Up at the Big House

If you ever think, 'the French are a bit daft aren't they' you probably have got something wrong. For a few years I looked at gardeners in France with rows of early French Beans (Haricot Vert).
Beans hanging in festoons 'going over'. " Why don't they pick them when they are nice and fresh" I would say.

Over the years I have developed my gardening methods so that I can sow and plant then go enjoy the sun while the plants grow on to fruition, around 6 weks for most crops.
I instruct my 'undergardener'  who is  looking after things whilst I am away to pick pick pick the Runner Beans, this keeps them cropping so that on my return I can pick baskets full well into October. If pods are left to develop seeds, a message is sent to the plant that the job is over and cropping stops.

The French beans are a differebt story my instructions here are to leave them alone. Thereby I produce Haricot Vert Sec just like the French. They are available on French market stalls like this, open the pods and there are the beans, just ready for the Cassolets. Other uses are to add them to Sews, Stir Fry, Curries and Ratatouille. Keep picking and they continue to crop right through to the end of September or later from later sown crops.

We gardeners grow Fruit and Vegetables but not a lot of Protien, of course dry and semi dried Pulses are rich in Protien. They are not daft the French.

This is my last crop stripped today from the May sown plants hence some green some drier, mixed varieties too from home saved seed.

The wet Summer in Europe didn't cause too many problems for some crops such as Runner Beans, they hate hot dry weather.

The Grapes under glass cropped better than ever, due to the unusually hot dry April. Even the Figs suffered very little.

Still very busy here for any new photo's etc so still in France, a view of French farming.
This view from the Somme region.

One of the inhabitants.

Another dairy farm north of the  Loire region had  85 cows fed on maize which was kept in a yard covered by tarpaulin,  at feeding time a tractor with a large grab bucket collected the supply. We purchased raw milk (cru) direct from the cooler, illegal in the UK I believe. Cost 50c, 0.5 Euro or about 35pence for 1.5 litres.

We were directed to park on a concreted area surrounded by trees some of which were prunus. The crop of plums round,  some red some yellow was a sight to behold. Branches solid with fruit the leaves were  insignificant , some already over ripe were falling constantly.
Sue has a method which she has used many times. "Oh what lovely fruit, do you sell the plums" it worked as usual, "No, help yourself to them" was the answer. Not needing any encouraging we picked several carrier bags full, all reachable from the ground, it made not an impression on the crop still on the trees. These prunus grow wild and I suspect no more will be harvested, such a shame.

The last of this series of photographs. I do have a picture of his old Renault cars too.

An little Eicher deisel in blue. A brand name that goes back to India in 1948. Dwarfed by his rusty big brother.

Is it true that famers refer to their tractor as their other son.

Two nice limousines and a beach buggy.

I used to grow Shallots (properly called Echalote) every year. I had a strain of Hative de Niort which won prizes at the local shows. I lost that strain by not growing them on one year and have not concentrated on them for some time.

Next season I shall be trialling some different varieties and a couple of French Garlic's too. Specimens sourced in France.

From the top of the picture. Traditional Longue, Griselle (Grey or Frogs Legs), White and Red Garlic, Hative de Niort.

I will post about cultivation next time, they are true day length species, produce good crops and  do not suffer so many problems as Onions. Perhaps if I had seen how many of my seed grown onions were developing thick necks I would have searched out more varieties.

How many in this picture.

A nice little green one for today.

Very Organic this one.

Another rusty orange  job. Note the lorry in the rear.

More sort of rust coloured today.

About the same colour as the one next to it. Although they are of very different design.

I wanted to replenish my Kelp supply from a beach somewhere this summer. Unfortunately I saw none, only fine grassy seaweed which is not so useful. Kelp I dry in the sun and break up into bag-able material.
Once back to base I feed it into a Kitchen Waste Disposal unit, this produces a material between dust and small pieces ideal to use like Fish Blood and Bone.

My relationship with the Waste Disposal is quite odd. In a former life I was involved with the sale of them, or rather non sale. I cannot for the life of me see any conceivable reason to grind up good compost-able material and flush it down the sewer. Thus enriching the sewage and adding unnecessary solids for the treatment works to deal with.

Imagine little me at a sales seminar being asked to give some good reasons to recommend them to the public and giving my reply above. I could never sell something I do not believe in. Then I asked a manufacturers rep. if they could be run completely dry, he didn't know but after a little research I decided they could and purchased one.

I grind bones for bonemeal and seaweed in it, when I kept chickens I ground all their food.
What I did bring from the coast was Cuttlefish and Oyster Shells. Oh what hard work eating all those Oysters at 2 Euro a Kilo.
These will be ground up too. Both are a source of Calcium with traces of salt and iodine etc. I like to put a little around my cabbage plants. Cabbages being originally coastal species I am sure they appreciate it.
Incidentally Cuttlefish has a greasy texture if Oyster Shell is ground with it, it 'kicks' it through the system.

The ideal mounting place for the unit is in the waste of a stainless steel sink in the potting shed. Compost is mixed and stored in the sink and the draining board used for potting. Any coarse peat lumps can be ground up when making compost too. The whole arrangement is easy to clean and sterilise. The output of the Waste Disposal of course goes via a short pipe direct to a bucket, not the sewer.

Another orange one and a blue one with a skinny rear.

There is a gap there, surely he could get another one in.

Another Renault. Orange this time.

They all seem to be complete and most of them protected in a huge barn. To me they just have the apeal of old machines.

A tractor a day for Lindow until I run out of them, enjoy.

There are lots of them, looks like someone is saving them up for a big restoration project when he retires. If it is the young chap we saw that will be in about 45 years time then.

My last post before my break warned to look out for a pest the Tomato Moth. I said often the first thing you spot is some pooh on a lower leaf.

Well almost as if booked for a performance, we have had a visitor. Unlike the the cabbage caterpillar they do not come by the hundred. Often there is just the one.

First thing I saw was the pooh.

Then  damaged leaves  above.

The Tomato Moth caterpillar is a master at hiding, and a voracious eater, as they get bigger they will eat into quite large fruit. This one took me ages to hunt down, I finally found him only by touch, tucked up behind a leaf stalk. When they know they are cornered they use their final kamikaze trick of dropping to the ground and laying still. If I hadn't been aware of this he may well have escaped.