STORMS IN CHARENTE AND A BLOWY START TO MARCH

One of the reasons we moved from the Languedoc Region was the constant winds.

Not known for a lot of wind here in Charente.......we go more for massive downpours of rain.....we seem to have been hit twice in the last month with the dreaded ORANGE ALERT  meteo message. Batten down the hatches, unplug your computer and prepare for the worst!!!

We dont have a lot to batten down so other than moving  the car away from the house, where falling tiles can cause major damage, we really just sit by the cosy log burner saying...oooh isnt it windy out there!!!

After storm one I discovered that my plastic greenhouse had become our first casualty.
I thought I was being quite clever tying the greenhouse to a tree. The storm...being unable to blow the whole thing away had satisfied itself by dismantling all the poles causing the shelves to collapse. The plastic was merrily blowing off the tree like an enormous kite and the contents of the greenhouse ..,everything you couldnt find space for in the garage  over the winter....was spread out like Steptoe and Sons yard!!

Apart from a couple of little tears in the plastic I was thankfully  able to peice it all together and decided to relocate it  to the bottom of the garden where it might be a bit more sheltered next to the shed.
So two weeks later with all my first set of seeds planted out....cucumber, butternut squash, I was happy all was well.

Sadly not to be .....enter STORM NO 2......what the heck is going on!!!! Snow in Spain, flooding in Marbella and WIND IN CHARENTE!!!!

Despite the extra shelter the greenhouse fell victim again....no damage to the greenhouse but  now I had lost my first batch of seeds. No chance of rescuing them from the mess of soil on the ground as the mice and birds had already beaten me to that!!!

We also lost half of the plum tree.It was in a poor state and had so many holes in it from the woodpecker making its nest .that Im surprised it hadnt gone before. It was such a sorry looking tree and really should have been cut down when we had the other poorly ones taken away but we just couldnt bear to disturb the woodpecker or all the other birds that seemed to enjoy making nests in the prepared holes.

So now the tree is looking even sorrier and the fallen branch has been cut up to use on the woodburner next winter ( no waste!!!) Still cant bear to take it down.....we even had some good plums from it last year as if to say "keep me keep me" .....So ...... here it stays until  the next storm.