This And That Plus A Trip Out.

Hi!

We have had a few bits out of the garden over the last couple of days which is fantastic. Spring onions were lovely, strawbs are coming regularly but not tonnes, I wish, plus a few VERY tasty new spuds - Charlottes and Arran Pilots. Won't be buying any more of these from now on I don't think but I also am leaving them in the ground for a little longer yet so they end up slightly bigger.

What we have had a bit of trouble with are the hens; for some reason we were daily only getting between three and six eggs for a few days but thankfully today they seem to be back to laying as we had eight.

I found this when I was looking at some photos and just wanted to include it because I just love it.

On Thursday I put these baby toms in the dehydrator; we'll see what result we get and over how long; bit of an experiment as not the same as an electric one.

Yesterday I had a really lovely time over at Being Self Sufficient In Wales visiting Dawn and Martin; we had a great chat as usual. We had a proper look round all of the poly tunnels and beds and I picked up a few hints and tips as I always do. I  petted lovely Tess and Sol and tried some goats milk - tastes just like cows milk, really. We had a lovely lunch of quiche with lettuce leaves and radishes picked fresh from the garden.

I came home in time for the boys being back from school, along with a pile of seed trays which will be very useful next year.

                                       

Thanks for a lovely time Dawn and I'll get the biscuit recipe to you soon. 

Back home I had a look round everything. My salad blues I was given by the lovely Tracy from Our Smallholding Adventure are flowering - so pretty a colour -  but I have taken these off so the energy goes to the spuds; as they are a maincrop variety they will be in the ground for a bit longer.

                                                      

I potted on the last of my peppers so that is everything in pots done; anything else will be direct sowing I think but who knows! I was looking around the Poly House when putting the pots to dry and it's funny to see the shelves full of pots again as these won't be used a lot for some time.

On Thursday Jon started work on the kindling and coal stores alongside the main wood store. With the coal this means it can be poured in the top and there will be a board on an angle inside so we can always shovel it out easily. We don't use lots of coal as wood is our main source of fuel for the Rayburn and the woodburner but sometimes it just helps. This project should be finished today.

The small gap to the left may be made into a store the straw for the chicken bedding which would be great as it really doesn't have a dry place to be kept at the moment.

Harry is going to Cardiff with school on Monday morning until tea time on Wednesday so we have decided to get out jobs done this morning and then spend some time in Aber this afternoon. We will miss him and I know Alfie will; even though they have their spats he always says he is bored when Harry isn't here. Bless.

Right, those chooks won't clean out themselves.

Look forward, as always, to seeing what you all get up to over the weekend whilst we are going to be having this wonderful weather. 

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I used to keep a Journal of Gratitude but have decided to incorporate it into my blog instead,
so here goes.

I'm grateful we are able to just go to the beach on the hoof. On Wednesday I made bacon butties and we left for Aber when Jon got home from work. He and the boys ate them with chips and a fizzy drink in the sunshine; the boys went in the water and Jon and I just chatted - bliss and just then  I could not have thought of a better place to be.

Compost, Digging and Doings!

Hi. The weather is very different today from yesterday which suits me just fine. Yesterday I dug over the new veg patch and put some eggs shells through the compost, dug the near to Poly House end and put some of my compost through it and then dug over the end where the peas will go. Phew and oh my back hurt after it!

I know I only posted yesterday morning but with all the digging I did yesterday, the weather was perfect, almost sunny and no need for a coat once you got stuck in, the best kind I wanted to share some things I got done.

I finally got the compost bins sorted; as I had used some on the new veg plot I could tell a lot of it was usable but still could do with making use of the second bin.

This is how the original bin looked...

then the one with still-to-rot contents...

and the original bin once I had turned it over it's contents; much better. How satisfying is it to create something out of waste which can be so good for your garden AND save you money?

At the weekend I bought some of those things that go on the top of bamboo wigwams.

I bought these because I have now put out the first of my climbing peas - Victorian Colossal. I have always loved the site of pea and bean canes on a veg patch and longed for my own - is that weird?

Eeeek, I love the way they look!

I watched, on catch up, Monty Don on Gardeners' World as he was talking about spud planting. As this is one of my anxious projects in the garden I take any advice I can get. He talked about the distance you plant your seed spuds; close together if you want new ones and more space between if you want big bakers. Good, simple advice. Then he said about rubbing off the chits you don't need on a spud, just keeping the one at the top; this makes perfect sense to me as all the energy will then be directed to that one chit instead of trying to make them all grow. Following on from this I was thinking about the space for the spuds and Jon is going to get me another of the large tyres so I will have four of them each with five Maris Piper seed spuds in. The photo below is the onions to the left and garlic to the right and, as they will all be up June/July time and the space can't really be used until then, I decided to plant my Charlotte seed spuds in between as with any luck they should all come up around the same time?

This morning I had a look around the garden and was pleased to see that a pear tree I bought last year on a Grow Your Own mag offer is starting to come to life. I was worried it had been in the pot so long, with not having anywhere to plant it, that it would not survive. 

Also looking wonderful is my magnolia tree. I am convinced it is doing better this year because of the tree we took down behind it; there was perhaps just too much shade?

This is the established apple tree we have; it has been pruned and I look forward to a more fruitful harvest from it this year.

Right, I have some cherry oat bake in the oven and Harry is off school today so need to make sure he eats his lunch.

Bye for now.

Lou.x