Sow The Seed

It’s not all doom and gloom in the garden

Helen — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:54:03 +0000

First season's spears

It’s been over a month since I last wrote a blog post. The last month saw both the garden and myself slow down a bit. The garden has been suffering from cold, damp weather, and I’ve been suffering from a bad back. All in all a bad combination at this time of the year! While the back has improved, the garden hasn’t. The cold nights and damp days has meant that everything seems to have stopped growing. Even in the polytunnel things are progressing slowly. I’ve planted out the tomatoes, but the heat isn’t there to give them the kick-start they need. I haven’t planted out the peppers yet, as they are even more heat loving than the tomatoes, and my experimental crop of okra, which really love the heat, is probably going to be a failure before I even get them into the soil.

Despite all this gloom, there are (some) things growing. The rhubarb is going strong, and the asparagus I planted last year has started to send up some shoots. The Swiss chard I overwintered in the polytunnel has also been producing masses of leaves, so we have been able to get some fresh greens from the garden. However, despite the cold weather this has started to bolt, so will stop producing new leaves shortly. Another plus point is that I haven’t really had to water anything in the garden. This time last year I was worrying about how little water the onions, shallots and potatoes were getting – no need to worry this year. And the cooler weather has meant that the slugs haven’t been a problem (yet). So there are some positives to all this bad weather.

The fruit trees we planted in the winter have also been benefiting from a good dose of rain. In their early years you need to make sure their roots don’t dry out – no chance of that this year. All but one of the trees is showing signs of blossom, so it looks like they made it through their first winter. To help them along in their first few years I’m also trying to make sure they don’t have any competition from the weeds. So on top of the mulch of manure I put down after planting, a good layer of dried bracken and straw has been added to suppress the weeds even further. Weeds will inevitably make an appearance, but by reducing their numbers the tree should be able to establish itself better.

The long-term weather forecast is not good for the rest of May, so we can only hope that June will be better.

Strawberry plants - full of promise!

First flush of weeds

Helen — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:42:00 +0000

A good harvest of weeds!

Back in the winter I covered the beds in the polytunnel with manure, hoping that the worms would do some of the work of incorporating it into the soil. But I know from past experience that the manure I get from the local farmer has all kinds of weed seeds in it. To help alleviate some of the weeding that I’ll inevitably have to do in the summer, I decided to try to get some of the weeds to germinate early before I plant up the beds for the summer. So after having put down the manure, I watered the beds and then covered them with clear plastic. The warm wet environment would be perfect to get some of the weeds started early, and sure enough up they’ve come.

Today was an ideal day to spend a morning weeding in the polytunnel. It may be pouring with rain outside but that doesn’t stop you being able to garden in the polytunnel. In fact there’s something very soothing about being in the polytunnel with the rain hammering on the roof. A multitude of weeds had germinated. There were even a couple of little oak trees emerging, which I’ve transplanted into a tree nursery for planting in a more suitable spot later. There were also plenty of worms, which normally seem to be lacking in the dry environment of the polytunnel.

So the experiment seems to have worked. And as I’m not yet ready to plant anything in the beds yet, I’ve re-watered the beds and covered them again with the plastic, to see if I get another flush of weeds.

All clear... for now

Creating a perfect place for weed germination

Bee bath!

Helen — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:28:58 +0000

Thirsty work being a busy bee!

With the country basking in glorious spring sunshine in the last few days, hopefully everyone is out enjoying the warm days while it lasts. The bees have been very active, and have been making use of the bird bath. It’s apparently just as important to have a source of water in the garden for the bees as it is nectar-rich flowers, as bees do like a drink. We think they are particularly thirsty at this time of the year as they are using the water to soften their honey stores, some of which will be crystallised. There won’t be many flowers out yet (or the right sort for bees) so they have to use up their reserves of honey to survive until the spring flow starts.

And it doesn’t look like that will be too far away now. I’ve noticed some blossom out on the plum trees and there is a hint of some emerging on the apple trees. I hope they wait a few weeks to fully open as it sounds like the frosts are coming back next week. I’ve got the fleece at the ready for the potatoes which are very vulnerable at this time of the year. And the polytunnel is now full of tender pepper and tomato seedlings, so they will have to be well wrapped up each night. Hopefully the imminent frosts will be short-lived and the garden can get on and start producing.

Gutter peas

Helen — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:46:38 +0000

Peas sown in guttering

I tried sowing pea seeds in guttering last year instead of straight in the ground or in seed trays, and it was very successful so I’ve done the same again this year. (The gutter sown ones grew much more vigorously than the ones I sowed directly in the ground.) I’ve got various pieces of guttering lying around – ideally you would only want lengths of a foot or so, but I’m loath to cut these up in case we need them again for their real purpose. My four foot lengths make it slightly tricky sliding the peas/compost out once they’re ready to plant out, but with a bit of encouragement it seemed to work okay last time. I’ve also had to block-up each end with a stone, otherwise the compost just falls out. I’ll keep these in the polytunnel until they’ve germinated and then plant them out in trenches.

The potatoes in the polytunnel have made an appearance (you can just see the shoots in the bed in the picture). But I’m keeping a watchful eye on the weather as frosts are forecast, and even in the polytunnel it can go well below freezing at this time of the year.

I also managed to get the onions in while it’s been dry (Sturon and Turbo – white onions and an unnamed variety of red onion). I’ve covered the beds with sticks to deter any animals from walking across them, or the birds pulling out the bulbs – so far, so good. The first early potatoes (Arran Pilot) have also gone in, although probably slightly prematurely given the cold spell we’re about to have.

So now spring is officially here it’s all systems go in the garden!

New life emerges

Helen — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:32:16 +0000

New life on the farm

It’s been a while since I posted anything – perhaps because things have been fairly quiet. However, now that it feels like spring is in the air, things are beginning to happen. Today we got a call from our neighbouring farmer to say that lambing was in full swing if we fancied having a look. Having never seen an animal being born (other than on TV) we couldn’t miss an opportunity to see the real thing.

The farmer’s wife had been up until 5am keeping an eye on things and helping where needed, but with 202 ewes in lamb they just keep on coming. So we went out into the field to see what had given birth since they’d last looked and there were a few new arrivals making their tentative first steps. Most of them were expecting twins, or in some cases triplets. Where only one lamb had been born and it looked like the next wasn’t making its presence known, intervention was required. The first task was to catch the ewe in question – being a rugby player would help in these situations. Once the ewe was caught then an internal examination established the state of play. After a bit of feeling around and tugging the second lamb was pulled out and the mother encouraged to lick them. It’s amazing to see these tiny, quivering little creatures quickly get up on their feet and begin their new life. The fields around us are now full of bleating lambs – one of the first signs that spring is on its way.

...and new life in the pond

Our wildlife pond, which we put in the first year we moved here, is full of activity. The frogs have been busy producing frog spawn, so unless there is a hard frost which would kill it off, the tadpoles will arrive shortly. We know there are a lot of great diving beetles in the pond, which devour tadpoles, so very few will probably make it adulthood. It is a wildlife pond, so we just leave things to get on with it.

In the garden things are starting to happen as well. The first early potatoes have been planted in the polytunnel, and the first broad beans are sprouting. The heated propagator is full with pepper seeds (hot and sweet), as these need a long time to grow. Once these have put on their first set of true leaves I’ll prick these out into pots to make room for the tomato seeds.

So after a quiet few months, things are beginning to emerge, one way or another.

Marmalade time saver

Helen — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:17:30 +0000

Very fine cut marmalade

It seems to come around so quickly, but it’s that time of year again to make the marmalade. The event is triggered by a call from our neighbour to tell us that the greengrocer has got in this year’s consignment of Seville oranges. Spanish Seville oranges are the preferred oranges for marmalade making as they have more pectin in than sweet oranges, so they’re perfect for preserves. You can make marmalade out of normal oranges, but you would have to add a lot more pectin (from lemons) or accept runnier marmalade.

We use Delia’s Traditional Seville Orange Marmalade recipe, with a slight tweak. We substitute 1lb of granulated sugar with 1lb of dark brown soft sugar, which gives the marmalade a much richer colour and flavour – I’m not a fan of marmalade so I’ll have to take Simon’s word on this one. For the last two years we’ve followed Delia’s preparation notes, spending an eternity cutting the orange peel into thin slices by hand. However, this year we tried something new.

Our neighbour collects (his wife would say hoards) all kinds of antique gadgets and implements. Usually these are agricultural implements, which he buys and reconditions, and occasionally sells. One such gadget is a “Magic” marmalade cutter, which is designed to slice the orange peel. They use it to make their marmalade and suggested we give it a try. It’s a very simple device, dating back from c.1870 when these types of cast iron time-saving gadgets were all the rage in kitchens. It simply clamps to a table and with the aid of wooden plunger you place orange quarters (minus juice and pips) inside it and move the cutting blade backwards and forwards. It gives a very fine cut, and makes a bit of mess, but is a lot less messy and time consuming than doing it all by hand. So in less than half the usual time we had the marmalade prepped. The finished result has yet to be sampled, but given the time it took to make it, even if it’s not quite as nice as hand-cut marmalade, it will be a gadget we’ll be borrowing again next year.

Welcome Delilah and Matilda

Helen — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:43:32 +0000

Delilah (back) and Matilda exploring their new home

As promised here are the new occupants of our homemade chicken house – Delilah and Matilda. We decided to go back to the place we got our original chickens from as they offer a number of different hybrid breeds of chicken, and they are relatively local. We’ve broken away from our previous rule of buying a pair of the same breed and picked out a Black Rock (Delilah) and a Warren/ISA Brown (Matilda). We were nearly tempted to get a third, but if these and the current two lay as well as they should, four chickens is plenty for our needs.

We’ve made a small run around the new house so that they won’t have any contact with Coffee and Cream, but will still be able to see each other and get used to each other’s presence. We’re planning on keeping them separated for a couple of weeks and then the proper introductions will happen.

Just as we’ve started to let Coffee and Cream out into the garden (which we don’t mind doing at this time of the year when there aren’t any seedlings for them to scratch up), we have started to see foxes around! This evening I came across two foxes by the vegetable garden, and scared them off. Yesterday we saw another one saunter down the road (in the daylight), so they are clearly getting quite bold. That has put an end to us letting the chickens out into the garden unless there is strict supervision.

New year…new project!

Helen — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:29:29 +0000

Trying it out for size

Another year starts and another project begins! Looking back at last year’s blog entries and thinking back to previous Januarys, this time of year always seems to herald the start of a new project. Last year it was building log stores and preparing for pigs, and 2010 had us putting up fencing for the arrival of our first animals – chickens. And the start of 2012 is no different with us preparing for more chickens, which will boost our depleted numbers.

I have read that when you are bringing new chickens into an existing flock, best practice is to keep them separated for a few weeks so that any diseases that the new chickens may have will hopefully manifest themselves in this time. It also helps them to settle in better, rather than just being flung in to get on with it. We didn’t do this when we introduced Coffee and Cream, but we probably should have done – there’s still a lot to learn. So we’ve decided to build a new hen house for this purpose. It will also be useful to have a spare hen house if we get any sickly chickens, or if we ever decide to let one of our chickens go broody and hatch out some eggs.

Always on the lookout for ways to keep costs down (hen houses are pretty expensive now that hen keeping is all the rage), we looked around to see what we could utilise to make a suitable house. We’ve got some wooden crates left over from our roofing work – a perfect starting point for the main frame of the house. We’re not going to need a house too big, as it is only for temporary accommodation, so these crates are about the right size. A few bits of wood were removed to make way for a door, and the rest of the crate was fitted with board to keep out the wind and rain. The roof was made from a pallet and topped with some laminated board and plastic sheeting we had (this can be lifted off to gain access for cleaning etc.). The door was made from a bit of weatherboard we had left over from the pig house, which also acts as a ramp to allow the hens to leave the house. Finally a perch was added, made from a branch taken from the hedge. We’ll add a nest box in one corner nearer the time. Otherwise it’s ready for some new occupants – watch this space!

Hen House (minus roof)

Forest garden starts to take shape

Helen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:51:10 +0000

First planting of forest garden

The second, and probably the most important stage, of the development of our forest garden is now underway. The pigs were the first stage – brought in to help clear the ground (although being as lazy as they were this wasn’t done as well as we had hoped!). The second stage is the planting of the trees that will form the canopy layer of the forest garden. For those unfamiliar with forest gardens (although it does seem to be all the rage now) an overview can be found here. It is one of a number of ways to incorporate permaculture design into the garden, and one I’ve been most looking forward to setting up. It’s been in the planning stage for a few years now, and was initially going to incorporate the whole field, but due to budget constraints (fruit trees are expensive), time, and bad drainage at the bottom of the field, we’ve scaled this back to just one-third of the field. Nevertheless this has meant buying and planting 18 fruit trees… which is only the start.

So the last few weekends we’ve been busy preparing for the arrival of the trees, which I have mostly sourced from a local nursery. The nursery specialises in varieties that grow well in this part of Wales (mild and wet). I have also sourced a few from a nursery that specialises in varieties for forest gardens (Agroforestry Research Trust). So the final list includes:

Fruit	Type	Variety	Rootstock
Pear	Eater	Beth	Quince A
Pear	Eater	Conference	Quince A
Plum	Eater	Victoria	St Julien A
Plum	Eater	Opal	St Julien A
Damson	Cooker	Shropshire Prune	St Julien A
Cherry	Cooker	Morello	Colt
Cherry	Eater	Stella	Colt
Cherry	Eater	Celeste	Colt
Crab Apple	Cooker	Golden Hornet
Crab Apple	Cooker	Red Sentinel
Apple	Cooker	Lord Derby	M26
Apple	Cooker	Grenadier	M26
Apple	Eater	Claygate Pearmain	M26
Apple	Eater	Rosemary Russet	M26
Apple	Eater	Lord Lambourne	M26
Apple	Eater	Discovery	M26
Apple	Cider/Cooker	Tom Putt	M106
Apple	Cider	Yarlington Mill	M106

It has been quite a task planning which trees to plant, with a number of factors needing to be taken into consideration. The rootstock is important as it determines the ultimate size of the tree, and as our field is slightly sloping I needed to make sure that each tree wouldn’t cast too much of a shadow over its neighbours – we’re using different rootstocks to help stop this. There is then the problem of pollination. Apples need another apple variety in the same or neighbouring pollination group to fruit properly. Other fruit trees also benefit from a mixture of pollinating partners, although the majority I’ve chosen are self-fertile so this is less of a problem. And then of course there is the issue of taste. There are hundreds of apple varieties to choose from, each with a unique taste. There are also many varieties of plums, pears and cherries, so I’ve gone for a mixture and included some cookers and some eaters, and some early, mid and late fruiting varieties to spread the season. All in all not an easy thing to plan, so I just hope I’ve got it right.

Holes and stakes awaiting trees

After having chosen and ordered the trees, the business of mapping out the site needed to be done to ensure that the trees weren’t planted too close together. Then came the hard graft! First we had to dig holes one metre in diameter, which was made much harder by the amount of stones (and boulders) we kept unearthing. One hole was so full of stones that on returning to the field after some rain, we found it had filled with water. This hole has now been abandoned and has become an unplanned wildlife pond!

Next came the staking. After reading and asking opinions from people we decided that the apples on the M26 rootstock (which is a semi-dwarf rootstock) should be permanently staked, while the rest would just need a temporary stake for the first 3 years or so. The permanent stakes were driven a couple of feet into the ground in a vertical position, and placed on the windward side of the tree (so in our case to the west). The temporary stakes went in at a 45 degree angle, facing into the prevailing wind.

The next task is the planting. This took far longer than we anticipated, and we had already dug the holes! Firstly we put some leaf mould or garden compost in the loose soil in the bottom of the hole – not much but enough to give it a good start. Then when we began to back-fill the hole with the soil, we added a sprinkling of bonemeal to give some more nutrients. Once planted, a layer of manure was added, which will act as a mulch, add nutrients and suppress weeds (we’ll put down some further weed barrier in the new year, as the weeds need to be kept at bay for as long as possible).

So we now have 15 trees planted (with the final 3 arriving over Christmas), ready to get growing when spring arrives. Given the rootstocks I chose we should start to get some fruit in 2-3 years, but this is going to be very dependent on how quickly and how well the trees establish themselves – fingers crossed.

Not a good week

Helen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:05:21 +0000

Whiskey & Ginger sunbathing

It seems the fears we had that we would end up with a run full of elderly non egg-laying chickens aren’t going to materialise. In the last week or so the last two of our original four hens both flew up to chicken heaven. Ginger was the first to go last week, when she took a turn for the worse having been moping around the run for a few days. She was clearly not well so we (Simon) dispatched her one morning. This left Whiskey from the original four, who although always a skinny chicken seemed to be eating well. So whether just a coincidence or whether she was missing her chicken buddy, she stopped eating properly and spent most of the time with her eyes shut under the shelter. We brought her indoors yesterday to try to keep her a bit warmer and conserve her energy. However, in the morning she also became an ex-chicken.

We don’t think they died from the same thing, as their symptoms were different, but you do wonder whether you could have done more to help. As most chicken owners will say, vets often have little expertise in chickens and poultry, as most people would just dispatch a sickly chicken. So there seems little point in taking a chicken to the vet, only to be told there is nothing they can do. Although this is a bit of a vicious circle, but when you’re dealing with what is still seen as a farm animal, vets in rural parts are likely to look at you a bit oddly if you walked into their surgery with a chicken. This may be changing in suburban areas where the trend of back garden chicken-keeping is all the rage, and hens are kept as pets as much as for the eggs, but even then I think many vets are at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

We’ve learnt that chickens (particularly the hybrid ones bred for egg laying) are not the longest living creatures, and this is something you’ve got to expect. We’re hoping that Coffee and Cream, our cream legbar chickens, will last a bit longer than a couple of years, which tends to be the case with the pure breeds. As they aren’t bred for their egg-laying abilities, they don’t wear themselves out so quickly. Having said that, we’re still planning to get a few more hybrids in the new year. While they don’t last very long they sure can pump out the eggs! And we need something to go with all this lovely bacon we’ve got.

The original gang