11/2/24 - Is it windy where you are?
This week’s main job has been clearing a bed of Jerusalem artichokes. I didn’t plant them there. However I did plant a few in a big bin outside the old greenhouse about eight years ago . One night in a raging storm the bin was blown over and the artichokes escaped in a torrent of water - through the fence and down into the vegetable garden. Every year I think I’ve removed them all only to find even more pop up during the summer. But now that they’ve well and truly invaded the roots of my precious rhubarb plants it’s time to declare war.
So this week I’ve taken out all the soil and sieved it meticulously. I’ll lob the smallest bits into the woods where some wild boar can feast on the roots, but the rest are in a bucket in the shed. I reckon I have at least 15kgs. I know they divide the world between those who love them and those that scream ‘fartichokes’ at the top of their voices the second a Jerusalem artichoke is mentioned. It’s an epithet that’s worn thin. I’ll advertise them on The Herault Gardener on Facebook and wait the 10 seconds that it will take for the first comment to mention their digestive quiddity.
Luckily I had the hens to help fish out any chokes I’d left behind. Maya, in particular, was fastidious. (pic 3 below)
The welcome news this week is that we’ve had at least 21mm of rain over the past couple of days. Boy do we need it. The hens were thrilled when they woke to softened soil that needed a good seeing to. They’ve been doing an amazing job of clearing the weeds.
Things are rocking on in the greenhouse. Tomato seedlings have germinated, as have melons, cucumbers, cauliflowers, mesclun, broccoli, spinach, bunching onions and padron peppers and other things I’ve forgotten. Today I sowed balcony, yellow pear and black cherry tomatoes because seventeen varieties aren’t enough - also Chinese giant peppers. I think I may have ditched the Hungarian wax and long yellow peppers thinking they hadn’t germinated. I now realise I only sowed them a week ago, so I have probably been too hasty. I re-sow during the week.
In pond news, I feared that all the toads had deserted the pond as I had a couple of days of not spotting any where previously there had been nine at least. My pal Katrina saw a couple, squashed, on the road leading below our house and out of the hamlet. I then spotted another dead one in the garden probably caught by a bird. However yesterday I was drawn to the pond by a plaintive croak and saw one sitting staring at me. So all is not lost. It’s probably a male calling for a mate so keep everything crossed for him.
