Grow Your Own Magazine

A quick one this week I'm afraid.

Temperatures 11 - 29C and rainfall 18mm and windy.

Garden looks like a battle ground what with all the wind and heavy showers.

Potato tops cut off in an attempt to get some kind of crop in spite of the blight.

Peas and French Beans replanted.

Tomatoes ripening, outside.

Pepper on a plant and chillies just showing.

Superb Beetroot, best ever.

Winter planted Garlic and shallots lifted

1st Cauli eaten

Off to UK on Wednesday to deliver Aged Parent and collect damaged Daughter.

Life is never dull!!!!!!!!!! Back in 10 days

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Well back finally AND got the computer connected!!!

Long story regarding the delay but I won't bore you with that. Suffice it to say that the best laid plans of mice and men/women have a habit of going pear shaped for a passtime.

During my absence the weather has been much of a muchness but as promised by the met men as of the 14th (Bastile Day) things have looked up.

Since the last post we have had a low of 7C on the 8th July and until things picked up the highest daytime temp. was 23C but yesterday it got up to 30C.

The weather in general has been showery with sunny intervals and not really the sort of thing that we expect in July. Total rainfall up until last night was 70mm.

Growing wise, the last sowing of peas and French beans have germinated and of the 50 leeks I planted before I went away I have 11 left, SLUGS. The plastic covers on the tomatoes seem to be keeping the blight off at the moment I only have one that looks suspect and that could be wind damage as the covers tend to flap and we have had quite a lot of wind. Peppers and Chillies are struggling.

Caulies are finished and I am waiting for the next ones, Red Cabbage are making good heads and the block planted onions (4 to a station) are swelling nicely. All the spring planted shallots and Garlic have now been harvested. Strawberries are doing really well for their first year and the Raspberries, which are also new are showing signs of producing a small late crop.

All the spud tops have been cut off and I don't think that they will store as the Blight arrived in June this year, normally it doesn't show its self until early August.

One of the locals told me that there has not been such bad weather at this time of year since 1999.

One really nice thing, I found 3 baby hedghogs which have been visiting on a regular basis.

Watch this space.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Finally got rid of even more visitors who were on holiday and seem to think that I have one long holiday I should be so lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since the 16th there hasn't been much of a change in the weather, usual story showers, storms, a bit of sun, a bit windy and not at all warm. The mercury did just about manage to reach 27C on the 19th other than that it has been in the low 20s all the time. At night it has ranged from 8 - 12C. Wet wise there has been 70.5 mm of the wet stuff. This time last year I was praying for rain and doing rain dances, much to the amusement of the locals.

As for growing, I'm beginning to think that this year should just be written off

The peppers have had their plastic hats taken off and look as if they might do something. Chillies still look a bit sick but have lots of flowers, the Birds Eye chillies have just decided that they will grow. Tomatoes won't be much good, they are still under the plastic sleeves and they have kept the blight off but - the fruit is not setting well, except for the Cerise which have lots, the second truss on the whole is just non existent. On the other hand I am still picking Strawberries and the raspberry canes are showing a late crop.

Slugs have been a major problem this year but there have been very few aphids and as yet little problem with caterpillars, but then the weather has been too bad for butterflies although I did find two Swallowtail Caterpillars on the carrots. They don't seem to do much damage so I left them alone.

The workmen have just finished putting up a new fence as the neighbour is threatening to put sheep on the land and it has made a right mess of the mown weeds (grass). still I suppose the rutts will flatten out eventually.

The last two Mondays have brought some quite spectular thunder storms. I wonder what we will be in for tomorrow?

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Well last Monday turned out fine but today we are forcast storms again.

The temperatures this week have been a bit bizare, Tuesday night it fell to 4C overnight and yesterday rocketed to 31C by about 3pm. We have had 1mm of the wet stuff and a lot of SUN for a change so the ground, clay, has gone all hard except where it has been covered with straw where it is still nice and crumbly underneath.

The peas that I sowed late have flowers and pods on them, that is the round seeded variety but the wrinkle seeded ones have yet to make the effort. They are still not getting very high, they are dwarf and usually get to about 1m but this year they are still half that size. French beans have flowerbuds just showing. It must be the weather as even in the market there are no French, French beans they are all imported. The Rhubarb has been put to bed until next year, fed and mulched.

I am beginning to revise my opinion about the tomatoes although I don't think that it will be a heavy crop. Cerise are producing well, Moneymaker and Ferline look OK but Legend that I grew for their blight resistence dont seem to producing well at all. Think that I will give them a miss next year.

I started doing this on 15th August last year so it is nearly the year up so it will be interesting to do a bit of comparison. Thank you all for looking at my ramblings.

Other than that, not a lot else to report. Will try and post on Sunday evening next week if my net connection holds in the evening. ****** Wanadoo

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Hi Roitelet,
Thunderstorms.... Tell me about it. I have only just got around to reading your posts - Thanks for sharing them. We are in Puy De Dome (63) at the top of the departement - Just about on the border of Allier (03) It's so interesting to find that the same things seem to happen to you and us (builders mess, parsnips etc..) My Daughter lives in Paris, she came here for Christmas and her friend had to bring parsnips from the UK! I tried growing some this year but I think the seeds were old and I only have 1 so far, I'm thinking of sacrificing that one for seeds.
Anyway, weather wise, after a scorching couple of days 30's the promised rain has arrived. We didn't have the thunder expected although, OH didn't get a wink of sleep last night, like a coiled spring ready to turn off all computer equipment if it happened. We have lost countless ADSL filters and a couple of modems to the lightening spikes.
Hey Ho, although those here on holiday won't agree - the garden is thrilled!!
Look forward to hearing from you on Sunday.
Clare
ps - have a look at www.beaugut.com for our site and blog.beaugut.com for, well, our blog I suppose.

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

Hi All,

Delayed again!! I think that I will have to give up trying to use the Net in the evening. The connection keeps going down, talk about frustrating

Last week we had what could be called 'sunny intervals' and showers. Except for Tuesday that is when we had a huge thunderstorm. 27mm of rain 7 of which fell in 30 mins. I was driving at the time and had to stop, just couldn't see In total we had 32mm of rain in the last 7 days.

emperatures are nothing to write home about, high 24C and low 6C. Not atall what we should have this time of year. The weather is supposed to pick up after tomorrow. We shall see but I'm not holding my breath.

Growing wise - I picked peas yesterday. The are dwarf but have only got about knee high so have to crawl down the rows to harvest them! rench Beans are in flower and I shall have to rig up some kind of shade as the leaves are showing signs of sunburn. Strange not much sun.

I made a late sowing of leafy things, salad mixtures and the like, Turnips and Sweeds. Some have greminated and despite all the rain I have to keep watering to keep the ground soft as as son as the sun comes out the surface dries out and cracks.

Harvested a super Cauli during the week and there is 1 more to come. Just have to watch it so it doesnt 'blow'.

I have been experimenting with block planting this year and am very impressed. I have put a straw path down the middle of the 3m wide beds and block planted on each side. I won't do anything perminant as it would interfere with the rotation and I like to grow some of the larger crops in long rows.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Keeping my fingers crossed that the connection holds!!!!

Maximum this week 24C, minimum 7C, rain 13.5C, weather 'sunny intervals'.

Looking back at last year, 15 - 19 Aug the weather and temperatures were much the same. Amazing just how short ones memory is, last year was always better than this

Today has been too damp to garden so I spent the day dodging Swallow Poo as the 5 chicks have been taking flying lessons round my workshop.
I have been finishing the new portable chicken house and a sectional run. Promise, I will post some pictures when they are quite finished. Need the final coats of wood preserative.

The round seeded peas have produced quite a lot of peas considering that they never made more than knee high. The wrinkle seeded ones seem to have got their act together and look much as they should and are producing flowers. Tomatoes are ripening and still no sign of blight I am still picking Strawberries and there a lot to come. Sorry those who have had a bad crop.

Germination is a bit slow and patchy on the things I sowed around the 13th August.

Has anyone else got things flowering out of season? My Magnolias and a Hellibore Orentalis are in flower

Well the connection is still holding, so here goes, I'm posting it!!!!

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

This week Max 26C min 10C and RAIN all 41mm of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year 20/8 - 27/8 Max 19 Min 11 rain 12.5mm sinshine and showers all week.

The weather this week has been AWFUL until Saturday when it finally dried up and Sunday was really nice and hot. Lets hope that the improvement continues.

I have had to rip out most of the annuals in the flowerbeds as they were flattened by the torrential rain. Oh well early autumn clear up and it keeps CK busy

The knee high peas have been pulled out and the wrinkle skinned ones are still doing well. Peppers are producing well although the plants are small in comparasion to what they should be. Chillies have a few chillies developing on them but the wet weather has caused the flowers to fall off. You guessed it, Blight has struck the tomatoes The plastic hats seem to have done their job fairly well given that I lost the potatoes to blight in June. A better year and they could be a success.

Not a great deal else going on here just waiting for the grass to dry out enough to cut/crop it. Anyone got any good recipies?

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

No recipies for grass I'm afraid!!!!
2nd hot sunny day here in suisse normande after one week of rain...rain..rain...oh...and more rain!!!!!
Managed to pick the rest of the plums and made blackberry jam- then started on the autumn cutback of many of the shrubs and flowers.
OH had fun with the metal detector and found bits of tractor and barbed wire!!!
Intend to plant out a sack of daffodil bulbs tomorrow....if the rain stays away!!

Here, it has been raining for almost a week (mostly the drizzle type but once in a while it poured down ), and finally it seems to stop but the weather is more alike the autumn than the summer by now, it has been around 20 C or less for the past 2 to 3 weeks with weak sun shine.

Momol

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

Hectic time here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27.8.07 - 9.9.07
Rain for the last 2 weeks 2.5mm - Max Temp. 24C - Min Temp 2C
For the same period last year 9mm - Max Temp. 24C - Min Temp 11C

On the whole not bad weather at all but despite the downpours I reported last time I am going to have to do some rescue watering as things in the garden are flagging.

Not much happening on the growing front - French beans are finally 'beaning'. Peas have pods on them and are the correct height! Winter Greens are fighting a battle with the slugs not to mention Butterflies, Raspberries are slowly ripening and I may get enough for Jam if the sun keeps shining. Strawberries are doing well.

Finally a week ago we took delivery of three new hens, Cayennes, they were kept in a seperate run until last night when I put them in with the original Cock and Hen. All was quiet overnight but this morning when I let them out there was a bit of a free for all for about half an hour and the Cock couldn't believe his luck

Still cutting b******y grass. Does it ever stop growing?

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

It has been pretty cool here for the whole week, the temp is always around 15 to 18 C at the day( sometimes 13 C ), the night temperature drop to around 11 C. For several days we got very fine drizzle for several hours per day, very cold... BRRRR. Our weather broadcast was saying that the fall is here ...

Momol

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

A glorious week here if you are not a Gardener. The season of mists and mellow fruit fullness and jam making. The trees are turning colour and as it has not been as hot here as in previous years there should be some good autumn colour.

9 - 16 August

2006 Max Temp. 27C Min Temp. 10C Rain 8mm
2007 Max Temp. 24C Min Temp. 3C Rain Zero!

It is now 23 days with out any rain worth speaking about so there is very little to report on the growing front. Peas have pods on them but are not swelling, French Beans are producing a few beans and the Raspberries are ripening nicely and if the weather stays fine there is the promise of quite a reasonable crop for their first year. I am waiting to get the winter cabbage transplanted but the ground is too dry and hard to lift then let alone re-plant them.

Met the local Farmer while out Blackberrying yesterday and he offered me free manure for next year. Chickens have settled in well and there is no more scrapping and the Cock still has a big smile on his beak

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Bit late again, sorry.

We have had RAIN. Not a lot but welcome all the same.

Weather for 17th - 23rd
2007 High Temp 24C, Low Temp 1C, Rain 8mm
2006 High Temp 25C, Low Temp 9C, Rain 7mm

Raspberries are doing well and I am picking about 1lb every other day, more jam when I get enough. Winter cabbage finally transplanted thanks to the rain.

Now have 3 Chooks laying, one to go. Just about to move them onto the potager, penned of course, so that they can eat all those nasty beasties and do a bit of fertilizing at the same time.

Moles have just released their secret weapon, runs just below the surface that produce ridges in the mown weeds. Mole hills I can deal with but this is a whole new ball game.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

The AccuWeather forecast for tomorrow night is a low temperature of -5°C, coupled with rain and snow, winds from the NW at 20kph gusting to 41kph giving a "ReelFeel" of -14°C.

And it's still only September (today has been a high of 16°C light winds and one short but sharp shower this afternoon).

Time to protect our more tender plants?

KK

24th - 30th September

2007 Max Temp 18C Min Temp 3C Rain 36.5mm

2006 Max Temp 19C Min Temp 10C Rain 8mm

Well after weeks and weeks of DRY DRY weather the rain has arrived and very welcome it is too. Curtails the earthworks a bit but at this time of the year there is more than enough to do clearing up all the overgrown stuff to keep me busy.

I have just bought the Garlic and Shallots for autumn planting and am looking into a couple of Grape vines to plant on the south facing side of the house. There used to be the traditional pear trees there but they had to go as they didn't fruit and probably were put there when the place was built. When the weather is dry enough I shall sow some Mache and Salad leaves which I will cloche a bit later.

Still picking Raspberries and Strawberries.

The Chickens are now on the potager in their moveable run and are making short work of the slugs and other beasties.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

1st - 7th October

2007 Max Temp 20C Min Temp 4C Rain 32.5mm

2006 Max Temp 18C Min Temp 10 Rain 21.5mm

I think the weather is what could be called 'soft'. After heavy rain at the begining of the week we have had very misty mornings with heavy dew and once the mist has burnt off the days have been lovely and sunny, the nights though have been cooler than last year and the Wood burner has been brought into use several times.

All the carrots have been lifted before the slugs eat them all and I am very impressed with the Flyaway, hardly any carrot fly damage. Winter Greens are beginning to grow, more leeks transplanted, compost spread and a lot of the ground cleared. Its dry enough to get the salad leaves in at last and the ground prepared for the garlic and shallots but I think that I will wait a week or two before I plant them.

There are still Strawberries if I get to them before the slugs do and I think that I am going to have to cut off the leaves and remaining fruit to give them a rest. Lots more green fruit on the raspberries, don't know if they will ripen.

I have potted the Chilli plants to see if I can over winter them to give me a head start next year.

And finally - Moles alive and well

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

And today in Normandy it rained all day!!!
Good job cos we were decorating!!!

OK here - 14 degrees, cloudy, dry, no problem. Rain promised for tomorrow, though

KK

Thought I might add to this thread for a change! The weather here in central France is glorious today with lovely warm sunshine and barely a cloud in the sky. This was not the case a week or so ago though when it was piddling down with rain and felt very autumnal. Temperatures are about 16 deg Celsius during the day but the nights and early mornings are more like 5/6 degrees. Don't seem to have had a proper frost yet though.

Yesterday sat out having lunch until 5pm as it was so warm here in normandy- bit cloudy and cooler today.
When do these mosquitoes die off????
Cooler weather was clearly binging indoors the wildlife...2 spiders with leg span of 5" last night!!!