We are underway!

Yellow Rynsburger Sturon and tree onion

   Yes! The season is underway. Yellow Rynsburger and yellow Sturon onion seed has been sown into half seed trays and modules. Tree onion sets have be sown in a pot.  I finally got round to getting a dead oak tree by the river cut down. The tree was cut up into 50cm and 30cm lengths. That included the trunk! It was straight forward enough to stack the cut up branches but moving the pieces of trunk required brute strength and took over four hours over two days to get them up from the river bank to a more level area. Next job is to split them up into stove burnable pieces. Hopefully it will form part of next years wood supply.

Oak tree being stacked after being cut down.

   In the outside garden the weather has relented and it has not rained much for a few days. It is in fact quite mild. Herbs do not stay looking fresh and good for ever so I have rearranged my herb beds. In my new herb bed I have  transplanted rosemary, chives and sage from the old beds. In one of the old beds I have dug up the horse radish, split it and replanted it. That bed will hopefully now become a bed of horse radish and one old sage plant which I am expecting to remove at some point. In the other old bed my Bolls mint has pretty much taken over. No surprise there. The thyme, lemon and common, is looking ragged. The lemon time in particular has not fared well in the wet weather. I have taken some cuttings of the lemon thyme but I think I will be on the look out for a plant in the garden centre. I will remove the thyme eventually and allow the mint to take complete control. I have some golden oregano to dig up and move but I also want to take some cuttings. Much to my amazement several marjoram plants are surviving the winter and actually look quite well. I need to research as to whether or not one should keep this plant from year to year as I understand it is supposed to be an annual. The rhubarb patch has been cleared and manured and I noticed a crown looked ready to sprout. It will not be long now. I have finally managed to start forking and weeding the vegetable plots. The soil is damp and a little heavy in places but workable. 
   In the poly tunnel french shallots (banana shaped) have sprouted and are growing well. My, ahem, Christmas potatoes, are once more showing their little heads so I guess it must be a little warmer. I have taken sage and rosemary cuttings and pushed them into the soil. Experience says at least fifty per cent will root! More winter leaves have been sown and fingers crossed I may have a cauliflower or two!
   So, on we go! As always lots of clearing up still to do and I get the feeling that things are about to start growing. 

2014 - New Season is upon me!

   Happy New Year! I hope Santa brought you what you wanted. Just a short blog as really not a lot has been going on.
   So, here we are once more! January. Time to think seriously about sowing onion and tomato seed. Also in the back of my mind potatoes. In the vegetable garden all is wet and horrible. The garlic, field beans, leeks, beetroot, spinach and swede are hanging in there. The chickens like cabbage so the poor old swedes have taken a beating. Ninety nine per cent of their leaves have been eaten. Not really an issue. My green manure has also been eaten to nothing by the chickens. Mind you, they are producing some nice eggs! The ground is still very wet and really not worth trying to cultivate. In the poly tunnel my french onions are sprouting and the kohl rabi is just about ready to pick. The coriander looks good probably the best batch I have grown as it has grown slowly. The very early rosemary cuttings I stuck in just as an experiment have taken and hopefully I will have another six rosemary plants. My Christmas potatoes, now to be early 2014 potatoes have remained dormant. I am keeping an eye on them and will cover them up as soon as I see any sign of them. Soon be time to start looking for the asparagus shoots. Still lots to do in the outside garden just need the weather to cooperate a bit.

Ooops! Forgot the title..

   The weather continues to be clear and sunny with a hard frost in the morning. Most mornings have been -3C at the front of the house and the ground is now unworkable because it it frozen! I cannot win at the moment.
   Having -3C every morning with frost has meant that my celery is now done for. The fennel is just about hanging in there and the root crops, parsnip, turnip, swede, orbis and beetroot are surviving. The few parsnips that I have dug up have varied between being very good and completely destroyed. The long period of soaking wet ground meant that some had started to rot and those are a complete right off. I have been raking up leaves and I have mulched the strawberries. I have also started a new leaf mould bed using the well rotted stuff on the poly tunnel beds. The plum tree that had broken branches due to an overweight of fruit has been trimmed and pruned. I need to get pruning the old apple tree! Despite saying to myself that I would get rid of it I have staked up an old pear tree. It has produced a number of new shoots which have fruit buds on them so I will give it another year. I have also had to stake up one of my new apple trees which is top heavy and leaning in the wrong direction. 
   The days are short and despite the sunshine not a lot gets done. It will soon be mid-winter and before I know it I will be sowing onion and tomato seed. Christmas is now just a few days away and the turkeys and geese have been dispatched. Looks like we have some very good birds this year.

Two geese and four turkeys.

Crack on!

   Gee! Two weeks has past since the last blog, not that there is much to say. The weather has taken a turn for the better. Cold, yes, frost yes, a little sunshine yes, but rain no! Hooray! Just need the ground to dry out a little and I will be able to do some forking. Famous last words those. Of course the frosts have got harder which means the ground is hard until the afternoon and of course once you get past three o'clock french time the day is pretty much over! Pah!
    Our eldest home reared chick now nicknamed by me as Big Chick, has been confirmed as a cockerel! He was spotted being seduced by a brown hen.
   In the poly tunnel the potatoes planted for Christmas have shown. I do not think we will be eating them for Christmas but if I can protect them we could have new potatoes early in 2014. Some french shallots (torpedo shaped) that I planted to see what might happen are starting to show. Winter leaves are now being picked and very nice they are too.  I have a good crop of coriander and the kohl rabi are swelling nicely. I am hopeful for a couple of spring cauliflowers.
   In the outside garden I have been trying to gather up fallen apples and rake up leaves. The chickens have other ideas. The oak tree is dropping leaves but there is still a lot to fall. I want those leaves for the strawberries!
   Heath Robinson has nothing on me! I fixed my front gate which was had a broken slat and the gate was sticking. Bit of spare wood, sand paper, some wood screws and old bit of plastic pipe and hey the gate closes without sticking or falling apart! 
   So all in all I have spent more time putting up Christmas decorations than doing gardening. Such is the way of things. Still, there is plenty to do if I get the chance so onward to Christmas!

Still too wet but improving!

  What can I say? Very little done over the last week. Too wet. The ground is too wet to do any work on. I have cleared the perennial beds and tried to light a bonfire a couple of times with limited success! Of course, soon as I wrote that the weather has taken a turn for better! Dry, overcast and a cold wind but at least the ground is drying out a bit! I have apples still to pick and weeds that need removing not to mention a vine to prune and bullock hoof impressions and mole tunnels to fill in to mention some of the tasks still waiting to be done and Christmas is around the corner!

Clearing the perennial beds and bonfire

   Unfortunately the farmers bullocks got out of their field and wandered into the garden. Ten or more bullocks weighing probably half a ton each wandering around on saturated turf did not do the ground any good at all! At least I was able to keep them off the majority of the garden but there are some hoof prints in a couple of the plots. Minor damage to the garlic and the rest is just cosmetic. Where they walked on the grass though is a mess and will require some tender loving care in the spring. Man! Bullocks and moles not a good combination.
   Autumn/winter animal husbandry moves on. The white turkey was starting to unsteady on her legs and was being picked on by the others so we decided to dispatch her. After processing we got 6kgs (14lbs) of meat. Next to go will be are old cockerel, Wally2, who is looking his age. One of our chicks who we believe is a cockerel will replace him. Coq-au-vin is on the menu! 
   In the outside veggie garden last of the early leeks and carrots have been pulled. Spinach, fennel, orbis,beetroot, celeriac (small but edible), celery, carrots, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes still available. In the poly tunnel I have planted french shallots (as an experiment) and there is lettuce, cauliflower, kohl rabi, celery, fennel, sweet peppers and herbs. Not a sniff of my Christmas potatoes. What is the betting that they grow straight after Christmas. 

Sometimes the weather works against you!

   Not really a lot to say this week. The weather has really been against me. Wet, cold and on/off rain. The ground is wet and sticky and I really need to leave it alone, however, I had to rescue my over winter onion seedlings so a small patch was hand forked and weeded. Unfortunately I only rescued eight plants! The chickens had struck and eaten/scratched up the rest!
    In the poly tunnel I continue to pick sweet peppers, red and green ones. The end is close though as I am now picking quite small peppers. The kohl rabi is promising and fingers crossed I may get a cauliflower or two come spring. There is some lettuce, winter leaves, coriander and parsley (curly and french). The asparagus is going over inside and outside the poly tunnel. Guess it will not be long and it will be sprouting again! I have top dressed a couple of the beds.
   Outside there are leeks, celery, small celeriac, swede, parsnips, orbis, large turnips, Jerusalem artichokes and carrots to harvest. I will probably dig up the artichokes and use them to expand the bed this year. Depends I guess on how many there are. The garlic and field beans are standing up to the weather just fine. I think I got my garlic in at the right time as at least they had time to sprout before it got really wet.  Runner bean sticks have been taken down and the remaining beans (variety Czar) left gathered, dried and hopefully will be used as "butter beans". The Champion of England pea poles have also been taken down and a few peas gathered for seed. I have been very pleased with this variety of pea and even more surprised that I managed to get a autumn crop off them. I have gathered a lot of windfall apples but there have been so many apples this year. I am now waiting for the trees to loose there leaves so that I can get on with pruning. The plum trees need attention as they had so much fruit some branches broke. The grape vine is now loosing its leaves but very few grapes are being eaten by birds. Last year they took the lot in a very short time. Chickens love them though!
    How I managed I do not know but I got the grass cut! High setting on the mower but least it took the worst off. Several stops to clear out the blade cover of wet cut grass! Hopefully, fingers crossed etceteria no more grass cutting till next spring.

Rain runoff pouring down the road

Water flow down the lane at the side of my property

   

Rain? More like the tropics but not so hot.

    This week continues to be wet. The weather is on the mild side but with lots of showers. This means the ground is still unworkable and although the grass needs cutting I cannot do it! Water is running on the surface of the ground and in places it it decidedly muddy.
    I have at least managed to plant my large bag of narcissus and small bag of english daffodil bulbs. Assuming that the mice do not have a winter feast of them there should be a nice display come next March.

Bottle cloches

    In the poly tunnel the sweet peppers are still clinging on. The peas I sowed are now showing and are covered up with bottle cloches. Other crops in the poly tunnel are fairing well. Kohl Rabi and cauliflower are doing ok. No sign of my christmas potatoes! Hey ho! Another failure at this. Next year I am going to plant early potatoes for christmas rather than second earlies or main crop.

Front to back - celery, fennel, corriander

   In the outside garden the only real work being done is either picking up windfall apples or pulling carrots, swede and turnips! The ground is so wet that to walk on it invites clods of wet sticky dirt on my boots. So, it is left for the weeds and boy they are still growing.
   The final four table chickens have been despatched and processed. The freezer has at least 20 chickens in it!
   Well, I guess what I need to do is to plan where  next years sowings and planting is going. It certainly does not look like I am going to be doing much else for a while!