Calm before the storm

After days of constant rain we were blessed with a few days of dry warm weather.  It's not going to last though and storms are on their way according to my farmer neighbour and the look of the sky and a low rumbling.  Thought I'd take a few pictures of the garden in case the rain reeks havoc.

Most of the iris are in flower abut some late ones are still to bloom.  This is one of my favourites I think it's called Carnaby.



The majority of my iris are in the white to deep purple colour range you can just about make them out in this photo.  I'd love to go on a spending spree at a place called Cayeux their iris are to die for.  The patio is covered with plants I'm bringing on.  Some seedlings are really struggling and the slugs have eaten all the melons and cucumbers.  They don't seem to have an appetite for the squashes - just as well or I'd have little to plant out! Gold Nugget is doing really well butternut Metro less so.  I'm trying to grow as much coriander as possible so the 'weeds' in the patio are coriander.  Pesto made with coriander and pumpkin seeds in place or pine nuts is delicious!



The back of the garden is coming along nicely - thanks to lots of water! I'm sure by next year the island beds will have filled out nicely.  I must resist the temptation to plant more stuff.  I am hoping the day lilies all bulk up nicely for a huge split in autumn.



The top of the garden gets the least amount of attention and is my favourite part.  This is the place to enjoy a nice cold beer after a heavy day's gardening. The wild flowers are just allowed to get on with it here the only thing I try and keep in check (a bit) are the nettles.  Left alone they would take over the whole place.



This is from the back of the garden looking toward the house.  They're not out yet but when they are the Buddleia will be covered in butterflies and humming-bird moths.  The little oak on the left hand side was grown from an acorn - it is the most precious thing in the garden.



Back down the garden near the pond is the new herb plot - full of bramble last year but doing pretty well. The herbs brought back from Spain seem to be thriving except for the Rue which looks like it is struggling.  You can see the bramble wants to come back so I'd better get out there with a spade.



This is a bit boring - back of the house and the strawberry patch.  I moved them from the veggie plot as they were getting baked in the full sun. They seem to be doing OK here where they only get full sun late afternoon. I've got a heavy mulch of bark chipping over the lot in an attempt to keep the moisture in. Not sure if  I like how this looks but it's practical.



Finally, what has been keeping me busy for the past week.  I've now got a bit of a border around the enlarged plot with chives at either end and rhubarb and begamot down the long side. The side by the wall is mainly rasps with a grapevine in the middle of the row - that is tied into the fence which it will cover come summer.



The damp patches you see are newly sown.  If I remember - parsnips with poached egg plant, celeriac, carrot, turnip, spinach, beetroot, mangetout, dill, coriander, salad stuff, calabrese, and  kale. Oh, and radish, rocket, sweet fennel and beet leaf. They join the onion, garlic and potatoes. I've still to sow runner beans  plus plant out tomatoes, squashes, chilies and cucumber. I might have bell peppers if the seedling ever start to grow. I've had to go buy some cucumber plants given the slug attacks and perhaps I'll sow some melon into the ground and see what happens. I really should sow the beans this afternoon before the storm arrives at least everything will get a good watering free of charge!

Well best get out there and get some work done.

 

 

Plot to plate in half an hour

You can tell the weather has taken a turn for the worse as I've got time to update this blog.  But must be quick though as it looks like the sun might be about to make an appearance. About an hour ago I dug up the remaining perpetual spinach from last year.  I know the leaves look very large but I find the flavour in the biggest leaves the best.



Passed to hubby for cleaning and trimming.  That is a very large fruit bowl I'd say about 600 grams of spinach.



Then enjoyed with a corned beef hotpot - just what was required on this cold dreich day.



 

As soon as the ground has dried out a bit I'll be planting more perpetual spinach.  Not sure when that will be though as the 10 day forecast is for rain, rain and more rain.  Glad I got those potatoes in the ground last week.

Fence and Potatoes - Done

At last the fence is up to keep those pesky hens out of the veggie plot. They are pretending not to be bothered while eyeing up possible launching pads to gain access.  Very sneaky French hens....



 

Last night I finished planting the potatoes so that means the 2nd row is now full till summer. Heading out to plant parsnip mixed with calendula - worked for me last year so I thought I'd give it another go. Plus I'll need to make some step over paths now there is only one way into the plot. So that's onion, garlic and potatoes  in the ground and hopefully parsnip sown by this evening.

Quick update

Finally, wee seedlings starting to look like something.  Must admit though very weedy in appearance at the moment.  The worst ones (safflower seedlings) I've repotted and they look 100% better.  The rest will will have to hold out till the end of next week before being rehoused.  The only thing that has not germinated (so far) is some 10 year old white hollyhock seeds the cassis variety (same age) has germinated.  This little lot includes tomatoes, peppers, chilies, okra, aubergines, hollyhocks and agastache 'honey bee blue' oh, and some Lavatera.



Around the garden most of the daffs have gone over but the tulips are still looking good.  I've been doing some more planting in the island beds - just hope I've not over planted as I do want to put some veggies in here. It's amazing everything is still looking so green it's an age since we had any rain plus the sun has made an appearance almost everyday since we returned from Spain...not going to grumble about too much sun though!



The pond had a top up yesterday so the bright green water is looking a bit less green.  Just need to be patience and let the plants do their thing and  a couple of  weeks from now and it should be clear.  Does not seem to bother the multitude of frogs that are sunning themselves at the edges. This is the only place the hens totally avoid I think they must be afraid of the water.

The first of the early iris are starting to come out.  All the iris in this area are supposed to be blue, white and mauve but there's an orange one lurking and I must move it this year as it stick out like a sore thumb. That bugle's gone a bit Bismark it was only a tiny scarp I planted but it seems to have taken off.  Definitely going to have to thin this lot out at the end of the season as some plants are getting totally swamped.



In the veggie plot I've managed to get the onions and garlic planted and about a third of the potatoes. Tomorrow I will hopefully finish the potatoes then I can complete the weeding and get some more seeds in. Still have not got around to fencing in those pesky hens. I think I need more hours in the day.

 

Bring on the veggie plot...

Two week ago I had fingernails but after a couple of weeks weeding, edging and cutting grass they are no more! Thanks to a run of decent weather I've managed to whip the back 'field' into some sort of shape. This will now have to look after itself as I get stuck into the veggie plot. I've been waiting on some new fencing to keep the hens out rather than in...so hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I'll have a hen free veggie plot that I can start working on.



 

I've got a bedroom full of seed trays but so far I'm not very impressed with the progress maybe a few more days of warm sunny weather will make a difference - let's hope so.  They are just too pathetic to even photograph at the moment!

So fingers crossed for a few days of dry weather to I can get the veggie plot whipped into shape, onions planted and seed bed prepared.

Happy to be home...

Arrived back from Spain yesterday to a wonderful hailstone storm and 5 degrees a bit chillier than the temperatures in Malaga.  So good to be home but the garden looks a right mess  although, Mr Mole has been kind and left me fewer than 20 mole hills to deal with.  I see the hens on the other hand have moved every scrap of mulch to somewhere else - got to get a fence around the veggie plot - now! There must have been some warm sunny weather while I was away as one of the rhubarbs has started to flower a strange sight in the garden at this time of the year.

Nice to see the daffs in flower but my new herb patch is full of weeds and the grass is in desperate need of cutting.  If it gets out a bit warmer today I might make a start - on the weeds not the grass.  About five days of dry weather before the grass can be tackled.



Brought back some herbs and flowers from Spain but I think I'll have to give the herbs a couple of days in the garage before making them face the cold.  There's a stevia there and some rue  plus a mint I've never seen before - must check and see if the stevia's hardy before planting.



Also back from Spain this little lot - mainly thanks to Aldi.  The onions I'm going to try and get in next week when we're forecast a whopping 17 degrees - you can never grow enough onions can you.  The sweet potatoes  have to wait until any danger of frost has past so I'm just going to keep them cool for the moment.  (It's just too embarrassing to show the pile of seeds from Spain)



It's local  elections  today in France so I'm off to vote before turning my attention to all things green...isn't spring just the most exciting time of the year.

 

From warmer climes....

Left France for Spain last week - time away from the wind and rain for a while.  Just before I departed snapped a couple of pictures.  The first is some unfinished work.  I had hoped to complete the slight enlargement to the veggie plot before I left but the weather was not kind and trying to edge sodden ground is no fun. So this is the first thing I'll be doing when I get home in March. You can see I've got lots of lovely tree roots to remove before I can make use of this new patch. Also, need to think about fencing in the plot to keep the hens at bay. Not sure how to do it cheaply and for it to look good at the same time?



This next picture is quite amazing for me at least -  taken 11th of February and the squashes I'd got left still looked good! They've been in the basement on a slatted table in the light for a good 4 months .  I've put the small ones in the compost but left the big one to see if it manages to hold on till March.  When I've kept them in the basement where it's dark they have never lasted this long.



Finally, this is where you hope the winter continues as is and doesn't decide to go into free fall temperature wise. The rhubarb is all coming up. I grew this from seed last year but didn't pull any stalks looks like I've got about 10 good plants appearing so looking forward to some rhubarb crumble come the spring. I've planted a ruby  red monarda between each rhubarb plant so hope this row looks and tastes good. The monarda I bought as a tiny plant last spring and by autumn it was over a foot in diameter so I split it into 10 pieces and replanted .  Let's hope I've not been too mean with the transplanting and they bulk up quickly.