Au revoir or adieu?

Sweet Juliet is still, this last day of 2014, in flower in our garden; and - below - the leaves of the Acanthus near it shine with promise for next Summer. We've sprouts yet to eat, and broccoli, Cumberland cale and rocket. There's even a picking to be made from the lettuce plants, protected only by being at the foot of the wall near the far North corner.

"I foresee the Paris Climate Conference as 2015's key event," I emailed yesterday to the Guardian, "and would like to lend a hand in making it a success. With your front page today containing only three stories, all bad news related to air travel, who will join me in a New Year resolve to give up flying?" Alas, I looked this morning, and it hasn't made it into the paper.

It's a day for resolutions, of which this year I have made several. One relates to this blog, now in its seventh year: have you noticed the posts becoming shorter? Maybe it's the proverbial itch, but I'm putting it to sleep. Perhaps forever. Thank you, if there's anyone out there, for reading it! And to those who may have Commented from time to time.

PS (2nd January 2015): I looked again in the Guardian Letters page yesterday. Still no sign of my letter. Ah well! But then today, a blistering leading article on the importance of the Paris Climate Conference, and in the bottom left corner of the next page - just when I wasn't looking for it - my letter (only slightly edited).

Farewell to Brittany

Bidding goodbye to our musical hosts at Keranot, we biked off this morning in no great haste back to Roscoff, sticking to the roads which abound. This tractor driver assumed we were lost when I paused to photograph him and his two colleagues, planting cabbages in nifty fashion. The fields all grow vegetables in this Léonard land.

Scarey gardening

We were asked to lunch in Great Milton today. Not at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, but we made a detour through its vegetable garden on our way back from a post-prandial walk. And what a garden it is!

The website tells me it extends to two acres, and supplies 90 types of salad and vegetable. All organic. And surrounded by espalier apple and pear trees. The bronze scarecrow is apparently modelled on Raymond Blanc himself (and reminds me of the violinist sculpture presiding over the wild flower garden at Long Newnton, which was modelled on Edmund - wearing my hat).

37 years on

It being our wedding anniversary, Caroline picked roses for our breakfast table. With all the rain we've had, it's been such a year for them! The photograph shows just part of one of our two Rambling Rectors: on the other side of the house, there's Buff Beauty, New Dawn and Graham Thomas (supposed to be climbing, but refusing to do so). On the boundary, we have Madame Alfred Carrière, Souvenir de Claudius Denoyel, Lady Hillingdon, Zéphirine Drouhin, Félicité et Perpétue and (my favourite) an enormous Compassion, amongst others. Henry Robinson gave us one of his rare ramblers when we first moved in, which is all over our outbuilding (neither he nor I can remember which one). Oh, and the Albertine I thought had died is in flower again this year. Up the apple trees we have climbing Iceberg. By the arbour Sweet Juliet is going great guns as always.

The broad beans are enormous, and I have started digging early potatoes (Annabelle): we had both for supper last night. The leef beet and rocket have bolted, and there seem to be absolutely no parsnips coming up.

Incredible edible

Malcolm was watering the new Transition Town Cheltenham garden in Sandford Park when I biked past this lunchtime. After only a short while, it's looking good, and people were pausing to look at Jacqui's boards whilst I talked to Malcolm. As it fills out, more people will take notice - and (let's hope) be inspired to think of growing some vegetables of their own. I gather the original request to the Council was for some space in Imperial Gardens, which would have given the project a rather higher profile; but this spot isn't at all a bad one, being just off the High Street. It's good there's water close at hand. Monday evenings are the time to go down there to help, if you have any spare time then.

White Lisbon

We've been looking at Mini and Leo's photographs of Lisbon, following their return from spending last weekend there. I recalled our May 2010 visit to the same fleamarket they went to, this church forming the backdrop. Meanwhile, Spring seems to have arrived here, with temperatures in the upper teens, and lunch outside these past two days! Normally, I don't think of sowing vegetable seeds direct into the open ground till March, but yesterday I made a start with the Musselburgh (leek), Salad Bowl (lettuce), radish, Boltardy (beetroot), Early Nantes (carrot) - and of course the traditional spring onion, White Lisbon.

Dog duty

Caroline is in Majorca (only for the inside of this week, thank goodness!) and so I am on dog-walking duty. And in charge of chickens too - rather less arduous.

Today, I chose to drive to Crippets Lane and, from there, walk below Leckhampton Hill. The wind was less fierce than earlier in the week, and the bright sunshine made it a perfect Autumn's day. I came back, planted garlic in the vegetable garden, and prepared for the broad beans and onion sets (purchased yesterday at Dundry Nurseries) to go in tomorrow. There's a frost forecast for tonight, so I brought some of the geraniums into the lean-to conservatory. You can't hope to save them all unless you have a greenhouse heater (which we don't).

Fr. Charles will be pleased about Arsenal's extra time win in France!

Change of season

Our granddaughter, Ida was wearing her Winter coat today, whilst I was in shorts. In the garden, it was warm enough for them, and for shirt sleeves, but there is a chill in the morning air now, certainly.

Everything is very dry. The front lawn looks a real mess: Caroline is threatening to get some chickens and put them on it - they can't make it any worse. The apples are plentiful, and we have almost come to the end of a tremendous crop of plums on our Victoria tree, but few of them have grown to their proper size, some being more like prunes. My late leeks have shrivelled up, and I almost broke the fork, lifting parsnips on Tuesday. Surely the ones I saw at the Farmers' Market in Cheltenham Promenade today can't be grown organically!

Our garden - forget the Chelsea Flower Show

My cousin Bruce wrote recently from New Brunswick about the serious flooding near where they live. "Many streets in the city of Fredericton have turned into canals and families and animals down stream have been evacuated. One farmer had to move 140 milking cows by barge." Here, we have been spared any torrential rain so far. Indeed, it's been dry apart from some rain at the weekend, which has helped our potatoes, beans and sweet peas to put on growth - the photograph was taken early this morning. We are eating our leeks, spinach and rhubarb; and the roses are beginning to look good. Caroline's yellow tree peony has been magnificent this year. We are praying there will be no late frosts, as our bedding plants have mostly gone out now (for the benefit of those being brought round by our selling agents!).