It was a bank holiday today. And everywhere was indeed closed, as I found out when I got to St Eloy les Mines this afternoon. It’s quite ironic in a way – it’s the fete de travail, the festival of work, and so everyone celebrates the festival of work by … errrr … not working.
So with St Eloy being closed I came back here and carried on with what I was doing before I went out – namely “badger all”. as you know, bank holidays count as days of rest for me and I never do anything.
It’s rained as well – 4.5mm, which means that in the past two days we have had 14mm of rain. Now given that the footprint of my verandah is about 4.5mx1.5m, which gives a surface area of 6.75 square metres, and 1 cubic metre is the equivalent of 1000 litres, then to get 1000 litres off the verandah of the roof and into the water butts I need 149mm of rain (that’s right, isn’t it, Krys?). so 14mm of rain has given me 94.5 litres, which is about 20% of my capacity (I have 2×230 litre water butts). Some of the plants are starting to go berserk and I don’t reckon it will be long before I can start eating my radishes.
And no footy tonight either. I was at a loss for things to do. Still, the big grudge match tomorrow – bottom-of-the-table clash between Pionsat and Effiat. Kick-off 15:00 and not to be missed.
Sorry Eric, I broke my reading glasses yesterday when I fell so I can’t see to use my calculator. I can only just make this out! Glad your veg is doing well. Ours is too, the first lettuce is nearly ready to pick and the potato sacks are growing like triffids. Liz’s tree is in full leaf too and looking wonderful.
How did you manage to fall Krys? Are you okay? Is there anything that you need?
The veg here seems to be really slow, although much of this might be due to the severe winter that dragged on and on and on. Not very much seems to be sprouting so I’m waiting for the Fete du Jardin in St Gervais at the end of the month. This is where the bio gardeners sell the surplus plants that they don’t have room to plant out and so I’ll be filling in the gaps from there.
What are potato sacks?
2 of Liz’s trees (the peaches) didn’t manage the winter but the other 8 are quietly going berserk, especially after I repotted them. The apple trees have loads of blossom on them and I’m optimistic that I might have some fruit.
I’m Ok thanks Eric. I caught my foot on the edge of a small step and went flying. I’ve bruises all over but most aren’t painful thankfully. I just feel like a right wally and I’m lost without my specs. I should have them fixed next week tho.
Good idea with the surplus plants. Hmm, maybe the garden center will be doing cheapies in a while too. It’s worth a look.
Potato sacks are a new thing. you plant your seed potatoes in a plastic sack and then keep adding soil. the theory is that you’ll end up with potatoes growing at multiple layers and you don’t have to have a potato bed or do much digging to get them out. I’ll let you know how it works out.
Shame about the two trees. We’ve lost quite a few plants here too despite trying to protect them as much as we could. Still, given how bad the winter was it could have been a lot worse.
I hope you are going to be okay, Krys. Let me know if I can do anything.
That system of potato sacks sounds similar to something we tried out with old car tyres. We had high hopes for that.
And just losing two small trees was the least of my worries over winter – I reckon I got off lightly.
But you look after yourself.