What is there to say?

  It is hot. It is dry. You walk on the, ahem, grass and it crunches beneath your feet! It is generally too hot to do anything too much in the garden after about 1030, so one gets a bit done and then heads inside to keep cool.
  This blog pretty much covers two weeks. In that two weeks I have managed to dig up the main crop potatoes, variety Desiree. Good crop despite the drought. It would seem my planting was timed correctly to catch the most of what rain we have had over the last couple of months. I have picked melons, a little on the small side but sweet and very edible. Wautoma cucumbers continue to produce, these and courgettes and poly tunnel tomatoes (only three plants!) are the only plants to get watered and I am running out of rain water. Only the onions grown from seed left in the ground and those are there because the leaves have not yet started to turn brown so there is some hope they may get a bit bigger. Shallots have now all been processed into pickled onions and are under the stairs in jars waiting for Christmas. Picking the odd courgette which for me is fine. One or two a week as far as I concerned is more than enough. A few tomatoes continue to ripen and there are still quite a few to come but with the continued dry weather who knows how they will do. I bought another fifty winter leeks from the local market and planted those out more in hope than expectation.
  On the chicken front another chick has been lost to a predator of unknown type so the rest have been moved to what is hoped to be a more secure compound. 
  No sign of the weather letting up. The Creuse is the driest department in the whole of France and Gueret, the capital of the Creuse is running out of water. The mayor has declared that water for drinking will be pumped from a lake in the city. Dire times. It has been stated that the aquifers are at their lowest level for two hundred years. Does not bode well for the garden!

Harvested Red Sun shallots

Peeled and salted shallots

Rinsed and dried shallots

Jars waiting to be filled

The end product, pickled onions!

Conserve that water!

1000 ltr tank with down pipe feed attached

   The drought continues. There has been some rain and the new 1000 litre water container brought by my daughters boy friend has been set up and is about one third full! Very pleased with my Heath Robinson setup!
   In the poly tunnel I have transplanted some savoy type winter cabbage and wait to see how they do. Harvesting continues - tomatoes, carrots, peas, courgettes, potatoes, onions, cucumbers and a melon! Major effort now to get the main crop potatoes up before the is any serious rain and get the onions dried off for storage.
  Nothing going on on the chicken front. No further losses and those that remain are growing. 
   Autumn is getting closer!

Desiree main crop potatoes

Change is afoot!

    

Batavia Blonde lettuce

So here we are at the end of the first week of August. Autumn just around the corner. Hardly seems like summer has got started! Dry, hot and mostly sunny here in La Creuse, central France. The Creuse is the driest department in France. There are major water restrictions and appeals for people to save water at every opportunity. Fortunately it rained a fair bit just recently and I managed to refill my water butts, however, I fear the dry spell will outlast those. My eldest daughters partner brought me a 1000 litre water container which I have hooked up to my most productive down pipe. Rain water from the  barn roof goes down this pipe. Now need it to rain to fill it up!

   The sheep have now gone. No more sheep. It is likely I will sell up and move at some point but that could be a couple of years away and at least a year. Property does not sell quickly here. The chickens are fine and one of this years hens has come into lay. She produced the smallest egg I have ever seen.

Savoy type cabbage Milan

    August is time to harvest shallots and onions. I think I am a week or two early but I have now pulled all the shallots and they now need to be pickled! Onions I am gradually pulling as the leaves die back. No point in pulling them too soon in this dry weather. The sun might as well dry them off. During the week I have picked courgettes, cucumbers and Noire Crimee tomatoes. I have dug up ANOE potatoes which are now all but finished. One more lot will see them done. Desiree main crop are waiting to be dug up! I gathered some coriander seed for next year. I had very few coriander plants this year. The poly tunnel has been a disappointment although lettuce and a few tomatoes have done well. More preparation for winter with savoy cabbage, variety Milan, planted out. I now need to wonder about whether or not to plant more leeks. 

Start of drying out the onion crop

2019 Red Sun shallot harvest

Ain't half hot mum!

    Well the week started at a reasonable temperature and then steadily climbed to reach the maximum at the front of my house of 44C on Thursday! Then it rained and very welcome it was too. All water butts now refilled to maximum! The temperature has really cooled down and is much more comfortable and I have actually been in the garden today (Sunday 28th July) digging potatoes and doing some much needed weeding.
     Enough of the weather. Last of the cabbage has been cut, Wautoma cucumbers picked, haricot vert picked, potatoes dug, peas picked, onions pulled and courgette's cut, (long and an unexpected round one). Not bad but should be better! After the rain I have sowed a small row of Great Lakes lettuce in the hope of producing a few before autumn. The ground is now dry despite the steady amount of rain. In la Creuse water restrictions are at there highest level and good part of France is also under some sort of restriction.

Squash on one sort or another!

Squash on one sort or another!

Squash on one sort or another!

Too much of a good thing you know....

    The sun continues to shine. The ground is getting drier but there is only a little sign of stress in the vegetables. The forecast is for another week of high temperatures and I fear for the veg.
   Lots of veg being picked, pulled, dug and cut. Carrots, beetroot, haricot vert, potatoes, salad onions, onions, lettuce and at last Wautoma cucumber!

Parsnips

    The grass has stopped growing but the weeds have not, typical! My daughter and her children wanted to have a picnic by the river so I had to cut the grass there. First time this year. The river is very low.
   Will the peas do anything? I am still hopeful as there are peas showing and maybe, just maybe, the peas in the pods might swell.
   On the animal front no news from the sheep. Mr and Mrs Ixworth have been moved back to their original coop to allow the chicks at number five to be moved to a larger enclosure. I am trying to find a home for the Ixworth coq. He is too nice a bird to cull at this point in time. 

Courgette

    There are severe water restrictions at the moment and are likely to remain for the foreseeable future. Does not bode well! I still have several  butts of rain water but it is not going to last long. I have restricted my watering to the cucumbers (outside and in the poly tunnel, courgettes, melons and inside the poly tunnel tomatoes). The squash is looking good but for how long?

Ripening tomatoes

First Wautoma cucumber of 2019

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

    Yep, the sun has been shinning every day over the last week with some odd clouds making an appearance. In my department, La Creuse, a major drought has been called and severe water restrictions are now in place. The Petite Creuse river which runs at the bottom of my property is low for July. It is at the level we would normally expect to see in August. Does not bode well. Currently I have a reasonable amount of water in butts but I am rationing that to my melons, cucumbers, courgettes, my three poly tunnel tomatoes and recently sowed carrots and lettuce (carrot seed needs to be keep moist until it germinates).

Low river level

Low river level

So, what has been going on in the garden? Me dodging the sun mostly! Looks like the grass has decided it is time to slow down, no mowing! First of the second early potatoes have been dug up and the crop is very promising. More weeding (what else would  you expect?) and some more sowing. I have sowed more Touchon carrots, haricot vert and beetroot. I am still pulling lettuce although I fear I am going to run out before the next lot mature. Succession planning failure! The mange tout is now finished and has been removed. First lot of haricot vert is coming in and I should pick the first lot in the next few days. One row of carrots has been thinned out and the row looks very good. The squash is rampant and the outside tomatoes are doing well including the freebies I planted out the other week. Maybe a ripe one or two by the time of the next blog? I am hopeful for my outdoor (Wautoma) cucumbers. The poly tunnel ones were overwhelmed by white fly so the outdoor ones are the only cucumbers I have. The onion crop looks very promising with a large number beginning to swell. The main crop potatoes, Desiree, are starting to go over and it does look like the Colorado beetle strike has abated. My persistence in squishing larvae and beetles has paid off.
  On the animal front sheep are being sheep chickens are been chickens and chicks are escaping!! The chicks are growing fast.

SQUASH PATCH!

Latest from the Champeau vegetable garden

     Ok, so I am now back on track!

Latest planting of Batavia Blonde lettuce

A melon. Will it set?

   This blog will cover the seven days (1st to the 7th July) which will mean I am back on track to do weekly blogs at last.
   So, over the last week the weather has been hot and there has also been thunder, lightening and rain! The rain has been welcome despite the fact it will encourage the weeds and goodness knows they do not need encouragement! Pulled Touchon carrots, Batavia Blonde lettuce, rhubarb and dug Anoe potatoes which are now finished. I now move onto the second earlies which are Belle de Fontenay. This potato can also be regarded as a main crop potato. I am not expecting such a good crop as the Anoe as the Belle de Fontenay is an older variety and comment has been made that Anoe are more heavier cropping than Belle de Fontenay. We shall see. More of the usual, that is , weeding (but no grass cutting!) and tieing up of the outside tomatoes which are doing rather well.

Colorado bettle larvae munching my tomatoes!

   Chickens are being chickens, chicks are growing, sheep are being sheep.          
   The weather is forecast to continue to be hot and dry and in my neck of the woods it is humid.