englishrosefrenchgarden's Blog

Well the Limousin (our region of France) was officially declared the coldest place in France last night. We hit a low of minus 18, apparently the coldest it has been since 1985!

We have a small weather station, and the receptor is underneath our covered terrace, at 8.30 when I got downstairs it was still reading :

So a pretty cold one. My dad has spent the morning clearing the back patio and pathways of snow so we can actually get out of the house. Xavier has done one tour of the garden in his sledge, dressed in his snow suit, boots and hat. And we are preparing ourselves for another cold night, there is talk of it being even colder….I will let you know tomorrow!

Well we’ve had snow on the ground since last Monday, and the snow that hit the UK hit us this morning. Hubby woke at 6am to nothing, by 6.15am the snow was coming down and it didn’t stop until 4pm.

The temperatures overnight were minus 11, and even at 10.30am it was still minus 6 with a wind chill of minus 16!

Had a look at the fruit trees, the peach trees we planted in Autumn look ok, but to be fair until Spring we have no way of knowing.

The chickens are not impressed now, ten days of very low minus temperatures have not made them very happy, although we have had a couple of eggs. The main problem has been their water freezing, so we are changing their water 3/4 times a day!

And we have been up to the top of the field to check the pond, it is well and truly frozen, hubby even tested it out by standing in the middle !!

So our only choice at the moment it to stay inside, keep warm, and eat!!! Butternut squash and red pepper soup for lunch and tonight a delicious roast dinner with our own butchered pork! And fingers crossed, lets hope these icicles melt soon 

Well the forecast this week is for very low temperatures. One weather site is saying as low as MINUS 13 !!! So not sure the delicate pepper seedlings will be put out into the greenhouse, even if we have got the paraffin heater!

And to be fair, not sure I want to be outside planting any more seeds either, so the heated propagators will sit empty until the nasty north wind abates…..

Oh well, the end of January and the beginning of February is always like this, so I shouldn’t complain. The wood burner is roaring and we shall stay safely tucked up indoors

SNOW…….

Well its the last day of January and the first snow of winter has arrived, it started at 4.15pm and at six the veggie garden looked like this :

Its still going now at 7pm and we are apparently due for 15 cm – just hoping the two newly positioned Peach trees will survive it all !

Luckily, we have got plenty of supplies in, and today’s lunch was roasted butternut squash & red pepper soup – a real winter warmer.

In an update to my post about planting the first seeds in our heated propagator, the first seedlings have appeared :

So now I will be transferring them to a warm windowsill to bring on, making more space in the propagator for a new batch to go in. Once they are strong enough I will re-pot them and then put them in my heated mini greenhouse to continue to grow an hopefully they will have a really good head start.

The last few weeks have been cold but sunny and pleasant so my dad has been out in the garden preparing the beds. He has rotovated them and tidied up all the edges, along with a little help from Xavier

Today the sun has shone, and the temperature has reached a balmy 8 degrees.

So out into the garden to get the first compost under my finger nails. I have two heated propagators so today I (and my little boy) have planted some sweet peppers, two varieties of bell pepper, and one long pepper.

Over the last few years, I have found that although we have a very long, hot summer, peppers take such a long time to grow that the I am better getting them started as early as possible.

Here are some photos of today’s planting :

I have also placed my seed order, completed my plan, and made the important decision on what seed potatoes I will be ordering. It is SO nice to be back in the garden….unfortunately if normal winter conditions arrive, we’ll be snowed in by the end of January/beginning of February, so we will be stuck back inside.

Best make the most of it now !!

Time to place my seed order I think….

I have just received for Christmas my Lunar planting guide and I need now to set out my garden plan. We have enjoyed the fruits of our harvest this Christmas – home made pickled onions, chutneys and pickled beetroot to go with all the cold meats and cheeses. The plan is to expand the veg plots slightly in order to benefit even more by next Christmas.

So I shall spend the next few nights deciding what, where and how much of everything I need.

And finally for 2011 -  Happy New Year or as they say here in France, Bonne Année and Bonne Sante

PS

I have finally planned my garden, we are lucky that with 2 acres to play with I have six 2m by 6m beds and one very large 8m by 10m bed, along with a 3m by 5m poly-tunnel which this year will be used for sweet peppers and chilli.

Below is my plan, all I need to do now is start planting !!

The quietest time of the year in the garden. If the horrible rain ever stops (been going 3 weeks now) we hope to get out to rotovate and tidy the beds, however the forecast is now for more rain but with freezing conditions so it doesn’t look likely very soon !!

So planning and preparing in front of the fire with a nice warm cuppa is all I can do now. I will be placing my order with “vegetable seeds” shortly, as I plan on getting the sweet peppers and chilli’s into the heated propagators in early January. Once they are up I plan on popping them into my small patio greenhouse, that has a hibernation fleece and I can keep it close to the house. We have also brought a paraffin heater for this greenhouse, so although the temperatures can often get down to minus 18 here, I am hoping as it is a small greenhouse, I can keep the plants warm enough to get a bit of a head start.

So I shall have to get the veggie plan started. I use Lunar planting and companion planting in the garden, so it does take quite a while to balance everything and make sure that everything will grow to its optimum. A few hours with a piece of paper, a pencil and a rubber and hopefully I will ready and raring once Spring comes!

PS

Here below is the companion planting guide from my Lunar Planting book for this year. Although it is in French, you should be able to work out the basics, M – means a bad association and B – means a good association.

(Add a comment if you need any more help with translations – although I am sure something similar could be found in English on google!!)

A busy few months in the garden. All the harvest is in, save the carrots, parsnips, and leeks which are happy to stay in the ground. I have pickled, jarred and dried as much as I can and the freezer is full with the rest of the produce.

Onions are stored in wooden boxes on the third floor stairs (bizarrely the coolest and driest place we have)

This year we have grown 3 colours, but we have made the decision that next year we will grow far more red onions, as they are usually around 5€ a kilo, whereas you can pick up sacks of yellow onions for 1,99€ for 10 kilos! The smallest onions have been pickled, our first ever attempt, although the small red onions have turned the vinegar bright red, I hope that it won’t affect the taste !

I have also learnt not to put shallots next to the rhubarb, they were completely swamped and failed. We have decided to move the rhubarb to its own bed, rather than in with the veggies.

We can now sit back and enjoy the veggies, and plan next years garden (oh and of course order the seeds!)

We have had a huge success with our butternut squash this year, we have been growing Waltham Butternut squash as it has quite a small central core, so you get more flesh rather than seeds.

We currently have about 20 squash drying on a rack in the 30+ degree sunshine and the last 20 or so, still just ripening on the plants.

So a huge success, and we got to taste the fruits of our labour on Sunday, roasted butternut squash, roasted home grown potatoes and a delicious roast chicken.

Although my favourite use for them is roasted in the oven with ripe red peppers and then liquidized into a lovely soup – it seems quite luxurious to be able to grown squash and “JUST” use them for soup

UPDATE

Just about to make our Asian Vibe Butternut Squash (a friend who writes a blog has given me the recipe) – I will update with photos if it goes well !!

Here are the photos :

A delicious sweet and sour pickle…. fab with cold meats, curries and as a dip for crisps

Plenty of tomatoes still ripening in the garden, and now at last the peppers have caught up.

Today has been spent chopping tomatoes and peppers, adding garlic, thyme, olive oil and salt & pepper, then roasting it all in the oven to make a delicious pasta sauce.

I took photos of each step to share with you all – so here you go :-

Now it is all cooked, I blend it up in the liquidizer, and then pass it through a sieve. I am then left with a fantastic pasta sauce, that is not only brilliant over cooked pasta, it is a great ingredient in bolognase, chilli, and any other tomato based recipe.

Delicious