Garden Progress at Eco-Gites of Lenault
Last week, over on my other blog, A Green and Rosie Life, I was bemoaning the fact that I am totally behind in my veg garden this year and the only thing flourishing was the weeds. However, I am pleased to announce that after a week of FABULOUS weather and A LOT of hard work that things are looking much better over there and hopefully there will be veggies to eat soon enough.
A week ago things looked like this:
Simon and I have had a massive mowing and strimming session and I used the grass cuttings to mulch the earthed up spuds, although I do still have 2/3 of them to earth up and the grass needs mowing again!. I then set to getting things planted in the areas I had previously manured and covered before weeding/digging through one massively weed infested jungle-like patch!. And now it looks like this:
To date I have sown:
- 2 rows beetroot
- 2 rows of carrots
- 1 row chard
- 1 row of swede
- 2 double rows of French beans (one for fresh beans and one for dried beans)
I have planted out, through the weed suppressing fabric, 9 courgette plants and 23 pumpkins and squashes! Elsewhere I have planted seedlings I bought at the market last week:
- Brussel sprouts
- Broccoli
- Lettuces
- Leeks (I bought 50 but have planted our over 70 - the stall owner is always very generous!)
I have been busy in the polytunnel too and I now have:
- 47 tomato plants (although that is 13 less than last year!)
- 6 aubergines
- 16 peppers
- 10 chilli plants
- 1 sweet potato
- 3 cucumbers
- 3 round cucumbers
- 2 courgettes
And I have sown
- Sweetcorn
- Curly kale
- Purple sprouting broccoli
- Cavol Nero
These last 3 are a bit late but if all else fails I will grow them on in the polytunnel rather than outside. And with the warm weather they have already germinated.
It may all look a bit empty in here right now but that will change soon enough. The tomatoes that didn't get zapped by late frosts now have flowers on and I am sure my peppers have doubled in size in a week!
New potatoes almost ready to dig and I have harvested the overwintering onions, although they were poor this year due to a lack of water when we were away.
Oh - and look what I found in the new strawberry patch ...
Yes - a good week in the veg garden and hopefully I may have some excess fresh veg to sell later in the year. If this idea is enough to tempt you over to Normandy, the last week of the school holidays is still available at the recently reduced price of £450. We also have dates from September onwards if you are not tied to school holidays.
Linking up with the lovely Annie at Fable and Folk (who stayed here last February) and her How Does Your Garden Grow linky.