Nestlings, seedlings, potatoes, a little bit of veg left

 

Blackbird nest by the kitchen window (they hatched last week), March 2025

Our own Cheeky blackbird and her mate seem to have gone to the happy hunting ground--not seen her or him at all this year;  but we have a new pair with new nestlings right up against our house under our grape arbor;  it's a bit of an exposed place actually, so I hope the cheepies are ok in there;  our garden itself is great for birds--lots of safe perching places, lots of bugs and worms; and while we do have neighborhood cats, they don't visit our garden very often as it's hard to get in and out now (they used to slip through our gate until we put up a piece of wire).

In other news: some of my snap peas--sown last month in small pots--are finally sprouting up!  Actually it didn't take that long, especially compared to last year;  it's been a much warmer spring this time around.  I'm still out of pots and am down to one tray, but it doesn't matter as I can't use it anyway--I don't have anywhere to put it!  Every flat, elevated space is taken on my patio and I don't want to put them on the ground in case of rampaging chickens/ducks/five year olds.  When the snap peas get transplanted out, their pots will immediately go to French beans, squash and sweetcorn.  I need them to get growing!

But the weather has been cooperating so far, like I said.  It's been unseasonably sunny, dry and warmish, though still getting close to freezing at night so not quite ready to put anything tender out;  my tomato seedlings get day trips out, but come back in for night.  However, it does mean the soil is warm enough for direct sowing.  At the allotment the (pre-sprouted) direct sown broad beans are growing well and now released from their mesh cover;  and I've direct sown one bed each of parsnips and turnips, each with a mesh cover to protect from slugs/bugs/birds/etc.  If the parsnips come up (didn't get any last year) I'll take the cover off when they are a few inches tall but the turnips will probably have to stay covered until harvest.

Also trying no-dig potatoes this spring, after not growing any for a couple years now.  I bought a 2.5 kg bag of Charlotte seed potatoes, cleared a space on a thickly sheet mulched bed, and placed chitted potatoes onto the wet cardboard, well spaced.  Then I covered them with composted manure and piled the whole bed high with uncomposted stable bedding (mainly straw with a little bit of manure).  Haven't seen any sign of growth yet but it's still early;  when I see any green poking out I'll keep topping it up with more stable bedding.

I'm now picking purple sprouting broccoli at the allotment, as well as rhubarb once or twice a week.  At home there are a few self-sown salad greens to be had:  mizuna, lambs lettuce, chicory, chard.  Fresh veg is a bit slim right now, but we still have a little preserved veg from last year:  one last squash (I cooked the second to last one the previous week), a few pickled beets, pickled gherkins, a big jar of kimchi (partly homegrown), a bag of frozen tomatoes;  I also have a couple jars of dehydrated veg from 2023 too.  My little lettuces and spring onions are up and growing so I hope to be eating those next month, when the rest of the veg runs out.

Ran out of pots...

 

Clearing the weeds (again) Mar 2025

Well, I've run out of pots again, like last year.  Even with the addition of about 50 new ones (actually we've been washing out and saving the small tubs we buy cream in), I have seeds to sow and seedlings to prick out and no pots to put them in!  Most of them are holding my 300+ snap peas (two peas to a pot), all stacked up in trays on my patio tables, shown slightly at the top left corner.  I soaked them first and some started to sprout little roots before I could get them into their pots.  It looks like some are just starting to come up now--hopefully as soon as possible because I need those pots!

Why didn't I sow direct?  Peas and beans in particular are really susceptible to pest damage at my allotment and garden;  often I lose most if not all direct sown peas:  maybe to mice, maybe slugs, birds, who knows.  I actually sowed my broad beans direct this year (soaked first), but covered the bed fully in insect mesh after sowing.  I tried to bury the edges of the mesh so no mice or birds could get in, but it looks like a few did get dug up anyway;  regardless, it looks like most of them survived which I am thrilled about (last year I sowed them in pots and still lost a significant amount).

My patio table is also full of larger pots which are sprouting up lots of broadcast seeds, ready to prick out as soon as possible.  I've got cabbage, lettuce, purple sprouting broccoli (actually just started harvesting the ones I grew last year), Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and more.  How did I mistime so badly?!  Well, I'll make it work somehow;  I can prick out some directly into the few trays I have left;  I think I can get some into the ground too.  The rest can wait until the peas can transplant.  I hope.

Flowers in spring 2025

First daffodil of the garden, Feb 2025

It's not just veg and fruit in the garden at home, it's flowers too.  Spring is the most prolific time for flowers in my garden;  as of this post, I've got a pink almond tree, an orange berberis (just starting), the yellow native gorse, lots of daffodils, several hyacinths of different shades--these and the daffs we planted last year as my birthday present.  Also a couple of very early dandelions--thought the chickens ate all those (I actually don't mind having them as the chickens love them so much)!

The bees love our native gorse, February 2025

We had a couple of long hard frosts over winter so I'm not too hopeful about my dahlias returning;  I'll see if I can replace them this spring.  I know it's possible to dig up the tubers and store them over winter but this seems like a lot of work...though obviously cheaper(!) so I should really do it if I get any more.  It looks like the frost killed off my chives and thyme too, which I am both surprised and sad about;  luckily I was given a packet of chive seeds by a friend (and now have some growing) but no luck for the thyme.

Finished now, February 2025

I gave my two small blueberry bushes a prune in the hopes of stimulating growth:  last year we got about a dozen berries which I'm sure you'll agree is rather insufficient.  I took about ten of the small sticks and stuck them back into the pots as cuttings.  I don't have any rooting hormone, just hope.

It looks like all my fruit trees and bushes are budding up and the plum tree is also just about to pop.  Last year we got almost no plums to speak of;  despite it being a good sized tree we've never had many plums off it.  I suspect it was too cold for pollination last year though that's not usually the case.  The only two trees I'm not sure about are the two apple trees--they seem to have fallen into a biennial pattern of fruiting.  Last year was an apple year, and as Sparta only had a modest harvest (unlike Laxton Fortune) maybe it'll fruit again this year?  I can only hope;  they flower later than the rest so I can't tell just yet.

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)?