Using bamboo prunings

I cut a lot of growth off my bamboo (clumping) this past week and used the thin canes as uprights in the chicken wire fence enclosing my vegetable patch.  The idea is to keep chickens from jumping it;  there are a couple who are capable of jumping on top of the wire then hopping down, but with thin canes every two inches, they can't perch on top and it's too high to jump completely over (that's the theory anyway).

I bought this bamboo several years ago as a tiny specimen in a 9 cm pot.  It's been growing slowly ever since, and is now about as tall as me (170 cm, give or take) and has been expanding outwards at about the same rate.  It's planted with a rose, a ceanothus, two gooseberries and two peonies;  it was really starting to overwhelm the gooseberries.  I probably took about a quarter of it away and the gooseberries are slightly easier to access--these are still just only knee height (but very productive for their size, and unexpectedly sweet).

I still have hopes that this bamboo will grow thick enough/tall enough canes for me to use as supports around the garden;  the very thickest ones now are suitable for lightweight plants--but not tall or strong enough for runner beans or other climbers yet.

New additions to the flock

First time outdoors, Feb 2019

This past week we adopted six more hens from a local hen rescue charity.  They pay for factory farm hens just past peak egg-laying, which are destined for slaughter:  these hens are 18 months old.  Many people are willing to take them on as pets instead, including us on occasion.  The last time we took in rescue hens was about three years ago, and we still have three of these very old ladies in the flock.

These six newbies are the sorriest looking bunch we've ever had.  Our first dozen or so adopted rescues were from the time of the battery cages, now since made illegal, but even those were not as bare as this lot.  To be fair, the ex-battery hens were in much poorer physical condition overall--they couldn't even walk when we first got them;  these ones seem bright enough, getting used to being outside and are already having fun scratching and dustbathing.

Because they are so very bare, particularly on their bottoms around their vents, I just feel they are too vulnerable to be integrated with our existing flock just yet.  As such, we've cordoned off a separate piece of the chicken yard just for them, and have moved the old rabbit hutch into it for them to shelter and sleep in.  The two flocks can see and hear each other just fine, but have no physical contact just yet.

I hope to try integration in another week or so, once everyone is much more used to the sight of each other;  I also want to make sure the newbies have learned to come when called (the old flock knows "chick chick chick" means "corn corn corn"), and where they're supposed to sleep at night--the husband has been helping them in every night this week.  When we integrate, we'll let them all free range together until we're sure they can get along.  I hope to start the whole flock on their regular garden rotation after this.

We lost our young black cockerel just before we got the newbies which, while a bit upsetting for us, should simplify integration, certainly.  We won't have to lock them in together in the chicken house (we have no real predators to speak of, but were locking them up so that any crowing would be muffled till around 8.30 am), and there will be no jumping on bare, unfeathered backs and accidently injuring them with spurs.

And we're still hoping our broody hen will go broody again with a few weeks in order to try for some more young hens--if she hatches a batch of chicks we'll have a mighty big flock this summer!

Starting in spring (a little)

A few more jobs around the garden, as it's been a warm-ish dry-ish week.  Today the husband took down four or five overgrown hawthorns at the back edge of the property;  they are meant to be a hedge (a legacy from a previous owner) but had obviously never been trimmed, as they were very emphatically trees.  Luckily they were close enough together to restrict their growth, and their entwining branches also meant there was less chance of them crashing down onto the neighbor's nearby shed during felling.  They all came down safely (the husband used a hand saw!) and we will gradually cut them up for future firewood, including the sticks and twigs. 

I took five gooseberry cuttings earlier this week, which completes my fruit cuttings for this year.  However, there are a couple errant raspberries which need digging up and moving.  I don't have a lot of them, so any increase in number is good;  they just have to be kept within their own area.

The husband also took two divisions off the artichokes, cutting away rooted shoots and replanting nearby.  If they grow, I'll have doubled my stock!  I love artichokes and I hope to harvest more than just a handful a year, particularly as these ones aren't big to begin with (the plants are though).

I've got snowdrops and daffodils out back, and the rhubarb is unfurling.  It feels like spring.

Currant cuttings

Blackcurrant, Feb 2019

I managed to prune and take cuttings from my currants:  six each from red and black, and one from white (the youngest/smallest).  I actually have four blackcurrant bushes altogether, and one each of red and white;  the redcurrant is pretty big and prolific enough for two though!  Still, if I get new plants from these--and I don't manage to give them away--I have wine making on the agenda:  it might be possible to have too many redcurrants, but too much redcurrant wine?  Surely not.

I took cuttings last year too, all of which failed in the hot dry summer;  up until then they all seemed to have rooted and were growing away.  I put this year's cuttings in a semi-shaded bed next to my patio, within easy watering reach.  Hopefully I can keep them alive if they weather doesn't cooperate.

Spring cabbages, growing on

View from the top (of the cold frame), Feb 2019

After some cold winds and sharp frosts, not to mention some errant chickens, the spring cabbages are looking pretty small and forlorn.  I planted them fairly close together out in the main garden, as the seed packet suggested ("cut every other one for greens and let the rest heart up").  Last winter they were in much the same state and I was very surprised they produced for me. 

I have six much healthier specimens in my cold frame, slightly more sheltered from the elements (and chickens).  They are still small too, but certainly bigger and I look forward to a earlier harvest of these.

There are a couple heads of regrowth too, from last year's harvest.  I'm surprised they're still around, let alone so big and luxurious.  I cut them last spring but left the long stem in situ (most of them were pulled up, but I cut the last few like this);  I wonder if I treat them the same way if they'll do it again for me?  It's a much easier way of getting cabbage than sowing seed.

In the allotment, February 2019

As I might have mentioned before, all chickens are now back at home, as the roof of their tractor blew off in high winds and has not yet been repaired.  They did some good work up there, for about four months, eating grass and weeds and fertilizing liberally.

I managed to finish covering the majority of the plot with some big sheets of cardboard scavenged from my work--they had a delivery of some new large smartboards and I nicked the boxes from the bin yard;  they were so big that even folded, I could only pack two at a time in my car.  The sections I covered in early autumn are now pretty much fully broken down and ready to be raked and planted.  The first thing to go up there, hopefully later this month, will be some broad beans.

Actually, I'm miffed that I can't find the seeds I bought myself for Christmas, including some new broad beans.  I've got one packet still, about 50 seeds, but I don't know what happened to the others.  Since they're not with the rest of my seeds, the husband speculated that maybe they were accidentally thrown out with the Christmas wrapping paper:  as I can't think where else they'd be, he may be right.

The cabbages I planted out last autumn are still present, though most of them are small and sad.  There's one good sized one, and about three other medium ones, but none are forming heads.  I did, however, discover a self-sown leek growing in the center of the plot, amongst the weeds.  I look forward to many more.

Freezing and thawing

We've had some mild winter weather interspersed with some cold days and nights.  We've just come out of a cold week, with a few days not reaching above freezing, and some snow and freezing fog.  The son was out every morning thawing the chickens' drinks with a hot kettle--he kept melting a patch of the pond ice too.  I was a little worried, as even their indoor drink froze over so thick I couldn't break it. 

Now that we're thawed for the next few days, I've confined the chickens back to their small yard next to their house.  The lawn can't take much more abuse--it's very short and muddy out there.  One chicken is resolutely breaking out every day (a small, lightweight hen), but the other six have been behind bars and loathing it.  Still, I need to let the lawn and rest of the garden rest, at least until it starts growing again.

I have one lonely daffodil with a bud on it.  The rest are still only emerging, along with a few hyacinths.  No sign of my own snowdrops--I only have a couple;  but I've seen some wild ones flowering while out and about.  My almond tree has white-tipped buds;  hopefully it'll wait a few more weeks before flowering, though.

There are a few time sensitive tasks I need to get going on:  I need to take cuttings from my currant and gooseberry bushes.  I haven't done it, as the ground's been too frozen, but soon they'll be breaking into bud and it'll be too late.  I don't technically need more of these fruit bushes, but they're good gifts and I do have space for a few more myself.

I also want to get my broad beans and early peas started.  February is a good month for this, provided it's not completely frozen.  I decided not to overwinter my broad beans as they seemed to produce at the same time as the spring sown ones anyway (and I always lose several overwintered ones too).  Time to get moving.

January 2019 Food Totals

Vegetables:

10.5 oz celery
1.5 oz salad greens
6 oz Brussels sprouts
4 oz tomatoes!

Total: 22 oz, or 1 lb 6 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: 43 eggs from 6 hens
Total feed bought: no feed bought this month

Preserves:

1 large jar fermented carrots (bought carrots, own dill seed and garlic)

Homebrew:

Elderberry/blackberry wine still fermenting

Cider still fermenting

Cider vinegar still fermenting