As the
garden becomes more in control jobs turn up in order, and form part of the big garden
procedure. Plant, weed, harvest, it is as simple as that…..I had weeded this
bed of onions twice since 1st June but as the crop matured I was
able to hold fast on the next weeding appointment knowing that sometime soon I
would be multitasking and weeding as I harvest, it is very productive and a
real time saver. The new raised beds are working well for me as they satisfy my
need for tidy and in control, no over spill and no weed spread and I can
honestly say the weed crop is totally different now that they cannot just creep
in under plastic or move in under the guise of what you think is veg, but at a
closer look, is just weed weed, weed.
The shallots
and onions are left to sunbath and dry out before I need to make the decision
on how to store. We usually plait them up and hang them in the barn but I lost
a few bunches this year with rot and I am more inclined to cut off the tops and
lay the bulbs out on these lovely wooden trays I got from intermache supermarket
to keep this year’s apples in. To be perfectly honest I tend to forget that I
have stored apples and the mice get in just before Christmas as they prepare
for their annual feast time as we do. Hung plaited or laid out in boxes, I am
going to have to surf the net to get an opinion I trust.
The pumpkin
growth is also well in control, we have four plants here and I have one in the
poly tunnel. I am undertaking a scientific experiment to see where the biggest pumpkin
will grow, not that I am determined to win a prize in this year’s Normandy pumpkin
contest, no, I am just being scientific
and very grown up.
We have a
project on the go at the moment to build a proper camper garage on the side of
the barn to give me back the court yard behind the house to create a private
and pretty outside room. The plan was to
use the hedge as the outer walls and rebuild the roof but I started the job of
moving the two compost heaps from here to the allotment and Mike decided that
he could not work with all this out of control hedge and we cut them out so we
could see the wood from the trees, or compost from the hedge. As Mike cut I grabbed and loaded the trailer,
it was a slightly sad and melancholy moment as this was one of the first garden
projects we undertook and planted this hedge way back in 2008. We bought 25 tiny
little privets plants at the annual nurseryman’s fete in Montbourge
This is 2008 planting a hedge
to hide the compost area and it grew and grew and grew. In 2012 and 13 we did not
trim hard enough to keep it in control and it just went manic and became a bit
of a monster. Earlier this year Mike had to cut in to find the entrance to this
area as we were away at its most prolific time and it just took over and closed
the way in..
So I am sorry it has to go
but glad it did exactly what it promised to do. Now we will try to keep the
front to maintain the look from the garden and protect the mowers from the
prevailing weather but we have light and room to manoeuvre in order to build
our new camper and mower shed. We left home twice today to take this trailer of
trusted hedge to the decheterie but got sent home each time as the French farmers
were in dispute with the rest of the world and have been systematically going
through the country dumping all their farm rubbish on our roundabouts and when
that did not make the news, they started last week to drive their farm vehicles
to the entry and exits of the main roads, in order to stop people getting
around. The police sit by and let it happen as they have the right to complain
but I know if I was to dump my rubbish at the farmer’s gate and leave my camper
at the end of his road so he could not get on with his day, I would be locked
up and the key thrown away. I know they need to be paid for the work they do
but it is the super markets they need to punish not us trying to get a project
on the move and keep our momentum on an hourly basis and not a daily grind
so while I have your attention in the allotment let me boast about my sweetcorn bed with black plastic to keep the weeds down and the soil moist. We will get a handsome crop here and although I do not store sweet corn we so enjoy glutting for a couple of weeks with sweetcorn appetitive, veg, snack and just for the hell of it until they are all gone, and if we do get all sweet-corned-out the chickens are always grateful for a little treat as well.
I am doubly
pleased that the allotment is looking good as we have people staying in the Mobile
homes during July and August and although my precious place is out of bounds to
them they do comment on how good everything looks and that give me a little
spark of satisfaction and pride.
And lastly
our boy ducks have gone through an extraordinary moult and were both looking
quite ill and stayed off the water so in response we started a determined effort
to clean out the pond and have dragged barrows and barrows of rotting willow
and straw off the bottom but I am pleased to say that the water quality is
improved and our boys are looking a lot
more dapper and ducky wucky like, this week xx
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