The grass is peeping through!

Well, the thaw seems to have set in & the grass is now beginning to appear.
The birds that have been flocking to the feeders, have greatly diminished, and now we have the old timers such as the blue tits, nuthatch, tree creepers and of course, the ever present woodpeckers.
The starlings, blackbirds & robins must now be enjoying the fresh insects that are to be found under the crackling leaves of the laurel hedges.
I've cut down the bird food by two thirds, so that's eased the budget a bit this week!
I noticed this morning, that the little wild daffodils & snowdrops are appearing, along with some crocuses.
Can't wait for the colors of Spring to appear can you?
Catch you later.

The slow thaw!

Well, the temperatures are starting to rise above freezing.
The snow is thinning, the bushes & hedges are appearing once more and more importantly, the blackbirds, robins, starling, woodpeckers and thrushes have been able to set about scratching a meal from under the greenery once more.
We would like to be able to get the car out after two weeks, the freezer needs filling, some fresh fruit & veg will be more than welcome and we're going to have lunch out for a change.
Roll on the Springtime!

Frozen gardening in France!

I won't call it gardening at the moment, it's more like ice digging.
The ground is really hard frozen, & with temperatures down to minus 20°c, it's hard to imagine what will survive to see the warmth of Spring.
The tete a tete daffodil bulbs were just popping their heads up before we dropped into the depths of an arctic winter. The crocuses, snowdrops, camellias & even the rhododendrons were all in bud or flower. It can't be doing them much good can it?
The deer that crunch over the frozen snow at night, searching for the smallest patch of grazing, are finding very little. I fear that they will make a very easy target for the hunters (chasse) if they are weak & hungry.
So, with no let up in sight for at least the next few days, gardening is on hold here in the Limousin.
Watch this space, Spring must be around the corner surely.
Inkflo

New Year In France

Hello and a very Happy New Year everyone.
Not much happening in the French garden just now, apart from a bit more leaf tidying and moss killing.
New Year here in France is not terribly eventful. I'm not complaining about this, as it's one of the reasons we came to live here... for the peace & quiet.
At midnight on the 31st January, a local farmer let off his shotgun six times.
Yes, that was it! And I then went back to sleep.
I have never been a great lover of noise & fireworks and the local farm animals really hate it, so I can cope with one local farmer & his six shots once a year!
The chasse or local hunters have been out and about. When we first arrived here, I thought it terribly cruel to hunt down poor defenceless animals, then I realised that these men were feeding their families over the winter, just as their forefathers and their forefathers.
I have also come to realise, that if they didn't keep the wild deer and boar population down, our countryside and gardens would be decimated mud baths before we could say chasse.
So, I have grown to live cheek by jowl with the local hunting fraternity and also to appreciate that their traditions need to be respected and not frowned upon.
It's all done in a humane way, and they are bot allowed to hunt during the time when the animals are carrying their young or until the young have grown and left their mother, and if you ever experience seven wild boar tearing around your beautifully tended garden and vegetable plot and then seen the devastation that they can cause in such a short time, well ... your sympathies may well change!

Happy New Year

French gardens are a joy. We get the weather that is perfect for growing almost everything, there is so much space and land available, and trees, trees, trees galore. The runner beans are coming to an end now, and I am leaving some on to harvest the bean seeds for next year. The tomatoes are still going strong though, and I can't pick the cherry or cerise tomatoes fast enough. I have been cutting them in half, sprinkling sea salt, olive oil and bay leaves over them and roasting them in the oven for half an hour. Once they have cooled, I spoon them into little bags & pop them in the freezer. Thay make fantastic pizza toppings for the winter suppers. I have some Pomadoro type tomatoes too, but they are still green and if they don't ripen, then I'll be checking out the web for some green tomato tips. The last grass cutting should be at the end of this month and then we have to wait for the myriad of leaves to fall before gathering them all up and taking them to the dechetterie or recycling centre. These will then go to make compost which will be sold cheaply in the local shops next year. The big yellow dahlias that have been flowering by my window since June, are now starting to brown over. One done, I will cut them down to ground level ready for them to pop up again next year. The birds are starting to look for me in the cooler mornings, ever ready for their breakfast. I spotted a robin today, so that's a sure sign that the summer is nearing the end. However, I do love the autumn... or fall, so bring it on, I can't wait.

The end of my runner beans... or the beginning?

Hello all,
The end of August is very near & my runner beans are still flowering, still thick & leafy, but something has happened to them this week.
When the new beans form, they are not young & tender any more, but they make the seeds very quickly, as though they are in a panic to reproduce themselves for next season, which undoubtedly they are.
So, I thanked them very much for giving me such a great crop of Scarlet Emporor beans this year, and I am now leaving them to rest & recuperate and make the big fat runner bean pods that will give me next year's plants.
I estimate that we have picked over 150 kilos of beans this season, our family, friends & neighbours have been swamped by them, as have we. That said, they have been delicious & I have been able to swap them for some other French Veg from our kind neighbours. All of which means, that I haven't had to buy anything from the supermarket vegetable counter for the past three months.
Once the cold nights arrive in September, the leaves will brown & die off & I will harvest the big, fat, pods & dry out the runner bean seeds for next year.
The raspberries are now finished & I need to get out this afternoon & cut out the old wood, then tie in this years shoots to the strainer wires.
These will give us the crop of raspberries for next year & hopefully, loads of raspberry jam like I made this year.
The potato crop has been very good & I am half way through digging them up.
My next job after the raspberry canes will be to peg down the strawberry runners & pot them up for the Spring planting. Which means lots of delicious strawberry jam next summer. Ideal with some home made rice pudding!
So much to do before the onset of winter, but so satisfying.
Catch up with you all soon.

August is humid, hot & sticky.

August has been very hot & humid here, & the green beans are running riot. I fully expect to see them creeping in through the kitchen door like triffids, any day now!
I have donated them to several neighbours, family members, made soup, made pickle, eaten them for many, many lunches and now I am taking out the biggest beans for next year's crop.
I am still making my greetings cards, and now have over three hundred in my card shop.
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/chezinkflo
The cherry tomatoes have also started to ripen and they are really sweet and juicy. Steak & salad out in the garden with a sprinkling of these, just makes my day.
We're off to the farmer's market this week. They aren't like the ones in the UK, just local organic producers selling meat, bread, wine & beer that you can get cooked for free on a grill & then sit down at long wooden benches to eat the wonderful food, with some very friendly locals.
They are however, forecasting a thunderstorm or two, so let's hope it holds off until we've eaten.