The holiday is over

Mid-September and our cycling holiday in the Gorges du Tarn, France is over. No time is good for coming home from holiday, but mid-September is not good at all. Its now autumn, with distinctly cool evenings and plants like tomatoes and squash are starting to slow up and feel distinctly out of their comfort zone.


But this year, I came back from France with some memories to warm up even the coolest autumn night. The Gorges du Tarn is a stunningly beautiful area with an ecosystem to match.

We had started at Le Rozier where we camped with friends. We had walked up towards the Causses, following "vertiginous" loose gravel paths with precipitous edges. As we neared the summit, a vulture glided at the same height no more than 50 feet away. Then we realised why the route had been named the "echelle", the "ladder"!-  after climbing over some large rocks using steel hand-holds we were presented with a long rusty sloping steel ladder to reach the final summit.This was a ladder too far and we returned the way we came! The next day we walked up to the troglodite village of Deglazine, clinging precariously to the rockface. Apparently, in very early times humans could escape bears by climbing up ropes into these caves.

Leaving our friends, and camping, we cycled to Meyrueis where I saw a poster publicising a talk on behalf of the "Gardeners of France" on the subject of cultivating trees. On the impulse I went along. I couldn't follow all the usual banter that accompanies such meetings but one of the local members asked me why I didn't come and live in the village, and later I was given various seeds that were being exchanged. I'll have to wait till next spring to find out what they might be!

The Gorges also have fascinating historical associations. St Enimie, a tiny village on the river Tarn  had a thriving economy in the middle ages and villagers created "faisses" or terraces up the vertiginous slopes on which they grew grapevines, almond trees and fruit trees. In 1793 the population was 1130 which represent the earliest records. A community can be traced further back to at least 951 when a Benedictine monastery was built.

 The community was viable on account of "trading" or exchanging their produce with other communities on the causses- the flat lands above the gorges, which suited the rearing of cattle and sheep for dairy produce and fleeces. In St Enimie itself one can still see the hollowed stone that was used to measure a set volume of grain for these transactions.
Walking the picturesque cobbled streets of the village one could visualise a thriving place with all manner of craftsmen and peasants displaying and trading their produce.
The viability of the village was eventually undermined by the arrival of the vine virus Phylloxera and mechanisation.

Cycling further round the Gorges we stopped for a coffee in La Malene- another beautiful hamlet set against the stunning backdrop of steep rock faces and the river itself. There, I fell into conversation with the owner, a   man in his sixties perhaps, with a deeply furrowed, tanned face. I had commented on his curious modification of the woodstove which had sections of flexible exhaust piping exiting the top surface. He told me it brought in more heat into the room........
Anyway, he told me about life in the village. He could garden, fish and hunt here. Every villager also had the right to trees for firewood- the specific trees were marked beforehand. "I have everything I need here" he said. Then the conversation led to the weather and he commented that there were no longer any seasons. I suggested that climate change may be at work. He immediately responded that "c'est fini, c'est fini!" -  its finished, its finished!". I was almost taken aback by his sudden comment. But then I have come across this before- the "simple" country folk with minimal "education" but more insight and understanding of the real world than many a sophisticated modern urban dweller. This man fully understood where we were at. He hadn't, like many in the affluent West, been "educated beyond their intelligence".

Basking in sunshine...?

READ ALL ABOUT IT.....SUN ARRIVES IN FENITON..  READ ALL ABOUT IT....... 

After weeks of rain the sun has now appeared and we are basking in genuine summery weather! All of a sudden things are looking up...my tomatoes seem to be recovering after displaying the classic "shadow" leaf markings of blight only 1 week ago. I removed over 50% of the leaves and it seems to have been effective.
And the first of the grapes have started to turn purple! The crop is looking bigger, if anything, than the very healthy crop we achieved last year- so I must be doing something right!! 2 of the 3 vine cuttings have now also taken and shortly I will transplant these into large pots prior to planting somewhere next year.

After hunting out slugs hiding under the pallet paths I gingerly transplanted some of the many seedling lettuces, squashes, sweetcorn and my favourite mustard- Giant Red! This last is more attractive to us than it seems to be to slugs so its a good one to stand in when lettuces and other salads are having a hard time.




 EVERYONE WHO IS ANYONE HAS ONE SO......

I took some willow cuttings in the spring and have now planted 3 of them in holes made in our concrete drive. I am now training the stems along some plastic tubing which has been formed into a template arch. When the stems touch, they will form an arch entrance to our front garden- about 6ft in height. To the left of the picture can be seen the 2 Eleagnus umbellata (autumn olive) which are now 2 years old. They should yield small edible fruit which I hope to make into fruit leathers- or as I like to call them "Feniton Phil's fine fruit flimsies" 

                                                                     Meanwhile, back at Luppitt, with trays of squash awaiting transplanting I thought a compromise would be to move them into tyres sheltered on the south side of the lower tunnel. This gives them an element of protection against the rather inclement weather conditions and they are less susceptible to the ravages of those slimy slobs.

                                                 

                                                                                                          

And this was one of the tunnels back in April, full of chard, broad beans and overwintered lettuces.

And how it looks today, with tomatoes in the foreground hiding the Blue Lake and Borlotti climbing beans. the parsley and basil  are all doing well. We have kiwi vines entering each end of the 2 tunnels although this grim summer has made it slow progress for them.

WET WET WET

I see my last blog refered to a pattern of unseasonal weather over the past decade or so. Well, if this year represents a new pattern or a sign of things to come, we gardeners are really going to have a struggle to grow much at all. As with others I have exchanged notes with, my covered growing areas- the large greenhouse and polytunnels have rescued us from total disaster. Any seedlings I raised under cover, and I do raise most this way now, were devoured by slugs and snails as soon as they were transplanted outside. Other crops which normally grow exclusively outdoors- such as onions or runner beans have either been decapitated by slugs or hammered flat by wind and rain. I have now removed all the potato haulms and today I also removed most of my tomato leaves due to blight.  So, all in all, not a happy time.
Due to the inclement weather, I have resorted to some extreme measures. For instance, I have transplanted squash plants, which otherwise would have been moved outdoors by now, into "hanging baskets" in the polytunnels. At least, in this way,  they can continue to grow relatively unhindered and if/when the weather improves they can be moved outside to a more suitable location. Other plants and seedlings have just been transplanted into larger and larger pots as they outgrow their modules.
I have also hung a suspended shelf high up in the greenhouse to house trays of seedlings out of the reach of the galloping hordes of slimy slobs.
In the fruit department, I can report a total absence of plums, a sad handfull of pears, and even our cooking apple has failed to exhibit its usual spring drop of fruit.  Thank the Lord for bottled apples from previous years!!!
This years real surprise though has been the grapes in my greenhouse. Their growth has even outdone last years' record crop- although we will very soon, still need more sunshine than has been around recently to ripen them.
Another source of optimism are my varied soft fruit- from tayberry, raspberry and alpine strawberry which have been gracing our breakfast muesli; to the promise of the first fruit from the Japanese wineberry, hardy kiwi and goji berries, not to mention the myrtle, Oregon grape, sea buckthorn, Eleagnus and honeyberry. The small fig, which replaced our previous prolific tree which died following the collapse of the rear garden retaining wall, has produced one fruit which will struggle to mature. However, I have now noticed that a new sapling fig has appeared where its parent met its untimely end 3 years ago!!
So, even as we despair over this year's awful wet weather, there is hope in new growth that promises surprises in years to come.

Spring 2012- seedling cultivation

I have sensed a weather pattern over the past decade or so that gives us an over-warm and early spring, which is then followed in June/July by a nondescript "summer" and occasionally a late warm spell in September or even October. This year started off true to this new pattern, with a very warm period in March but then reverted to cold weather in April. These stop-go-stop changes in our weather don't make life easy for gardeners. And Spring 2012 featured particularly sharp contrasts in temperatures and contrast between hot sun and very cold air from the east.

Spring chaos in the greenhouse

Autumn-sown endive and transplanted strawberries 

This year I was particularly well-organised, with potatoes chitting and many seeds sown in January. The warm March spell reinforced this precocious start. Thus by March my tomatoes were well-advanced- around 3" tall, indoors and ready to move to their new home in the greenhouse. Then came winter again! A similar false start afflicted my potatoes which were all in the ground by the end of March. Although I have been cautious with planting too early in the past, I played safe this year and fleeced most of the rows- but still nearly got caught out with a late frost in mid-April when the first fleshy leaves were fully exposed!

I have, over the years developed a sequence of stages for bringing on my plants. I sow in trays or modules of potting compost, water well and enclose in a large plastic bag. This holds in the moisture and retains some heat. Later, when being hardened off, it also protects from the wind or cold air.
I then keep these trays in a warm room indoors. Certain seeds, notably aubergine, peppers etc need around 70deg to germinate- so a warm place to get them out of the ground is vital. Keep a close eye on them as, as soon as the stems appear they will go go very leggy if not kept in good light conditions- a window ledge is not usually sufficient.
For this purpose I suspend the seed trays immediately under our Velux windows where the new seedlings get maximum natural light. At this point I have
removed the plastic bags

Seedlings in the light

Having only limited space of this kind, many of the protected trays will go in the greenhouse during warm days to get full benefit of the heat and light, and brought back in at night
One note of caution-- if using the bag-covering system, make sure the soil doesn't get too damp or wet or damping-off will be a risk:
some seedlings are more vulnerable to this than others.

Obviously, during this process, I will transplant seedlings from modules or trays into individual pots as they outgrow their environment.

PalletVille

We are fortunate in having a small factory nearby which disposes of mainly small, hardly used pallets.  Being only 1/2 mile away I make best use of this facility for firewood and 101 other uses. In the garden I have discovered that upturned, small pallets, with wooden strips nailed to the sides make excellent, instant raised beds. Just create a shallow, flat trench and lay the pallets end-to-end.
This photo shows our rear garden, in early spring with beds fleeced against further frosts and blue trays of seedlings being hardened off. As in all garden structures, these pallets will of course offer refuge for slugs and the like but my argument would be that these will be around somewhere anyway- best to have them where you know where to look and dsipose of them regularly.