Archive for July, 2011
Sweetcorn in polytunnel
The year seems to be flying by, and the veg garden is in full swing. I’ve been busy picking the gluts of peas, mangetout and broad beans and getting them into the freezer. Any that have gone over, along with the pods, we’re giving to the pigs, adding a bit of variety to their diet. The tomatoes have at last started to ripen in the polytunnel, and so we’re now able to enjoy proper salads and tomatoes in our sandwiches. This year I’ve tried growing climbing French beans and sweetcorn in the polytunnel, and both have proved very successful. They are weeks (if not months) ahead of their outdoor counterparts. The sweetcorn is twice as high as those outside, and have produce lovely fat cobs that are covered in kernels. They’re very sweet as well, particularly when they’re cooked within a few minutes of picking, before the sugars start to turn to starch. The French beans have grown all the way to the roof and are sending out new shoots and producing new flowers and beans all the time, despite being watered only twice a week. Read the rest of this entry »
Coffee (right) and Cream (left)
Our depleted chicken numbers didn’t last long – we’re now up to five. We fancied getting some chickens that lay blue eggs and the two choices are Araucanas or Cream Legbars. Cream Legbars actually have some traces of the Araucana gene in them, and as blue eggs are a dominant trait anything that crosses with it will lay a blue egg. Read the rest of this entry »