Harvest

I never did manage to dig over the vegetable plot or sow any seeds this year so we have missed out on peas and runner beans and there will be no home-grwon onions or parsnips either.  We had a good crop of black currants this year but hardly any gooseberries.  The blackberry crop is going to be the best for many years - lots of big, fat, juicy, tasty berries which are ideal for freezing.  The plums - both trees - are again suffering.  There is plenty of fruit but it acquires a white bloom and rots before ripening.  Quite what the problem is I don't know.  However, the crop of pears should be good - provided I can keep jackdaws and squirrels at bay - and after last year's disaster (just two apples), it is good to see the boughs bending with the weight of this year's crop.

Ou French hideaway is a few miles north of the river Loire, just too far north for vineyards.  All the same, it takes only half an hour to be right in the middle of them.  We took a drive one afternoon and this was the view from just south of the river.

That view is looking to the north. To the south, there were heavy rain clouds. And boy, did it rain!