Peas and beans everywhere

Snap peas and supports, Apr 2019

I've been on a pea and bean frenzy this past month!  At the allotment, I put down two triple rows (I dug a wide trench and sowed three rows in it) of regular tall peas, a single row of yellow mange tout peas, three rows of broad beans, a triple row each of dwarf peas and dwarf French beans, and then this last weekend the husband and son helped me sow another two triple rows of climbing French beans.  And that's just at the allotment!

Back in the garden, I've got two double rows each of mange tout and snap peas.  I also put down about 40 climbing French beans in the gaps of the snap peas (they went down several weeks ago, and I still had seeds left over from the allotment), as I didn't want to waste all those lovely twiggy supports I'd put up.  And I've got another 150ish dwarf French beans and about 20 runner beans presprouting in my garage.

I presprout all my peas and beans:  a handful of damp compost into a plastic bag, then tip in all the seeds, roll down the top and keep in a moderately sheltered place until they start to sprout, then sow in their permanent places.  I didn't get much success with sowing direct without presprouting, and I also don't have the time/space to grow them all to seedling stage in seed trays--they don't transplant well unless they are grown in long tubes, such as toilet paper tubes (or rolled up newspaper) so their roots are undisturbed.  There is no way I could do this with the 700+ seeds--I've done it in the past with 50 or so runner beans, but...

What am I going to do with all these peas and beans, assuming they all produce?  Most of them will be dried for winter use.  The broad beans will be for fresh eating, as will the snap and mange tout peas.  The dwarf French beans will be for fresh eating and also salting for winter use. 

We need to get back to the allotment next weekend and get some supports up for the climbing beans--everything else has its necessary supports, but I've kind of run out of sticks and canes...

Splitting wood

From here, Apr 2019

It's been 15 months since we had our mature sycamore tree cut down.  The arborists cut it into manageable sized pieces--even the branches, sticks and twigs.  All of these have been stacked in piles since, drying out.  Over the winter, we burned most of the twigs and smallest sticks as kindling but left the rest;  even the small-medium sticks were too green to burn still.  The largest sticks, branches and logs have been stacked together on the driveway next to the garage wall the whole time, until this week when the husband and I began splitting and restacking them inside the garage.

We don't have an axe or hatchet;  we're splitting with a mallet and improvised wedge--and we're going slow!  I admit, the husband has done most of it;  the mallet is too heavy for my wrist, so I can't really do much at once (I tried a hammer, but it's even less efficient).  We have a bit more than a full cord of wood to get through, but luckily it's only April.

We still have a pile of sticks and twigs (the last of the sycamore plus some new additions from other garden prunings this spring).  The medium sized sticks which are too small to split easily will go in that pile;  they should be dry enough to burn by winter.  I hope the split wood will also be dry enough to burn then too.

To here (I made the kindling basket), Apr 2019

A quick repair

Fixed it, Apr 2019

My old plastic watering can has been leaking for a while.  It's had a few small cracks;  the largest of which was letting out a small steady drip.  I managed to mend it using a candle:  actually, I first attempted to melt it back together, but the flame only burned the hole a little bigger...but I gently smoothed on some melted candle wax over the hole, and it now holds water again. 

It's not exactly a permanent fix, however.  The husband and son have been warned to handle with care, as the wax can just be scraped off--or even just knocked off.  Still, I'm happy with it, and glad I don't need to buy a new one just yet.

Broody or not?

Cookie as a young pullet (the black one next to the fence), Sep 2016

For two years running, our little Pekin bantam hen Cookie has gone broody in spring and again in midsummer.  Prior to broodiness, she'd laid about 30 eggs.  This year, her timing is off.  She began laying last November, took a break, then starting again in late December and has been going ever since.  She's not laying every day, but her tally is up to about 70 now.

I've seen her sitting on her secret nest (under the coop, where at least three other chickens lay eggs too), carefully tucking the other eggs under while she does her business.  But then she's up and off for the rest of the day.  Has she decided she's finished raising chicks?  Will we just get eggs off of her from now?  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Foiled by a frog

A nice view of the neighbor's sheds, Apr 2019

Curses!  While clearing away the remains of the old fence (in order to put up a new fence, now installed), a frog was discovered.  The pond makeover is now on hold until winter.  Again.  The husband persuaded me to wait until Easter break (now) when he, the son and I have time off work/school and could all participate and take our time over it.  But it is now not to be, as we don't want to disturb frogs and toads or their breeding cycle:  these lovely little amphibians are some of our best allies in the garden.  Plus, aren't they just too cute? 

Ah well.  Instead we took up the (unmortared) brick patio, weeded it, and put it back down in a slightly different configuration, just for fun.  And moved the cast iron table and two chairs to it, to better admire the new fence while we wait for winter.

(Edited to add photo)

Let the vegetable challenge begin, 2019

Overwinted kohlrabi and brick stepping stone, Mar 2019

It's started:  I'm officially not buying vegetables for the forseeable future;  the start date was 5 April, 2019.  Yes, it's early:  in fact we're right in the middle of the Hungry Gap.  What can I harvest now that enables me to make such a commitment?

• Chard
• Miners lettuce and arugula
• Spring onions and chives
• Sorrel
• Purple sprouting broccoli
• Leeks
• Spring cabbages

I've been sowing seeds like crazy for the next wave too:  peas and broad beans, lettuce, spring onions, turnips, radishes, carrots, beets and more.  Some of these might be ready in May (radishes hopefully, and maybe lettuce), while the rest will carry on in June and beyond, and the garlic should be ready then.  Most of the seeds have been sown at the allotment, and a long row of potatoes is planted.  I've also got a few trays of autumn/winter brassicas just sprouting up too;  there's lots of veg to come.

What's more, there's still a bit of preserved veg in the cupboard and freezer.  I discovered one last tub of frozen squash puree from the Christmas squash, and there's two jars of sauerkraut in the fridge along with a mostly full jar of zuccini relish and a newly opened salsa.  There's a couple dozen cloves of garlic left, plus half a jar of garlic salt.  When I did my last veg shop last week I got a bag of onions, a bag of potatoes, and some frozen peas and cauliflower.  But for now, we're going to focus on the garden (and eat a lot of chard).

The official end date for this year's challenge is 5 November, 2019:  seven months from now.  Perhaps this will be the year I keep going, and become 100% self reliant?  Maybe a bit ambitious!  But we'll see.

Keeping up with chard (again)

Garlic on the right, chard on the left, Mar 2019

I haven't deliberately planted chard for many years now;  I just let about a dozen plants go to seed every year and let it come up where it likes:  if it's in the way I pull it out--there's plenty more.  I started out with rainbow chard, with at least four different colored stems.  The majority now have white/light pink stems, though I still get the odd yellow, orange and red here and there.  I think I like yellow the best.

In a bid to keep up with the spring growth, we're having salads heavy on the fresh chard several times a week.  I send the son out with a colander and instructions to pick six to nine leaves--he's pretty good at picking a nice sized salad for us.  After rinsing and weighing the leaves, I roll them up into cigar shape and chop it into fine ribbons (chiffonade).  The strain I grow is mild and slightly crisp, making for a salad, including the stems.  Other ingredients include homemade red cabbage sauerkraut (from storebought red cabbage), storebough cucumber and black olives, homegrown spring onions and pickled beetroot (so sad we just finished the last jar) and our favorite creamy dressing: 

• 1 tsp herb vinegar (take a big handful of fresh herbs of choice, a bottle of vinegar of choice, blend well in the blender, store in the original bottle);  any regular unflavored vinegar is fine too, fresh minced herbs optional (but recommended)
• Pinch of garlic salt
• 1 Tb cream

Mix together and taste.  Too sour:  little bit more cream.  Too mild:  tiny bit more vinegar

Putting the dehydrator to use

My parents gave me a food dehydrator for my birthday, which I have been making good use of, despite receiving it in winter, the off season of gardening.  In December, I dried several batches of Golden Delicious apples from a neighbor's tree;  the son has now polished these off, but this coming autumn I plan on doing as many as possible starting from August--those really were end of season apples (it was December, after all). 

Also in December I took advantage of the Christmas week supermarket sales and bought several kilos of carrots on the cheap, most of which I dehydrated.  I recently tried some out, simply rehydrated and cooked, and they were perfectly good.

Since then I've been drying the odd batch of celery including leaves.  We've eaten more than half the crop, but by now the plants are starting to think about going to seed, so I've been picking more than I need and drying the extras.  I air dried some celery leaves last spring (on trays on top of my fridge) which were useful in the summer when there was no celery.  The dehyrated ones are much crispier and brighter green, though I haven't tried cooking with them yet.

Next on the agenda is the multitude of last year's chard now in regrowth.  I dried lots of chard last spring and used it over winter crumbled into stews, casseroles, curries, etc.  It's been good to have that little bit of garden veg when the ground was too frozen to pick anything else this winter. 

Food Totals March 2019

Don't eat these! Mar 2019

Vegetables:

26 oz salad greens (miners lettuce, baby chard, spring onion)
63 oz celery
6 oz mizuna
3 oz Brussels sprouts
40.5 oz cabbage
2 oz tomatoes !?!
5.5 oz curly kale
6 oz sprouting broccoli

Total: 152 oz, or 9 lb 8 oz

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.  Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.

Fruit:

No fruit harvested this month

Eggs:

Total: 115 eggs from 12 hens
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg)

Preserves:

3 medium jars dehydrated celery (stems and leaves)

Homebrew:

Elderberry/blackberry wine still fermenting
Cider still fermenting