Raised Beds...

Our potager has never been the best at producing results because the poplar trees suck ALL the goodness from the soil. Last year we made a small test bed lined with plastic and well cultivated and had a great success in growing Butternut squash. (We are still eating them!)

This year we have gone one better... Two raised beds 4mtrs x 1mtrs

It won't dig itself Colin!!

Lined and ready for refilling with a mixture of compost, fertiliser and soil.

Filled (nearly)

The second one a lawn mower width from the first!

The completed installation ready for planting.

Having watched Gardeners World last night Monty Dons raised beds were full to the brim so we may add some more soil before we plant anything.

We have also reduced the overall size of the potager by about a third! The ground has been prepared and seeded with grass... The windmill is our attempt to stop the birds eating the seed...

Great Green Bush Cricket...

we think...

Photographed on our courgettes yesterday

What incredible antenna you have!! (marked with red lines)

She (has the curved down ovipositor) decided to take a stroll up my arm!!

Today we had her mate... we think!!

He wasn't for walking up my arm and flew off...

It broke up the boring job of digging out three weeks+ of potager weed growth... I wish the produce would grow as fast as the weeds!!!

April Showers...

Today has been a day of April showers and the first of some much needed rain in our area for about a month. The potager was like a dust bowl!

At the end of the afternoon the sun came out for a time, followed by a quick shower which produced the most beautiful rainbow...

It will have done our potager the world of good... particularly the newly planted lettuces..

These are some Batavia lettuce which Colin has grown from seed. Looking forward to enjoying them in a few weeks time!

Spring preparations.

Last year we grew most of our vegetables from seed taking advantage of the space available in the grenier. There was however limited light and many of the seedlings became very leggy. At the time we talked about buying a greenhouse for use this year. However on reconsidering we decided we would not get full use out of a proper greenhouse... So we compromised on a very cheap option... Unfortunately it was another of those DIY assembly jobbies... This time without instructions and plenty of bits!!

I just love 3D jigsaws...

 Can you see what it is yet?

It will hold 18 large seed trays and more if we improvise a couple of shelves at the higher level. It comes complete with pegs to peg it down and four guy ropes. It should do the job if it doesn't all collapse when we get a strong wind.  Once we have finished with it it can be stored away in the cellar until next year.

The leaning tree of Braye!!

This year one of our apple trees developed a serious lean, probably due to the sheer weight of fruit it produced. It was time to get out the secret weapon for straightening trees. The device is a cheap pull lift I bought some 25 years ago to lift out the engine of a mini (Series 1 with sliding windows!!) I was restoring.. It was however never used as in the end I dropped the whole subframe and removed the engine that way. Since then it has been moved around various garages and survived to be brought to France, where this was its second use.

The tree as it was

Attaching the puller

Slowly pulling 

Is that enough??

The tree propped with a piece of Leylandii (They do have a use after all)

The prop will remain over the winter and into next spring and hopefully by that time the tree will be able to support itself.

The first time I used this technique was with our plum tree which was totally on its side. The tree is still vertical since we removed the props in early summer.

Carrots with everything!

The last of the carrots were dug up yesterday so that we can rotivate the potager in preparation for the winter. Quite what we're going to do with all the carrots is yet to be decided. Carrots with everything, I guess!

One thing's for sure: there will be nothing wrong with our night vision!

The last of the potager

It was back in July I wrote about our potager, After the first frosts it is now on its last legs...

The final crop we planted was two rows of Haricot beans back in August after our neighbour Antony was planting his second crop... They have been doing really well and we have had 5 kgs of beans with plenty more growing, however the frost has taken its toll..

We still have a supply of carrots and beetroot...

 

The red and chilly peppers are holding in there JUST...

 

But what surprises me is that we still have a few eatable tomatoes...

We still have some leeks but they are not growing well at all and the brassicas just don't appear to grow here and what has grown has been food for so many bugs...

But overall it will soon be time for the Rotavator in preparation for next year....

Roll on the spring I can't wait....

Apple Harvest

This week we have been reaping the fruits of our labours... literally!

The plum tree, which was on its side in a sorry state when we arrived, yealded a surprising two pounds plus of fruit.
Back in October it took the might of the winch to right it:

We picked fourteen pounds of pears from one of the three pear trees and today, thirty three pounds of  apples from one of three apple trees.

The sad thing is that in both cases you can't tell we've even started on the trees.

Anyone know of any good apple and pear recipes??

Potager update ( Salad Area)

It is some time since I wrote about the potager, 28th May to be exact. Where has the time gone...  The four rows of potatoes have died off and we have been eating them since the 28th May. We have started digging the rest up for storing. Peas have been and gone ( Eaten and frozen.) Haricote beans are endless and our freezer is filling up fast. The rest of the produce we are picking and eating as required.

Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers well!!!

 

 

 

My reservations about growing tomatoes outside were totally unfounded. I have never ever had so many tomatoes on each truss. Elizabeth has just picked seven pounds and as I write is looking for recipes!!! The majority of seeds I cultivated were English varieties which I wrote about here

My only minor disappointment is with the choice of cucumber. I should have had one which was F1 and did not need the male flowers nipping off.  They are incredibly difficult to spot and miss one and the cucumbers are bitter... There is always next year....

I have never had any success with peppers grown in the greenhouse but here they have done well. We bought the plants at a local market and one was a chili pepper.

Even the chilli's I planted from seed are beginning to flower.

We are fortunate to have had the well water to keep the potager watered during the very dry weather. It has definitely been worth the effort watering every night for what seemed like weeks...

Potato nests!

Whilst digging potatoes I unearthed a mouse which promptly went to ground in another hole further along the row of potatoes.

 

Excitement over my next dig produced a baby mouse... and then a second.. 

We tried our best to reunite the family and hoped they would find another place to nest. When we realised they'd been eating our potatoes, we hoped that other place would be far away from the potager!

Could these little creatures be responsible for the cache of cones and nuts found under the pear tree?

The pear tree is on the right of the photo and the hazelnut on the left.. The cones come from the front of the garden quite a distance away....

Who knows???