So Fa so good

The project moves on, with help from so many different sources. We will need to choose a name soon.

The trees are growing and some are being allowed to produce a few fruit - just the older trees.

We went to buy a trailer load of lombricompost - here's a link, as I recommend this compost, high in nitrogen and potassium.



I couldn't resist buying a loads of worms (who could?), and, when we got back, putting some into the worm farms Ivor and I had dotted around the garden, plus into the compost. Can you see the wriggly writhing worms?

Since then, we have acquired a 'proper' worm farm - from here, and are hoping that they will proliferate. After all, the worms do all the dirty work for us in a no-dig garden.

The farmer we bought the worm compost from buys in organic manure, and the worms do their job, leaving behind what I call 'black gold'. Before we started the garden I did test the soil, and there was no nitrogen (see previous posts) which will be amply provided by the worm compost.
Here is  a link to the Royal Horticultural Society's pages about lombricompost click here
I have also prepared some nettle 'tea' for the garden - and will be adding comfrey to it too (see photo).

Any progress made on the project is thanks to our helpers. Rose and Jim deserve a special mention this post, not only are they our biggest sponsors so far, but they have visited and helped out at the farm too.





New beds have been created, this one is named 'Jim's bed' for the moment ;) Here are the men creating the walls. (photo left)



and here is the still to be filled in carrot bed (Hi Rose 😊)









The asparagus have been planted too. They are funny looking things, like the octopus man out of The Pirates of the Caribbean - photo left.



 and here is proof that the 17 year old Fabien is able to help -with a smile- ;) photo right. I know you can't see his smile, but I think it was there.




The chickens must love their new, automatically opening and closing door, (see photo, right) they are out early into their amazing, orchard-encompassing 'coop' (don't worry, they are certainly not cooped up!), and we only have to visit them once or twice a day, instead of three or four times. Ivor and I and Alex watched said door close at 9.30pm, Ivor being allowed to stay up especially - it was 'epic, but scary' he must've used the word weird too, as that is his favourite, overused word at the moment. The water recuperation system is being installed, we should find out if the underground reservoir we found is water-tight or not. Oh, and the fencing! The deputy mayor popped round to see if the greenhouse is legal (he reckons it is and that is good enough for me) and was properly impressed by the fencing! A very professional job apparently.

It was great to welcome an old friend, a Wwoofer from the Funny Farm, Lucy and her two children to the new project. Look at the bed we filled while you were here, those onions look fine don't they? The sweetcorn are also on their way, following a lovely spring of rain alternating with some sun.





Jim, Rose and family, the leeks look lovely in Jim's bed :D
There is also green and red basil, courgettes, thyme and two varieties of parsley in the bed now, which has been given a layer of lombricompost after being filled with soil from the garden. The mulch on top is the remains of a rotten hay bale (hopefully not too many seeds will germinate) donated by Lolo.






and here is the verveine, do you remember Jim? I wanted to show you how to take a soft-wood cutting and I used the tip of the verveine (Verbena) plant... as a wise man once said (your dad apparently) cut it off, stick it in and give it three taps and you're done. Well, he was right and the verbena plant has taken - so then there were three in the garden! The small plant next to it is a basil just germinated.





The black currant plants that we potted-up are looking great too. (photo right)

Here is a photo of some of the sponsored trees - thanks to Gabi too, yours is the second one along - Reinette de Brive. (photo left)




The greenhouse has provided a haven for the seedlings, which as the frost is over will be soon finding a home in the garden - some having already been evicted. Being able to plant out early is a great advantage, the tomatoes and aubergines in the greenhouse are already flowering, and have probably set by now - Gardener's Delight, Andine Cornu, and Pinapple tomatoes in there (gotta try everything at least once eh?).



 Here are the tomatoes, looking strong! (right)


                                               
and the newly planted capsicum and cucumber (left)

The potatoes look amazing, even if I say so myself! So far no sign of the potato beetle, but we are

keeping an eye out. This year we have planted Mona Lisa, Bintje, and Ratte potatoes, oh, and some violet blue variety that I found in an organic shop in Carcassonne. Mona Lisa is supposed to be a hardy, resistant to all diseases variety, whereas the Bintje is a sensitive plant, but Salix the chef-son said they are one of his favourite. The Ratte potato is quite hard to come by and is particulary nice.

The leeks are in, about 100 of them, and today I planted out the Queensland Blue (seeds all the way from Australia), and some other pumpkin varieties, plus a couple of courgettes and cucumbers. I also split the yarrow plant that I planted last year, as it is a good companion plant. Lots of seeds are coming up, I guess it must be spring time!

A special shout out to mum, who came and supported us for a week or so, and is official egg taster for life, here she is trying Xandrija's recipe, although I believe she was supposed to have avocado with it - next time eh!

 and here are two intrepid explorers having successfully caught a couple of mating frogs

And here is Ivor bucket head :D

and here he is again, proudly carrying the flowers for the 8th of May ceremony in our village

And finally, who can name this alien-looking creature hiding amongst the chives - if you can spot it :D