September has brought with it an autumn feel to South West France.... It's 9:30 pm and I'm sitting at my laptop writing this wearing a sweater for the first time for several months. Overnight temperatures dropped to 9 C (49F) last night, the first time we have seen temperatures in single figures since April.
In my garden, the horse chestnut tree is always the first thing to announce the impending arrival of autumn as it starts to drop it's leaves quite early. Today there is hardy a leaf left on it...
So it's time to start to think about what to grow over autumn and winter and as this is my first year I'm a bit stuck where to start.
I already have some Chinese Cabbages growing which look like they are going to recover from the caterpillar attack. Also the red cabbages which have been in since the spring are looking nice and will be ready to harvest soon.
I'm going to try and grow some broccoli and some fennel. Fennel is a wonderful herb which is native to the Mediterranean region although can now be found all around the globe. I have become a convert to it since moving here to France. In the last week, I have sown seed for both fennel and broccoli, although, I am still very new to growing food and my success with seeds is not brilliant, but I will persevere. The fennel has peeped through the surface with a spindly little shoot which I believe is normal... I have half a dozen broccoli, from a sowing a couple of weeks ago and I have just sown a few more...
I also recently put some peppermint in which is just beginning to show and hopefully will be a nice addition to my mint pot. In the herb pots, the mint is doing extremely well, the basil is also doing well now after a couple of false starts and the flat leaf parsley that was sown back in July is now developing well
I have a volunteer pumpkin whose vine has grown to about 8m (26ft). It is in a 2.4m (8ft) bed and I am winding it up and down the bed trying to contain it. I didn't know whether it was pumpkin or melon or quite what, but on Kitchen Garden day, one of our guests assured me it was pumpkin and as he is a commercial pumpkin grower, I guessed I should listen....
I am also in the process of deciding about extending the garden. This year I have had a lot of successes but have really had too many varieties with not enough of any one thing. I'm thinking of doubling the size of the plot, as I don't want to overwhelm myself and I am also going to grow next year's tomatoes in the ground rather than in pots, so that will need some more space...
I still have to make a decision on lifting, splitting and moving my rhubarb as well... At the moment it is in a rose bed.. but is producing nice rhubarb and I hear stories of people losing the whole lot once they try and move them....The other problem is that the space I had earmarked for it has now been taken over by Strawberries....
I also picked up the first walnut today....so before long, the annual race between me and the squirrels will start in earnest..
I think it's a good thing that I have got the swimming pool construction out of the way now as it seems I'm going to be busy in the garden for a while........
2 comments:
We thought it was cold and autumnal here, but it sounds as though it's even colder in the west of France! Temperatures haven't been anywhere near single figures yet. For winter, if you've got room, you could try turnips, spinach, lamb's lettuce (mâche in French), radicchio (chicorie sauvage in French). We've sowed all of these in the last week or so and they're mostly coming up well and did well last year. The radicchio was doing OK until the storm on Thursday which washed some of the seedlings away.
You could also put leeks in, but you'd have to buy plants as it's too late to sow them. Hope this helps!
Also broad beans can be sown a bit later. I am sooo looking forward to helping you in the garden Ian. Not long now!
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