Richard – Page 27 – Small Plot, Big Ideas

Pleasing potato progress

First early potatoes coming along nicely

Just for the record here is the current progress with my very limited potatoes after 6 weeks in the ground. There may only be two short rows but I have very high expectations for them!

It’s all looking very good at the moment and there has been very little signs of weeds or pests (so far). Last weekend I even went through a token effort of earthing them up.

It may not have been strictly necessary to do any earthing up but the work helped to emphasise the progress the plants are making.

To my untrained eye these are looking good and I anticipate a first harvest somewhere around early July.

However I’m not sure I can resist the temptation to dig up one plant towards the end of June just to see how things are going.

I’m not so sure that my efforts with chitting in two batches has made any difference though. The row nearest the fence started chitting a few weeks ahead of the others but the plants all seem to be the same size at the moment!

The only remaining work that I really should get sorted out is to install a soaker hose which I plan to run off the newest water butt. At this rate I think the harvest may well be in before I get around to putting the irrigation in place!

Ginger wine

After hearing about a ginger wine recipe from Twitter (big thanks to @Geordie_racer) it was off to the local homebrew shop for the necessary equipment.

Being a complete novice at this I was a bit lost but blindly following the instructions I had been given. Luckily the very helpful man in the shop gave me lots of useful advice and then sold me all the right bits of kit.

On the way back there was a quick stop at the greengrocers for the produce needed and then everything was set for some home chemistry play on the cooker.

That is only about £20 outlay in total and we now have a 5ltr demi john gurgling quietly in the corner. I’m starting to wonder where I can put 5 litres of ginger wine but according to the instructions I have 2 weeks to come up with an answer!

Vegetable progress update

The potatoes are finally starting to show signs of life which is encouraging. That is only when compared to the apparently interminable wait for anything to happen of course. I’m sure that I will soon need to worry about earthing them up but for the moment they should be okay.

early potatoes coming up - May 2012

The onion sets that were planted in the veg bed are looking very good – it may not look like that in the photo but trust me on this! Even the extra ones that I planted in various pots around the garden a little later are coming on nicely. I would have planted more but I ran out of space and containers to put them in!

onion sets coming on nicely (with cabbages)

In a probably futile attempt to seize some more vegetable space in the garden I decided to hide some broccoli seedlings behind a few French Marigolds. I’m not sure if that will help with the companion planting but I had some marigolds left over and didn’t want to waste them.

This area is really supposed to be a flower bed anyway but I don’t have anything special to put in there at the moment so I figured it was worth a try. I think I got away with it but only time will tell..

trying to hide the broccoli behind some french marigolds in the flower bed

It’s a jungle out there

The other evening at chicken lock up time it was pouring with rain – nothing new there of course! However, as I went out the back door I spotted a small green visitor on the back step just at the last minute.

I don’t think he realised how close he came to being under my welly boot or how unwelcome his visit might be with the lady of the house in particular. It is enough to say that she doesn’t generally welcome uninvited visitors like this round at our house but of course with the weather being so wet there are quite a few around.

We’re never certain where they come from but suspicion usually falls on the neighbours pond a few doors along. I’ve blocked up any holes at the bottom of our fence but a few still manage to get through apparently. I don’t mind them though and at least they help to keep the slug and snail population down to a manageable level!

The visitor was last seen heading off under our bay tree after I moved them away from the back step. That should also be far enough from the hungry chickens to keep him/her safe for the moment.

It made we wonder though as we have also had a hedgehog in the garden recently and I’m not sure whether hedgehogs and frogs get along. Presumably they would compete for similar food sources but I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I don’t know for sure so I’m off to research the subject!

Further bread making adventures

After my first 2 attempts at bread making (white bread rolls and after that a loaf) had proved fairly successful if slightly stodgy, it was clearly time to up my game and try making brown bread.

We had a great time up at the Rothbury Food and Craft Festival yesterday which had lots of interesting local produce on offer including a tasty goat burger made with meat from Lakewood goats and some excellent Brinkburn goats cheese from Northumberland Cheese.

Stoneground wholemeal flour from Heatherslaw Corn Mill Apparently the goat burger was made by the clever butchers at Blagdon Farm Shop so as we had never been there before we headed over afterwards for a flying visit.

I spotted this (probably over-priced) bag of stone ground brown flour which led to the idea of making some wholemeal bread.

The fact that it was produced relatively locally by Heatherslaw Corn Mill at Cornhill-on-Tweed was also an influence I suppose but I didn’t need too much encouragement for a new bread experiment really.

After going through the process which is now fairly familiar to me, the dough was left to rise in the loaf tin on top of the oven as it warmed.

dough risen in the loaf tin before going in the oven This time I decided to learn from the stodgy past experience and give the dough more time to rise – a total of 1.5 hours rather than 1 hour during my previous attempts.

Immediately before it went into the oven the whole thing looked very impressive and remarkably professional for me!

There followed a tense wait with much peering through the glass door on the oven while enjoying the fresh baking smells that filled the kitchen. Eventually it was time to take it out of the oven and assess the results of my efforts.

A truly majestic wholemeal loaf and even when sliced it looked good… I think that this lunchtime will be wholemeal bread and goats cheese!

The finished loaf

sliced home-baked wholemeal bread

Size isn’t everything…

I’m not sure where this one came from but it was completely unexpected and out of all proportion with the normal eggs we’ve been getting.

In fact I’m not even sure which one of the three dropped this on us and we discussed the likely suspects but when I checked afterwards none of the chickens were walking funny.

There are regularly 3 eggs by mid-morning each day but nothing on this scale – the moment just had to be preserved for posterity with a picture and a dedicated blog update.

Right now it’s still in the fridge for the moment as I think we’re all a little nervous about what may be inside!

Classical conditioning with chickens?

It has been a regular event over this past weekend (before the rain came) for me to spot a chicken that has “jumped” the fence and got loose in the garden. That isn’t a major crisis of course but as a relatively inexperienced chicken keeper I think it’s important that I show them who’s the boss.

When I see an escapee making a dash for it I set off down the garden whistling The Great Escape theme in a jaunty fashion and prepare to chase down the miscreant before she can get near my seedlings.

The thought has crossed my mind that the chickens could become conditioned to this famously catchy tune and they might somehow link that with getting out of their run. Obviously I don’t profess to have a background in Classical Conditioning (as with Pavlov’s dog experiments) but perhaps in future if I whistle the tune before they escape they may feel an inexplicable psychological response and try to get out?

Chickens – stupid or crazy?

I can’t quite decide whether our chickens are stupid or crazy but they’re definitely just a little bit bonkers. This makes for some entertaining times for us as relatively new chicken keepers but we’re still not completely sure what constitutes normal chicken behaviour sometimes.

The most likely explanation is obviously that this behaviour is not something unique to our chickens but as with most domestic pets (or even children perhaps?), it’s nice to think that yours have that something special, that distinctive feature or talent which makes them stand out from the crowd.

The mad rush out of the door in the morning is always good to raise a smile at 7am but I’m not sure whether I’d be rushing out just to peck wildly at some chicken feed or to scratch about in the grass. Of course, I could be underestimating the taste of chicken feed but I’m not curious enough yet to find that out for myself.

On the other hand, our chickens are obviously not completely stupid because they seem to have realised that when one of us comes down the garden there is a faint chance of a treat. That may possibly be just a few hours out to roam around the garden or maybe just a hand full of meal worms but it seems to cheer them up immensely.

However, they must be a little crazy because this weekend we witnessed a brief struggle between two of them over what we thought was a bit of twig or leaves. Closer inspection showed that it was actually a small frog with skinny legs (hence the twig mistake!). After resolving the dispute over ownership of the frog, we were very surprised to see that the winning chicken promptly pecked the hapless frog a few times (to subdue it maybe?) then apparently swallowed it whole.

I was quite sorry to see the little frog go although perhaps not as sorry as he was! I’m sure he was doing his best to keep my cabbages free of pests but it was a timely reminder that it’s a jungle out there and only the fittest will survive. In future I’ll keep on the good side of my chickens…

A weekend of successes

Now that the dust has settled a little from the weekend exertions I can start to take stock of the progress made and the relative success of my efforts so far. I know it’s still early in the year and spring is squelching more than usual but I like to focus on the positive aspects where possible.

Plants

The most obvious positive is that the carrots I planted out about 2 weeks haven’t died yet and in fact are looking pretty strong. They have been under a cloche all this time so I suspect that extra cover has helped them survive the wet conditions lately. From now on though they are on their own as the cover has been put away.

The carrots have been joined by the first batch of leeks although time well show that these were planted out too soon I suspect. The planting was simple though as the leeks were sown in the toilet roll tubes and so I just had to drop the entire thing in the hole each time. Once they had been watered in that veg bed was looking pretty full for the moment – at least until the carrots get harvested in July.

The onion sets are already starting to show signs of life with most having strong green shoots. I somehow hadn’t registered how many onion sets were coming in my order so I’ve filled all the planned space for them and established some overflow into various pots around the garden as well. It seems a waste but the remaining onion sets will just go to waste I think as I can only do so much with the space allowed.

Chickens

It was decided to give the chicken coop a good clean out with the disinfectant to keep on top of any possible problems. This decision seemed to be fully justified when I thought I saw some red mite but on reflection I realised that I wouldn’t know red mite if it bite me and it was just as likely to be my imagination. Either way the whole coop was dusted with mite powder as a precaution too.

In the meantime the chickens had their best day ever because they were given free run of the garden while the work went on. This went as well as could be expected apart from the regular hold ups while we herded them back to the furthest end of the garden in a vain attempt to keep some part of the garden in a presentable state.

Construction

The new water-butt is now installed and filling up nicely as a result of the rain on Saturday evening. The best I could get from our local B&Q was 200+ litres and maybe I paid a little over the odds at £30 but that should do fine for our purposes. I couldn’t see the point in forking out for a plastic stand at £12 as well so I just bought half a dozen breeze blocks and saved some cash as a result. Small and petty victories are the best!

Other stuff

Many of the non-vegetable gardening jobs didn’t get a look in again but at least I managed to get around to moving a small conifer which had got much bigger since we planted it. As a result the garden view has opened up a bit and an unsightly part of the garden has inherited an impressively looking shrub. Fingers crossed that it likes the new position and settles in well.

If only my first attempt at bread making had turned out so well but never mind, at least it was edible and tasted pretty good even if the rolls did look a bit like an accessory for the 2012 Olympic shot putt. I’ve learned some useful tips for the future and the next attempt should be a lot better.

Keeping on top of the Spring jobs

After another extended time away from home on business I know that there will be plenty of tasks waiting for me on my return. All of these will be in addition to the usual concerns about the contents of the vegetable beds and how they have coped in my absence.

Here is a brief run-down…

Vegetable beds

After the range of planting that I did a couple of weeks ago I’m hoping to see signs of progress from some if not all of them.

The seed potatoes have been under cloches so they should have been well protected from any frosts recently. Unfortunately the cloches will also have kept the rain off too so I;ll need to check that.

It is much the same for the carrot seedlings I planted out but these are a fast growing variety so I suspect I will see more progress with those.

The onion sets got planted out in a bit of a rush and as a result all I had left to cover them was some netting. Hopefully even that has been some help to keep the worst of the weather off them while they get established.

Planting Out

By this time the French Marigold seedlings will probably be a little too big for their current home and desperate to get out into the real world.

I have great hopes for these mainly for the companion planting benefits however they are also one of the few plants that I am growing from seed this year specifically just for the flowers. Unfortunately I don’t have such high hopes for success with the old poppy and foxglove seeds which I sowed after finding them in a corner of the garage.

The leek seedlings in toilet roll tubes seem to have taken ages but I suspect that is down to my impatience more than any inherent weakness on their part. If my calculations are correct then the first batch should be about ready for planting out. I just hope I left enough room for them when planting out the carrots a few weeks ago but if not then some leeks will just have to suffer a temporary home until the (early harvesting) carrots have gone.

Construction work

The work to reroute the guttering on the garage was completed (fairly roughly) last time but I need to adjust the slope to get a proper flow and finish off the supports as well.

Of course I still need to get the water-butt to use with this but that’s just a minor detail really! It’s just a shame that I’ve missed an opportunity with all the wet weather at home over the last 2 weeks. Never mind I’m fairly confident that the North East of England is not likely to suffer a drought just yet.

Rearranging things

There are always plenty of other (non-vegetable) jobs to get done though and one of them will to rearrange some other plants that have managed to spread their way around the garden.

As usual we have a lot of self seeded Campanula and they will mostly be left where they are this year. However I will clear out some of them in an effort to create the illusion of a few select areas rather than having them all over the whole garden.

I think the time has come to leave the Bluebells alone after many years of removing them from certain areas. This year I got the impression that they looked a little more under control so I think they deserve to break.

It may not be the right time but I think we have a Philadelphus in need of some tidying up. There was an ill-advised attempt at pruning a couple of years ago which didn’t go well – no names of course but it wasn’t me!

If I remember I may add a post with a picture of the Bay tree before I tackle it as we have left this for many years now. What used to a be a fairly well-trimmed but large standard-style tree is now getting out of control and needs a firm disciplinary hand.

At this point I should make it clear that I’m no expert with plant names but I always use these names for the plants in question so if I’m wrong then at least I’m consistent!