Spuds, Seeds, Storms and Spring.

Bore da, good morning.

It's been about a month since my last blog post so I thought I would have a little ramble and a catch up.

I am gradually regaining my mojo, well I was until Storm Ciara arrived (more of that later) so I have managed to get a few things done inside and outside.

I have bought my first early spuds, Arran Pilot, and these are currently chitting on the window sill in the conservatory.

The main bed in the growing area is FINALLY covered with a mixture of chicken poo, leaf mulch and homemade compost; this has taken me soooo long to do so pleased this is crossed off my list.

I have exciting news about this area, too. We are going to buy a poly tunnel, a domestic one, and we have seen one which is just about the same size as this area, 19 x 6 foot. It will go over the bed, be strongly secured to it and I'm now having to re-jig where I intend to sow/plant/grow things! Tracy over at Our Smallholding Adventure has one the same as we're going to purchase so really great to have a first hand account/review before buying. We hope to have it in position by the end of April.

I'm attempting to turn the bed outside the poly house into a cutting flower bed. For this I ordered some new seeds to go along with the ones I already have. In the same order I chose some dwarf beans, which I love growing, and there was an offer for 24  begonias which I plan on putting in the hanging baskets and maybe the planters outside the Airbnb listings.

Back to Storm Ciara. It began late Saturday afternoon after what what really was a lovely day. I completed the compost job I talked about at the beginning, collected up some leaves to mulch in a corner and put fresh bedding in the chicken house which I had cleaned out on Wednesday.

The chickens were put back in there from having been in the pond enclosure for quite a while. I was really pleased at getting these things done as we couldn't believe how quickly the storm came in. This was on Friday afternoon, before...

and this was yesterday afternoon.

I'm holding back on starting any sowing too early this year, for a number of reasons. Firstly I don't have my poly house, as I am sure you are WELL aware of, so will be using the conservatory in which to start things once I have cleaned the wooden stools and tables I normally use along with the staging . Secondly there is the poly tunnel to be made use of. A big part of it is connected to being lucky enough to  go and hear Charles Dowding talk back in November; this was arranged by Maryline of Rural and Rustic. I dug out, no pun intended, some magazine clippings about the sowing schedule he uses alongside his no-dig approach. Not really starting until March/April time when hopefully the ground will be warm by the time I am planting out; I'm also going to try his multi-sow idea, too.

Jon has acquired a new quad bike, when I say new I mean pre-loved, and it is already showing its worth with jobs around the place and helping with the sheep, along with our youngest having his own beast.

Jon has got back to working on the 4th Airbnb listing/lodging unit getting on great guns with insulation and plaster board.

Again before the storm I saw signs of Spring, if a little early. I do hope the magnolia tree Strellata doesn't flower any earlier than normal as it has a very short flowering season under normal circumstances.

Last night we were supposed to be heading out to take the boys to their Monday night activities but the weather made us think we really didn't need to leave the house. Boy was I pleased! We sat by the fire with a pot of tea, Jon strumming on his guitar and the boys being very grateful for not having to go out in the cold.

I was generally feeling a little overwhelmed yesterday as I seemed to have a lot to do and too many places to go. Mother nature seems to have stepped in to make me slow down a little and I am very grateful for that. Today I have nowhere to go so just plan on finishing this post, getting on with a few jobs around the house, bake a cake and be grateful that we are safe.

Hope you stay safe, too, and have enjoyed my ramblings.

Lou.xx

Back To Basics

Good morning.

The weather has changed quite dramatically over the last couple of days. We were having monsoon-type rain ie. wet and warm but this weekend it has turned decidedly chilly and we succumbed to lighting the woodburner in the living room on Saturday evening. This morning is a might chilly also but a glorious morning all the same.

The shifting of the seasons brings most gardeners and growers of their own around to planning for the next growing season, and that includes me.

I have some overwintering plans in place which I'll update another time but just now I have a few other bits and bobs to share. To this end I have just received some new seeds. 

The first of which are Nantes 2 early carrots. I plan on sowing these in either the greenhouse or poly house, maybe in containers or one of the raised beds in the greenhouse once the sweet potatoes have been harvested which should be some time within the next four weeks or so.

I also have plans for dwarf pea Meteor; these are very hardy and only grow around 16-18" tall so don't really require any support. I can put these outside or in but probably the latter space willing.

I admit to getting into a bit of a panic recently as my harvests have not been the best this year so....

I'm going back to basics for the next growing season. My aim is to grow plenty of what we all eat as I really want to see how much we can avoid spending money, on vegetables at least, examples being spinach beet and chard. I am the only person who eats either of these so I'm keeping these to a minimum as I had already sown some but these can be grown in the houses without taking up a lot of space. I have never done too well with spring onions so these are on the back burner for now.

So, along with the above new additions, this year I will mostly be growing - 

carrots, cabbages, broccoli, potatoes, onions, garlic (though not masses), cucumbers
NO gherkins this year, aubergines, tomatoes (hopefully a MUCH better result) peppers 
salad leaves, courgettes but probably just the one plant, dwarf beans as they were great this year so more of those, leeks, swede, turnips (not huge this year due to spacing I think but very tasty) and probably NOT climbing peas this year as for a really good harvest I think I need more space than I can allow.

More to the point with all of this I do need more space to grow enough of what we eat for it to make a real difference.

Currently I have the following space to use:
19 x 6 ft veg patch 
4.5 x 10 ft veg patch
3 x 3 ft veg patches, 3 of these including the one in the poly house
1.5 x 6 ft approx. raised beds in the greenhouse, 2 of these...

and this weekend Jon has built me one of three new raised beds which are 1.5 x 4 ft each; there will be three in total.

I like raised beds because at times I struggle with my back and the size of them may look a bit overkill but they are solidly built to last and hopefully make my back last a bit longer, too!

I've been thinking, but not overthinking as Jon thinks that is half my problem, I should be able to make a good go of it next year. I have literally just measured the new beds so really don't know what will go where but they are about a foot and a half deep so would be good for carrots, turnips, garlic, onions but not the brassicas as they will need more planting out space than that.

I look forward to using this new space in the coming months and sharing with you how I get on. I'd be interested in plans others have for the next season of sowing and growing.

Along with all of this I don't think I've yet shared the photos of our new ducks; 1 Khaki Campbell called Crispy and 2 Muscovy and the other are Duck-chess and L'Orange, as in duck a L'orange! They are not laying right now but the entertainment value more than makes up for them being freeloaders when it comes to feeding!

Oh and O M G, major excitement in the house is that we FINALLY have a quad bike.

Everybody in the family are extremely excited about this. It means we can get our pigs next year as Jon can get in the field to prepare things, we can get the trailer in the field to cut down trees for logs to store and the boys are just excited about getting to drive it! Get in!!!

I've just had to stop to put a match to the fire - really quite chilly and it is my birthday so I think I deserve to be warm!

That's all from me for today.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Pre-Rain Round Up.

The weather here is atrocious, really. The forecast said the rain would be with us hour upon hour upon hour and it surely is. Anyhow I managed to get to and from the room to ready it for a short notice booking we received yesterday afternoon for this evening.

I have some photos to share which as you will see were taken when the weather was MUCH better in the run up to and at the weekend.

Jon has had a couple of quad bikes in the shed needing some work to get running for the boys. He got one working and they both had a good few minutes riding up and down the garden.

Unfortunately they both still need a bit of work but there you go.

Recently I took part in a stationery swap and this was the lovely haul I received; post cards, post it notes, stickers, washi tape - all just lovely; thanks to Fiona my swap partner.

In Aber at the weekend I popped into Craft and looked, as usual, at the glassware, crockery etc and found these two bottles for £1 each. They will be great for when I, hopefully, make blackberry cordial later in the year.

We had been trying to sell the ride on mower recently but found it quite tricky. However, Jon was doing his best Forrest Gump impression yesterday mowing the garden and he has decided now to DEFINITELY keep it; much easier than strimming!

Now into the Poly House. These are the latest three tomato plants to be put in their final pots. If all the plants I have growing come into fruit I will have tonnes!...

and there are flowers on two or three of the plants which is great!

I have planted two piquant pepper plants in a trough but have three more plants. I am running out of floor space so will try and keep all these plants bushy, if I can, so they will fit under the benches a bit.

Here are my gherkins, four in total, which may be too many for the space I have given them but I guess they will support each other...

I had a sneaky look at my Arran Pilot spuds yesterday and found one a bit smaller than an egg so earthed them back up again as they shouldn't be ready for a few weeks yet but very exciting!

The strawb plants are fruiting well and spotted a couple of red ones yesterday.

The spring onions in the sink are finally really looking good with more small ones coming up, too. Shame we have eaten all of the lettuces, which also grew brilliantly in the sink; I have sown some more but need to do them more regularly than I have been.

I think that about covers everything. 

I am soooo excited for the harvest to come. After the rain I will do a post about the veg patches as it is all looking how I could only have dreamed before we moved here. The idea of me really producing a good amount of our own food, trying to be self-sufficient and self-reliant is amazing. I know it will take a few years to get the amounts right of things I grow to keep us fed, getting through the gap where much doesn't grow etc but I hope to keep good records from this year's harvest and into next year so I see how the numbers stack up.

Right, going to get some lunch now.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Sunday Sit Down.

Hi!

I sit at the kitchen table typing this as Jon is in the shed having a much needed tidy up and the boys are just starting some homework; this is the perfect time to have a little catch up with you.

I've been busy in the Poly House this week getting seeds sown and loving every minute of it. I am so looking forward to, hopefully, harvesting much more of our own food this year. Eeeek! Thursday evening was the first time we have been getting jobs done outside after tea for the first time this year. Fab! That day, Friday and Saturday I got the following done:

Seeds were sown for:

- two types of aubergine
- cucumber, to grow outside 
- some Italian-style beef tomatoes
- mixed variety of sweet peppers
- a plum-variety of tomato called Cuor di Bue
- a second drainpipe of climbing peas
- piquant peppers
- all year round lettuce (in the sink outside)
- sweet peas to go around the peas and a variety that needs no support to go in a planter at   the front door
- french marigolds for not sure where yet, and what a wierd looking seed?

and I moved the beetroot and cherry tomatoes I had in the house into the Poly House, too!

Going great guns so far.

On Friday I had what I would describe as an egciting delivery - egg boxes!

312 of them to be exact! I think they worked out at 6p a box. As egg production has gone into overdrive, 34 so far this week, we will be able to start selling them when Jon and the boys hopefully get the honesty box built next week. 

On Friday Jon came home from work with something he had his eye on, two quad bikes. This is one of the two he 'acquired' as they were not needed by the boss and apparently just taking up space....

They are big enough for me and Jon to ride on so will be useful to nip down to the field on if we need to; they need a bit of maintenance, spark plugs and a few other bits and pieces, but nothing Jon can't sort.

It does seem to be going on and on but me and the boys did some more clearing of stones on the fruit patch yesterday. I have decided now the vast majority of the large stones have been removed we are going to go for a more natural, organic look to the area. I bought a blueberry and a raspberry bush from Poundland last year, both of which have survived very well, so now they are back in stock I am going to buy a bunch of them and see what happens; this means we can get the patch well planted up so it is an established area of the garden. 

Advice request - 

The raspberry bush I have has not yet given us any fruit but is a healthy 2ft or so tall. Should I cut this down to soil level or leave and plant as is?

This morning, whilst managing to dodge most of the rain showers, Jon has worked on the soakaway pipe from the septic tank which needed some attention.

It was a dirty job, well just muddy really, but somebody had to do it and it is a blue job so.....