Elderflower Champagne anyone?

A warning, if you suffer from hayfever, wear a mask when collecting elderflowers.

I saw a lovely recipe on the Grow your own grapevine and, as I have a tree right behind the terrace, I thought I'd have a go.


I set off with my trusty blue bowl and scissors and went about collecting the elderflower heads - 12 to be precise. I heard somewhere that you should ask the Elder tree for permission before you take any of the flowers or fruit. Wishing to avoid making something that resembles cat pee, I didn't chance it and asked her first.
Feeling very pleased with myself, I came in to the kitchen and set about cutting the flower heads off the stalks and started sneezing... and sneezing, and sneezing. I hadn't given a thought to just how much pollen there would be in a small bowl of elderflower heads but there certainly is a lot. If you have a look at the picture below, you should be able to make out the pollen on the edge of the bowl.



I don't have the right amount of sugar or lemons and I had to use cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar so we shall have to see how it goes should be alright shouldn't it?! I shall let you know how it is in a couple of weeks time when it should be ready for drinking.

The fruit trees are producing well this year, most of them were planted 3 years ago so this is the first real year for fruit.

Still alive!

It's thundering and lightning at the moment so I just thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to since my last blog entry.

OK, I know, I know, it's been a while but there wasn't really much to say so I didn't want to bore you all and, as my mum told me "if you can't think of anything... Oh no, that's a different thing altogether.

Garden wise, I am slowly getting it back under some sort of control which mostly means digging out the buttercup jungle that has been invading my potager - those little buggers don't want to come out do they. I've lost count of how many times I've done my back in trying to encourage them to be elsewhere.

At the moment, I am putting all my efforts into reclaiming the potager and the legume bed is just about finished. There's still loads more to do but at least I have got some peas and beans in and I have just (today) planted out the courgettes. Hear Clare later in the year begging ANYONE to take some off my hands.


See what I mean about the buttercups - still, it does attract the bees almost as well as the white dead nettle that is also on an invasion mission.


Back last month Mum and I spent many a happy hour digging in what I shall now call the shrubbery, nothing posh, it's just where we planted the shrubs so what better name for it.

This is what it looked like when we started;


And this is as it is now, well as it was before the weeds started invading again.


Well, what a voyage of discovery that was! I found at least 3 shrubs that I thought were lost due to enthusiastic strimming and a couple that I didn't even know we owned.


We often take the dogs for a walk along the viaduct at La Celette and we nearly always find something new to look at. I didn't even know yellow dead nettles existed until last week:

And I think this is an early purple orchid


No idea what this is


Or this, but it looks pretty



and I shall leave you with a couple of pictures from the top of the viaduct.




We live one of the hamlets in the distance. And, before you say it, yes, I do know how lucky I am.

Loads more to tell you about but I shall keep that for the next yea... oops,time.

Eat up boys, I need more bags

So... I actually got around to harvesting the potatoes the other day but, I couldn't collect all of them because I ran out of old dog food bags! I have some cotton pillow cases that I am going to use as more permanent storage but these will do very nicely for the moment. I've been trying to force feed the dogs their biscuits but they are having none of it at the moment.


Fron left to right we have:
Mona lisa (white)
Bleue d'Auvergne (err, blue)
Rosabelle (red)

I can't say I'm ecstatic about any of them if I'm honest. The reds are the most useful in terms of all round cooking and do a reasonable roast, chip, mash and boiled. The whites come a close second but they "go into the water" a technical term often used by my Mother for a potato that disintegrates in the pot and the bleue's well, what can I say. They stood up to the blight and little wormy things the best but they go white as soon as they hit boiling water and, if you leave them unattended for a couple of seconds they completely disappear. I should have known when it said on the label that they are good for alligot (a sort of Auvergnat cheese and potato pie) that they wouldn't hold up under pressure shouldn't I?

I'm thinking of entering this in the Grow Your Own virtual show as one of the unusual or funny entries but - not very patriotic as I got the colour order completely wrong for the French Tricolore.


I also harvested the first of the pumpkins - small, but perfectly formed.


I tried making pumpkin pie but I didn't like it much so these will mostly be going to make Pumpkin and sweetcorn soup. I'll try and dig out the recipe sometime 'cause it really is very good.

The chillies are coming along nicely. I grew them without thinking how I was going to use them so I hope they aren't too hot. I understand that they can be overwintered so I will be giving that a go this year to see if I can get them a bit earlier next time so that they have a chance to ripen. Still, they look pretty good, don't you think.




And lastly, a couple of update pics. Remember how excited I was when I found out that the fig tree was still alive? Well, just look at it now. I will be able to bring it in or cover it when the frosts start in earnest (I think we have already had a few mild ones) and hopefully manage a few figs off it soon.


and, the cartwheel border - not bad eh? It goes a long way towards breaking up the big flat wall we have at the front of the house and the more observant of you may see a few tomato plants in there too. Needless to say, I didn't plant them, I think they came from the home made compost I put in the bed.



And, Wayne. If you look hard, you can see a few Californian poppy seed heads with your name on them :-)

Until next time then, Clare.

I reckon I've bin ad!

So... I planted some melon seeds Agora hybride F1 and the blurb on the packet said "Charentais variety, firm flesh sweet and perfumed" (all in French, of course) The picture on the front of the seed packet was of a small orange fleshed melon so I thought, I'll have a go at growing some.

Imagine my surprise when they actually grew into this:


There are about 10 fruits on two plants and this one is about the same size as a full sized football and is showing no sign of stopping Eek! The flesh is definitely not orange (whitish, in fact) and doesn't smell at all of melon - trouble is, I have absolutely no idea what it is and if I can eat it. One thing I know for sure is that it ain't no melon.

The other day I spent a happy few hours weeding and pottering about in the garden, this is the result: Ok, so the picture doesn't do it justice but, believe me, it is better.


The weather was warm with a cooling breeze and I was in my element. Imagine the scene: the buzzards (young ones I think) were wheeling about and making their lovely call, the swallows were singing above my head except for when a Hobby passed overhead and threatened to have one for dinner. The great green bush crickets were making their almost Mediterranean sound and there was not a car in sight on the road. As I often say to Keith "Good ere innit"

The fruit is just about over now but we did manage to pick the last redcurrants before the birds got to them and they went from this:


to this:


and it is now in a demijohn bubbling away nicely turning all that juice into alcohol.

Looking at my Bleu d'Auvergne potatoes the other day, I saw a strange growth on the flower stalk. On checking, I find that they are seed pods (poisonous too) I didn't even know that they grew seeds so I am quite excited. They are the best potatoes I have grown this year and I have saved a couple of pods for a planting trial next year. I don't know yet exactly what to do with them but I'm sure I can find out from my friends at the Grapevine



Lastly, the sweetcorn is growing well and we are thinking about harvesting the first cob pretty soon. No chance though that they will reach the boiling water as we like to eat them straight off the plant Mmmm. You should just about be able to see the cobs at the bottom of the picture:


Anyway, I can't stop here chatting to you lot, the sun is shining and the weeds are a beckoning and Keith is starting on the solar dryer - well, I'm going to have to do something with all those tomatoes when (if) they get to be a decent size.

Windy!!

Today is very windy and I had to tie the little greenhouse down - remember what happened to the last one?


We have had a bit of a mixture of sunshine and rain - perfect growing conditions, trouble is that the weeds and the grass like it too and we are having a job keeping on top of both.

The week has been pretty good veg wise. I have started to harvest the early potatoes: Rosabelle. I say earlies but I can't be sure, they are huge and look more like maincrop to me. I am not too bothered though because I won't be growing them again, they are very nice looking and big enough for jacket potatoes but they are very floury and don't have much flavour. They look pretty good for all that though.


We have had a few peas but I didn't manage to get to the kitchen before they podded themselves and jumped into my mouth. I also planted the mangetout peas and we will wait to see how they get on. My peppers were looking a bit sad in the greenhouse and the leaves were all curling up, so I looked on my trusty forum - The Grow your own Grapevine - and it seems that they might have a deficiency of some sort. I planted one and it seems a little better so, as soon as the wind dies down I will plant the rest outside. The chili peppers, however, are fine. I think I will leave them inside in the safety of the greenhouse.

We have started harvesting the soft fruit with a vengeance. Apart from the strawberries, which are slowing down now, we have been picking a lot of gooseberries, black and redcurrants and raspberries. This is just some of the resulting produce.

No, I didn't grow the lemons but I thought it added a bit of colour to the picture. There is still a lot more fruit on the bushes. I think I shall probably harvest and freeze it, and then think of what to do with it during the cold winter months.

The "unknown" tomatoes are starting to flower. I say unknown, because I just kept the seeds from a shop-bought one last year and planted them. Trouble is, as I don't know what variety they are, I don't know how to look after them (I had the same trouble with the kids). I am guessing, but now they are flowering, I feel a bit happier.

Courgettes, yellow, green and round are all doing well and, now I know how to keep the slugs off the tender plants, I have some tomatillos and auberjeans coming on nicely in the greenhouse. One of the melons has a fruit on it and I played pimp and fertilised it with a male flower so I am hopeful that we can manage at least one melon ball starter this year.

The only other thing of note is to give you an updated picture of the front bed: A bit better than than a couple of weeks ago don't you think?

It's all kicking off here

At last...

The sun has arrived and everything seems to be loving it. We have more strawberries than I know what to do with :

I already have a jam making session's worth in the freezer, a couple of frozen desserts and the start of a rum pot well, I say rum it is actually 38% alcohol for fruits and can be bought here for about 10€ per litre so here's hoping it isn't too disgusting.

Remember the pathetic fig tree that I was so excited about last time - well, it took offence and just to prove me wrong went off on one - look at it now - actually this picture is about a week old and it's even bigger than that and growing fast in the sun.

So far (touch wood) the blight has stayed away. I'm being quite vigilant and spraying every couple of weeks with Bordeaux mix and crossing fingers. The grapes are starting to show - let's hope they loose their blue haze when they are ready for winemaking though eh?

I feel like a proper gardener now - walking along the plots, hands behind my back looking lovingly at everything that is growing.

The sweetcorn and broadies are romping away in this sun. I gave them a feed of Phostrogen which they seemed to like and we picked our first broad beans on Monday. Not quite enough to keep a sparrow alive but, hey, this is our first picking.

In the fruit "orchard" the red and black currants are ripening up and nearly ready for harvesting - that is, as long as we can get to them before the birds do. The apples, goosegogs and 2 mirabelles are also doing well so we may yet get a pudding out of them this year. Next year - organic or not, I am going to spray with every pesticide known to man in the hope of getting a little more fruit from the trees.

And lastly, we have been thinking that the outside of the house is a bit flat and boring so with that in mind Keith has kindly made me a frame for a raised bed so that I can have some climbing things in it that will grow up the wall and as soon as Flash heard the word bed he thought, that would be a good idea for a lie down and, as you know, it's best to let sleeping dogs lie :-)

Don' it make my brown eyes (and potatoes) blue

Spotted the first tell tale signs of blight on my potatoes today. The great potato famine that wiped out the entire crop in Ireland was caused by blight and I ain't taking no chances. It is a real bugger, we had it last year, consequently we had hardly any potatoes and NO tomatoes.

I spent a very happy? hour with my sprayer and covered all the at risk plants with Bordeaux mixture - a copper sulphate concoction that is meant to prevent blight if you don't have it and slow the deterioration down if you already have it. It is meant to be organic although some people much cleverer than me don't agree but I think it is better than having no vegies to show for all the hard work. Quite a fetching blue haze now adorns the potatoes, tomatoes and grapevines don't you think?


It's not all bad news though. The forecast is for sun over the next couple of days and the barometer here at home seems to be bearing that out. We need a good bit of sunshine for a couple of days to dry everything out so that we can get to cut the grass which, at the moment is threatening to take over the whole veg patch. I have been planting, potting on and sowing between showers and the greenhouse is choc-a-block with things waiting to go out once the rain stops.

The great success story at the moment is the strawberries - just look at that!


And the fig that I thought had fallen at the first frost last year has started to sprout new growth so, I have been "fussing" over it in the hope that it makes it through the summer so that I can get another chance at over wintering it.

This is it, close up:

And this is it in its pot just to give you some scale:


Huge learning curve, this good life lark!