Good grief! Is it really 11 days since I last posted.?
Very busy over Easter Weekend with family and so on. Garden and blog neglected terribly I'm afraid.
Fabulous day today so got busy with some seed planting.
Sprouts
Courgette
Aubergine
Carrots
Cucumber
Radish
Beetroot
Spring onion
Butternut Squash
If it is like this tomorrow I shall put in some sweetcorn and plant some more spuds.
The strawbs I planted a fortnight ago are doing nowt.
The onions are appearing now. Goody.
Bought my first pair of Crocs today.....went for the Mary Jane style as the others were ridiculously massive......They are sooooo comfortable. not brave enough to go for the garish colours....opted for black. The purple does look nice though.
Pottered about again this aft.....potting on a few seedlings, watering and so on.
Bloody fox has been trying to dig under one of the Eglus. It is as well anchored down as I can make it....In fact they are on paving slabs, and the culprit has dug under a slab. I have filled the hole in and placed a huge rock over it.
Whilst having lunch in the garden I noticed that a sparrow was flying in and out of the shed, which is really dilapidated with barely any roof!
It turns out that there is a nest on a shelf at the back! Will take pic tomorrow.
The shed is supposed to be demolished and replaced in a few weeks when we have some work done to the garden.
May have to wait. When do sparrows fly their nests?
Planted my Early spuds in black bags. We'll see how it works out. Very easy to do though....with no digging!
Did a massive clean out of the hens this afternoon. It was the most glorious day and ideal for the task as everything dried quickly in the sun.
I remembered that we had a power washer lurking in the garage and when I had figured out how to use it, it did the job very easily and in 1/4 of the usual time.
Drawback....I was covered in dilute chicken poo.
The hens were a bit nervous though...but their Eglus are spotless and fragrant.....for now.
Signs that the bloomin' fox has been digging there again. Have put the soil back and covered the spot with a heavy rock.
It was lovely to hear the sounds of children playing in their gardens. They'll sleep well tonight.
I could throttle the twit round the corner who plays his drums (badly) outside on nice days. I hope he is not having lessons...if he is he should ask for his money back as he has learnt nothing in 2 years. Anti social git.
Transferred my blog from "elsewhere". That will explain why today's date appears underneath each heading up till this point. Intend to have the blog as a sort of diary so each heading will be the date.
Vox certainly seems much more user friendly than 'tother 'un.
Am so delighted....I saw a Robin in the garden a few moments ago!....they are supposed to be getting rarer. I wonder if it is the same robin who perched on my foot last summer when I was sitting in the garden, legs outstretched. I felt very privileged as I recall.
The garden is full of birds at the mo. I keep seeing a pair of blackbirds (Mr & Mrs) and two collared doves were in a tree on Sat behaving like cartoon lovebirds.....it was lovely to watch them.
We also have an owl, which astonishes me as we live on a busy main road....although there is a wooded area at the back.
Unfortunately we also have a gang of marauding magpies...I've seen up to 10 at a time. The hens give as good as they get though!
Spring must be here as I've seen both a Red Admiral and a Cabbage White Butterfly today. Temp outside 14 degrees C at lunchtime.
Decided to clear out Bokashi bins. Very useful for recycling kitchen waste although Him Indoors can't get the hang of it at all......am always retrieving vegetable trimmings from the waste bin and relocating them in the Bokashi bin when he has had a culinary moment.
Buried the fermented stuff this time, as last time the rat in the compost bin enjoyed it rather too much for my liking. Hopefully he is well and truly zapped as I haven't seen him for a while and the gloves were well and truly off a few weeks ago. *Shudder*
For some reason the hens in the left Eglu kept escaping from their netted run. I had quite a job catching them, particularly Kentucky who is a madam! Sweetcorn did the trick in the end.
Inexplicably I had 9 eggs from 8 hens today....explain that!
Also we had a mystery visitor who very kindly left a burberry dog coat in the garden overnight. Left by a fox with chav tendencies we reckon.
Absolutely banging head this afternoon. Really torn between going for a kip (to shift the headache) or spending a bit of time outside in the sunshine as it is such a lovely afternoon.
The garden won.
Had a look at my raised bed and noticed that a couple of the onions I planted a couple of weeks ago are appearing...just a few millimetres of leaves but am pleased.
Also noticed that some bloody cat had left a giant poo in a corner of the raised bed! Definitely cat and not fox....they leave theirs near the Eglu's....must put a new battery in the Foxwatch! There were a lot of scratchy marks too so I suppose the cat thought it was a giant litter tray.
The Hens were originally on the lawn and have destroyed the grass completely so I dug over one of the areas to start the preparation for re-seeding. To much like hard work and have to treat my back with respect so I did just the one. Will tackle the other next week if I've time.
Very cleverly rigged up an anti cat, rodent and bird device to prevent them interfering with the raised beds. Just chicken wire and ingenuity. I hope it will work.
Had a look at my perpetual spinach and it is germinating at last. I'm sure I planted it a month ago.
I had a look at the strawberries I put in my little greenhouse thingy last week. Nothing doing but I was really surprised at how much warmer the air was inside than out. I really felt a difference when I opened it.
Also shoved a few more onions and some garlic into the raised bed.
Still have a bit of a headache, but got some fresh air and a bit of moderate exercise so feel better.
Neglected blog and garden as I am in a frenzy of clearing out our bedroom (in preparation for decorating) and taking stuff for recycling/tipping. Managed to get Him Indoors to part with a couple of suits!
Absolutely beautiful day today after a chilly and misty start. Mist is always a good sign first thing.
Had a rush of blood to my head and planted the following seeds:
Strawberry
Cherry Tomato
Marigold ( am going to try a bit of this companion planting.....to put with carrots and onions to deter their pests)
Cut and come again lettuce.
Also...I repotted planted my Dwarf French Beans . They are doomed I fear as apparently I planted them a month too early in a fit of beginners enthusiasm , and they have been too warm and have had inadequate light according to a reply I received on the GYO forum. They are now in what we laughingly call the "sun porch". Will do my best to keep them going , but will also plant more a bit later.
Also repotted my Sweet Peppers. I think I was over eager with these too. We'll wait and see what happens.
Also busied myself putting together my plastic greenhouse thingy. It went together very easily. I'll have to figure out a way of making sure it doesn't blow over, as it is very light.
Notice the pristine white wall that it is up against. This was last years project which took months and cost thousands...the entire side of the house had to be re pebbledashed...an enormous job. I'm hoping the reflected glare off the whitewash will be of benefit to my plants!
I went to Aldi (by accident...it is not one of my usual haunts...just found myself outside one when I went to Sharpes to look at furniture). I bought 3 packets of seeds for 45p...15p each!!)....Parsley, Spring Onion and Nasturtium (for "sacrificial planting"... apparently slugs love it so hopefully they will amuse themselves with this and leave my vegetables alone!).
If the weather is decent tomorrow will sow more seeds and put together my plastic cold frame thingy. I've yet to fathom out how a cold frame differs from a greenhouse....apart from the obvious difference in size.....might post a question on the GYO forum....they seem a friendly lot! 0 comments
Garden under an inch of snow after the surprise blizzards ( which we were told about 5 days ago) this weekend.
I had planted onions and rhubarb crowns. I hope they don't mind a cold snap!
Why is my perpetual spinach not germinating? I planted it a fortnight ago in a pot. It is at the front of the house which is south facing and gets the full benefits of the sun from daybreak till about 4pm.
I also planted some mushroom spores a fortnight ago, and despite having followed the instructions to the letter, nowt's happened. Will leave it a bit longer and see what happens. If nothing...will start again.
Planted 3 rhubarb crowns today. The hens loved the worms which I chucked into their enclosure. I have 8 hens, 4 in 2 Green Eglus.
Also planted 16 onion sets in the raised bed, just to see what happens.
We have a family of about 6 collared doves which spend their mornings foraging in my garden, I dare say they'll eat anything tender, so must fathom o ut how to keep them off the raised bed. Will rig something up with chicken wire.
Bought 2 polytunnels on Ebay today. £7 and a bit inc p&p.
I expect it will be a week or so before they arrive.
