Plant nursery

The weather is still playing fast & loose and making planting decisions difficult. I'm going to wait for warmer days before the tomato plants go out but I've several runner bean seedlings planted now, the yellow & green haricots have broken soil and yesterday we had baby spinach leaves from the garden in our dinner salad.

S the G was here today working on the lawns, the gardens have never looked so good before!!

The pic shows my potted seedlings in front of the house, enjoying the sunshine.

a bientot

Baby Calves

Around this time of the year Marc, a local farmer, turns one of the fields in the lane into a "maternity ward" for his herd of Normandie cows to give birth.

I went out a few days ago to try and photograph them but they preferred the shade of the large oak, however I did manage to get one yearling to pose for the camera.

Bonne dimanche

Potager Update

The weather this week has been variable, hot & sunny days followed by rainy nights. Ideal planting weather, so I now have 2 rows each of haricot vert & jeune, mixed salad leaves, spinach, 12 betrave and 6 chou fleur plants in the soil.

The runner bean supports are up, the seedlings are now about 8 inches high and they will be going in, in the next few days.

We visited another new garden centre yesterday and came away with pretty geraniums for the pots at the front of the house, more compost and 2 blueberry bushes. I have long wanted to grow my own blueberries, they are always in short supply and expensive to buy in the supermarket and blueberry just happens to be my favourite type of muffin. I bought Myrtille Patriot & Myrtille Blue Crop as the RHS website tells me that the yield will be higher with 2 different species able to cross pollinate. We shall see!!

The picture shows Sean the Gardener putting the finishing touches to the low fence surrounding the central plot.

Bon weekend

The Potting Shed

The potting shed is a great place to be when it's raining and you can't get into the garden to work.
The various seedlings and small plants are thriving in one of our more usable "dependences", it's certainly not as pretty as some potting sheds but it serves all my needs.
Yesterday was warm so I finished planting the potatoes and also put in a row of spinach beet seeds which will come up alongside the spuds.
The starter lettuces that I got at the market last week are doing well and soon we'll be having fresh salad from the potager in the pretty bowl which I found at the vide grenier on Thursday.

In the meantime I think you'll enjoy this
http://www.thepastwhispers.com/Potting_Shed.html

a bientot
Maggie

1er Mai - May Day Holiday

May Day - Ascension Day -La Fête du Travail (Labor Day) also La Fête du Muguet (Lily of the Valley) marks the unofficial start to the flea market season.

Chineurs (bargain hunters) of all ages descend on small towns and villages all over France to find a must have item, hidden treasure or piece of junk to add to a collection.

We had two vide-greniers (literal translation: empty attics), flea markets to choose from this morning in local villages: Tournières and Trévières.

We set off first for Tournieres but were disappointed to find that the foire there had been rescheduled for next Thursday, 8th May - WWII Victory Day (Fête de la Victoire 1945; Fête du huitième mai ) and another public holiday.

Off then to Trévières, arriving well after the start but still hopefull despite passing quite a few folk leaving with bags under their arms.

The foire was the usual mix of vendors, tables laden with hand me down childrens clothing, toys, games & videos; garden tools & plants; old car parts & farm implements; pots, pictures & china; postcards & posters.

Sadly, no Quimper faience this time but I did discover a very pretty ceramic salad bowl with servers and a leaf shaped, hand painted Limoges footed dish (both brand new) hidden beneath a table. After a little discussion (no haggling today) I came away with both, price €11, a bargain!!

On our way home we shopped at the tiny general store in La Folie and bought a crusty baguette, a creamy camembert & tiny vine tomatoes for lunch and a small pot of Muguet to celebrate.

Bon appetit.

http://www.normandie44lamemoire.com/versionanglaise/fichesvillesus/trevieresus2.html

Tuesday morning

Cold & damp on the dog walk this morning so I decided to spend the morning being a domestic goddess in the kitchen.

Simple comfort food was called for so first off I prepared banana walnut muffins, a personal favourite, to go with our coffee for elevenses and then a cauliflower cheese with crispy topping dish for lunch.

Muffin recipe:

10 oz/280 g plain flour

1tsp/5ml baking powder; ditto bicarb soda; and half a tsp salt

3 large very ripe bananas, about 1lb/450g

3oz/85g granulated sugar

1 large egg, beaten with a fork

2 floz/60ml milk; 3 fl oz/90ml corn oil

3oz/85g walnuts chopped

ditto chocolate chips

Mix first 3 dry ingredients together, mash the bananas & add wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Add walnuts & choc chips.

Spoon into muffin cases & bake in pre heated oven, 400 f/200 c for 20 - 25 mins

If you have a favourite muffin recipe please share!!

bon appetit

Maggie

Creating a new potager.

When we bought this house I inherited a vegetable garden and for a number of years I've been happy just pottering around and growing salad, beans, peas, courgettes etc. in quite a slapdash manner I must say!
This Spring, however, I'm trying to be a little more structured and so have had Sean (my new gardener) create 3 long beds dissected by a pair of paths using wood pavers
Today at the weekly market in Le Molay Littry I bought the first plants to go in the new potager. 4 sorts of salad; courgettes; tomatoes; cauliflower (chou fleur, so much prettier in French); beetroot (betterave); celeri and seed potatoes.
There will also be a section with herbs: parsley; coriander; rosmarin; wild garlic; basil; sage and mint (but in pots to contain the roots which would take over the whole place if planted in the soil).
In the potting shed I already have spinach; pumpkin and runner bean seedlings sprouting and when the soil has warmed up a little more I shall plant haricort vert and for the first time haricot jeune seeds straight into the prepared beds.
My bedside reading now is a gardening magazine and I'll welcome any tips that you feel will help with mynew project.
Check back for more info and hopefully, pix of my progress over the coming weeks.