Still no measurable rain here apart form 10 mm at the end of last week. Not enough to green the grass and it's been windy since so everything dried out straightaway.
OH has been clearing and cleaning tomato and squash foliage and stems to leave the fruits to ripen in the sun. I'm just watering pots and beds but this pm will be potting on stuff I sowed earlier this year - morus nigra, vitex and some perennials. Have given up waiting for rain so will be sowing brassicas and winter salads in modules to plant out later.
Don't like violet or aubergine but hope your baking goes well. I've been making courgette cakes.........
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
No I don't like Violet or Rose Shortbread but the French love them!!! I think they taste soapy, The Lavender ones are great though, and addictive. I thank Nigel Slater for my Lemon & Thyme No Gluten Cookies (an adaption of his Lemon & Thyme Cake) and good old Waitrose who regularly come up with great ideas in their magazine which I adapt according to French taste. Went to Cash & Carry this am and could not resist big bag of HUGE Mussels (New Zealand green lipped.) Tucked them away in the freezer for special treats when I top them with galrlic and parsley butter! or as Sushi with fresh ginger and soy) Oven just pinged - Rose & Hibiscus Bread Pudding ready!
Ate the last of our own Red Cherry Tomatoes for lunch with an irresistable UK Pork Pie. Brits will be qeueing up for their orders for Cornish Pasties at Farmers Market tomorrow. Can now throw tomato plants out of greenhouse and have a tidy up beginning next week. Really hot today -Shame to be indoors with head in oven!
TBH, I don't like shortbread anyway but I have a Belgian friend who puts violet syrup in her fizz when normal people prefer it naked or with raspberry or blackcurrant or even peach.
Never been a fan of pork pie either. When I do go to the UK I tend to stock up on golden syrup, tins of Seville oranges to make marmalade and proper northern black pudding. And paint.
It's 26C here, out of the wind, and I have a huge pile of tomatoes to process as passata or dried in the oven but once they're sorted I can go and pot and potter. Still lots of green tomatoes outdoors which OH is hoping will ripen as well as plants in the polytunnel. Never had any real success with toms in Belgium - too cold, too wet, too many potatoes causing blight in a normal summer - so we're feeling a bit overwhelmed with the success this year. Will exercise restraint in both varieties and numbers next year. The big beefy ones have been a revelation - red, orange and yellow - and the Ananas are great and so are the Yellow Pear and the green Zebra.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Yes Black Pudding is obligatory as Mother was Lancashire bred and born despite being Scottish!!!! -so we are Haggis fans as well. You are so lucky to have the climate for those beefy Toms, they just do not get the time to ripen up here, so I go for Cherry types.
Black pudding was common in Birmingham as well , about 50 years ago thou , when I was a bit younger Also like Haggis Lots of interesting reciepes , o/h made Apple 🍎 & Wainut chutney today while I had a full day at allotment Lots todo in October & November at plot We are having a nice Indian summer at moment A cat 🐈 has started visiting allotments and spends time with myself there Glad all keeping well
Had a fabulous weekend at Potager de Beaumesnil (type this in to see their website) at Bernay here in Normandy. Sunny but heavy frost both days with very chilly wind. Conferences were good on Eco-systems and helpful plus un-helpful insects in the garden. Lovely stands. We were next to the Bio Escargot Stand, so stuffed ourselves with lots of wonderful snail dishes in the evenings in exchange for Lemon Curd and Cheddar!! We stayed in a gite on site which had the most amazing view of a real Hammer House of Horror monster of a Chateau which turned rose in the sunset -Very striking but spooky too! Lucky there wasn't a full moon! The heating was supplied via enormous glass panels surrounding the back of the gite, reflecting the sun onto and through the brickwork, have asked for more info about this as fascinating (Not commercial solar things -Just looked like a second window) A converted barn -it slept 15 people and we had a full house on the Saturday, but Friday and Sunday to ourselves. Wonderful sunrises that bounsed off the glass making it look cathedral like inside. A truly amazing place.
Anyway -onto October Weather. It will be typically automnal at the beginning of the month and the temperature will increase from the 8th but wet & windy. From the 19th there will be a fall in temperature and I'm afraid colder still after the 25th with fog and rain predicted. Interestingly no frost foreseen. Good days for taking Bush Fruit cuttings are tomorrow morning (the 2nd) which denotes the end of the ascending Moon, and pop them in the ground tomorrow evening at the beginning of the descending Moon. The 11th is a good day for planting bulbs. Look out for Full Lunar Calender tomorrow.
Apple and Walnut Chutney sounds great. -O/H lets me buy chutney but not make it -hates the smell of vinegar.
Glad to take a break from baking this week. Tourists have gone home thank goodness -a few days calm before next Garden Fair in a fortnight!
Still no rain so still no gardening apart form watering and harvesting. 4.5 kilos of grapes dripping into a pan to make jelly and more toms to process plus some Charlottes for dinner.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Hello , have had a bit of rain overnight which is ideal Been to allotment this morning , main job , sorting out Apragus bed , yesterday moved 2 blue berry bushes into fruit cage Afteroon took down shading from g/h at home and tied/cleaned it up Succesfully grew a Cape gossbery plant , eaten fruits today , going to try and over winter it. Bio , your gite sounds good Has been windy but once sun comes out reasonably warm Autumn defiantly started , a few leaves coming of the trees , they think we could be in for a bad winter , hope it doesn’t start until January as going to a Wedding in Windsor in December There is a cat visiting the allotment site , need to train it to catch moles ! How’s your lot doing ?🐈
Obelixx -Can I come and stay?!! -Grape jelly -you lucky lucky thing. Tried growing grapes in UK -DISASTER!! -Yes -Charlotte is by far the best potato all round, although I think Amande & Nicola come high up my list here in France. My King Edwards were a brilliant crop from the raised bed but tasteless. -Teach me to to buy them in Poundland back in UK!!! Cats are fine GWRS and enjoying our current warm evenings -Have taken up residence in the greenhouse and most miffed when I gave it a good clear out yesterday and moved their orange boxes (where they sleep) around!
Anyway just a quick re-cap for new readers to the Thread re Noeuds which are mentioned frequently in the Lunar Monthly Calender and which I always forget the meaning of:-
*A Lunar Noeud is when the Moon passes through the central path of the eliptic loop where it is inclined to 5.09degrees. It crosses this path twice -Once whist ascending and once whilst descending. The influence of Lunar Noeuds is deemed to be generally harmful. So sowing/transplanting/pricking out/potting on and particularly taking cuttings is to be avoided 5hrs before and 5hrs after a Noeud. general weeding & maintenance is fine. Or just take time out!!*
Anyway here is the Lunar Calender for 2-17th October;
2/3rd Oct - Moon descending in Gemini so Flower Days. Start planting out bulbs and pop in pot grown perennials and shrubs.
4th Oct - No gardening before 9.15am Noeud descending*(see above for refresher)-Leaf Day - Prick out brassicas sown 28-31st August making sure that you bury them up to 1st leaf to give them a good firm base to avoid wind rock later.
5/6/7th Oct - Moon Descending in Leo so Fruit and Seed Days - Moon perigee on 6th but before 4.35am and I don't think any of us would be gardening then! -Pop in the last Strawberries and Bush Fruit grown in Pots. This will give them time to get established before cold spells really strike. Dig out planting holes for fruit trees to be planted out in Nov/Dec (I assume that this is because ground may be too hard then to dig? -any ideas to other reasons welcome)
8/9/10th Oct - New Moon 4.47am on 9th. Root Days - Making sure that ground has not been manured (as too much nitrogen) - Lift chicory and leave plants on ground to dry out. Plant out onions sown 24-25th August. Top and Tail the plantlets and plant them one fingers length in nursery bed that is in full sunlight and well drained. (Now I know that I said that the French do this with bare root leeks and beetroot, but in this instance it really works as I did it last year. The plantlets just 'take off' and over Winter much much better -Give it a go! Plant out Shallots and harvest carrots and beetroot for storage. Spread used compost from Raised beds onto flower beds.
11/12th Oct - Moon descending in Libra so Flower Days again. Plant out bi-annuals and perennials sown 2-4th July. After the first frosts lift dahlias/tuberous begonias/cannas and gladioli. Protect roots of artichokes aith straw and earthing up against wind rock.
13/14th Oct - Leaf Days as Moon passing in front of Scorpio - Take the chicory that you left out to dry on the 8/9/10th and cut off the leaves by a fingers length and the roots by half a finger (Top and Tail) - then plant them in a deep row in the garden or in a box in a dark shed -Cover with earth and straw or black plastic to grow into chicons and blanche.
15/16th Oct - Moon ascending from 15th at 6.24pm in Sagittarius. Fruit Days. In mild regions sow round peas and broad beans. Have a go at raising fruit trees from stones (Peaches/apricots and plums). Scratch the stones and plant them in pots of sand. Place them against a North wall. (Not sure about this, but some members of the Bio D Club say it works!)
17th Oct - No gardening before 8am and Noeud descending, then Moon apogee -Stay in Bed!! as dark anyway!
So there we are -Autumn already and I'm thinking ahead to Christmas Baking as Fairs already booked! - Before that we have Apple Days and 'Mange ta Soupe' (Eat your soup) fetes, so lots to do. Next Gardening Fair near Le Havre 12/13/14th Oct. in grounds of Chateau Gonfreville l'Orcher. Very grand apparently. -Will report.
Posts
OH has been clearing and cleaning tomato and squash foliage and stems to leave the fruits to ripen in the sun. I'm just watering pots and beds but this pm will be potting on stuff I sowed earlier this year - morus nigra, vitex and some perennials. Have given up waiting for rain so will be sowing brassicas and winter salads in modules to plant out later.
Don't like violet or aubergine but hope your baking goes well. I've been making courgette cakes.........
Never been a fan of pork pie either. When I do go to the UK I tend to stock up on golden syrup, tins of Seville oranges to make marmalade and proper northern black pudding. And paint.
It's 26C here, out of the wind, and I have a huge pile of tomatoes to process as passata or dried in the oven but once they're sorted I can go and pot and potter. Still lots of green tomatoes outdoors which OH is hoping will ripen as well as plants in the polytunnel. Never had any real success with toms in Belgium - too cold, too wet, too many potatoes causing blight in a normal summer - so we're feeling a bit overwhelmed with the success this year. Will exercise restraint in both varieties and numbers next year. The big beefy ones have been a revelation - red, orange and yellow - and the Ananas are great and so are the Yellow Pear and the green Zebra.
Also like Haggis
Lots of interesting reciepes , o/h made Apple 🍎 & Wainut chutney today while I had a full day at allotment
Lots todo in October & November at plot
We are having a nice Indian summer at moment
A cat 🐈 has started visiting allotments and spends time with myself there
Glad all keeping well
Been to allotment this morning , main job , sorting out Apragus bed , yesterday moved 2 blue berry bushes into fruit cage
Afteroon took down shading from g/h at home and tied/cleaned it up
Succesfully grew a Cape gossbery plant , eaten fruits today , going to try and over winter it.
Bio , your gite sounds good
Has been windy but once sun comes out reasonably warm
Autumn defiantly started , a few leaves coming of the trees , they think we could be in for a bad winter , hope it doesn’t start until January as going to a Wedding in Windsor in December
There is a cat visiting the allotment site , need to train it to catch moles ! How’s your lot doing ?🐈