Eggs? What eggs?

    The main topic this last week has been the lack of eggs! A week of no eggs. I had to buy some. That is no joke! The weather has been mild with some sun. Only one morning of frost.

    The last of the tomatoes have been picked and despite the blight the overall crop has been ok. Would have been a lot better if there had not been blight but least I got some! Picked the last of the Hot Stuff chilli's which now just leaves a couple of Scotch Bonnet plants with a few fruits on them (yes, I was surprised to read that chilli peppers are fruits). Of course grass cut, mainly to clear up leaves. Lot easier than raking! Lol! Cabbage and cauliflower cut, BF-15 potatoes lifted. Only a few haricot vert left drying in my porch which I doubt will now dry successfully which will be turned into baked beans! In my brassica patch I deliberately left the cabbage plants once I had cut the main cabbage. The plant then throws up mini cabbages so you get a bonus! In our local market they were selling these for thirty cents! (25p).

    So the main task this last week has been to attack the plague of rats. I need a pied piper! I have cleaned out the chicken coop and applied the necessary stuff repeatedly but there are lots of them. Going take a few applications methinks.

Brassica patch

Weeds and grass

    Well I finally decided that I needed to attack the weeds and grass on my bulb bank. The bulbs are starting to grow and the bank was thick with weeds and grass despite me having had a go at it a while back. So this last week has mostly been spent doing that...clearing the spring bulb bank. This is one of problems of having a garden in the country side. One is surrounding by weeds and grass so it is continuous effort keeping weeds down. I have a "weed bank" where I take quite literally barrow loads of weeds and pile them up to compost down. It must now been some thirty feet long by three to four feet high. Of course this is several years of accumulation but every year a significant amount is added.

   So, what else? An area of ground was cleared, forked, weeded, raked and planted up with Germidour and Elephant garlic and over winter broad beans sown. This year I found my favourite broad bean which I grew in the UK, D'Aguadulce. Germidour is not the usual garlic I grow. In previous years I have planted the variety Violet. BF-15 potatoes dug, cabbage cut. Yes, I still have BF-15 potatoes in the ground and there are still quite a few to lift. No point in lifting them to store as they are second earlies and will not store well. Finally took down the cucumber netting and frame and tidied up the large Hugelkultur bed. Started to remove the haricot vert plants and gather any dried pods which I have plans to turn into baked beans! Couple of Scotch Bonnet chilli's picked along with several ones call Hot Stuff. Now we will see if they make my eldest grandson's eyes water!! Yes the usual task of mowing grass undertaken. Seems to never stop growing!

   Chickens are being chickens and the little (some not so little!) blighters are not laying at all now. Coops cleaned out. I am fighting a battle with rats of which there has been a population explosion. 

Bulb bank clearance end of day 1

Bulb bank clearance

Frost!

     Did a short visit to the UK and what do I come back too? FROST! First serious frost of the year and that has finished off the sweet peppers and any life left in the squash and pumpkins. Last of the water melons picked and only one lost to, believe it or not, being over ripe! Carrots, butternut squash, sweet peppers, potatoes (yes, I have some second earlies still in the ground!), haricot buerre (which I have been very pleased with), cabbage, poly tunnel chili's, the last courgette and poly tunnel tomatoes (all but done now) all harvested over the last two weeks. 

     With the onset of frost the last of the sweet peppers and haricot buerre have been picked. The total weight of haricot beans, vert and buerre, has been 19.74 kgs, of which 5.53 kgs have been haricot buerre.

     Of course grass mowing continues and hopefully with the frosts it will now slow down. Chickens are still not laying well most likely down to the short days of day light and moulting. Over the the last two weeks an average of 0.7 eggs laid daily. Very poor!

Waltham butternut squash 

Haricot buerre and mixed sweet peppers

   

     Water melons continue to be picked and very much enjoyed. Haricot vert and buerre picked, BF-15 potatoes (yes, I know they are second earlies but...) lifted, mixed sweet peppers, aubergines,tomatoes picked. Yes, lots of produce still in the garden although now noticeably coming to an end. Thoughts of where to plant garlic and broad beans being made but it is still a little early and I will leave that until I come back from the UK later in October. I have bought a different garlic variety this year, Germidour and I will plant these along side some Champ Elephant garlic and probably along with some Champ Violet. Yes, it is autumn but the grass here continues to grown so the grass had to be mowed. I suspect once again this task will go on well into the autumn!

    Chickens are being chickens with coop maintenance done. Egg production is down again not surprising given the shorter days and moulting. Average daily production 1.1.

Haricot buerre 4.070kgs

Mixed sweet peppers

Pickle collection 2021 onions beetroot eggs

Autumn creeps on

    Autumn is here. The length of daylight is very noticeably shorter. The chickens are being let out later in the morning and being brought in earlier in the evening. Egg laying has dropped, not unusual with less daylight and some are moulting. Average per day egg laying down to 1.4.

   In the garden the first water melon has been picked and tried and found to be ripe and delicious! There are eight more only slightly smaller than this one. Despite everything the water melons have done very well.

Blackwater Mountain water melon

    Carrots pulled, haricot vert, tomatoes and the first two chilli peppers picked. A scotch bonnet and a hot stuff. My grandson enjoyed the scotch bonnet which I think was not fully ripe. The spaghetti squash has been cut and stored. Of course the grass was mowed! Some forking and weeding done and I now thinking where to sow over winter broad beans. 

    With the onset of autumn it is time to make pickle onions.

Pickle factory 

Peeled and salted shallots

Two of the four jars of pickled onions

     Another sign of autumn with the delivery of wood for the wood burner. Two cords delivered onto my driveway and stacked by yours truly the same day. 

Harvest

      The gathering of produce from the garden continues. Haricot vert (14.5kgs so far), strawberries, sweet peppers, carrots and beetroot all taken this last week. Despite the poor start to the year the season has ended up being quite bountiful. Jack Ice lettuce seed gathered and dried haricot vert shelled and ready to try to make baked beans! The strawberries continue to surprise with another approx half a kilo picked and weather permitting there are still more berries on the plants to ripen. The grass this year does not seem to have stopped growing at all! Grass mowed once more and there has been more rain so no doubt the grass will grow again. 

   The weather has been quite acceptable for the time of year, some sun, some rain and temperatures generally upper teens.  

   The chickens continue to be chickens and the chicks are growing with one or two showing signs that they are actually cockerals. Egg laying is pretty much as it has been over the last few weeks with an average of two eggs a day this last week. It cannot be long before the new hens start to lay.

Haricot vert patch number 3!

Gathering seed

       Time to gather seed for next year. I have gathered chocolate sweet pepper seed, Jens Orange tomato seed, parsnip seed, haricot vert seed, woad seed and moss curled parsly seed. More will follow once the squash has ripened. The weather has been very good with some overnight rain but mostly sunny during the week. 

       Despite the poor start to the year as expected the autumn is proving to be very productive. The more damper cooler spring has meant crops like summer cabbage and successive sowings of lettuce and haricot have actually worked this year. The strawberries have been just amazing and some of it must be down to the wetter conditions I am sure. My experiment with the spacing out of Desiree potatoes was a success and I will be following that up next year. The sweet peppers looking so sorry for themselves earlier in the year are now coming into their own. Plenty of good sized peppers and I reckon as long the temperature holds up there will be many more. Carrots. Man, never had such a good succesive sowing of carrots. Six lots and all producing nice sized roots at a sensible interval. Have to say  a good year despite the poor start. Of course there has to be a down side and the tomatoes outside the polytunnel were all blighted and lost as they had fruits ripening. Those plants in the poly tunnel have produced a good quanity of nice sized fruits. Melons. Well, I have had better years with the 5 Dessert but the Blackwater Mountain water melons are looking good and on course for producing upto eight fruits. Onions. Not good. The onions did not like the damp conditions and a few were lost to rot. A harvest was gained but not as good as other years. Shallots were good and probably about the same as last year.

       The last of the 5 Dessert melons have now been picked and the plants are pretty much done. The strawberries continue to give, another five hundred and eight grams picked. As are the straight and round courgettes which have also done very well. Much to my surprise and pleasure the sweet pepper plants are producing well as are the aubergines. The Golden Bantam sweet corn has done well as have the three sowings of haricot vert. The haricot buerre are in flower and I am hopeful for a crop before it gets too cold. Cucumbers have been a disappointment this year with only a few produced and those have been small. Well, one cannot win on everthing! Butternut squash is good with a surprise Crown Prince plant appearing amongst them. There is one good Crown Prince squash. 

       With my youngest grandson, Toby, we went and picked blackberries. It is a good year for them and I really need to get out and pick more!

      Chickens are still not laying well and I suspect that will be the case for a few more weeks yet. Daily average this week is 2.1 eggs per day and it is an good improvement on last week.

Aubergines

Picking blackberries with Toby

Selection of sweet peppers