Its been a busy week...

Introducing the girls. Last Friday, we got our first hens, 4 Warrens who settled in fairly quickly and produced their first eggs for us on the same day. Was more excited than the kids when I found them in the nest.
Steve has now finished building the big run for them so they can move around and scratch to their hearts content.
On Wednesday we added to the feathery family with two Rhode Island Reds and a Bantam. A bit of scrapping at first while the pecking order was established, but they all seem to have settled down again now. Attached some pics.

Thanks
Kirsty

Springtime?

Been taking more photos! While staking my pea plants with a taller cane, I was happy to find a flower. Just the one so far, but at least it means that I'm not quite the kiss of death to plants that I used to be!

A couple of photos showing my greenhouse staging rapidly getting filled up with pots of seedlings and my 'greenhouse within a greenhouse' designed to give my tomato plants a bit of extra protection.

Pleased to announce that we finally have some life showing on the mushroom kit. The tiny white blobs on the compost are going to be chestnut mushrooms when they grow up. Other half so chuffed with himself, I reckon he thinks he's Percy Thrower reincarnated!

Finally. the Jerusalem Artichoke bed. Dug, edged and the tubers are in. Have earthed them up in case of frost because some had started sprouting. Spuds are going to go in on the right of the artichoke bed, and to the left is where the chooks are going to go.

Thanks
Kirsty

Garlic. onions and fruit.

This is my 3 day bonfire which enabled me to get rid of a very large mound of cut down brambles and clear some ground ready for digging.
Have finally got my overwintering garlic and onions in the ground they have been in beg wooden crates for the time being. Popped them in a small bed near the top of the plot.
Got the fruit bed extended and the 5 redcurrants I had heeled in elsewhere moved to their permanent positions.
Have started digging out where my spuds are going. I have got as earlies, Red Duke of York, Arran Pilot and Pentland Javelin. Am pulling out the biggest bramble roots, but will let the clearing power of spuds sort out the little ones. Have yet to buy some second earlies and maincrops.
In my mini greenhouse at home, my Greensage peas are starting to show their head, no sign of the Feltham First yet though. The Lyon Prizetaker leeks are doing well, looking like blades of grass. My onions from seed HytechF1, don't seem to be suffering either. I've had a few casualties along the way, down to my inexperience no doubt, but they are all in individual modules so I don't have to disturb them too much.
Mt strawberry seedling are getting bigger, seed packet sadi I would get fruit this year, but can't see it somehow. Plan to but some plants to beef up my planned strawb bed when I get it constructed.
Jerusalem fartichokes still to go in, got an area earmarked for that, just got to make time to get it done.

Thanks
Kirsty

Rhubarb, rhubarb

The rhubarb (Red Champagne) is now planted out into its permanent bed in a shady spot close to the front of the greenhouse. My daughter Lauren did the job very well. Here she is proudly showing off her efforts. They are small at the moment, but I have no doubt I'll get a lovely crop from them next year.

Greenhouse Fun!

This is my beloved greenhouse in various stages of contruction. As you can see, I did have help. Thats Ben sitting on the steps inside the frame, and Lauren was about somewhere. It is now fully up, glazed and functioning. I have installed my staging and some plants that were already down on the plot and spent a happy hour in there today 'arranging'.

When I took on this allotment in November 2006, I was told I was mad. Maybe so.....

When I took it on, the entire plot was covered in 5 ft high brambles and various debris hidden underneath them.
Work so far has taken the form of cutting down and tidying up as much as I can. As the ground here is clay, I have been unable to get any digging done until now, and I now have to work like stink to get it ready for when my many trays of seedlings are ready.

Some of the photos below show the allotment in the first month or so. Still really overgrown, and yes I did question my sanity in insisting on this one when there were easier plots available on site. We are now in March 2007 and the plot is starting to look more like an allotment than waste ground and I'm fairly happy with progress made down there so far.

Since November I have: cut down 90% of the brambles;
installed 2 compost daleks, a waterbutt and an 8x6 greenhouse;
discovered 2 blackcurrant and 1 gooseberry bush; dug in a fruit bed around existing fruit bushes;
bought and added more fruit bushes, meaning fruit bed needs to be doubled (in progress);
started building and digging raised beds, one is completed which has held my overwintering broad beans and peas, the others are in progress.

Thats enough to be going on with for now, I also have loads of stuff started off in trays in my mini greenhouses, but I'll add these when they go in the ground and I can proudly announce the next row!
All photos taken so far have been added in no particular order as I didn't date them when I saved them to the computer.

Thanks
Kirsty