Long term projects

Two leeks, regrown from the previous season (sown 2016), Jan 2018

One day I'd like to live on a bigger property, and run it as mixed farm with livestock, orchard and crop gardens--and maybe more.  We're unlikely to be able to afford to buy land in this country, so to fulfill my dream we'd probably have to emigrate elsewhere--or hope we win the lottery (from our once a year ticket!).  We're tentatively planning it for the Long long term, but I accept that it might not come;  we have to weigh up all our needs as well as the available options--for one thing, the husband has a chronic health condition which needs regular monitoring, so a place with a national health service is a must.

But moving on to our (shorter term) long term projects, for the property we live on now.  We're scheduled to pay off our mortgage twelve years from now, although we hope to pay it off early.  There are some projects we want to do specifically to improve the house, but there are also some big garden projects including things which will help with our self reliance.  In no particular order:

Reshape the pond

We sort of threw our pond together over a weekend, and it's haphazardly finished.  Don't get me wrong, it's better than no pond at all and I like it, but I'd like to redig and level it so that the lining doesn't show, and the edges look pretty and professional--and so the filter is integrated and not quite so ugly!  The husband and I were talking about this recently, and I have a definite idea of how I'd like it to look. 

It's probably a job for next winter.

Erect a lean-to greenhouse or conservatory

I've looked online at kits for both of these, and although more expensive, I'm tending towards a conservatory simply because it'll be better for property value.  I want to put it against our house as an extra room leading off from our dining/kitchen.  I want it to grow lots of tomatoes and maybe citrus or other tender fruit.

Because of the prices, we'll have to save up for this one--at least a year or more.

Put up a permanent fence around the chicken yard

As mentioned in previous posts, our chickens luckily don't live permanently in their permanent yard!  They get to rotate through the rest of the property, but their yard is something they always have access to.  Right now, in winter, they're spending a lot of time there so as not to destroy the rest of the garden while it's dormant.  I've put up a slap-dash chicken wire arrangement and I'd like to replace this with a tall-ish picket fence to make it a bit more attractive.  It would still need two gates, and I would still continue my rotation system with them, using the chicken wire as usual. 

This is probably something we could manage to build this year.  In addition:

Put up an archway to the chicken yard

This may go up first, before a fence.  The current entryway to the chicken yard has a very beautiful, very thorny rosebush at the side.  I'd like to put up an arch over the gate, to contain both gate and rose.  I'd probably move a second rose or other climber to the other side.  It's a shady place due to the mature horse chestnut tree at the back, so not an optimal food growing place.

Extend the vegetable beds

In the back, we've had one of two mature trees felled.  If we ever get the horse chestnut done, or thinned into a v-shape (I'm not sure if I want it fully gone), I want to dig up the lawn and extend the veg beds.  We've yet to see how the loss of the first tree will affect light levels, but in any case, it wasn't really casting shade on that section of lawn. 

I don't have a time scale for this--we can't afford to pay for an arborist this year, so it'll be at least a year or maybe two.

Improve the front for future food production

I haven't written much about the tiny section of garden at the front of the house--mainly because I hardly ever touch it!  It usually gets a major weeding and pruning once a year, and the husband mows the little patch of grass during summer.  It's north facing and in shade most of the day;  in winter it's in constant shade.  It has a crabapple sapling, several ornamentals and plenty of weeds in addition to the little lawn.  This winter I've begun putting spare used chicken bedding on the main bed.  I'll carry on doing this throughout 2018;  the idea is to get the soil so soft and rich that the weeds' roots can't hold on any more and I can just pull them out for good.

This section will never produce a lot, and I won't bother with vegetables, but it can probably act as an extension of my perennials section with fruit bushes, rhubarb, etc.  I anticipate it needs at least a year or two of improvement, but I have a couple blackcurrants I can plant out now, in hopes for a better future.