First Battalion of the Kelvedon Brigade

The advance guard are out in force, standing to attention and ready for inspection.

I always plant my beans and peas initially in toilet roll tubes - it is just one of the many things that I ask my clients and friends to keep in their 'Monika' boxes. Planting them like this protects them from extremes of weather once out in the garden, as well as slugs and other pests, and the toilet tubes degrade naturally in the soil once transplanted leaving lovely healthy deep roots. When planting out, leave a centimetre or so lip of cardboard above the ground this does seem to deter a lot of pests.

My cucumber seedlings are looking lovely and healthy, they are obviously enjoying  being in the greenhouse, they just need another few leaves and out into the garden they will go.

 My  little Calabrese seedlings are coming along quite well too, and I planted another few out today - I plant according to the lunar calendar and today is a leaf planting day according to the biodynamic calendar.

Biodynamic:
Moon in Cancer: This is a Water sign. It is a good time to sow Leaf plants like Basil, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages, Celeriac, Celery, Dill, Kale, Lettuce, Rhubarb, Seakale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, but it would not be a good time to sow Fruiting plants like Aubergines (Eggplant), Broad Beans (Fava), Cucumbers, French Beans, Marrows and Courgettes, Peas, Peppers, Pumpkins, Runner Beans, Squashes, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes - taken from :  http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/Moon_Planting.asp

These are the spinach, sprout and additional calabrese seeds heading out to the cold frames this morning.
I have grown Swiss and Rainbow Chard in previous years but have decided not to this year, after I found two bags full of frozen chard in the freezer - we or rather I, am just not using it enough to warrant growing any more this year.

One of my favourite things in the herb garden is horseradish.  I was very lucky when my father-in-law's partner sent me some a few years ago via the postal service.  I was not sure how it would survive after a week in an envelope but I planted it out and it thrives, coming back year after year, but getting bigger and bigger every year - it just means that I have to make more and more horseradish sauce, one of my favourite relishes and one I have not seen for sale here in France.  In fact if you mention that you eat horseradish (raifort)  they look at you very strangely - they consider it a weed and mostly inedible (or at least they do in this region anyway).

My herb garden is doing well, chives are thriving, I have garlic chives too, and they smell gorgeous, mint and marjoram are taking over a bit,  but rather than pulling them up I am more inclined to expand the herb garden to accomodate them.

Our garden is approximately 12 metres by 38 metres, which is a lot of ground to cover.  By about July I have abandoned weeding completely and only keep the planted rows clear and between rows I have learnt to keep a wide space - big enough for the lawnmower - more cheating I know, but life is short - too short to weed out every tiny bit of sorrel and yarrow and many other miscellaneous and unidentified plants otherwise known as weeds.

So after a lovely morning of planting out a few more of my leafy seeds like celery, after work I headed home for a bit of rotavating.  Luckily Brendan had been up and down the garden for the last cut before the storms forecast tonight and tomorrow, so I put up my guide lines and then went over the rows with the hoe for a clean till ready for planting.

I am actually hoping that the storms arrive because the ground is so dry, in fact I had to get the well pump running this morning for the duck pond which has dried up in the last couple of days.

This weekend is one of my busiest planting and seeding times, but in addition it is also the first big car boot of the season -  whoooo hoooooo - I lurve car booting.

Bouncing Baby Bunnies

After a miserable Friday spent drowning under paperwork and endless calls back and forth to the UK, I was very pleased to see Saturday dawn with some bright sunshine.

With Brendan safetl ensconsed in the pantry and under strict instructions to not come out until the walls had been patched up, Thea and I set to with the rabbits. We currently have 5 babies, one mummy who has just given birth but we don't know to how many babies as they are still buried under straw in her hutch and one pregnant female. A bit of a hutch reshuffle was required to make sure everyone that needed extra room got it and to separate the males out for a bit of a rest so they could recoupe their engergies.

This is Crumble Stud Muffin - so named under the misapprehension it was a male - who later turned out to be a very good mummy indeed, it is her daughters that are pregnant and have given birth recently.

Underneath her is our current stud - Brian Big Nose (from Monty Python's Life of Brian).  They all needed a good clean out and fresh straw so we got started early and soon had a great pile of poo ready to become compost.

As I was so impressed with how well the seedling compost came out, I decided to make some more ready for next year but this time instead of leaving it sitting idle on one side of the garden, I thought I would put the old pantry shelves to better use by making a designated raised composting bed.  These are just some pine floorboards that fit together tongue and groove, to which I screwed a reinforcing bit of off-cut pine  to stop the two planks springing apart, then dug into the ground about a third of the width.  To this pile of rabbit poo will go some fresh Milla manure and some mole cast, and so that it is working for a living - I intend to use it for my pumpkins this year.

I was pleased to see the first cucumber seedlings poking through yesterday.  Every morning now starts with a watering can in the greenhouse and one for the poly tunnel.  With the snow melt still affecting our water table, we have a very full duck pond and an instantly replenishing well, so I have been pumping the well water into all the garden water butts - whilst it has been raining recently, there has not been that much, and I am standing by my conviction that this year will be a drought year. 

Finally with friends coming to dine, I thought I should do a pudding for a change.   I am not a great baker nor pudding maker and all too often I cop out by buying some choccie biccies or asking a neighbour to provide the cake.  This time, inspired by Come Dine With Me, I thought I would have a go at Eton Mess, after all if those guys can whip one up in no time why shouldn't I.  I had bought a crate of strawberries the other day as a family treat at a good reduced price for our tiny budget and with these and the eggs from our chickens whipped up into a meringue with some caster sugar and a bit of double cream - my own Eton Mess. 

Just a quick swirl of a syrup made with the strawberries and a fresh berry to finish.