Post-Frost Sowing and Growing.

Hello everybody, how are you all doing? It is ok not to be ok so hopefully help is there for when you might have a bit of a wobble; I know all about that but managing ok just now.

We are about to enter week eight of lockdown and here in Wales we are keeping to the #stayhomesavelives rule. Our lockdown will be reviewed in a weeks time. We're allowed to exercise outside for more than one hour a day and some garden centres are re-opening but not the one we use. All that is just fine by us; to be honest the only thing I had been lacking for outside was compost for the poly tunnel but we had a delivery plus our click and collect with feed for the chickens; could still do with a bit more for sowing and potting on but using some I put in a tyre for planting out which, in the meantime, I've decided not to do.

Talking of the poly tunnel I've got lots of jobs done since my last post; I've been sharing some progress on Instagram and Twitter but I like it when I can see before and after photos here; I hope you enjoy them along with my ramblings. Before my photos this is the cover of a book very kindly sent to me by the wonderful Rural and Rustic which is Maryline.

I do hope my tunnel looks close to something like this in the future. Maryline writes some beautifully insightful posts about nature, the seasons and all manner of lovely stuff on her social media accounts.

There was an incident where one of the lambs got in the tunnel as I'd failed to shut the door properly so..... I went charging down to the bottom of the garden howling like a banshee when I saw it just inside telling it to get out! When I apologised if he had heard my slightly blue language, my neighbour said he was quite impressed at my level of reserve! The damage could have been a lot worse and to guard against this happening again Jon has put up this cargo netting and it works a treat as I can comfortably have my back to the door without worry about intruders.

Something else new in the tunnel is my digital thermometer. Very excited to have this handy little tool; this was taken about 11am today, Sunday.

So from inside the tunnel I've made a little video; silent as a) I'm not keen on my voice when it is recorded and b) I don't know how to do it easily and for free. You can find that Tracy over at Our Smallholding Adventure has a great new YouTube channel so do try and find the time to take a look. Maybe I should ask her for some help - chic? 

Here goes.

A quick guide to go with it from left to right. We have Perpetual Spinach which I love in stir fry and salads, Rainbow Chard, a sorrel plant - a minor casualty of the sheep,

spring onions, beetroot then I've sown Snowball turnips followed by Wild Rocket. There is a gap, not sure what for yet, maybe an aubergine plant then you see the tomatoes; various varieties including Black Russian, Gardener's Delight, a yellow plum, Marmande and Maskotka; a couple of the plants were given to be by a friend. 

The dwarf beans in the corner are one of our most used things I grow so I have a good number of those before you get to the strawberry plants which are looking quite healthy 

- I moved a couple from a crate outside to fill the space. In the far corner I have two squash plants - one grown by me which is Butterbush meant for a container so thought it would be good space wise for indoors along with a Vegetable Spaghetti from the same tomato friend. 

Down the right hand side we have dwarf peas; I love dwarf varieties as I find them easier to take care of than towering wigwams, call me lazy but... I've planted three cucumbers - maybe a bit close but I'm just going with the flow in the tunnel being my first year; same thing could be said for the dwarf beans and tomatoes but what the heck! Another space just now followed by red and green lettuce which is something I manage to grow sooooo easily, inside or out, and there are a couple of rows of sown Mazur lettuce for another variety of salad leaves. 

There are leeks in trays not ready to go out yet-

never been successful with leeks so fingers crossed.

Kale is something I failed with last year but these plants I think will go in the bed of the poly house/gazebo when ready; love Kale, nobody else does really so that will be a freezer item.

Another of the minor casualties of the sheep incident was a couple of broccoli plants. These are not ready to plant out but will go in bed number 2, far left of the growing area, when they are a bigger.

Now to outside. During last week we had a couple of cold nights leading to some slight frost damage on my first early spuds.

I used some old hessian, coffee sacks to cover over and it was quite surprising the warmth I could feel underneath when I removed them. Growers of their own are breathing a sigh of relief, hopefully, that the colder weather is now over and I know lots of us are itching to get planting, inside and out.

I mentioned the red and green lettuce before and I have it growing in my old sink along with spring onions. 

Again, I haven't had lots of luck with onions before but some of those sown as done as here using the Charles Dowding multi-sow method.

Blueberry plants, mediterranean herbs and more dwarf peas coming along nicely; the first lot hopefully for a good FIRST fruiting and harvest!

You can see to the left of this planter that I've put down cardboard and some mulch to keep the weeds at bay. Seems to be working and I'm trying to do this in as many areas of the garden as I can.

The onion and garlic bed, considering we had a bit of shaky start regarding the planting (the rain kept bringing the sets to the top), is doing well. However, the onion bulbs don't look that big just now but plenty of time for both them and the garlic.

I've been asking for help on Twitter this morning as I've had problems identifying if my parsnips are growing; I'm now certain which greenery were interlopers and which are the plants so may re-sow, thanks for the advice.

The two courgettes I've planted outside in bed two are one Tondo di Piacenza and a Goldena, seen here already with a couple of budding fruit!

I thought I'd share my not-too-often-flowering lilac bush as it was blowing beautifully in the breeze as I was walking around the garden this morning.

Right, I think I've rambled on enough and hope you've enjoyed my little tour.

I really hope my first year with the poly tunnel is somewhat of a success, but know I'll be learning along and just giving stuff a go! With the current situation the garden is such a wonderful place to escape to, in all weathers. I really hope in the future that I'll be able to provide more food for our family, leading to us not being so reliant on supermarkets as people have found themselves during the lockdown.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Weekend Work? No, Homestead Harmony!

Hi!

This weekend we had some fantastic weather so we made the best of it with us all doing our bit where we could.

Yesterday I had an early jaunt to Aber to take Harry into Aber as he was boating with the cadets. I came home and as we had Airbnb guests due in the afternoon I made sure the room was ready. We had to head back into town to run a few errands, pick up Harry and grab a quick bite to eat.

Once home Jon and Harry went down to the field for logs and they split and stacked more wood to add to our supply for next winter. Funny, on our little homestead as with lots of other people, in Winter we prepare for Summer and in Summer we prepare for Winter. Alf and Harry were helping today.

Alf and I headed to the poly house.things are looking great in there at the moment. 

We set about potting on the last two sunflowers Pacino and a few courgettes Tondo di Piacenza. 

We also sowed butternut squash Butterbush - I'm growing this smaller variety in one of the big tyres this year and it also stores well - and Alf filled up water bottles and watering cans. A few more kale seeds were added to the small bed outside where it IS showing signs of life from the first sowing.

We had a bigger job as we needed to lay membrane in the bottom of the third veg bed, I think I've shown this image before so sorry for that. Then we spread out the compost which had been in the now removed raised beds; this didn't take too long then I also put a barrow full of my own compost - always very satisfying to make and use your own goodness; the bed does need a bit more to fill it completely. 

Quite a satisfying job. I think the first thing I'm going to put in there at one end are the second lot of Meteor peas I've sown and have growing in a drainpipe in the poly house. 

Talking of the peas, look, I have pods! 

This is very exciting as I checked my diaries and I sowed these on October 22 lasy year and successfully overwintered them in the greenhouse; they were then planted in the poly house on January 17. 

Today with a little help from Alf I've planted my 2nd early spuds, Charlottes.

These are in bed 2 which is in the far right corner of my little patch of paradise.

Jon came back from the field after chopping some of the trees to get the trailer and said I needed to go with; I took these photos of just at the gate where he has taken down the trees. 

The stream is to the left of the gate....

and this is the view with the gate behind you and the field itself is a few minutes walk down this way and spreads out at the bottom. 

This is the map of the space lined in red with the narrow end to the right being where the stream is and the main gate

My last job of the day was to level out the main veg patch using some of my compost; its matured nicely....

and the beds are all looking great ready for the fun and games of the coming season. 

I'm so very excited about getting them full of edibles!

Right, that's my little round up finished.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

New Year Pottering!

Well today was the first time out in my little patch of paradise since the start of the new year. I needed to add to my exercise tally so what better way than to don my RAF surplus jumpsuit and get out there. I managed 40 minutes pottering and garden prep before the spots of rain started, but it was enough to have a good look round and be back inside to check on the spuds baking in the Rayburn for tea; always a quick meal on a Monday as we are out for Slimming World, Boxing and Sea Cadets whilst Jon will have some him time in the shed and then watch Forged In Fire - me and the boys fly home to catch the end of it!

So outside I was tidying up really; I had some chicken pooh sitting in the wheelbarrow waiting for the very job I did today which was covering ALMOST the last of the main patch.

It really did a fantastic job, along with the covering over, for the soil last year; so few weeds due to me taking the no-dig approach when I took things up at the end of the growing season. I just have one small area where there are a few leeks so really should just take them up and finish the job!

I wandered around finding bits and pieces either to go in the compost bin or in the bags for the tip next time we are heading that way so have now a few planters drying out. 

I've moved a drainpipe of spinach beet from the greenhouse to the poly house. It was ok but I think may do better in there, which reminded me I need to get a couple of thermometers for both the houses. 

In the green house are these, my Mixed Spice sweet peas, which are a good six inches tall. They are hardy but not sure I should plant them out just now; best not as we may get snow before the Winter is out so safer there perhaps but may move them to the poly house.

These are my Meteor peas which are also hardy. If sown outside it is done in March but these are quite big so wonder if I should put them in the poly house bed and see what I can get from them? Sneak in before that spot is taken by the cucumbers and aubergines later.

I'm not wishing the time away because I really love Winter but the tulip and daff bulbs I planted are really coming up to say hello and it IS lovely to have a little hint of Spring.

One of the daffs in the garden, there are loads as usual, is even showing a yellow head!

I think we'll have even more snowdrops this year; they've reseeded themselves further along the fence line between us and our neighbour. Never a bad thing - more the merrier.

As short a time as it was outside I really enjoyed it. Will see what the weather holds over the next few days and maybe I'll get outside for another potter.

By for now.

Lou.

Garden, Gifts and Guests!

Hello!

Busy few days here on the Homestead. We had Jon's family here for a couple of days as the boys have been on half term this last week - gone back today, aaaand relax!

This is a bit of a mish-mash with what happened when but never mind! 

I've been busy in the garden with more of this glorious weather. Lots of the tomatoes have been put into planters ready to go into the greenhouse hopefully by the end of the week. I potted on some of the smaller toms and planted out some of the courgettes.

I have earthed up the first early spuds and I'm using up the last ones I bought so we can hopefully try our own by the weekend. Eeeek! Last night we harvested our first salad leaves and had them with herbs for tea; (no photo as too busy enjoying them!) soooo tasty and I'm chuffed how the salad leaves are coming on and I'm very glad I have sown and will continue to sow more as we go along.

We have cut the grass this weekend as Jon acquired a mower after doing a job over the Bank Holiday weekend and was paid with that. Alfie helped out with one side of the garden whilst Jon was putting the greenhouse on a base. I have membrane to put down and we hope to get the glass in this week.

We have also acquired/been gifted a couple of other things for the garden like this fab picnic table which was in use for lunch yesterday; perfect as half in the sun half in the shade. 

And for the garden, along with some onions and leeks,

these Kelveden peas have been put in a planter which came with a couple of pods already! Apparently they grow to about 17 inches tall so have installed some willow sticks as support.

I seem to be embracing the mixed planting ethos in the main patch. Here I have the leeks in the main patch

along with the lettuce, one broccoli, a courgette and a cabbage. I'm looking forward to trying the spinach beet which is also in there, I've a little more space but once the spuds start to come up soon there will be a little more area to use. The onions have been put in with existing ones in one of the tyres.

Talking of spuds the first earlies are just flowering.

In other news we had a one night Airbnb booking on Saturday night. They left at 10am, I received another booking at 2.45pm and they arrived at 6.45pm on Sunday evening! What is mildly exciting is that one of the guests was working updating a travel guide for Wales. What a hoot it would be if we got a mention in that? Also I expect a comprehensive review for these guests and frankly I can't wait!

Today is an inside day as much as I can manage. I'm on my second wash load, the guests have left and the bed is stripped. I'll get the room top and tailed after lunch when I have to pop our for chicken pellets and go to the post office. I need to fit in making some biscuits or a cake as the tin is empty and I was given rhubarb by our neighbour and Harry has requested I make a crumble. There are a few other things on my list but we'll see how we go; phone calls and admin/paper work can be done whilst I eat lunch - oohI need to watch the 2nd part of the British Scandal thing with Huge Grant, first one was ace!

Right I had better get on.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Go The Rocketeers! Post No.2

Hi! 

Here I am with the second post about the time spent with Kim at Green Rocket Courses.

In the afternoon, after our delicious lunch, we did a few practical things which I'll talk about but will also cover other things we had talked about in the morning and the afternoon.

A really good reason for growing in a poly tunnel (PT) is that you can extend your growing season but you can also grow things which will not necessarily grow in a greenhouse. Along with this a big part of Kim's philosophy is mixed-planting in the PT; she is a great advocate of mixing things up when it comes to planting; there are a number of reasons behind this way of doing things this way so here we go.

Why put all your hungry plants together when this means they will need loads of watering and also take all the goodness out of the soil/compost? Crop rotation is also not something you need to practice if you go down this route.

Plant your sprouting broccoli with your peas which are nitrogen fixers as we did here!

Nitrogen fixing plants contain symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobia within nodules in their root systems, producing nitrogen compounds that help the plant to grow and compete with other plants. When the plant dies, the fixed nitrogen is released, making it available to other plants and this helps fertilize the soil. Its always a good idea to leave what is left of your peas at the end of the harvest to rot down into the soil.

Why not mix up your herbs and salad leaves with your tomatoes, or plant your basil with your tomatoes when they go together so well in cooking why not when they are growing. This means you can go foraging in your patch for everything you need for a summer dish! You will also be able to grow a range of mediterranean herbs in your PT.

Here you can see a variety of plants all growing quite happily together - leek, strawberry, carrot and coriander.

Another fun part of mixed-planting is that if plants self-seed then you get a nice surprise for no work really!

Now there is no reason at all why you shouldn't try some of the hints and tips here even if you don't have a PT so why not give some of these things a go outside on your plot or in your green house?

Now part of the day we talked about something which Kim is very keen on and that is the no-dig approach to gardening,; this can be practised either in your PT or on your plot outside. I have written about this recently but the idea is that you cover over your soil, or a new area to make a growing patch, with cardboard as this will degrade. Then you cover that with your compost and you don't ever dig over the earth; if you do you disturb the earth then it is more likely to recover after being dug by producing weed growth. By continuing to mulch over the surface you will prevent the vast majority of any weeds from returning. 

If you take this approach it means there is a lot less work. If you are no-dig gardening outside then there may be some weeks or plants such as brambles or docks and woody plants which will need removing before you start.

(Just a tip, if you are using cardboard from large boxes it is worth is taking a bit of time to take off any sellotape or remove any staples.)

If you want to buy compost in bulk when setting out your PT it is wise to look online as the more you buy of anything will always be a bit cheaper; this goes for gravel, too, if you chose that for your pathways.

Ok this part of my post is some random things we talked about.

Should you use old seeds?
Try not to waste anything so older seeds will probably be slower to germinate but may still grow. Sprinkle the seeds in between other plants but put a marker to remind you they are older seeds so you know how they perform.

Carrot fly
Carrot fly are attracted to the actual smell of the carrot so it's a great idea to plant something with a strong or distinctive aroma close to it like garlic close to it or you could just try squashing something to deter it and leave it close by.

Slugs
One way to help cut down on the number of slugs getting in among your plants is to lay a piece of wood on the soil/compost. Slugs will always gravitate to underneath something so when you lift up the wood and find them you can just dispose of them as you wish away from the plants.

Cheat growing
It is more than acceptable to buy some things from the supermarket to grow in your PT. A great example is herb pots. If you buy a lovely, healthy looking basil plant how long does it last - not long. The reason being that if you take a look at the roots it is pot-bound so it can hardly breath let alone thrive. So, you can divide the plant into 3 or four parts and plant out and they will do much better. Basil does tend to do better in doors but if you have more than one you can keep one in the kitchen and the others elsewhere. 

- A great herb for over-wintering is parlsey and it self-seeds easily, too, so happy days!

Well, I do hope you have enjoyed my overview of Kim's Poly Tunnel course, but nothing compares to the real thing so son't forget to check out her website where you can find dates for up-coming courses this year. I had a fantastic time and I thoroughly recommend attending any of Kim's courses.

Go Rocketeers!!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

(Apologies for the inconsistencies with typing - Blogger not playing ball I'm afraid but hope you still enjoy.)