January is the coldest month of the year but it presents a real challenge: very little is growing, the branches are bare, the spring bulbs are just peeping up and one can see the bare bones of the garden.
There has been much confusion in the past surrounding
the laws for swimming pool security in France.
Since January most of my articles have dealt with the how and when of gardening, but now I want to look at why we have a garden and what we hope to achieve with it.
There are still some harvests to gather in the garden – the last few marrows and gourds need to be picked before the frosts, and the rows of parsnips are now demanding to be harvested to provide winter delights such as parsnip chips and curried parsnip soup, which are practically unknown to the French.
Winterising your swimming pool properly is likely to make it easier to open, protect from frost damage and prevent green water.
If, like us, you have access to an irrigation canal, water supply is simple during the summer months: you water or irrigate at the set times as laid down by your Mairie.
The crops had been coming on well but the heat wave made the beans and peas shrivel up and the yields have been very small.
It can come as quite a surprise just how much water is lost from a swimming pool via evaporation, due to heat, humidity and wind.
In June you should be planting seeds for the coming year in both the potager and the flower garden
The P-O is on red alert for pollen allergy. According to the RNSA (National Aerobiological Surveillance Network), responsible for the analysis of the content of the air, cypress pollen is at a particularly high level in our region as well as the Hérault, Aude, Lozère, Aveyron and Tarn.