Second spraying

After several days of wind, I was finally able to get out with the sprayer again today, so a second treatment has been applied to medlar, quince and apple - also to the stump of the cotoneaster, which I had previously cut right back as it's impossible to spray the undersides of the leaves. Both escallonias are showing black spot reappearing; the one at the front seems to have the infection confined to one side, so I hope to be able to save it by removing all the spotted leaves. I'm not so hopeful about the one at the side, which seems to have a fairly widespread infection so there may be little left of it if I remove all the spotted sections!

At the front we now have a lovely splash of colour with the Japanese quince in full bloom, and attracting bees. Two horizontal wires have been installed so that it can be trained sideways.

Colouring in

The last few days have seen good weather, but with the promise of cold and rain to come, so I've been busy tidying up outside in advance of the change. There was very little colour in the garden apart from the brown of dead shoots and leaves - the winter jasmine began opening a few days ago, and that was the only bright spot. So I paid a visit to the garden centre and bought a few plants to add winter colour - plus some for ground cover. There's still a way to go, and I will need to buy in some more topsoil soon to top up planters and borders, but I'm pleased with what I've achieved so far.

Front doorstep 8th Jan

Front doorstep now

The pots by the front door have a few bulbs as permanent residents, but I usually put flowering annuals in in the spring. This time I wanted some immediate colour so have put in cyclamens and forced hyacinths. In the process of clearing out the pots I unearthed an enormously fat toad - perhaps the one which was lurking around the pots last summer, but much larger now! The trough to the left will house herbs again later, but for now has bright yellow pansies.

Along the driveway wall I've finally given up on the gooseberry cordons which I planted several years ago, but which have never amounted to anything - as the olive tree developed they were thrown more into shade so their lack of growth was probably due to lack of sunlight. In their place I've just cleared the patch and put in a few ground cover plants (Ajuga reptans atropurpurea) and - for now - some pansies. More pansies in the troughs add a bit of colour to the bay tree corner too.

I hope next autumn I will remember to put down a tarpaulin under the olive tree as the fruit ripens - olives, leaves and olive pits make a real mess on the white gravel! Each day I clear a small area but don't know if it will ever get completely cleared...

A few polyanthus and a couple of cyclamens have brightened up the planter against the front wall, and this will soon have a little more colour as the Japanese quince flowers.

A-sprayin' we will go

I woke to stillness this morning, the gusty winds of yesterday having disappeared leaving the merest breath - not even enough to rustle the leaves of the olive tree. So out came the sprayer again, to treat the apple trees and the quince.

Winter pruning

There was no progress yesterday - apart from a journey to the déchetterie. Today I've concentrated on the other fruit trees, completing the winter pruning and clearing of the apple trees, and also pruning the mulberry and quince trees. With the mulberry, I was trying to remove some of the lowest drooping branches, as it's difficult to get under it to pick the fruit, but at the same time trying to maintain a good overall shape. I also treated all the cuts on the mulberry with a wound sealant, as it tends to "bleed" when cut. What I wasn't able to do, though, was the insecticide and tar oil treatment, as today was too breezy for using the sprayer.

It's good to be here in France this month, as the weather in London is certainly not conducive to gardening - though there is much more work there to be done than there is here, it will have to wait until later in the year - provided that the rain finally stops falling!

Empusa pennata

This morning was medlar-jelly-making morning. It seemed to go quite well, but the jelly doesn't seem to be setting, so it may need to be boiled up again - with added pectin.

Today was to be apple day... I removed the last remaining apples from the trees, then started the winter pruning and clearing the ground around the trunks, only to be distracted by discovering an insect I'd never seen before. Photographing and then identifying it took so long that I will have to complete the winter treatment of the apple trees tomorrow. Anyway, the insect was finally identified - using the internet - as one of the larval forms of Empusa pennata, a type of praying mantis - apparently known in English as a conehead mantis.

Regeneration...

Today I turned my attention to the pomegranate - the tree blown down by strong winds last spring, but which later produced lots of new growth from the base. I've selected just one of these and removed all the others. I'll start to re-train it next year as if it were a 2 year old tree.

Before ...

... and after.

The medlar treatment continues... so much fruit that it's taken two loads to process, even using all three jelly bags. The first lot dripped through overnight, and the second during the day. Tomorrow - jellification!

2014 begins with the medlar

I arrived in St Jean Lasseille yesterday, and in beautiful sunshine today (T-shirt weather in January!) have begun the winter gardening. The first thing to be tackled was the medlar, whose winter treatment so far consists of:
- gathering the fruit (almost two buckets full) - already bletted by being left on the tree
- clearing the base of the tree
- light pruning (just removing twigs which crossed each other)
- spraying with insecticide and tar oil
- preparing the fruit for jelly making