my vegetable beds. Yes, it is probably the biggest one in area but even so it is not hard digging. I guess I should put it down to the nice very warm sunny days and the desire once it did get warm to stop and enjoy! Ha!. Still, done now.
   The chickens continue to play havoc. I have now covered up my winter cabbage, Kohl Rabi , swede and turnips in an effort to allow them to grow a little. Of course, I made the mistake of leaving my lettuce bed exposed and yes you guessed it the chickens moved in before you could say "Jack Robinson". Oh well, I have to think that the eggs will be rich in Omega 3 and it is just another way of cycling the lettuce. Ummph! Bl**dy chickens! The fennel row is looking good. Thinned it out and hand weeded around the plants. Should be a good crop. Chickens do not seem to like fennel. Famous last words. Autumn carrots look good but you know who have taken an interest in the tops. I have for the third time resowed spinach. This time I have put cloches over them! Lots of weeding and forking done. The summer "yellow" leeks are ready to harvest. First try of the "pop" corn. Not good. Think I will leave some to dry and then try it.  Cooler weather means more work completed! Lol! 
   In the poly tunnel nothing new has happened. The basil is coming to the end of its usefulness and will soon be removed or allowed to go to seed. Sweet peppers and the chilli's are still looking good and are producing more flowers. I guess they will carry on until it gets too cold. 
   Oh, it did rain. One butt filled.

   

Weeding and forking the small triangle bed

   

   

Do not say it...

   The weather has continued to be very warm with cool mornings. Trouble is with this type of weather I want to enjoy it but there is work to do!
   Despite the fact that the melons seemed to have died off too soon and did not appear to be ripe I managed to get a reasonable number to finish ripening in my porch. So all in all a decent amount of melon was had.
   The first buttercup squash has been eaten. Very nice too. I would recommend this variety as a very worthwhile alternative to butternut squash. The texture of the squash after cooking is very much like a sweet potato as is its taste. My daughter, Sophie, I know is going to enjoy experimenting with this squash.
   So, what has been going on in and around the garden. Lots of forking, weeding and grass cutting. The local wood provider has delivered a load of wood and that has now been stacked in the hanger ready for the cold weather which is sure to arrive sooner rather than later. With this sunny warm weather I have been gathering the Gigante runner beans and Bollotti beans as they have ripened and getting them dried off. There is quite a reasonable crop. The aubergine crop continues to be good and I still picking some haricot vert and pulling carrots. The sweet peppers California Wonder and orange Mini Belle in the poly tunnel are still growing and producing as are the chillies. Once more I am trying for Christmas potatoes but I think I have planted them a little late. Oh yes. The garlic has been planted. With hindsight I looked back at my last years log and I have planted the garlic about a month early. Instinct kicking in? Umm. As a matter of interest as I was clearing and forking over last seasons garlic plot I came across some that I had not dug up. The bulbs has good root growth and good leaf growth. Umm. Sign of a hard winter?

Buttercup Squash

Buttercup Squash

A little late but welcome all the same

   Over the last week the weather has taken a turn for the better. The mornings have been cool and the air crisp. The days have been sunny and very warm. Excellent weather for working in the garden and by George there is lots to do! You can tell autumn is upon us here in Champeau as the grapes are ripening. Who gets to them first? Me or the birds?

   It is about time to plant garlic. After last seasons excellent crop I will take bulbs from my own home grown garlic. Just need to make up my mind where I will plant them.
   Once again there is a need to clear out the weeds from the strawberry beds. The Mara des Bois plants have loads of flowers on them and hopefully, slugs, chickens, mould etc. permitting there should be a reasonable autumn crop.

Mare des Bois strawberries September 2014

   I have completed my digging up of my wonderful crop of potatoes. This warm sunny weather has been perfect for this task. I have also dug up some of the "volunteer" Violet potatoes and there is a lot more of these to find yet! So, Belle de Fontenay, Rosebelle, Desiree and Franceline all produced well. I do like the Belle de Fonenay and the Franceline varieties. Aubergines, variety De Barbentane, are producing a very worthwhile crop. The fennel I sowed is up and growing madly.  I have sown some turnips, variety Nancy a Feuille. The swede plants are growing away and the winter cabbage is well established and also growing well. The outside cucumber, La Diva, has now gone over. It has been another good year for this variety. This year has been an excellent one for squash. My buttercup and butternut varieties have produce well and again with this warm weather they are ripening perfectly.
   With the drier weather I have been able to "bush whack" a paddock that has been needing cutting for some time. Good job done! The grass is definitely slowing down as is the weed growth. About time!

Butternut squash

Buttercup squash

   

   Well I spoke to soon about the melons. Once more a fungal disease had destroyed a crop. My Troubadour melons have been wiped out. There are unripe melons but the plants themselves have died. I still have some of this variety in my "tomb" which are still thriving and I am hopeful that the melons they have will ripen. I have cut one Prescott Musk melon as it was beginning to rot. It was virtually ripe and what there was tasted really nice. Strange melon this one. Water melons continue to swell. Fingers crossed!

Troubadour melons destroyed by fungus

   The poly tunnel cucumbers have now finished. A reasonable crop was gained. The outdoor cucumber, La Diva, continue to produce some fruit and I am hopeful that they will continue for a little while yet. 
   On the runner bean front the variety Gigante has produced a good crop and I am hopeful for a decent amount of beans for drying. The Scarlet Emperor runners are now in full bloom and producing increasing amounts of lovely beans. The bees really love them.

Wind affected runner beans

   I have now removed side shoots from the pumpkins,  melons ans squashes in the hope that the remaining time they have to grow they will concentrate on making the pumpkins etc larger rather than producing leaves. One variety of pumpkin is already showing signs that it  has done its bit and one of the squashes is also had enough. So autumn is coming and there is going to be pumpkins for Halloween!
   

Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes...

   The days just fly by. Another week gone by. Over the previous week or so the harvest has started to be gathered at an increasing pace. Runner beans, potatoes, haricot vert, sweet corn, sweet peppers, aubergines, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and onions are being picked, dug and pulled! 
   Looks like I am going to get some melons. They are ripening now and should be good to eat in a few days should the weather stay warm or get hotter. The forecast is good so fingers crossed!
   Main crop potatoes Desiree and salad potatoes Franceline have been dug up and put into storage. Ha! Storage my foot. They will be eaten pretty quickly I think! I still have some Rosabelle potatoes in the ground and they will be dug up as soon as I can get to them. winter cabbage and swede are the priority at this time.
   The pumpkins and squash are looking very good. Looks like it is going to be a bumper year. The pumpkins are swelling and I think there will be a few really big ones. This has been one advantage of the wet weather there has been over last winter and this spring and summer. Of course the grass grows and the weeds too. Never stop. Looks as if there maybe a second autumn flush of strawberries. I guess when you have a variety that is half wild strawberry you are likely to get some in the autumn. So, another job! Clear the strawberry patch of weeds. Man, it never ends.
    I have been busy in the kitchen too. From the few tomatoes that I managed to rescue I have made jars of passata. It is a pitiful amount considering that the tomato crop had so much promise.

Buttercup Squash

Hundredweight pumpkin

Butternut squash

Good grief! Has it been that long?

   Guess it has. Last entry publish on the 19th July. Now it is the 12th August, three weeks later! OK, my excuse is that we have had friends to stay and I have not had access to my PC which is my preferred instrument of writing my blog on. Anyway, lots to tell.
   On the sheep front sad news. Our old ram, Blackie, had to to been put down after suffering from blow fly strike. Not nice. The sheep are fed some feed every day and one day he was fine at feeding time the next he was pretty much a goner. To be fair he was old and we believe in not very good condition and we were expecting the worst at any time. Flies got to him first.
   In the outside veggie garden the blight won. Lost most of my very promising tomato crop. 

Blighted tomatoes

Such is the joys of gardening. You win some, you loose some. This one I lost, damn it! Other vegetables have been doing well. The haricot vert have come into production and has been very productive. I have been giving them away to the neighbours! For reasons unknown I have been having issues getting seed to germinate. I have had to replant lettuce, swede, beetroot and spinach and in some cases three or four times. Time to throw out older seed methinks! Potatoes have been very good this year and I have been digging up Belle de Fontenay, Rosebelle and Franceline by the kilo!
  We have slaughtered our crop of meat chickens, twelve in all. One we believe got damaged somewhere along the production line and discretion being the better part of valour it was thrown away! Rynsburger yellow onions and the Red Baron red onions have been a disappointing crop. Last years Rynsburger onions were very good. This year they are small. I have also concluded that one just has to accept that red onion sets do not produce a great crop and one should be happy with what one gets. As always the grass is growing and growing and growing and I play catch up mowing it. The weather has been on the damp/wet side with the odd nice day. Good for the garden except the tomatoes!
   In the poly tunnel the tomatoes have suffered from blight but the blight has developed more slowly allowing the tomatoes to ripen. There has been a reasonable crop of grape tomatoes, at least enough to satisfy demand. I have cut lot of Wautoma cucumbers but they are now coming to and end. Just in time the outside La Diva cucumbers are swelling up.  The chili looks good and the sweet peppers are turning orange! Yeah! 
   The squash is doing well. There are lots of squash set - buttercup, butternut. The pumpkins are also doing well, however, my bush courgettes are not as great as I would have liked but they are producing enough to satisfy our needs so I guess I must not complain. Melons has beginning to set. Fingers crossed that there is enough time for the water melon to mature.
   Planting for the winter is well under way. Spinach, parsnips, leeks, beetroot, swede and sprouts all up and growing well. I need to get my Christmas potatoes in!