Lilac

It's the first of May and the lilac is blooming. Not my favourite flowers but pretty and welcome after another dramatic weather swing from splendidly warm to torrential downpours.

We caught the edge of the rainstorms that covered much of northern France and southern England over the weekend and have been thoroughly soaked by the deluge which also saw temperatures drop to 2C or 3C overnight on Sunday and Monday. The time was spent huddled in front of a fire with the cats but nothing very much was done outside and so we're now still further behind.


The sun returned today, rather weak and with the wind still making it cold. Too wet to dig so I occupied myself with pricking out seedlings. Fifty oca seedlings are already up and on their way from an April Fool's day sowing. They will be joined by more as soon as the next batch of seeds germinate. There were also, somewhat to my surprise fifty seedling potatoes from the true potato seed started at the same time. It's a worry in a way, I've nowhere to put the tuber starts yet and finding homes for another 50 plants is going to be hard, but potatoes from seed have great attraction because you never know what you'll get so there's plenty of novelty to look forward to. Commercial breeders raise thousands before selecting just a few to develop for sale. Most of mine will have little value to them but I might strike lucky and find my blight resistant, hardy chipper. 


Gardening is all swings and roundabouts though, the six globe artichoke plants raised from seed last year and apparently safely through the winter have simply turned up their toes and died in the last two weeks. No idea why, the weather must have something to do with it but the collapse was total. Very discouraging.

Happy Beltane, may the summer join us soon.

Cold

It's almost a tradition to share a photo of this comfrey relative, the name of which always escapes me, at this time of year just to enjoy the beautifully curled flower spray. The original plant came from my late sister's garden just after she died so it's a much loved plant even though she called it a weed for popping up all over her patch.

It's so cold again. That brief five days of summer has disappeared into dreary windy chilly drizzle and despond, but spring has sprung and grimly the blossoms and new shoots are doing their best in the poor conditions. The previous cold snap seems to have provoked a lot of flowers on the fruiting plants but it's so cold and blowy again the pollinators aren't going to be able to do much.



The blueberries are really heavily loaded with flowers this year, if the weather was better I'd be looking at a bumper crop after a very disappointing one last year but all I can do is keep my fingers crossed that some berries will set. The little apple trees are looking lovely too.



This lavender seems to be as hard as nails, already in flower when we arrived back in March and loaded down with blooms now. I've forgotten the variety but have some idea it was described as Majorcan which makes it unexpectedly tough.

More seeds are planted including some ornamentals. I've got Castor Oil plants this year, poisonous they may be but they are striking, and coleus which for me are the plants of nostalgia as they were some of the first things I tried back in my teens.

The beans are planted but not coming up. They were started in pots outside on the bench and I think that was overly optimistic in the hot spell. I will almost certainly have to try again under cover or wait until it's properly warm. 

Listed

I took a similar picture of this apple, the Lamb Abbey pearmain, last year on 11th April. We're still 11 days behind but the unexpected burst of summer has given everything great encouragement. We had another massive thunderstorm last night so the best has passed for now but it's still sunny and warm today.

 
This year seems to be the year of things breaking. Various domestic machines overwintered badly and blew fuses and connectors when put back into service. Various parts for the tractor have snapped, deformed or simply fallen off and even the push along lawnmower has died, victim of something that went crunch underneath and ripped off cowling which deformed the blades. They don't last long and this one has done several years but more trouble and expense. The dandelions are pleased though.


We were feeling rather despondent over the number of early butterflies about. A good many overwintered Peacocks were here but only one Orange-tip and a single Brimstone, but I've spotted a few flutterbys about that need identification today and a moth that I think is new to me. I've asked on Twitter for help with ID as my usual resources are failing me.


Was very pleased to see the Copper Beech in new leaf. Last year it was blighted by a late frost and looked so damaged throughout the whole year that I feared something more sinister was affecting it but it looks beautiful dancing in its new crimson leaves so I think it's alright.

 
Not my favourite ornamental tree but this cherry does look well against a blue sky.


These are true potato seedlings, grown from seed I saved from the Sarpo Mira, Arran Victory and Bluebell potates last year. The way things are going with potato patch I may get more crop from these than the tuber sets which are still waiting for a home. Anyway, most of the seeds I've started are still at this delicate pre-pricking out stage.

Actually sown and hopefully growing, other seeds are waiting...

Tomatoes
GBK
Salt Spring Sunrise
Black Russian
Happy Day beefsteak (started in the UK and looking rather sad)
St. Pierre (bought in because I was so late)
Marmande (ditto)

Peppers
Nigel's Outdoor Green Chilli (from Realseeds)
Albertos Locoto (also Realseeds)
Nardello
Lamuyo Bell pepper (bought in)
a couple of sad little seedlings that have been munched by slugs and were from seed saved from a supermarket fruit.

Beans 
Riana's Corbiere beans
Hutterite soup
Ice Crystal Wax
Striped Bunch

Squash
Whangaparoa Crown
Sweet Dumpling
Blue Banana
Some courgettes missold to me by Fothergills last year - they were good strong growers and seem to be the only seed I have to hand but they were not Romanesco.

Peas
Raisin Capujiner
Salmon Flowered

Herbs
Neopolitan Basil
Mammoth Lettuce leaved Basil
Cinnamon Basil
Quillquina
Perilla (it actually came up, quite a result as it nearly always fails for me.)

A late spring for the broken hearted

Yesterday the weather finally became spring like. The leaves are just showing green on the beeches and the oaks are beginning to colour too but we are about two or three weeks later than last year. It's been so wet that even getting prepared for the season has been delayed which means it will be hard to catch up very well.



The buckeye is just bursting into glorious colour, hopefully there will be no frost to damage these tender leaves.



There is a fairly large herd of deer roaming around, we've seen them across the land in various places. They are probably pregnant does gathered in a group to avoid predators and give protection at a vulnerable time. Luckily they've not needed to strip my fruit trees this year which is a relief.



I have a new car, this rather cute little 4 wheel drive. I've needed it in the muddy conditions here.

But what of the garden I hear you ask...

It's there. I have seedlings finally, the polytunnel is recovered. The oca are being planted and beds dug, but it's such a struggle. This might be our last year here and the sorrow that causes affects everything. I'll try to document this last season as well as I can.

2018 est arrivé

 Winter came and went. Time was spent in the UK fretting about the future and making plans that have circular dependencies that seem unresolvable. Another Oca Breeders season started.

Now the time has come to fly south for the summer. Should be there soon, laden with seeds and plants and cats and hopes.

Friday the 13th

Summer which had gone too soon has returned briefly on the tail of Hurricane Ophelia which is pulling warm air up from Portugal and Spain to give us a few days of delightful weather. I'm making the most of it where I can and hoping that the late blooming oca will set some seeds before the frosts arrive.



Foraging today for sweet chestnuts produced a good haul. I'd take more but we rarely use them all and although I always mean to set the germinating leftovers out in the hedgerows I've yet to complete the task successfully. It seems wasteful. Perhaps I should cut out the storage in the middle and take some chestnuts straight to where I'd like another tree. We have three good trees in our hedgerow already but it wouldn't hurt to start another generation and the wood is good for fencing if the trees prove poor croppers.



Still lots of late butterflies including some Clouded Yellows.

Defunct

is my word of the day.

I just took a look at a blog I used to read, there was a new post. It was o.k. (Sorry Tim). Anyway while I was there I fell down a rabbit hole of blog lists, you know pick one at random, rinse, repeat. I ended up in a place where the message was basically "Did you miss me? I'll be back". It was dated in 2013.  My, how time flies, did you miss me?

Anyway, here are a few random pictures with captions. You can tell I've lost heart with it all because I'm hosting them on Blogger instead of the paid for hosting. No, you're stupid.

I was going to sort them into chronological order but honestly... anyway this is this year's chicken of the woods which has come back in the same place even though said place is almost sawdust now. If you're going to eat one, cook it well.

 

The veg garden is doing o.k. apart from the onions. I don't know why. Actually I do, I abandoned the patch to look after the oca which needed me more and they were swamped in weeds. The corn this year is Stowell's Evergreen which I'm hoping will be nice.

After the mice ate most of the sunflower seedlings I almost gave up completely. There are five plants left and this is the first and possibly the prettiest until the next one comes out.

The waterlily stock tub is looking rather lovely this year. We swapped a red lily for a pinky cream one which is flowering beautifully. This frog has made his home here along with newts, beetles and pond skaters. Nature is amazing.

Potatoes - these are the very first red Duke of York - are doing pretty well this year. Bluebell are absolutely fine but we probably won't grow them again. Mayan Gold are delicious but impossible to cook. The Ambo are large and good. Still to come Arran Victory, Sarpo Mira and some Prunelle. No doubt the blight will be along shortly.

Is the sun going down? Brexit has buggered up most things, my always tenuous grip on security is now dislodged again. Tune in again, there may be another episode later in the year.