We may not have a pigeonnier.....

But we have acquired a pigeon

Some weeks ago this sad tale began. We noticed a lonely pigeon sitting on the barn roof. It looked at us in that winsome way pigeons have, so we fed it. Well, Richard did, so I blame him. But I did suggest it -just the once.

Next morning he was back waiting at the same spot for more and lo! – he was soon given his own little green plastic dish to put the corn it (Richard puts the corn in it, that is. The pigeon eats it). On occasions Boris joins in with this avian feeding frenzy and brings the girls along to help. Shortly afterwards the pigeon took up permanent residence, roosting on the beams under our covered terrace outside the kitchen door – where we (used to) like to eat. And just to make himself feel at home he started depositing pigeon poo on the terrace beneath him.

You will notice that by now I have decided this pigeon is male.

Richard then tried to accommodate him by putting a sheet of newspaper under where he roosts- so the pigeon moves a few feet to one side to ensure a direct hit onto the terrace tiles. At this point I christened him Sir Crapalot.

Sir Crapalot now has total control. If the little green dish isn’t promptly filled each morning he sits on the little window-sill by the kitchen sink and taps at it with his beak. He follows us around the house tapping on which-ever window he spots us through. I dread the day he finds a wife.

Next week – a recipe for pigeon pie.

Rhubarb and ginger jam..mmmm

We grow it here; it is the first fruit of the year we harvest ; and we ate some this weekend. But I find it a much more difficult crop to cultivate here than I did in the UK. This is because of our climate – rhubarb grows in cool climates (think Yorkshire) and once the average daily temperature tops 24 C it starts to get a bit sparse and growth slows right down. We enjoy it now, but only for about a month.

Rhubarb facts:

The leaves are poisonous. They contain oxalic acid, which can cause kidney damage. Incidentally bee keepers use oxalic acid (in minute quantities and when there is no danger of contaminating honey) in the beehive to counteract varroa – a bee parasite.

You don’t cut rhubarb, you pull the stems away from the plant at ground level.

Rhubarb is greedy - feed the soil around it with lots of organic matter.

In France, don’t harvest rhubarb after May as the plants need to build their strength up in the second half of the year for the following year’s crop.

Rhubarb is low in pectin (the stuff that makes jam set easily). So when you make jam you need to introduce extra pectin in the form of lemon juice.

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

1 kg plain white sugar

1kg rhubarb weighed without the leaves

2 lemons

100g preserved ginger finely chopped

About 4 cm of ginger root lightly crushed and wrapped in a muslin pouch

Tiny piece of butter

Chop the rhubarb into pieces about 2 centimetres long and put them in a glass bowl layering with the sugar as you go. Squeeze the juice of both lemons over the top. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it overnight to draw the juices out of the rhubarb.

Next day, prepare your jars and lids – i.e. wash and rinse them very thoroughly and put them into a warm oven (100 degrees C) for at least 20 minutes to sterilize them. Pour boiling water over your jam jar lids. You will probably need 4 x 500g jars, but put 5 in the oven to be on the safe side.

Put a tea plate into your deep freeze to get really cold. Use this later to test for a set – see below.

Put the rhubarb mixture into a jam pan and bring to the boil along with the muslin bag of ginger root. Boil for about 10 minutes and then add the chopped preserved ginger. Continue to boil until setting point is reached. Then take the muslin bag of ginger, give it a squeeze and throw it away.

[You test for setting point in two ways – using a jam thermometer which will give you the temperature jam has to reach in order to set or by dropping a small amount of jam onto a really cold plate. If you push the cooled jam with your finger and it wrinkles on the surface it is ready and ought to set when cold. I use both methods in tandem.]

When setting point is reached remove from the heat, remove any scum which has developed on the surface of the jam and add a tiny knob of butter. This helps get rid of any last traces of the scum. Stir until the butter is completely dissolved.

Using a jam funnel ladle the jam into the hot jars. Screw on the lids as soon as you can bear to do so (a horribly dangerous operation). Then, to sterilise the inside of the lids, turn the jam jars upside down and leave them like that for 10 minutes.

Don’t forget to turn the jars the right way round again and then leave the jam to set before labeling and storing somewhere cool and dark.

Put the rhubarb leaves on the compost heap.

A promise of Summer

It has been so gloomy here for the past few weeks. Yes, the rain has been welcome – but like all gardeners I always feel that the weather is never ‘just right’. Could part of being a gardener be linked with a small dose of paranoia?

We know summer is just around the corner so here is a pic of last years harvest to give us a taste of what is to come and brighten up a dreary April day.

Of course when the sun does wake from his slumbers then for how long will we be happy with his warming yellow glow?

Not long I suggest. Roll on the harvest!!

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb…… I love it.

We grow it here; it is the first fruit of the year we harvest ; and we ate some this weekend. But I find it a much more difficult crop to cultivate here than I did in the UK. This is because of our climate – rhubarb grows in cool climates (think Yorkshire) and once the average daily temperature tops 24 C it starts to get a bit sparse and growth slows right down. We enjoy it now, but only for about a month.

Rhubarb facts:

The leaves are poisonous. They contain oxalic acid, which can cause kidney damage. Incidentally bee keepers use oxalic acid (in minute quantities and when there is no danger of contaminating honey) in the beehive to counteract varroa – a bee parasite.

You don’t cut rhubarb, you pull the stems away from the plant at ground level.

Rhubarb is greedy - feed the soil around it with lots of organic matter.

In France, don’t harvest rhubarb after May as the plants need to build their strength up in the second half of the year for the following year’s crop.

Rhubarb is low in pectin (the stuff that makes jam set easily). So when you make jam you need to introduce extra pectin in the form of lemon juice.

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

1 kg plain white sugar

1kg rhubarb weighed without the leaves

2 lemons

100g preserved ginger finely chopped

About 4 cm of ginger root lightly crushed and wrapped in a muslin pouch

Tiny piece of butter

Chop the rhubarb into pieces about 2 centimetres long and put them in a glass bowl layering with the sugar as you go. Squeeze the juice of both lemons over the top. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it overnight to draw the juices out of the rhubarb.

Next day, prepare your jars and lids – i.e. wash and rinse them very thoroughly and put them into a warm oven (100 degrees C) for at least 20 minutes to sterilize them. Pour boiling water over your jam jar lids. You will probably need 4 x 500g jars, but put 5 in the oven to be on the safe side.

Put a tea plate into your deep freeze to get really cold. Use this later to test for a set – see below.

Put the rhubarb mixture into a jam pan and bring to the boil along with the muslin bag of ginger root. Boil for about 10 minutes and then add the chopped preserved ginger. Continue to boil until setting point is reached. Then take the muslin bag of ginger, give it a squeeze and throw it away.

[You test for setting point in two ways – using a jam thermometer which will give you the temperature jam has to reach in order to set or by dropping a small amount of jam onto a really cold plate. If you push the cooled jam with your finger and it wrinkles on the surface it is ready and ought to set when cold. I use both methods in tandem.]

When setting point is reached remove from the heat, remove any scum which has developed on the surface of the jam and add a tiny knob of butter. This helps get rid of any last traces of the scum. Stir until the butter is completely dissolved.

Using a jam funnel ladle the jam into the hot jars. Screw on the lids as soon as you can bear to do so (a horribly dangerous operation). Then, to sterilise the inside of the lids, turn the jam jars upside down and leave them like that for 10 minutes.

Don’t forget to turn the jars the right way round again and then leave the jam to set before labeling and storing somewhere cool and dark.

Put the rhubarb leaves on the compost heap.

Rewards to be found on a dreary Saturday..

After the fantastic warm weather we have had recently Easter has turned out to be cool and damp. Disappointing if you are here in France for a holiday, but not so bad for us gardeners as there are things to do now which will benefit from a few wet days

This weekend I am going to attend to our daffodils. I am not going to cut them back, it is far too early for that – I have problems to address. We have several clumps of daffodils which have gone blind – that is they no longer flower. Each year we get only a big clump of leaves. These daffodils have been in their current position for many years and have either grown into a clump which is too big to flower or have become surrounded by shrubs and trees which are taking all the goodness from them. They may even have been planted too shallowly originally. They are no longer in the right place and they need to be moved.

Most bulbs need to be plants deeply, normally at least twice the depth of the bulb itself. They should not be crowded and they need nutritious soil. A bulb is basically a storage organ composed of embryo leaves with a potential flower bud in the centre. Each year, when it develops leaves, the leaves feed the bulb, creating food by photosynthesis and then passing that food back down to the bulb to be stored. The bulb then goes into a period of rest until conditions tell it to grow again the following year. This is why you must never cut back the leaves of bulbs too early – you are taking away their source of food. It is also why you should only buy and plant big firm bulbs and not soft weak ones.

Over the years the bulb reproduces in two ways. Sexually,by setting seed or, asexually by creating bulblets which develop on its side. These bulblets grow into full sized bulbs and the whole plant becomes so congested that you need to lift it, divide it and replant the individual bulbs somewhere else. A good time to do this is when it is in leaf (or ‘in the green’). It almost goes without saying that the new bulbs are genetically identical to the parent, so you will get identical plants from them, whereas bulbs grown from seed carry the characteristics of both parents so will be slightly different from one another.

Anyway – that is the position we are in with some of our bulbs here. They have gone blind and today I am going to lift them, divide them by gently pulling each bulb away from its neighbours and untangling roots as I go. Then I can plant them deeply and individually elsewhere – with the leaves still attached and working hard to nourish the replanted bulb for another month or so. Snowdrops can be treated in the same way once their flowers have died back….lift and divide them every few years and not only are you getting plants for free but you are speeding up the creation of an annual carpet of spring flowers. It is also a good idea to feed your bulbs once they have flowered to help them build up for the following year.

I have actually posted a photo of our wisteria with this blog – I know it is not a daffodil but it cheers me up to think that warm weather is round the corner!

Announcing....

We are so excited about our new Web site, and the MOST exciting part of this is that we will be able to share information with you about our exciting projects that we have. Until now, we've been working in relative anonymity.

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Happy Gardening!

Sue Adams

The French Garden