Top heavy

The apple trees are looking a little top heavy these days. They're on the list for pruning during the winter months. It'll be the second time we've have them done in twenty years. There aren't any apples on the tree this year. We seem to be in a year-on year-off cycle with them. One year were drowning in apples, the next year there are none. I've read that this happens when trees are not pruned regularly.

No apples on the trees this year. That'll make mowing a lot easier. Didn't I see this tree in The Wizard of Oz?

We woke up to light rain this morning and about 18ºC on the thermometer. Dare I say, it's almost fall-like. Our high is predicted to be 20ºC, a far cry from the nearly 40º we had for a couple of days last week. 

It's grapes

Here are some grapes on the vines out back. They're coming along nicely. I think they like the hot weather and all the trimming and pruning they've been getting.

These are red grapes, I think, but are they gamay, cabernet, or côt (malbec)?

Today is market day and I'm thinking of going for some poultry sausages. Next weekend is a big holiday weekend: July 14, commemorating the French Revolution and, if the weather is good, I expect there to be a lot of vacationers in the area. The market can get crowded. 

Ivy league

It just got away from us. The ivy growing on the garden shed, that is. And we can't remove it; Ken has tried. However, the landscape contractor said "no problem." But, he warned, it will try like heck to come back, so we'll have to cut away any shoots we that see at ground level to keep the takeover from happening again. Doses of weed killer could help, but we may have to move those irises.

Ken cut some of the ivy (you can see where it's brown), but it's tough going, and we can't pry it off the walls.

It's chilly this morning! It was 16.4ºC when I took Tasha out. That's about 61ºF. The high is expected to top out at 31ºC (about 88ºF). Sleeping is much easier, especially for Tasha.

Relief!

This morning's low temperature is below 20ºC (about 68ºF) for the first time in a while. It feels nice. We're expecting a high of 31ºC (about 88ºF) this afternoon. Much better.

The remaining hazelnut hedge, about half of what it was.

This photo shows the row of hazelnut hedges out in the west forty. You can see them between the fig on the left and the artichoke on the right. It's about half the the hazelnuts we had before I had the other half ripped out many years ago. Some have died, others are being taken over by ronces (blackberry brambles). The hedge serves no purpose; it's up against the fence. It gets trimmed back every year with the other hedges, but there's really no reason for it to be there. It doesn't produce any edible nuts and hasn't for years. It's filling up with sharp-thorned brambles and they're choking the hedge. One of the nut trees that make up the hedge is already dead. So the whole hedge will come out as part of our Big Beautiful Pruning Project (sorry) that we hope will happen some time this coming winter.

Still hot

The heat wave continues. Tuesday night was the hottest so far. I'm waiting for the weather site I like to update its forecast, about fifteen minutes from now. Meanwhile, I have no new photos to share. (I since went out and took a few photos of the yard.) But, there's news. The landscaping contractor who trims our hedges each year came by yesterday to work up an estimate for a bunch of things we'd like done this fall and winter on the property. The list includes pruning back the two apple trees, cutting back the large tilleul (linden tree) out back, digging out the row of hazelnut trees and another dying shrub, helping to remove as much of the St. John's wort as he can, and cutting back the overgrowth along the north side fence. 

The tall linden (center) looms dangerously over the house.

It feels good to know that some (or all) of these things will get done. We've been stressing because we haven't been able to do much of it ourselves this year due to weather, the scale of the work, or the fact that we were sick a good part of January.

The photo includes one of the apples (left), the linden (middle), and a Christmas fir (rignt), all planted by the previous owner over twenty years ago. The top third of the linden will come down and the remaining branches will be pruned back or eliminated to open up, reshape, and lighten the tree. Its proximity to the house, in its current form, makes it dangerous when we have high winds.

Watering the vines

I think the new grape vines out back are too young and fragile for this heat wave we're having, so the growers are working to ensure they survive by giving them water. At least, that's the story I've conjured in my mind about what's going on here (maybe they'd water them anyway?). Four people, each armed with a hose that's connected to that big machine, walked behind it as it crept along, keeping the ends of the hoses aligned with the rows they were watering so there would be no waste. With that big machine, they could do four rows at the same time.

I was very far away when I took this photo. You may be able to see the people just to the left of the tractor.

Meanwhile, the heat wave continues. Today looks like it might be the hottest day before it cools down again. We shall see.

A trip to the dump

Our local "dump" is not so much a dump as it is a recycling center. We separate all our refuse before tossing it into the appropriate bins. When the bins are full, they're loaded onto the backs of large trucks and carted away to a central processing facility before being recycled and/or incinerated. I was checking on line this morning to see if our déchetterie (dump) is open on Mondays and was pleasantly surprised to see that not only was it open on Mondays, but it was open at 06h30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays! Summer hours! This is new.

This photo of the château and church in St.-Aignan has nothing to do with today's post.

Ken and I had loaded up the car yesterday with old bed linens, pillows, and rugs for disposal. Once I learned of the summer hours, I hopped in the car and drove across the river and, voilà, that stuff is all gone. No fuss. No muss. I have some more stuff (used deep-frying oil among other things) to take over there, maybe tomorrow.