Ding dong merrily on high!

     Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

     Christmas is all but here! Still lots to do in the garden but other stuff has taken priority! More stones moved, still more to move! Man! It has been raining heavily again this last week although i did manage to trim the grass a little (I like zapping about on the ride on if the truth be known!). I did get round to uncovering my swede patch and weeding it. I should get a few on the small side swedes but hey one is better than none! I checked the sprouts and yes I going to have home grown sprouts and hopefully a couple of parsnips for Christmas dinner! Other than that chicken coops were cleaned out and a few soft eggs have been laid. Hens coming to point of lay or just lacking calcium? I will make sure there is oyster shell in their feed and see what happens.

    So it is quite possible that there will not be a blog next Sunday as I do not see anything being done in the garden at all this next week. Ho! Ho! Ho! Oh, there is snow forecast for Christmas day! 

   Take care and be safe all of you!

Taken from my front door step 0827hrs 191220

And so it continues...

    The wet and cold weather continue. Nothing has been done in the garden this week. Too wet by far. Next week does not look good either but maybe between showers?? Hopefully they will not been long or heavy. Some play time on the ride on mower gather up leaves and also spreading chicken dirty chicken bedding on next years brassica patch.

 

Heavy rain overnight filled the ponds

Broad beans

Cold and wet

 

Moss curled parsly patch

   It always seems the weather is a matter for discussion amongst gardeners. Come drought, flood or pestilence. Meteorological winter started on the 1st December and the shortest day is, what, some three weeks away (21st December). Christmas is on ones mind and so Christmas trees and carols, turkey and ham start to become more prevelent in ones thoughts! LOL!

  In the garden? Well, not a lot. Forked and weeded the other half of the bed that has sprouting broad beans and sowed with broad beans. More stones moved for the path at the bottom of the bulb bank but by golly there is a lot to move to somewhere!

  Oh yes there is plenty to do but cold and dank conditions outside and a warm fire inside? Umm. Sometimes warmth inside overcomes the desire to get stuff done outside. Hot chocolate....umm. Must be getting old. No, to be fair, the soil is too wet to do anything with to be honest.

  Chickens are being chickens and the rivilary between the cockerals have been facing up to each other. The eldest, Mr. Chick is holding his own and the middle Maran cockeral keeps trying his luck. At one time he had succeeded in getting the newest hens away from Mr. Chick but they decided they preferred Mr. Chick. The youngest cockeral, another Maran, dashes in and chases a hen whenever he can! Egg laying is still on the low side, two to three eggs a day. Enough to keep us going for now.