An Unexpected Harvest

I spent my day off at the allotment today, which would have been cool but for the bleeding awful rain which had me sitting in my shed and... tidying things a couple of times. But, forgetting the rain, I still managed to get a fair bit done. I fed and watered chickens, chicks, ducks, ducklings and rabbits; strimmed most of the plot, tidying things up slightly - it has been mentioned that things had got raher scruffy. Fair comment.

While strimming, I came across a lovely crop of potatoes that I had planted as a Christmas crop back in 2009 and that had subsequently been killed off by bad weather (I thought) and forgotten... I also pulled some baby swede, turnip and broad beans, as well as a few onions and one of my elephant garlic bulbs.

Oh for some sun.

With apologies...

I'll be honest, things have been tough recently and the allotment has suffered as a result; weeds have taken over and the place is looking scruffy and unmanaged. Despite this, I have a nice crop of spuds coming up and my broad beans are looking strong and healthy! There is a bumper crop of garlic nearly ready to be pulled and last year's onions are coming along very nicely. Soft fruits are, of course, unstoppable and Helen has already made a couple of batches of jam.

On the livestock side, things really have progressed. There is now a second enclosure, currently housing ducks (Aylsbury and Indian Trout Runners), and I also have a few ducklings (mostly Muscovy). My ladies are also doing well and have been laying brilliantly - although the recent rains seem to have knocked them out of their stride, I have added a couple of Welsummers and their dark brown eggs are very tasty!

I had four broodies sitting on clutches and now have three Ko Shamo and seven American Game chicks, though not a single pheasant hatched. This appears to be my own fault, the broody I used seems to have been too large to properly turn the smaller, greenish eggs. A shame, but lesson learned.

The rabbit breeding has not gone so well and we have suffered quite a few losses, both in new litters and in the older stock, so I am considering a rethink and perhaps concentrate on one breed and one breed only (probably Belgian Hare, which is my favourite).

Finally, we have another new dog, a teacup Jack Russell, who has been mated and hopefully has a belly full of pups! With Pip, our Parsons, coming into season shortly, I am hoping for a much-needed bit of extra income.

I hope all you growers are doing better than I have managed and don't forget, tell your friends about Shandy's Dig!

Itchy moobs

What a fantastic couple of days: sun shining, loads of people at the allotment and tons of jobs done, with the whole family joining in.



Helen digging over and weeding the potato patch.

Four rows of spuds have been put in in Helen's newly dug over patch: first early Rocket and second early Maris Peer. Having chitted my sweetcorn, the young sproutlings are now in pots in the greenhouse, waiting to be planted out in a week or two



Sweetcorn babies nearly ready to say hello.

In addition, many more seed trays have been sown - tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, courgette etc - and new planters have been created for a variety of uses, including new additions to the herb garden, which I am delighted with as it comes along nicely... Even the weeds can't annoy me!



Herb garden.

Of course, there have also been ample salad sowings: lettuce, mixed leaves, chard, radish, spinach etc.

Things are also happening on the livestock front, with work moving forward on the second run and a third, much smaller pen.

We have also had two new girls donated to the 'farm'!



New chooks.

Finally, in weather like this it is worth pointing out the importance of sun protection, itchy moobs are no joke! Seriously, cover up, wear a hat and make sure you have a high factor sun cream in the shed.
I'm awful at following my own advice of course...

Family day

Another good day on the plot with a lot getting done without doing a lot, if you see what I mean...

Raised bed number two has been thoroughly dug over, weeded and manured and I think this is where the sweetcorn will go this year.




Early carrots have also been planted in my larger, wooden container. The Sea Kale, sewn last year from seed collected in Littlehampton a few years back (is that legal, I really don't know!), has burst back into life, and a new herb garden has been readied in my second butler sink.

Helen has cleaned out the animals and weeded both the front fence and the rhubarb patch, one crown of which seems to have died off over the winter. I also managed to get Joseph weeding for about half an hour!




The kids ran around for a while with a young friend and the dogs were, generally, well-behaved.

I'm pleased to report yet another half-dozen eggs from our ten layers, and one of my Seramas is back in lay! A strange shaped egg and quite large for the smaller girls; it certainly sounded like it smarted a bit!

Big bad Bertha!

Finally, a full-ish day in the plot; a large portion of growing space has been ploughed over (twice), thanks to Big Bertha, animals fed and watered and one of my three large raised beds has been sown with broad bean, swede, turnip and of course, radish!




Big Bertha!


Lots of people on the site today, which was good to see, and lots of gossip to be had!

It was a lovely sunny day and set off brilliantly by the song of my new blue canary, who didn't stop twittering and tweeting all day!

Here we go for 2011

First chance this year to spend the best part of a day on plot. Parsnips, tomatoes, cabbage, romanescu, kale and calendula have been sown in the greenhouse, soft fruits pruned (rather late), apple trees manured, new rabbit hutch built and lame ducks housed; all animals (we now have ten laying chickens, three Seramas and two silkie bantams; seven rabbits and two ducklings) have been fed and watered, and a water butt has been installed on the greenhouse.

I've also prepared a bed for my early carrots.

Busy day.

Last turning of the earth of 2010

It doesn't look much but next year this will be five rows of garlic, elephant garlic, shallots and onions...







iPhone report