Late Spring/Early Summer

Thought I'd better update on how things are going so far. The Peas are in their final positions and planted around their feet are transplanted spinach plants which should give them shady toes while they reach for the light. Spinach is a real life saver for the shady spots and I have a terrible craving for it at the moment, so I have grown two varieties, one normal and one Jamie Oliver red stemmed variety ("bish bash bosh whack it in tha ground job's a goodun"?) for a bit of colour interest. Also for the first time I have planted Swiss Chard, I haven't the foggiest idea what it tastes like!?

I have completed a plan of the final locations of all the veg again this year. I am following crop rotation rules to minimise pests and diseases and ensure good quality organic crops, but also as an experiment I am trying a less formal arrangement of vegetables, mixing them up a bit and putting more emphasis on the beauty and landscaping that can be created from vegetable plants. This was inspired by reading Alys Fowlers book The Edible Garden, it's a lovely read and very inspiring. I'm not sure all the things I have planned will work, but growing is a yearly experiment I am still discovering what grows well in my soil and in what positions, and even then who knows what weather will beset us. We seem to have a lot of 'weather' in England, it can be rainy in the morning, hail at lunch then heatwave in the evening (I might be exaggerating a bit...but you know how we Brits like to discuss the weather!).

As per usual I have grown way too many tomatoes, I really need to re-home some. Currently in the ground I have a small gathering of onions (I was determined to grow some after failing miserably last year), the previously mentioned peas (growing up the shed and fences this time), carrots, garlic, tomatoes and trailing tomatoes (in tubs), rocket, garlic and early and main crop potatoes. Freshly planted out from the greenhouse last weekend are the squash (now quite big and flowering already), sweetcorn, cucumber, peppers, broccoli, Kohlrabi.... Also the Sweet Potato slips arrived and have been planted in kitchen roll tubes indoors to root train them. Just planted seeds for Asparagus Peas and Pumpkin in the greenhouse.

This year I have 2 gardens to plant, my parents are letting me plant up theirs too as they have just cleared out masses of space to grow veg. So far they have similar plants to me and the same informal-ish design. Hoping it goes well, their plot gets much more sun than mine really and is much more sheltered. Fingers crossed!

Spring Advancement (maybe!)

Well a week or so on and most of my seedlings have sprouted, I have a lot of sweet corn shoots (pictured above) plus tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, a few onions (for some reason I never do very well with growing onion family seeds). The large broad leaves of the scalloped Squash are now up (pictured below), although amusingly some resolutely stuck their heads in the soil and poked their bums (roots) up to wave at the ceiling. I guess I planted a couple of them upside down (how you tell I'm not actually sure!?).

I have bought and planted a few roots of Bocking 14 Comfrey, which I am hopeful will sprout. Comfrey is a plant that draws nitrogen and nutrients from deep within the soil with its' long roots, it stores these nutrients in it's leaves which can then be used to benefit your plants. You can use it to make a Comfrey tea (cut the leaves and soak them in a covered bucket of water until it smells manure like) to feed to them as liquid feed, or you can add the leaves directly to your compost heap. Maybe even plant it around your compost pile to ensure that the leaking nutrients are caught by the Comfrey and put back. Bocking 14 is a sterile seeded variety of Comfrey, useful for keeping it under control, as a result of this you'd have to get yourself some by buying roots cuttings. I bought mine from eBay, I am quietly hopeful but if they don't do well then I haven't exactly wasted much, the average price is very reasonable. It says plant horizontally though, this fills me with deep misgivings, I killed the Horseradish by doing that (remember kids, always read the instructions!!).

I also just bought some caffeine spray to keep the pesky slugs off my young plants. I'm not naming it yet, it might be crap, so I'll keep that to myself until I've had the chance to road test it on the lettuces!

Here is what the tiny egg from a few weeks ago looks like when cooked. It did have a yolk, just a tiny weeny one!

I'll leave you with a recipe. Nettle Pesto, I tried this last week and it's lovely (if a bit garlicky!). I think next time I'd use a bit less garlic. The mesasurments are in cups, because it was an American Blog I borrowed the recipie from. There is a link to that here - Fat of The Land Nettle Pesto

Nettle Pesto

Ingredients

2 Cups of Stinging Nettles (blanched and chopped = about 6 cups raw)

1/2 Cup finely grated Parmesan

1/2 Cup Pine Nuts

4-5 Large Garlic Cloves

1tbsp Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

Boil the nettles for a minute or two to neutralise the sting (you'll still see the hairs but don't worry, they will be soft).

Ball up the nettles and sqeeze the water out.

Add to food processor with other ingredients and half the olive oil.

Whizz it up, and you're done!

The excess can be frozen in ice cube trays

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March...on Spring! (hohoho*cough*)

I think....it might be Spring! Since my last entry I have lightly dug most of the garden in preparation for planting. Since I was totally disorganised at buying the green manure on time (plants that grow overwinter and keep the nitrogen in the soil) mostly the soil was bare over winter, save for the autumn/winter veg. This means that in 2 beds I have allowed the nitrogen to be leached out through the soil over winter, the other had peas, and their clever nitrogen fixing roots that I left in after I chopped my peas down will have helped to keep the nitrogen in. On that bed I added some leaf mold that I made from the leaves collected on my drive last year. On the other 2 beds which are very sandy I have dug in some of my compost from the compost bin, which is now bursting with worms (great for the compost...not so great for me *twitch*). I discovered this when I opened the bottom hatch and 5 shiny red worms dropped out and squiggled across the concrete, "Naaaaath...heeeeelp!?".

Last Saturday I went to The Edible Garden Show it was a fun day out and I did come back with a few ideas and lots of tips on chickens. Worth going for the animal tent alone, it had pigs and goats and many different types of chicken (I wish I had room for a Orpington). I also came back with an Oak Paper Potter. These are very handy little tools allowing you to create 4 small paper pots from one sheet of newspaper (no glue or water required, just roll it round the roller and scrunch the bottom in the press), I have already made a nice tray full of pots to plant my seeds and seedlings into (as you can see above). I intend to buy the watering rose tops you can buy for old drinking water bottles (bottle top waterers) so I can water my indoor seeds without washing them away (how clever!). I've planted some lettuce and baby carrots seeds directly in the ground, but I do plan to start off as many plants as I can in mini pots to avoid early slug damage when the seedlings are too small and tender to cope with being munched, and so I can replace things as we eat them...that's the plan anyway!

Mushrooms are growing in my walk in wardrobe...brown closed cap, and intentionally of course. Actually they aren't growing yet, they have just had the casing layer added and I'm waiting hopefully. They're in the walk in wardrobe bit as it's an outside wall in there, and so much cooler than the rest of our terraced house, so a good temperature for shroomies.

On the chicken side of things, I had to show you this. Nessa laid us a mini egg a week or two ago, sadly it wasn't chocolate (shame) but it is freakily small. I thought chickens only laid this sort of egg when they were just at 'point of lay', but the web tells me this isn't the case. It's known as a 'wind egg' and can also happen to older hens. It's an egg without a yolk. An interesting site about abnormal eggs can be found here.

It's hard to imagine that last year in March the garden looked liked this:

February - Of eggs and chickens

February's going fast! Most of January was spent getting over December. The weather is starting to warm up, the first planting has began and the chickens are looking cheery. Over the winter period Nessa, our big cute friendly chicken had stopped laying. As Clara was still in lay we assumed that Nessa was probably not having a break for winter and she had reached chick-opause (menopause for chickens, geddit?!). Hmmm, I thought. Disadvantage - the halving of egg production, and no more recognisable speckly brown Nessa eggs. Advantage - not squating once a day to lay a torpedo must seriously narrow down her chances of dying a premature death (egg peritonitis is nasty, and caused when the eggs slightly leak inside the chicken, the bacteria multiplies and makes them poorly). Well now it's February she's decided that that's her winter rest over and she's started laying again! The new style egg she's going for this year is more compact and less eye wateringly huge than last year. Clara must be green with envy as the ones she is laying at the moment are very much torpedo-tastic whoppers, I am presuming the required face for the delivery of the egg pictured above was >_< . You can see the size comparison (top pic)!

At the weekend, if the weather is dry I will let the chickens wander over the now mostly empty veg patch, and they can clear the ground of any unwanted grubs.

Here's a nice chicken cuddling picture for you. Proving the ex-batts are the most lovely pets, this is me with Nessa. Excuse the picture quality, that's iPhone's for you.

Christmas and New Year

*waves* Hello web folks! Christmas is over, New Year too. It's been another busy one with dinners at various parents houses (hands up if you don't want to see a plate of turkey again until next December!?). There was a lot of homemaking for us this Christmas, my two niece's received a knitted scarf each, various other family and friends got Pumpkin Jam, Plum and Vanilla Jam, Plum Vodka, Plumbs in Brandy. I also made some dark choc and mint sweeties. Nath got some of the sweeties and a knitted fish hat amongst his presents.

The plums came from a very old tree down the end of my parents back garden. I feel quite sentimental about this particular tree as it's older than I am (and I'm 35...in case you are wondering). When I was very small it used to bear a toddler swing off one of it's old gnarled branches. I have no idea how long victoria plum trees should last, fruiting is always a bit sparse and some years there is virtually no fruit and any fruit borne is dropped before ripening, but it did OK this year (any advice for caring for an elderly plum tree would be much appreciated! If you have any advice please leave me some advice in the comment section below).

I home made more presents this year than last year, and I hope to increase this again next year. Not only is it a more cost effective and self gratifying way to spend my money (buying ingredients) but it also means that the biggest gift I give my loved ones is this special season is my time and personal consideration. Surely worth more than splashing the cash.

How considerate of nature to give us a picture perfect week or so, with a thaw just before we go back to work. I am hoping this will give me enough time to scrape up the leaves from my front drive and spread that over the veg beds and dig up the remaining veg (parsnips and salsify...which hopefully made it through intact). I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and wish you all a happy New Year.

Shhh! The garden is sleeping.

The garden has been very cold this week, most of the snow has cleared and the nightly freezing fog is decorating the garden with ice crystals. It's very pretty. The picture above is the Nigella seed heads.

Bejewelled cobwebs adorn the metal shed.

There are many jobs I need to do in the garden, like raking the leaves that fall from the roadside trees in front of our house and spreading them over the vegetable beds as winter mulch, and I still have some supplies in the ground but it's too cold to dig. I'm not sure it's a fun time of year to be a chicken really, they must be chilly and glad of each other for warmth.

Still, despite the inconvenience it does make for a lovely spectacle.

Update on the Pumpkin Jam - Try it, it's scrummy on toast...a bit like mulled wine jam really.

Pumpkins and more jam!

Remember those little pumpkins growing in my garden? My how they've grown! They store wonderfully in a cold room. Today's furry model is Bobbie, he contemplated eating the pumpkins (after an experimental nibble of the stalk) but settled for posing instead (it's really any excuse with him).

With one of the pumpkins I made gluten free Pumpkin Pie to take to Nath's mom's for his sisters Birthday dinner. That only took a little bit of it, so with the rest I made Pumpkin Jam! You can find the recipe I used here, I tripled all the ingredients and I used Jam makers sugar and also added a sachet of pectin and sugar mix...it set...just. It tastes great! It actually made 4.5 jars, the part jar will be used to make experimental Pfeffernuesse.

Po-ta-toes!

This cute specimen of Greyhound beauty is Lenny, who's 12 years young. You wouldn't think a bag full of raw, mud covered Maris Pipers would have so much appeal to the canine nose would you?

This pile of spuds is from the middle bed, and is about 4/5 rows worth. I was hampered in my harvest by having had my first horse riding lesson the day before (argh my poor legs!). Still it was exciting to dig in and unearth handfuls of Maris Pipers, rolling out like pale yellow treasure.

Issues: A few had tiny holes in which I am presuming to be Keel slug damage (as Maris Pipers are susceptible anyway), but to be fair that was only a tiny number which I ditched. Most are affected by common scab (also common both with Maris Pipers and sandy higher pH soil) but it's only cosmetic so who cares! I am trying nemaslug next year as after a slow start the garden is now a slug haven...and my beer traps don't work in the rain!

All in all, a mighty fine treasure haul!

Chicken Update

I haven't wanted to post this one because I am still upset about it, but sadly now we only have 2 chickens as one died, my favourite chicken Ruby :o( Apparently we can't have more ex batts at the moment as Nessa is a bit of a bully and has been pecking at Clara's back. I must confess I am tempted by the lure of Light Sussex hens, but ex batts are so lovely in temperament and I would feel guilty if the space didn't go to another ex batt. You can only increase your chicken population in two's as they need an ally against the existing hens who will bully them at first, until the pecking order is rearranged and everybody knows their place.

The good news is that the remaining two chookins now made friends and Clara's feathers are at last grown in, although she looks a bit purple at the moment from the anti pecking spray which contains gentian violet extract. The picture at the top is Clara, bless her.

I am tempted by the idea of making my own chicken coop, or wire enclosed run. With more space to roam we could increase the size of the flock in the coming years. I am very tempted by an Eglu Cube, but the price is a bit prohibitive!

This is an affiliated link to a groovy site where you can essentially buy plans to create your own chicken housing. I could really do with a spare coop for when I need to introduce more hens (that's more hens as opposed to moorhens!).

Chickens eat what ever grass or weeds are inside the run within the space of a week. We have 4 Greyhounds and the grass has all but stopped growing for winter so we have decided to made a temporary static base for the chicken run. We've chosen half log style low edging and soft wood chips. They will still need to be changed once a month, but at least we won't have to keep moving the run weekly and will conserve some lawn until spring to keep the mud at bay.

We are enjoying this programme at the moment Giles and Sue Live the Good Life. I suggest you check it out if you are interested in self sufficiency, chicken keeping etc etc (BBC2 Monday 21:00). The write up reads "In celebration of The Good Life's 35th birthday, Giles Coren and Sue Perkins step back in time to 1975 to find out what it takes to make the self-sufficient dream a reality".

Chinese Tea Eggs

I have found something to do with my spare eggs. Chinese Tea Eggs are a chinese snack food and are made by smashing up the shell of hard boiled eggs before boiling them in a liquid made from star anise, 5 spice powder, salt and black tea and then leaving them to soak for 2 days in the fridge. The result is....interesting.... Not to my tastes, but then I don't like my eggs hard boiled, Nathan likes them though. The taste is a lot like mulled wine, and the flavour soaks right through into the eggs yolk.


Chinese Tea Eggs

4 eggs
water
2 tablespoons salt (can be quite liberal with salt)
1 tablespoons Chinese Five Spice powder
1/2 star anise
1 tea bag (black tea)

Hard boil the eggs, when cooled tape the shells to break them (without breaking the egg itself). Put back into the water and add the ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. After this time bottle with the spices and water and leave in the fridge for 2 days.