Not a Show Garden View 1

Here is a cat's eye view of the rear garden towards the potager, seen from the 3m² area of strimmed daffodils and tulips. That was about a week ago! I spent three hours mowing my land yesterday. Over to the left are chicken sheds with no chickens! The brown areas are because about a month ago I used very old weedkiller to control clover in grass though hardly is it the style of an English lawn.  I thought the weedkiller hadn't worked but the evidence is that a lot of the clover appears to have died off but again it is creeping through!  The cut grass/clover was not allowed to be used as a mulch between roses to control weeds so have had to wait a few weeks and mows. Meanwhile it mulched itself!

Behind the camera and me is a stone wall - not my property. There are two plants of Rose Metanoia and this year I can begin to train them on some wires along the wall. I like the way they change from deep apricot to pale pink.

I am inclined to leave the wild dog rose (inherited with the garden) between the climbing roses. Along this wall are a few hollyhocks, lots of yellow raspberries running rampant even though I was brutal to them in early February, yellow Kerria also rather swamped,  a Clematis in hiding which is over-run by the growth of other plants and I can't yet get at it. There was a Passion Flower plant which I think has ceased to exist!  There are a few gladioli and there was Nigella (love-in-a-mist). There were bluebells that I didn't realise were there or were they grape hyacinths but much hidden under the growth of wild grasses and cleavers (goose-grass or sticky-willy being two other names!). There is some mint escaped from elsewhere and I have scattered some wild flower seeds to see what happens.There are two paeony plants... one here and the other by the 'not chicken' sheds.

Rampant raspberries by a bricked up doorway.

I really don't know how to manage this section of the garden!

 

Three nasty concrete plant troughs which were in the front courtyard were brought around to the back garden using the Italian workawayers' muscle power and mine. It was funny and even the French neighbour had a laugh whilst he stopped work in his potager!  I have six strawberry plants in one, lettuce plants in another and 'cut and come again' lettuces and radishes in the third. I even added manured shop compost and expensive garden shop straw which is cut into little pieces into the poor soil.  I haven't had the courage to ask anyone where I can get a small bale but problem solved now as I have used the grass mulchings.

The elder bush encroaches on the path and the washing line and this year bears flowerheads!

I like elderflower heads dipped in batter, preferably deep fried... hold by the stalk, dip in the pancake batter and you could shallow fry... I don't eat the central stalky part but the fragrant flowers are nice!
END OF GARDEN VIEW 1

Courtyard Garden

On 16th May the courtyard garden was finished: it was started in February before 'la grippe'.
Here is what it looked like; very green when the weeds and moss grew, brown, dark and depressing when raked.  I had previously tried to cheer it with garden pots:

The concrete troughs were there when I bought the property but set elsewhere in the courtyard ... they have to be emptied to move them and then they need more than two people to lift... also they have holes in the bottom where the concrete has fallen out.
I helped the two Italian workawayers trolley and roll them on cylindrical lengths of wood to the back garden for lettuce etc... It was fun but had work bent double running, pushing and keeping the troughs steady whilst  Fl. pulled the weight.

In the past, logs for the woodburner have been stacked under a blue bache, but this cannot be a place in the future. Nor will I be allowed to store geraniums to overwinter in smaller plant troughs under copious layers of bubble wrap with pine branches weighing it down. The photo was taken in January! (This French village ties fir tree branches to vertical guttering along the streets and then decorates with shiny paper bows and wrapped boxes for the Christmas season!) I also acquired some for my downpipe and used them again before they headed to the dechetterie.

There will be no more hoeing, raking and weeding of soil-filled gravel.

Here it is now:

The fence is to be painted/stained a kind of charcoal grey.
 It is intended to provide a degree of privacy between those in the B&B room and those venturing to the exterior toilet block!
I made the fish a long long time ago for a party to hang suspended from the trees in a different French garden...
soon time to throw them out, but they add a watery theme!!!

Anyone who stays at my Chambre d'Hôte can enter from and exit onto the courtyard, even eat there if it is warm enough once I put the new table and chairs there...I am inclined not to clutter the courtyard with furniture!

I like mirrors in gardens.. and once the fuschias start to trail in the hanging baskets there will be more colour. I want only blue pots but beggars cannot be too choosy. I know the paviours could do with a scrub but that would be very hard work... it  amazed me how much moss grew in the last winter and how much soil I sweep towards the gate on a weekly basis.

After five years in this house, with help from WORKAWAYER friends, and others, the courtyard garden is clean, tidy, open, bright with light, and lets light into that kitchen, where I hope in the next few weeks or months a brown window and door will be no more...the kitchen will be gutted, not me! AND we all will WATCH that kitchen space... for progress and when it is finished from my lovely garden. Then from the kitchen I will be able to look out on ongoing fresh brightness!
I am so happy to have my courtyard garden looking cheerful ... it is not quite the intended Asian feel... am not sure what feel it is... but clean and tidy it is .... no more throwing the decorating paint onto manky gravel... no more weeding of manky gravel... and after all my angst i have no regrets that the wretched tree, which did entice the birds is gorn!!!!!!!!
I just love what I have done, even though it has doubled the previsioned budget which was already 1/3 more than I wished...... the price of love!!!!
To begin with I had no idea what to do but did a little research, went more than once to look at what was available to try and understand what to do! To see the possibilities within keeping the funding grounded!   I recycled a friend's tommettes as well as  the fish shapes  There are camellias, an acer, roses, clematis, geraniums, baskets of fuchsias waiting to take off,  lavender and rosemary, a struggling tree paeony and herbs. The flag irises have just finished, anemones struggle on to bloom, choisiya gives that lime green feeling. When I add the table, chairs and lime green parasol kept indoors for the now, then outdoor life will be complete ... at least in my imagination!!!!!!
In Reality life is becoming very different!

Acacia Trees

That tall tree, not in my garden sends out roots apx ten metres distance and up sprouts a new tree. I allowed four to grow in my garden for they were not there five years ago and by last summer they were wonderful with their shady foliage and hammock hanging strength.....but then I noticed their roots!
In the Autumn a friend pruned three and chainsawed through the trunk of one that was in my potager but then roots have been a different issue!
In September a friend sawed one, then in February, Italian helpers sawed down another two and recently a paid gardener took out the fourth.  He and I scraped back the earth until he could get at the narrower roots with his lopper and then with persistent rocking the evil roots came out. I can now plant the potatoes in the 4th part of my potager.
HOWEVER, that acacia tree used to have another tree section that fell into the neighbour's land about two years ago. Now, this main trunk is pushing over the single breeze-block wall which is being held in place mainly by the mound created by the previous occupant of my house. Also there is bedrock there.
The wall was not broken like this in the Autumn.  There has though been a hairline crack for five years. Last  Summer the wall was straight and fine!
The good news is that the neighbour will employ someone to remove the tree and its roots (I hope) and rebuild the dividing wall. She is very conscientious, responsible and caring and does not wish anyone to be injured.  She said "Je se mefier". 
Her garden is really wild and I love it like that and said so but she is remorseful for not paying attention... a kind of out of sight out of mind... and like me ... she has other things to do and cannot cope with so much land.

My gardener erected the new pergola. 

My veggie plot is now divided into four sections by a strip of lawn wide enough for the mower.

The garden beyond the acacia tree.

There are three of these to dig out!

Preludes & Fugues afore Mowing the Lawn

Again there are concerts at Bonneuil-Matours. This year I paid 15e subscription which entitles me to pay 15e for each concert instead of 22e. I thought I was vieillese at 7e ... Maybe I have that wrong! I am still young!  I will have to ask discreetly of the proprietor of the chateau and organiser of these wonderful concerts! Sometimes I am very happy to pay full price.
Last evening was a marathon concert of the 2nd book of 48 Preludes and Fugues by JS BACH. The pianist played two clavichords as well as piano. The clavichord is remarkably quiet and one imagined being in a tiny drawing room heavily curtained against a cold draught, with friends and family gathered around to listen or to play their turn or to be accompanied in song or other instrument.  The loudness of the piano was extreme after one's ears had become atuned to the delicate sound, akin to a hand held music box with a handle that turns ... a tinny sound!
I took my piano score. I heard this pianist play the 1st book. He played in order 1st, 2nd, 3rd on the piano, but last evening he played the second 24 in random order which kept me on my toes to find the correct prelude and fugue by listening to / reading the opening bars on the contents page ... with little light it was tricky. I realised I am well out of practice to score reading.  I remembered we had to read symphonic scores at secondary school and prove to the teacher the progress of the music by running our finger along the score.
A few  of the pieces I knew as I have attempted to play them. They are not easy. The pianist had good concentration, stamina, technique and ability.  A lecturer and teacher.  Kindly and humble. 
In the break we were offered a bowl of tomato soup... nice! I was reminded that I haven't had Heinz Tomato soup for years!  It was French and tomatoes were difficult to identify! There was also Chinese tea.. which tasted of licorice and maybe ginger but it was very weak...plus little pieces of the local biscuit Broyé.  I sampled the wine from a 2 litre bottle of Lussac St Emilion 2003... hm 'un peu vinaigré'... but it was better once I'd warmed it up in my chilly hands!  I left before the encore as I was tired and I'd had a traumatic day ... it had been three and a half hours since I arrived at 19h. Drove home, with only one car sighted travelling in the opposite direction!

My lawnmower has been repaired< The facture wasn't ready for payment so he said he would send it in the post. This is most unusual in France but he said he trusts me! The mower is about to launch into its 4th season and every winter I have paid about 85e for a service... the first year and last it hit stones so it needed the blade to be sharpened.  In the first year the lawn was newly growing or cut down from 3 feet of growth... and last year the moles were very bad at throwing up a lot of stone.  BUT this year I have had to have the more expensive service with a change of filter and new accelerator cable. I was ready for battle if he charges me for the latter!!!  It only mows about 500m2 each 7 to 14 days in the cutting season so I don't understand why it has been so needy!!!!!   The specialist shop where I bought it, has taken six weeks to repair it.  I would have liked it last week when the grass was dry and before that I was not well enough but the French aren't very quick with their turnarounds and business!  When I phoned on Thursday I was told it had just been finished! It is a John Deere machine. I think it was a Friday afternoon machine!  Hey ho and off to mow as soon as the weather improves.

This year at the end of my other terrain there is a heavy perfume from swathes of violets. They haven't been there before.  Maybe they have liked the grass kept short over the last five years. I try to keep it manageable.   My neighbour was impressed by their appearance.  I ought to spend more time down there in the evening as the garden bathes for longer in the setting sun than does my courtyard!

January Accomplishments

Cook the Tagliatelli in plenty of boiled salted water and stir immediately to prevent it sticking together.  In a pan gently melt gorgonzola with milk, butter and cream!  Mix together.  Sprinkle with rocket.

 It was a baker's dozen of ciabbata rolls. The French flour mix created a dough that was not as holey as batter but thinking about the instructions, it did say to beat vigorously for 5 minutes ... so maybe that was the part we skipped. I shall buy another packet whilst they are here and try again.

The border is no 150cm wide so I can't easily leap over it and of course it will take more grass cuttings!

 Long shadows! My four quartered potager is separated by grass which is a mower width. I must not grow too many potatoes as I need to observe a rotational plan. The quarter nearest the photographer will take spuds this year... I am torn between earlies and maincrop!  Unless I risk it and grow some in the opposite diagonal where none grew last year!  The plan was also to surround the potager with wood ... OR to plant box hedging plants... BUT that seems over-fussy. I was also thinking that I would like a standard rose 'monk' on the central cross!

 And this, the new hinged bath screen... but water still sprays too far over the edge of the bath!

 And onto February!

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was full of rain and cold and drear! I lacked confidence, was full of doubt,  felt responsible for the weather, found myself apologising,  hearing myself say, 'but it's not my fault'.  I was embarrassed by the number of overwhelming tasks / jobs I need help with.  Down, down, down.
(I don't think I was nearly as mature and understanding of the elderly as they are at their age!!!!!!!!)

M. was fine as we settled to sort photos ... and negatives .. remember those? !  A jolt down memory lane to my former English home, which my last partner helped me to renovate, and..., oh my..., look at what we created, and look at what we took apart... and left... I was and am so saddened.

However, if I was still there I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have met the wonderful people I have met nor would I have had, and am having, the amazingly challenging tear-jerking or laughter-making experiences.
What has LIFE been all about when so much of MY LIFE has gone and so little is left? 
Make the most of it while I can and if I am down, down, down,  I have the choice and opportunity to change it for up, up, up.

So,  she and I sorted the photos into a set for HER and a set for HIM, because when I left HIS house, four to five years ago, to come to HER house,  I took the photos of MT house in UK, intending to divide them up!  ... and now, after ten years, I have!!!  What HE does with HIS set is not my business but he will be given them!  More importantly, quite a few of those hard-copy photos reached the rubbish bin!  My set is now in two albums. M. did an excellent job of sorting muddled photos and negatives of that 2/3rds of a Tudor former inn.

After much weeping and wailing which didn't actually last too long, she and I seemed to bond as women, and we managed to laugh through the task.  One fun thing to do was to complete an album from about 1995 (??) when my son and I went to Spain. That was after my father died!   We had backpacks but hired a car to drive from Barcelona to Orihuela and return. It was a great DRIVE... I could have gone allthe way around the edge!  Lovely again to to see my son so young in photos and to remember Elche and Rioja!

I think my down mood on such a grim wet dark day was SAVED by the greeting cards I found welcoming my daughter into the world.  Funny that her 'birth' day was the day before I re-discovered them!!!!!  Such a pleasure to see 1978 style 'BABY GIRL" cards and messages inside from some people I am not in touch with anymore!

I think F. felt frustrated by yesterday's weather, as did we all!  It was so bleak.  First of all he took my new Ikea trolley out of its box and put it together.  He called it the  'vegetable shelves'.  I liked that!   Then he was impressed by the new indoor or exterior lights I bought ages ago which needed to be connected, but I couldn't work out how to make them light up... I am impractical!  Negative destructive thoughts of  'how could I be so dumb' is what I thought!!!!  Evidently, I can buy more and make a longer string!  Ooh... I may just do that. Sod the cost!

Then he volunteered to work outdoors in the rain, to investigate what needs to be done to repair wooden gates at the barn down the lane, and to establish for himself what tools and resources I own and what are owned by my former partner.  All left in my possession.  I have full permission to use what I will!  Eventually, he repaired one screw in the main garden gate... such a little task, but it secures the keep on the latch and is extremely important.  I was so grateful.  He was so wet!!!!! Then, bless him, he wanted to de-nail the timbers in the newly re-roofed attic and was gone for a couple of hours. I must go up and see what he has done!

Throughout the day I battled with being in a gloop of depression, which was really a kind of sadness and eventually an Ibuprofen sorted it as well as some lively music.  It is lovely to have people to feed but takes my time! It is inspirational to have people stay who appreciate food.  The evening meal was delicious - two slices of lambs liver cut into small pieces in a creamy tarragon sauce with cauliflower leaves and florets, julienne carrots and Ciabbata rolls that M. made!  OK, it was a prepared flour mix but she has always let her sister do the cooking.  I made a Pear Meringue Tart and a Hazelnut Torte because egg whites needed to be used.  We were stuffed!  I am eating more than I normally would!

They wished me to play the piano so had to endure two Chopin Nocturnes plus two pieces from the film 'The Piano' composed by Michael Nyman.  The deal was that they would sing and play Friday evening but then we had a musical soirée.  She has a beautiful voice and he plays guitar well... a couple of 'The Doors' pieces. This was followed by a discussion about something I did not understand, so I showed him a video of the Stroh instruments played by a French theatrical, musical group who I know... then he showed me videos of guitar playing by Bob Brozman.

Today I got up at nine but they didn't get up until ten and started work at 10h30!!!!!! But by then the sun was shining and although they looked reluctant without adequate clothing, for the wind was keen and bitter,  they were bossed about by me.  I laughed heartily, yet severely when I told them I was bossy when necessary!!! They had to wear a hat!! "Choose one of these"... and a gilet and a coat or jacket... "Choose from these" is what I said!!!   "You can shed them as you get warmer."   They did not understand this use of the verb 'to shed'.  So they worked for an hour and I took them coffee and Epiphany cake.   Then they worked another hour and a half and I made them Red kidney bean and Red pepper soup, lemony with sage, served with ciabatta. Pear tart was to follow!

I explained to these two that in January, despite my own rules which I break,  the weather is inclement for starting much before 9 or 10 in the morning. One awaits the sun rising above the village roofs to shine on my garden!
BUT WOW... today they forked over and weeded three sections of my potager AND made the fourth quarter ...  all this in addition to work on Tuesday and Wednesday where they have finished widening the rose and lavender bed! How I love them! In addition, they moved weeds to the trailer (dechetterie trip next week) and moved logs exposed to rain when wind whipped off the bache to the space in the sheltered area where logs have disappeared since October!

POSTSCRIPT TO SUSAN's comment below:
The soil appears to be remarkably friable this year ... most of it only needed a light fork even though it was of course wet with the amount of RAIN we have endured!  Hey ho! My back has been saved and what would have taken four weeks 'potager' digging has been achieved in a few days. I did a few rows of forking over to demonstrate technique!  Last year or the year before I added a lot of 5 year old chicken manure... I also added wood ash from the woodburner, wood shavings and oak bark dust once I have sieved the oak bark.  Waste veg matter is just dug in randomly!  I don't bother to compost!

Meanwhile, whilst monitoring progress in the garden, I discovered my son's school reports plus his photographic accomplishments...so am sorting those into a chronological order and boxing up!!!!!!!!

My Italian helpers went to sleep. I took a fast walk, whereupon at apx six pm, for it is still daylight 'twixt twilight, I became aware of bird song which I have not heard for so long. Then, Blackbird trilled. When I reached ' The American Way' I returned along the road from whence I had travelled. A tawny owl hooted hhhhhhhhhooooooo.  I felt full of the joys of Spring. So happy!!!!!!

Today, the artisan came to instal a shower screen... the para-douche!  I only waited three days.   It was bought at the end of October.  Previously, I never found one that I liked. Now I've completed the action but the glass tiles I think do not have the correct grouting. Hey ho!  BUT ...How glad I am!!!!!!!!  It's another hymn I am remembering!!

Glad that I live am I;
That the sky is blue;
Glad for the country lanes,
And the fall of dew.

After the sun, the rain,
After the rain the sun;
This is the way of life,
Till the work be done.

All that we need to do,
Be we low or high,
Is to see that we grow,
Nearer to God on high.

Eccelentissimo

My Italian friends finished widening the rose and lavender border by digging and removing turf which find a new home in my garden.  I had got about half way but then weather, laziness and other jobs made it a slow process. In addition I measured and marked with string the four parts of the potager.  I shall have doubled in size what i started three years ago! It shall not become any larger! It does mean that I shall have four rotational areas. Their next task is to fork over three quarters and to dig the last quarter. However, there is an acacia trunk root and I may have to pour bleach or some other concoction over it if I or they can't grub it out! Once they have finished i shall cover all four areas with plastic before I plant in Springtime!

11 august 11

On 11 August 2011 I purchased a brand new petrol lawnmower. There were no Acacia trees and no garden to speak of.. just land, just grass, just clover after chickens, dogs and a vegetable plot. I am told it had beautiful flowers in it but the previous occupants took them.
Two of the four directional views, to South East and East North:

This it has been wet and dry and much mowing has has been required:

 To the South it has looked 'comme ça':

 

This year I had to buy an electric lawnmower because it was not good for me to pull the cord of a petrol mower whilst suffering from biceps tendonitis.  So each mower serves each piece of land and I don't have to push one up and down the lanes. It is still too much hard work and I know that nature will overcome me if I cant keep hold of nature!

Crops

The basket of LONGOR shallots was full at harvest time in early June... and jolly good they were too! The Annabelle potatoes gave a small yield of small but tasty size.... a little pockmarked.  The Roseval gave a slightly better crop but with a few rotten ones within the crop of mixed sizes.  Moving onto a mixed row of 2013 and 2014 soon but the plants above the soil look good and healthy as do the English potato main crop...at least above ground which I hope not to dig up until the plants have died back completely. With all the blight about I must dig a new patch for potatoes for next year's crop and grow fewer plants!
Lettuces look frail and delicate. The cabbage romanesco and another variety look strong so have kept the net over them to prevent butterflies settling... need to raise the net! Courgettes flower and yield not... although I have had two large courgettes and two smaller... Leeks planted in the Spring again don't seem to be doing very well.  Might need to get a soil test kit ... unless someone knows how I can do it without!

Villandry Garden garden sculpture and furniture

I rather like these chairs which were in the kiddies playground area. I thought my son could adapt the idea as he is a jack-of-all-trades and is upcycling metal and wood objects and materials... someone's rubbish can be made or incorporated into an object of beauty! 

He is a metal worker having welded almpst the whole of the hull of his steel vessel, (possibly I am exaggerating... nevertheless it is huge and now it is his home shared with his wife.

Then there were sculptural bronzes of amour, with a central fountain, and Angel's Trumpets pruned into a tree shrub. 

It was all so very very delightful!