Europe 2007

[jcwhite]

French windowsills!!
Yes, I agree with Roitelet, French style windows are very strange. Try making English curtains fit them!Just recieved the Seed catalogue that one of the Forum readers recommended, and its raining today, so might just go and see if I can understand a little, or even just look at the pictures!

[roitelet]

Fantastic day today One of those days when it's good to be alive. Sun this morning and the air smelt of spring. The frogs are singing love songs in the pond and the first daffodils are out. Purple Sprouting Broccoli is showing signs of sprouting and if this weather keeps up we should be eating it next week which will please No. 2 daughter no end. She is on leave from Kazakstan where they have NO GREEN VEG Harvested the grass for the first time this year.

Having commented on the low rainfall last week, on Monday and Wednesday it fell down giving a total for the week of 32mm. The lowest temperature this week was -3C and today it soared to 14C.

Itching to get stuff in the ground!!

[TonyF]

Hi folks

I'm new here, live in Dept 24, Dordogne where we've been for a couple of years having bought small house and the garden we always wanted. Season seems to have started early here - last year was so cold this time but this year wet but much warmer - and the seasons here are seasons, not the smudged times of year that we had in London.

Last year I started to put in raised beds and this year will continue the project as I live on the side of a rocky hill. In some places I have little soil over the rock so raised beds are my only option, including raised beds in the fruit cage.

I've started cutting back the graminees, cleared the pond a bit and have sterted getting seeds into the cold frames. The overwintering cabbages are coming on now, starting to heart and the over wintered onions and garlic are doing ok.

Last year was difficult in the garden because of other domestic reasons but still had a huge glut of tomatoes, courgettes, melons and aubergines.

This year it's more of the same, more raised beds, different veggies - I belong to the Heritage Seed Library and will be trying some of their seeds again this year. Last year got some great toms and haricot vert from them which I've managed to save seeds from, fingers crossed. Probably aiming to get the early haricots vert, pois and feve in pots this week, once they're in the cold frames, should grow away fine.

I just love living here - my garden is about 75 times bigger than my garden in east London was and now have so much room to grow stuff I've always wanted to grow.

J looks after the front of the garden, I get the back and we share the wood that we bought - wonderful stuff and I can be as organic as I've always wanted to be here, no probs with manure, leaf mould by the tonne, recycling (a way of life here) and generally being more aware. All supplemented by living in a fairly rural community where bees and butterflies abound in the spring and summer (bee hives next project) with the most wonderful bird life - sounds idyllic because it is!

We worked for 40 years to be able to finally live our gardening dream and it was worth every day of the slog to get here.

Regards

Tony F
Berbiguieres, 24220

[pigletwillie]

Having been going to Normandy and Brittainy for the last few years I can honestly say that if the funds were available I would be over the water today.

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Tony and a warm welcome to the madhouse! Your veg patch / woods / garden sounds amazing, I'd love to see some piccies if you have any?

Hope you have as much fun on the land as it sounds like you will, and hope you enjoy being here on the vine with all us really jealous grapes!

[sewer rat]

Tony
Sounds as if your garden / woods were well worth the 40 years wait. Welcome to the ever expanding Vine!

[roitelet]

First of all, welcome to the vine Tony. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

A bit of a mad week here as my Daughter visited and I haven't seen her for 18months. BTW the Purple sprouting Broccoli went down very well indeed

The weather has been mixed this week with the prevailing weather coming mostly from the south west. This has meant that there have been lots of heavy showers and wind, on Friday night there was a small thunder storm.
High temperature for this week was 11C and the low 3C and a total of 17mm of rain.

Things are beginning to show signs of growth, and the Daffodills are starting to put on quite a show. Forsythia is making an effort and I don't think that it will be long before the Flowering currant is in bloom. I went to Paris today and there is quite a lot of blossom on the trees, some pink and some white but I don't know what it was. Paris is a week or two earlier than us.

I have planted the Broad Bean plants under a cloche and put in another two double rows of seed under fleece. All planted on the appropriate day according to the Moon Gardening Calendar so here is hoping for a good crop.

I am now off for 12 hours sleep to recover from the visit Any typos due to being kn*****d!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TonyF]

Weather in the Dordogne is overcast and quite miserable.

But, managed to get out for a couple of hours each of the past few days - getting the early haricot vert and pois in, carrots, onions etc all neatly sown and in the various cold frames.

I really need to put some more raised beds in but the ground is just so cold and wet, will probably have to delay it for a couple of weeks - better get on with making the rained boxes for the fruit bushes I suppose and getting more seeds in.

It's great living in an area where most people with a garden have something approaching a kitchen plot - some of them are the size of severl allotments but the upside is masses of different fruits and veg, lots of kit when and where you need it (seasonally adjusted of course) and lots of organic stuff, though here organic is more of a way of life for everybody so it's not a bit fuss thing.

[roitelet]

A pretty un-remarkable week weather wise. High temperature of 13C and an overnight low of -1C and for once a frost on Friday. A bit of wind and some showers giving a total of 26.5mm of rain.

However Spring is here! Lots of frog spawn in the pond, and the buds on the trees and shrubs are swelling as you watch. I found a ladybird yesterday and was buzzed by a low flying bumble bee today.

Shallots and Garlic have been planted today. I just want to see the difference between the Autumn and Spring sowings. PSB is producing well but I must remember NEVER to plant Curly Kale near to it again. CK had to be composted because of aphids and now it is a race to eat the PSB before it too becomes infested.

Thought you would like some pictures of French Spring to relieve the monotony of me going on about Highs, Lows and wetness or lack of it

Cast in order of appearance - Tete a Tete and Crocus, Tete a Tete, Jetfire, Corsican Hellebore, Oriental Hellibore. In other words Spring at Le Bois Belloir

[roitelet]

This is the week of the pink trees! They are a vareity of Prunus (1st picture). They suddenly burst into bloom and within a week it has all gone but a true indication that spring is here.

The week started off a bit grey damp and nondescript but on Thursday we woke to frost and Sun and it has been like that eversince. The higs and lows for this week happened today 14C to -4C and the total rainfall has been 15.75mm.

There have been a lot of Brimstone butterflies around in the last few days and I have also seen a small Tortashell. The Violet Odorata (2nd Pic) are in full bloom and the true violet ones are just beginning. Not many primroses about but then this is a cowslip area rather than primroses, and of course the lesser cellandines are little patches of gold everywhere along the verges.
Today I saw the first patch of wood anemones, when they really get going the woods are full of them.

Thr Broad beands are still under their cloches but I am opening then during the day to harden them off. The Rhubarb is coming along nicely and we should have a few sticks of forced nextweek although to my dissapointment the crown that I am forcing is throwing up flower heads.

Seedlings are coming along well even with a lack of windowsills I have just bought 2 mini plastic covered greenhouse things which have to be put out during the day and taken in at night.

[roitelet]

I has been a pretty good week with brilliant sunny days and the top temperature was 15C. However every night the temperature has fallen to below freezing, the lowest being -5C. Very little dampness this week, 2mm only.

The weather has changed today and the wind has got up so it feels quite cold. We are forecast to have snow on and off until about Friday with low daytime temperatures as well as night. So from getting sunburnt and reaching for the Factor 30 it will be out with the winter woollies again. I have lined the mini greenkouse with fleece and moved all the Tomato and Pepper plants back to the kitchen table.

On the growing front, I have sown a few Turnips and white Onions outside, prepared the potato plot and they will go in on 1st April. Slight problem with the soil, it is still wet underneath but the top lumps have 'set' to concrete with the hot sun and it is very difficult to get a tilth on the beds.

We have eaten the first of the forced Rhubarb and I think that I am winning the race with the aphids on the PSB. Stripped it the other day of anything edible and then sprayed what was left with a soap solution.

The Magnolia Stellata is just trying to flower

[rustylady]

We've had no significant frosts (YET). Sleet/hail showers today and very windy. PSB has had whitefly, but I just cut it and soak in a bucket of water, they soon drown and float to the top. What sort of aphids do you have on yours?

[roitelet]

Grey furry jobs Rustylady. Very difficult to remove because they look a bit like the flower buds and they don't seem to drown Do my best to get them all off under running water, but then what harm can an extra bit of protein do Better than some nasty insecticide!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[roitelet]

The last week has been disgusting!!!! On Monday and Tuesday the weather threw all sorts at us, rain, sleet, snow, hail, wind and on one occasion Thunder. The lowest overnight temperature was -4C and the highest 3C, which was last night. During the day it has reached 10C but that again was today. Maybe things are going to improve? It has felt very cold due to the wind and the dampness. Not conducive to doing much outside at all. The precipitation for the week was 29.5mm.

Not a lot going on on the growing front, its all gone on hold. The magnolias in the area were nearly in full bloom but the rain and snow has bruised all the flowers and they are now brown instead of pink

I think that I am winning the race with the aphids for the PSB after drowning the plants in a solution of washing up liquid, salt and chilli powder. Todays picking did not have quite so much 'added protein'! I have had another picking of forced rhubarb, delish, and some coriander that I sowed on the windowsill in January. The broad beans that were sown in open ground on 23rd Feb. are just starting to germinate. I have made a tentative sowing of turnips and spring onions in the ground on the 16th March and beetroots and spinach beet in modules on the 17th in the cold frame. The tomato, pepper and chilli plants are still on the kitchen table and there are cauli, cabbage, lettuce and onion seedlings in the cold frame. When we get a gleam of sunshine the temperature rockets in there so it needs constant watching.

Next Sunday is the day for planting the potatoes, according to the moon. I trust that it will remain fine enough.

I have sown loads of perennal flower seed, most of which has germinated but is not yet ready to prick out. Windowsills, such as they are, are full and I just hope it warms up enough so that I can get things out in the two very mini greenhouse things I've bought to relieve the conjestion.

I'm using the time to get on top of the weeds, that is when the fingers don't freeze. Oh the joys of gardening

[roitelet]

Well it's that time of the week again and I'm pleased to say that the weather hasn't been as disgusting as last week. Very changeable would be the description. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were super with the temperature reaching 17C during the day but at night it fell like a stone to -5C. On Wednesday evening we had a thunder storm. By Thursday it had turned again and become grey and chilly again and then would you belive it on Thursday night we had about 1inch of snow! It had all gone by lunchtime on Friday and the sun came out and it was a lovely afternoon. Saturday was grey to start with and by about 4pm it was raining. Today it started of grey and misty but then it turned into a lovely day and the wind has gone to the South. The precipitation for the week has been 22mm.

The Turnips that were sown on the 16th March have germinated and my pale Broad Beans are now looking much better and today I have taken the cloches off. As directed by the moon I have planted the potatoes today and tomorrow I will sow the parsnips and carrots if the weather holds. The Oriental salad that I sowed in a container and wrapped in fleece has germinated.

I am a bit behind all of you in the UK but will soon be catching you up and then overtaking you. It will be another 6 weeks before I can risk planting out the Tomatoes and Peppers as we could still get frost in the middle of May

The Lesser Stitchwort is just coming into flower and the Lesser periwinkles are making quite a show in the hedge bottoms and I have seen the first Cowslips. The Fritillaria Imperialis I planted in the Autumn are growing as you watch them and the first one will be in flower in the next few days.

When it warms up enough there a lot of Brimstone butterflies about and huge bumble bees. No Swallows yet, they are late, I usually see them about mid March.

After todays efforts I am beginning to feel like a real gardner again and not just playing at it.