Grow Your Own Magazine

As i'm new here i thought i'd put a south west france weather thing in even if it is only for me and suee (anyone else?)
Sorry...but yesterday we had temperatures of 19 c.(after an overnight frost).

today it is raining.
which means the river might flood..

19 degrees - that's high summer in UK. It's not fair. We had a high of 11 degrees today and I thought it was lovely.

Yesterday in the sun it alllegedly reached 20C and I put in some carrot, lettuce and rocket seeds under a cloche which next door kitten then got into and ran up and down all over cos she couldnt get out so my rows will be totally mixed.
Also put in some tomatoes
today is cooler and cloudier......allegedly 15c but dont believe it.

I can only look on in envy at the temperatures! Here its about 8c, but with a storng gusty and chilly wind, and the ground is still soaking from the past few days rain, no planting out for a while and no digging yet as its still too wet!

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Blessings
Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 3rd September 2008 - updated balance sheet!

It's gently raining here in SW France now but at least it's still warm - too wet to work outside so got into the shed to give it a good tidy. Shed is 3 x 5 m chalet style so when it gets untidy it really gets untidy!

Haven't put any seeds in today at all, just moved cold frames and stuff, general maintainance.

But it's still warm!

Weather forcast until Monday is basically wet and warm tho ............

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Well, when I got up this morning it was coming down in stair rods, more rain which means that the river Dordogne will be even more flooded than yesterday. But it's one of the reasons that this area is so fertile so have to grin and bear it, the good thing is that until very late summer we don't have problems getting water to recycle - I have 9 x 300 litre water butts scattered around the garden and because we're on a terraced hillside, we pump it round when we need to.

Temp this morning is 12 degrees at 10.30. Should reach 17 this afternoon but no gardening today, have lunch out and then wine tasting this evening - ok it's tough but, as others may say, somebody has to do it!

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Been raining here too but its warm at 15c.
River very high - our garden is protected from the river by a disused railway embankment but our land on the river is regularly flooded but I haven't gardened it yet - its totally overgrown -
off to London on Sunday for two weeks so have to get some seeds in this pm!
When i get back will be looking for advice on the embankment...happy wine tasting Tony!

Raining hard here at 7 am.

Yesterday was driving along the Dordogne Valley and the river has flooded for a distance of 25 k along the length of the river between here and Sarlat.

Where my commune borders the river, (petit plage) it's about 30 meters wider than it should be and at one of the major tourist villages/small towns a little further on, it's dangerously high.

We're 250 meters above river level so not too much of a problem for us.

More rain forecast for the next two days tho .........

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

10 am, 12 degrees, sunny tho a bit watery ............

Some mist across the valley which is clearing quite quickly.

And today is the first of the big plant fairs, fruit bushes and trees in general plus the first of the herb growers. It's about 20k away, so quite local if you live round here but a must go to thing.

Market day put on hold for this week, guess where I'm off to ........

Catch up later in the chat room.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Well, for the second day running, it's been well above 20 degrees. It was 11 degrees at 10 am and has been gently warming all day.

Friend told me this pm I've even caught the sun a bit. Have been working on more seeds and then building boxes to raise roots of fruit bushes (thornless blackberries and kiwis), if not the lack of soil will stop anything rooting - about 6" on top of a rock hill so raised everything essential.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Just arrived back home from 2 days (almost) in Bordeaux.

Weather across SW France is grim at the moment. Grey and overcast, a good lot of rain around. All the rivers round here are already flooding so it looks like more on the way.

Which means, of course, no outside gardening for a few days at least so into the shed and starting more seeds off I suppose.

Found a nice red spring onion seed the other day - can buy them on the markets when they mature but easier and cheper to grow my own.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

And how wrong can the meteo be?

Glorious here this morning, sky the most wonderful shade of Dordogne blue. Lots of sun, very cold tho, only 5/9 degrees this morning.

But managed to do more tidying, took the lids of some of the seed trays in the cold frames where I've got shoots starting and managed to get some more seeds in.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Well, the weather forecast for the next few days is glorious.

And today, started at 5 degrees and by mid afternoon has risen to 24 - and it's set for this until at least Friday.

Can't remember why I moved here but think it was something to do with the weather ............

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Glorious again this morning - I had a visitor last evening and when she left at 9.30 it was still 12 degrees.

Not much gardening today, have errands to run. Yesterday did too much, caught the sun it was so hot, planted up the lavender bank, demolished two lilac trees and managed to grub out the lonicera bushes that smell like cats pee.

At last the garden is starting to open up - when I moved here it was very dark, not overgrown but like the house, completely covered in by the previous owners who were a bit odd and shut themselves away from the rest of the village.

Still, two years in and the sun now shines on the garden, have new things growing (have to buy 10 forsythia plants today to fill the gaps in the front hedge) and the overwintered iris' will hopefully go in when I get back this afternoon.

TTFN

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Just caught the weather forecast - dry and sunny for the next few days, temps between 6 and 22.

So guess what I'll be doing, should I work on the computer or go gardening ..........

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

See you later then Tony!!!!

Well, the weather here has changed - very grey and overcast when I went out to open up the cold frames this morning. But nothing like as bad as it is in parts of the UK by the look of the news this morning.

Temperature is still good tho, it's 10 degrees just FEELS much colder, no wind so it's not the wind chill.

But it's market day today, the restaurants are open, as usual meeting up with chums for drinks later so a quiet morning ............ and as the rugby is over, may get the rest of the new raised boxes extra stained this afternoon.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Out of interest (ie I'd love to live in SW France ), when's your last frost date then Tony?

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

We've not booked it yet.

Depends on who you ask - there's the Festival of St Glace, properly St Denise, which is 15th May and most of the older gardeners round here don't plant out until then tho they do have stuff growing on before that.

In the market today there were lettuce, cabbage and tomato seedlings being sold but nobody will plant them out for the next six weeks.

Smart money round here is for the last frost is around early/mid April tho the past few years it's been well before than by 5/6 weeks so could be any time now.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Well, the weather here is just bloody awful - the whole range today AGAIN, sleet, little rain, snow squalls and now it's sunny but it's blowing a gale, the wind chill is just horrendous.

But I just managed to get an hour outside - suitable wrapped, wooly hat, two fleeces, proper hiking socks and boots - and got the soft fruit boxes all sited, levelled and dug in where they should go.

Just come in for my garlicky lentil stew, that should warm me up with a couple of lumps of the local bread!

I'm working on the basis that if I can get outside for a few hours a day - even one hour a day - it will cut down the work later and give me more time to sit on the terrace!

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Add I thought you were in the warmer bit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B*******y cold here too

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

Got back from London yesterday, thought i was escaping the bad weather...stopped overnight in Limoges - snowing as we left - got home to bright sunshine but then a hailstorm.
Seedlings up in the cold frame...but too busy indoors to do anything yet

Been out double checking the babies - sorry seedlings are ok. All inside the various cold frames and covered with double layers of voile d'herbinage just to make sure.

It was bloody cold tho - and yep, I am supposed to be in the warm bit.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Weather continues cold, not as wet tho, still too wet to do anything on the beds so maintainance prevails, building stuff and looking at other people's gardens to help them out later.

Starting to feel like a working gardener again!

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220