A view from the west

: st_ouennais; 19th July 2008

This week in the field has been tricky with lots of decisions. Finally I decided to lift the garlic. The bulbs are of a similar size to last year - smaller than you might buy in the shops, but that may just be variety.

I have also cut the oats. So unless they get wet while left to dry (!) I should be in porridge for the winter. Cutting grain is always a tricky decision, you want it to dry off enough to store well, but you don't want to leave it too long else you loose a lot of it. Its the same at the sowing end -put it in early and the birds devour it, put it in latter and you have to hope for a dry end of season to get it harvested. On my small area of grain I sow early and use a mesh to keep the birds off.

RIPE OATS

45 minutes later -porridge in waiting. They still need to be dried and threshed.

And the strip where they were growing.

2 strips of barley sown a couple of weeks apart. The one on the left is golden and near ripe, the one on the right still green

Ripening barley heads change colour to a golden yellow and turn downwards.

Completely unrelated - the damsons are just starting to change colour too.

Tags: barley, damsons, harvest, oats

In the field

: st_ouennais; 13th June 2008

Current Mood:: satisfied

Today has been a long stint in the field - scything grass, harvesting the last of the radar onions and planting out a few melons (Blenheim Orange) and sweet potatoes. The sweet pototoes are slips I grew from a couple of small tubers I saved last year. Did I mention weeding and hoeing -plenty of that too. The spelt and oats are heading up nicely I notice. Perhaps I'll have enough to warrant using the hand mill to make some flour.

Tags: garden, melons, oats, onions, slips, spelt, sweet potatoes

Unseasonal weather

: st_ouennais; 6th June 2008

Current Mood:: busy

The rain has stopped and the ground has finally dried enough for me to get back to work on the vegetables. Naturally the weeds have taken full advantage to make immense headway. Fortunately I put in a lot of chinese artichokes and oats -both of which are very tolerant of these wet conditions. Commercial potato growers are not having a good year. Just as this time last year, the ground is too wet for machinery for lifting , and the Royals are rotting in the ground. Me and my fork dont have quite the same limitations. It shows up the sort of risks however of being too dependent on one crop, just like having an economy too dependent on one sector. Diversity is the key.

À bétôt

Tags: chinese artichokes, jersey royals, oats, weather