New Year, New Start

I have had a pretty crappy time since the summer. Couldn't get down much during the hols, everything got very overgrown and I struggled to keep on top of it all. The weather didn't help a great deal, as my clay soil gets waterlogged and impossible to work very quickly.

I have a plan for the first few months of the new year, so I'll write it down and see h5ow much I actually get done.

1. get greenhouse cleaned, repair glazing and replace staging, using old inners of placcy greenhouses.
2. Put second greenhouse up.
3. tidy and weed strawberry bed.
4. weed and work over fruit bed.
5. strim and cover areas not likely to be worked this year
6. get workable areas dug and manured.
7. build raised bed (using the pallets procured for purpose) and cover ready for pumpkins
8. get bean trench ready and fill with rotted down stuff from the daleks.

If I can get one done for each day I go down, I might get somwhere!

Got some new girls to add to my little flock today. Thanks to Debbie for letting me collect them from her house and to Carly, who co-ordinated the whole rescue in just 5 days with 4 volunteers which ain't bad considering the farmer brought the slaughter date forward by 5 weeks! As far as I know 1200 hens were rescued today and tonight will be settling down in new homes.
I have fenced off part of the run so the new hens can settle in without being bullied to death by the current girls. I'll let them all in together when the newbies are more able to stand up for themselves.

Just a couple of random pictures snapped when I have a minute. I have got more ground reclaimed from the brambles, but the nettles are attempting to stage a coup. The plot is looking very untidy at the moment, and the super hot weather we have had has baked the ground solid. Some rain is due soon, so hopefully will top up my tragically empty waterbutts and give the plants In have in the ground a much needed drink.
So far in the ground I have: Red Duke of York spuds, Pea Kelevdon Wonder, Sweetcorn Ambrosia, Runner Bean Rotbluhende, Alpine Strawberry (front garden at home), Onions Bedfordshire Champion, Turbo and Stuttgarter, garlic, strawberries all flowering like mad, Estima potatoes .
All the fruit bushes have burst intolife and it looks as though I may actually have fruit off them this year. Must get them netted so the pesky pigeons and other birds don't get them first.
Sowed two rows of carrots, but there has been very sparse germination, so going to plug the gaps with some more seeds. As my soil is so heavy, I just sift a fine layer of compost over them so they can push their way through.
Laurens little patch is going well. Her peas are about a foot high, as is her garlic. All her Parmex carrots have come up and are starting to get true leaves. She rescued a parsley plant from somewhere and planted that up too. Going to give her some salad seeds to sow in her last section because then she'll have something that comes up fairly quickly and will keep her interest.
Got loads in pots in the greenhouse that I am starting to harden off prior to planting out. Cucumber Burpless Tasty Green, Courgette All Green Bush, Butternut Sprint F1, Garlic Chives, Tomatoes Sub Arctic Plenty, Marmande, Supersteak, Tigerella. Got leeks sitting in a shady spot outside, Hannibal, Autumn Giant, Musselburgh.
All my brassicas have been fried by the sun and/or munched by slugs so need to restart, calabrese, sprouts, cabbages, romanesco and PSB. May end up cheating slightly and getting some young plants from a local nursery as well as doing more sowings of my own.
Its bloody hard work down there at the moment, especially as I'm still working on clearing it and some patches are still pretty wild, but the enjoyment and stress relief is well worth it. Edible produce coming home is a bit of a bonus too though.
The chooks are doing well. Lost my young Maran to mycoplasma a while back and had to give antibiotics to whole flock. They all went slighly off colour due to worms and lice too, but these have been treated, and my girls have made a nice return to form giving me more eggs than I know what to do with. I'm bringing home anywhere between 8 or 14 a day. Little Light Sussex is now laying, teeny tiny white eggs. Lauren well chuffed.

Update 12 March 2008

OK, some pics, then a quick blurb about what I have done in the last 3 days.

I have helped Lauren make her own little raised bed and in it so far she has started garlic and peas. A pic of her sowing her peas and a view of it with pea sticks in place. I need to get the other half filled up so she can plant a couple of other bits in it.

I have divided and planted out the rhubarb crowns given to me. They are in the bed that the Jerusalem Fartichokes were in last year, found a few while I was digging it over ready for the rhubarb!

The toms in placcy bags have achieved 100% germination and have now been gently placed in small pots of compost to grow. Have just been down the plot to give the girls their evening corn, so took the opportunity to tuck the toms up in a protective layer of bubblewrap as the temperature is forecast to be about 3-4 degrees tonight.

Hurrah!! have finally finished sorting out the blackcurrants. Took a close up of one bush as they all have leaf burst now. So nice to see things coming to life on the plot.

And finally, the chooks are all ok. Can start using their eggs again on Friday, but their laying rate has slowed right down because I have wormed them. That will come back up again in a week or so though and I will once again be wondering what on earth to do with all the eggs!!

Update 9 March 2008

No pics today, but a quick update on things that have been happening down t'plot lately.

Gardening: today I have sown calabrese, cabbages Copenhagen Market and Winningstadt, Hannibal leeks, mixed salad leaves.
Last night at home I started some tomatoes off on moist tissue inside blown-up plastic bags, varieties are Marmande, Supersteak and Tigerella. When they germinate I'll transplant them to modules until they are big enough to pot on. Also started off some Capsicum Sweet Delight Mixed in the same way.

I recently sowed Kelevedon Wonder peas in guttering, they haven't come through yet. Fertled around the pots that I sowed Butternut Squash, Sprint F1 and found that they have rooted, but no leaves above the surface yet. My Kalibos red cabbage, Webbs Wonderful lettuce and Spicy Mixed Salad are coming on a treat.

Potatoes chitting in the greenhouse to go out in another week or so are Red Duke of York, Pentland Javelin (First Earlies) and Estima (Second Early). Still debating whether or not to put maincrops in this year or not as I had terrible blight last year. But as I'm not an organic gardener (shock horror) I could always get some Dithane from the garden centre to spray them and the toms with as a preventative if I need to.

Bedfordshire Champion onions that I sowed in modules are doing ok. Will leave them where they are for a while yet before putting them out. Musselburgh leeks are up, but still crooked. They'll be ok in the tray until its time to plant them out in a couple of months.

Got another bit of ground dug over ready to move the blackcurrants into. Its beeen taking ages because the ground got quite dry and I was having trouble getting the spade and fork into it! Last nights rain has made that job easier and I should finish that Tuesday morning and then get the raspberries in too. Got some rhubarb crowns to plant out too.

Bad news on the chook front though. Have had a very poorly Maran, who subsequently died. Vet tells me it was a mycoplasma infection. The others have all been medicated and we can't eat the eggs until late next week because of the antibiotics they have been on. Rest of flock all thankfully healthy, but will be watching them very closely!

Udate 17 Feb 2008

Since my last update I have planted out my young cabbages in some free space at the side of my strawberry bed. Handy because then I can net them against greedy, hungry pigeons! Have included a lovely picture of Lauren collecting eggs the other morning and a pic of the girls having a roam while I cleaned out the shed. Used some orange netting stuff to keep them contained so I didn't have to chase them the length of the allotment to get them back in the run. Alpine starwberries have germinated and they are tiny! Going to be a while before they are big enough to prick out into their own pots.

The spreading out of the fruit bushes is ongoing. have got 5 redcurrants and a gooseberry moved, just need to do the blackcurrants then I'll be able to make an area for the raspberries I plan on getting soon.
Not much else going on really, still to early to get anything else sown. Might start some beefsteak toms indoor soon, to give them a longer growing season than the smaller varieties.

Cheers all
Kirsty

Some pics, some progress

Dug over a bed the other day for the strawberries to be moved into. have planted them in ridges to aid drainage on my heavy clay soil. The ridges also make it easier to tuck them in with straw without swamping the plants themselves. Next job on my list is to dig over another bed, and into that I am going to put some of my soft fruit bushes so that they all get some more room and make weeding easier for me. I'll give that a thick mulch of straw too until I can buy the weed control fabric as this bed will be permanent.
Not much else to report really. Some cheeky bastard came and nicked my gate the other day. Nothing else touched or damged so I have small things to be thankful for at least. My £20 bargain B & Q placcy greenhouse got blown over by the wind but that survived too. Thankfully no plants in there as I have been using it to store the chooks straw bales.
Hens laying well. Got 6 eggs for the first time on Saturday so lots of baking and cooking now methinks!! Will likely sell surplus eggs as that money can then go towards hens living costs!