Bastille Day.

It's a cloudless blue sky, not much of a breeze.Pleasantly warm.
The shallots have been lifted, to be bunched when they have turned to straw. A small barrow of garlic is racked between two sticks ready to be hung up to dry, they will see us right through the coming year with enough to give away and still have plenty for next years planting. Onions as big as my fist have their necks turned down, I will gently loosen their roots today to help accelerate their drying properly,ready for stringing. We will keep putting our winter wood ash on the onion patch, The raised bed gives good drainage,onions don't like to be cold and wet, they've not been watered the whole season, I think they'll keep well, we'll see.
The artichokes have bolted, Couldn't afford to give them the feeding they needed, "a barrow of muck per plant," I was told. They can get in the queue like everybody else. I'll cut the thistle flowers off today, We don't want their decadence spreading all over the garden. A greedy lot they. I'll keep a few plants, I love the look of the foliage.
The marigolds have just been dead headed to prolong the flowering season,worth to keep them as long as possible, they give the ground abit of shade on the east side of the runner beans. I've not got round to making calendula ointment yet , useful when it happens. The pyrethroids act as an insect repellant to a certain extent,the bees don't mind it though. The smell reminds me of my first garden, four years old ,I had radishes, carrots, peas and marigolds, The smaller genus called in England, "pot marigold". It's called "souci", in France I don't know why, I'm told it means "worry".
I will lift a few potatoes next. Slowly does it as it's hot. They will keep in the ground for a good while but I want to sow a green manure, Ble noir, most likely. Dig it in in the winter, the soil needs the fibre.
HOT,Hot, hot. I have just dug up some potatoes, as expected an unimpressive crop. That bit of ground is not holding water too well. I will be sowing comfrey as well as the ble, the ground needs juice. Lunch went down well.Our first outdoor tomatoes dressed with a vinaigrette made with shallots and basil, sauted new potatoes and omlette. A glass of grape juice and a piece of bread.It will take a while for the oxygen to get back to the brain. Happen, I'll relax for half an hour with a cup of tea.