New chickens, March 2025

First day home, March 2025

It's always an exciting day when we bring home new chickens!  These five new hens came from a rescue charity, as 18 month old ex-farm hens.  They happened to come from a free range farm, and are much more red in the comb and wattle than most rescue hens we've adopted;  obviously they've spent some time outdoors.

As we've just celebrated two family birthdays in the past two weeks, the daughter (turned five last week) decided their cohort would be named the Birthday chickens;  we gave up individual names many years ago and now name our chickens as a group--the previous group (two remaining) are called the Specklies. 

To facilitate a peaceful integration between the home flock and the new flock, we've dragged out the old chicken tractor (aka moveable coop) and set it up next to the stationary coop and run.  We set up some bamboo canes and netting to make a small temporary run between the chicken fence and the garden fence;  the two flocks can see each other through it.  The first day I had to clip Cheep's wing (last remaining hen of the Cheep cohort) who jumped out three times!  Also adjusted the netting and canes;  hopefully she's staying in now--none of the others are at all inclined to escape thankfully.  

We've not had any eggs from the old chickens since last year until this week;  two were/are molting and the rest just old.  In fact our oldest two hens are almost nine years old--the only hens we have left with individual names:  Rock and Cookie.  These two venerable hens have their own birthday on 1st of April: we adopted them as chicks from a breeder.  For convenience sake we count everyone else's birthday on the same day; we'll then have one six year old, one five year old and two three year olds in the old flock.  A bunch of old ladies!  But even six year old Cheep laid her first egg of the year this week, so she's still got it.

Harvesting and sowing, March 2025

Dinner for four, February 2025

I'm clearing away the winter veg now, some of it starting to go to seed including a couple Savoy cabbages;  I have two more left out in the kitchen garden which may or may not do the same (they don't have a formed head yet).  Though they didn't form heads, the greens are still tender and tasty.  And no slugs to speak of;  the leaves are in almost perfect condition.  Cold winter?  Duck patrol?  Usually my cabbages are full of slugs.

I'm harvesting the allotment swede and turnip greens with their puny roots;  I put the last bunch of roots into the slow cooker and rubbed the skins off after they were soft--each root was one bite.  The greens were much more substantial, even after cooking.  Also picking greens from komatsuna, self sown mizuna and lambs lettuce;  these will probably be over by the end of the month.  

In other news, I received my 2.5 kg of Charlotte seed potatoes which are in a tray in my kitchen to chit before planting out.  I plan on putting these in the big containers at the allotment, maybe at the end of the month;  a few are starting to poke tiny little sprouts.  

And my seed starting mission is carrying on, though there's been a change in the weather for the worse;  now I've held off direct sowing my beets and parsnips at the allotment.  If I want them to grow I need it to be a little warmer again--for about two weeks we've had warm, dry, sunny weather but it's gone from 16 C at the weekend to a forecast high of 7 C today.  Better to wait a week or three if it means they actually come up.

Time for seeds again

Plum tomatoes, February 2025

I start most of my seeds in pots and transplant out, seeing as I have pretty bad pest pressure at my allotment;  I only direct seed things that can't really transplant:  mainly root vegetables.  At home I have more success with direct seeding, but there are still some crops that need warmth to germinate which won't do so in my climate.  For instance, I have to start tomatoes indoors;  they will sprout outdoors but not until around June, which is too late for any hope of fruit off them.  My preferred method is to broadcast some seeds into a medium sized pot and then prick them out individually when they grow a few leaves (not quite there yet in the above photo).

Onions already pricked out, February 2025

The onions have already been pricked out, though they don't look much better for it!  I did my favorite pot-filling method:  fill half the pot with a wad of fluffed up sheep's wool, fill it to the top with potting compost, then prick the seedling into this.  It seems that the wool helps the roots spread, grow and transplant easier;  I've been using this method for two years now, though my first time trying it with onions.

Also pictured above (in the central pot covered in a plastic bag) are my cherry tomatoes, now emerging;  I take the bag off as soon as they start to come up.  Not pictured:  a new to me method of germinating seeds in a sealed ziploc bag.  I have some old seed which I don't want to waste potting compost/counter space/time/etc on, just in case they don't sprout.  So I have taken several sheets of toilet paper, soaked them and put the seed on these, and sealed flat in a ziploc bag on my kitchen counter.  So far I've had five chili pepper seeds germinate;  these five were sown into individual pots as soon as they sprouted a tiny root;  I'm hoping for a few more (I've got some herb, flower and veg seed all taking this treatment).

My goal is a few seeds every day, whether a pot or a tray.  I've already started some seeds outdoors too (mainly broadcast in pots).  I've been saving little plastic cream tubs all year long to hopefully keep up with the seeds this year--recall I ran out of pots last year before I ran out of seeds.

Overwintered veg, growing and eating

Cauliflowers and komatsuna, 2 Feb 2025

Cauliflowers and komatsuna 22 Feb 2025

It's not just me is it--can you tell my cauliflowers have grown over the past couple of weeks in the two photos above?  No sign of actual heads forming yet, but probably not for another month or two anyway.  I've already had one small harvest of the komatsuna (the smaller, rounder leafed plant in between the caulis), taken as cut and come again leaves.  They are a bit like pak choi which I still have too (though also pretty small).

I've had pretty much all the turnips and swedes from the allotment by now--just a few weedy looking plants left without any bulbs;  same with the white and black radishes there.  However, I still have a couple small white radishes at home in the kitchen garden, shown below.  They aren't that big--I picked the biggest ones already to put in another big batch of kimchi (though I bought some cabbages for this batch);  I also had some fresh allotment grown leeks and garlic to put in the kimchi.

White radishes, 2 Feb 2025

I'm trying to eat through all my leeks now, growing at the allotment;  partly so I can sheet mulch over the very very grassy bed, but also because they have a pest which has overwintered on them as pupae and will start to bore into them when it warms up.  I think it is called the allium leaf miner;  my garlic gets the same pest but doesn't actually get bored into like the leeks do.  It's giving me pause for thought about my onion plans actually;  do I attempt to grow them at the allotment this spring or should I not risk it and instead plant them in the kitchen garden (where space is at a premium)?

Whittling down the stored squashes, February 2025

I thought there were only two left, but I have photographic evidence:  there are three squashes on my windowsill;  I've been having trouble keeping track of this batch ever since I grew them in 2024!  Before we cooked the Big One, which was far too big for the windowsill, they were all on the living room floor on their own two mats;  one of the remaining squashes, at the left of the photo, does overhang the windowsill by a little bit--it's about half the size the Big One was (it's also the furthest left in the photo in the second linked post).

Three squashes left, February 2025

Something I noticed last year;  while these squashes started out green, and were fully ripe when picked, they have gradually been turning yellow/light orange while in storage.  The photo above doesn't really pick up the color, but the one below does, cooking in the slow cooker.

Cooking it up for puree, February 2025

The flavor and texture has been excellent again this year;  the Big One mostly got cooked into puree, as it was just too big for the fridge after cutting it open.  I had both my slow cookers running for a couple of days to get through it all, and the cut open squash stayed on my kitchen table until I got through it all.  When I make puree, most of it gets packed into my silicone muffin pans to freeze in small portion sizes (about 3/4 of a cup) and then these "muffins" get packed into freezer bags, really handy for taking out what I need.  

What do I make with frozen squash puree?  I like to put a couple into a stew or curry to thicken it (with a dash of vinegar it's very similar in taste/texture to a tomato-thickened stew);  I've found a low carb muffin recipe we like (link opens to another website);  as a vegetable side dish on its own (add extra butter);  or maybe a pumpkin pie or two.

And I definitely saved seed from my Big One;  I've been saving and growing from my own seed for many years now.  Some of my colleagues at work requested some, and I suggested we have a growing contest for the biggest squash between us--I hope they'll all get a huge one, and we can bring them in to work to show off!

Ducks and chickens, February 2025

Recently I read that Wales has imposed an enclosure order for domestic birds because of the spread of avian influenza.  We live within about an hour of the Welsh border as the crow flies, so I am expecting the same for our birds any time now.

Free range, February 2025

Because of this, I'm implementing as much free range for my own birds as I can;  the two ducks are getting it in the morning, including the veg patch.  I've covered over the most delicate plants with netting (including a newly planted row of strawberries) and they can help themselves to the rest;  while omnivorous, they tend more towards the carnivorous/insectivorous side--chickens tend towards herbivorous.  The ducks don't much bother about my plants (though they do dig/dabble a bit and can trample).  I want them in there for slug patrol right now, their favorite treat.

Envious, February 2025

In the afternoons when I get home from work I usher the ducks back into their own yard, shut the gate to the kitchen garden, and invite the chickens out for their turn on the lawn:  they get to free range until dark.  Chickens are not yet allowed into the kitchen garden and the fencing around it is low enough for them to jump/fly over;  I have to be home to supervise their free ranging.  Where the ducks might unintentionally flatten a few things, the chickens would scratch and peck everything down to nothing;  there are plenty of weeds I'd like them to annihilate (and hopefully they will later in the spring) but right now my cauliflowers, cabbages and pak choi are too precious.

The different preferences of chickens and ducks really complement each other in the veg patch:  one cleans up the pests and the other cleans up the weeds.  Both give excellent fertilizer too.  My chickens are laying a few eggs a week, and Girl Duck does keep sneaking off by herself, to Boy Duck's dismay;  but I haven't found any duck eggs yet this year (she doesn't lay in a dedicated nest).  

We are ready to cover our chicken yard completely if we get an enclosure order;  the ducks will have to join the chickens in there (not fun for anybody) but there is enough space in both the house and the yard for all eight birds.  I might even see about putting in a few perches into the yard to give the chickens a place to rest out of the way of Boy Duck:  he is pretty aggressive to them, though luckily he isn't very fast or sharp.

A little bit of pruning

After a very sunny and pleasant Sunday (for the beginning of February, that is) I had managed to get a couple jobs done in the kitchen garden at home;  normally I prefer to visit the allotment on the weekends--as I'm more likely to strong-arm the husband and son into coming with me--but there's been too much going on at home recently (we've had the whole house rewired and what a mess!). 

The fig tree after a little haircut, February 2025

It was so nice though that I left my housecleaning and went out for some gardening instead:  I lightly pruned the fig tree and tied down a couple longer branches next to the fence (pictured above).  I also made sure to pick off all the medium sized immature figs;  these won't go on to ripen properly in my climate but I leave the tiny ones to grow into new season figs.

Ruthless with the redcurrants, February 2025

I already pruned the blackcurrants, whitecurrant and the mature redcurrant in the perennials section earlier this winter;  I was pretty ruthless with the blackcurrants--for a couple years I've not been able to harvest them in time so I wanted to make it easier for me to get to them:  maybe this will motivate me!  I also have several younger redcurrants grown from cuttings which I really need to move to the allotment;  these I chopped down by half to make them easier to transport:  hopefully by next weekend, rain or shine.

Incidentally all the prunings go to a woodpile to dry for next winter's kindling;  I have a pretty big pile already.