Making the pond pretty

At least the water's nice and clear, Mar 2018 (last year)

I'm ready for a pond redesign!  We built this one a bit haphazardly, with the main intention of attracting wildlife, and keeping a few goldfish.  It's definitely fulfilled this function (though the goldfish keep disappearing--not sure we still have any).  It's just not that pretty.  But as I've always said, I'd rather have an ugly pond than no pond at all.  And now that I have an ugly pond, I'd rather have a pretty pond;  it's time for an upgrade.

The new pond will switch places with the patio next to it, so we will fill in the old pond as we go.  The filters will be integrated, and the edging will be a bit more formal and uniform, hiding the liner underneath.  We'll save as much of the old pond water as we can, pumping it into a container for temporary storage along with any fish still alive (there were only three last summer and I haven't seen any recently).  It needs to be done quickly, as the frogs and toads will be waking up soon and we don't want to disrupt the breeding season.  Time to get digging.

*A note on pretty:  I try to show pictures of my garden as it really is, not the "pretty" version, which I know goes against all the rules of the internet, and especially blogging!  However, I think always posting "pretty" sets an impossible standard which no one in real life can achieve--it implies that the garden is perfect, and by extension the life is perfect.  I'm not perfect, nor am I aiming for perfection.  I call it Not Pretty.  It doesn't mean Ugly, but rather Real.

Too much to do!

It's the big push now, clearing beds and sowing seeds.  My kitchen windowsill is full, as is my patio table and cold frame.  The snap peas and mange tout peas are just sprouting up in the garden (growing where I've just cleared away the remains of the Brussels sprouts).  I bought four asparagus crowns and a dozen shallot bulbs, along with two more bare root fruit trees--a Stella cherry and a Conference pear--all on the cheap from the discount (grocery) shops, so here's hoping they grow. 

We're gradually working our way down the allotment, with about a quarter of it sown now with various seeds, some of which are growing well;  the discount shallots have gone down, and a sack of sprouting potatoes (given by a neighbor) need putting in straight away.  The husband and son disassembled the house section of the chicken tractor and reassembled it back at home:  it wouldn't fit in the car otherwise, and we didn't fancy carrying it (heavy).  I drastically reduced the size of their permanent yard in order to harvest a sizeable chunk of chicken wire for their tractor;  I'm just starting to put them on their regular garden rotation, and having a moveable shelter for it means they can spend the whole day working, even when it's rainy (we bought another, prettier tractor too, but more on this later).

And I'm about ready to stop buying vegetables again, at least for a few weeks:  we have way too much chard, salad greens (mainly miners and lambs lettuces) and cabbage/kale all trying to bolt.  Maybe not so exciting, but tasty enough and they'll make the first peas and broad beans that much more special if we've been surviving on just leafy greens for a month or two.  At least there are a few spring onions and plenty of chives now to make them a little more interesting.

Homegrown basketry

100% garden produce, Mar 2019

Another basket, produced from garden materials.  I currently have made four very lopsided willow baskets, one shallow and flimsy yucca basket, and one (slightly less lopsided) willow and yucca basket.  Of all of them, I like this newest addition the best, though only time will tell how it will perform.  I'm only a novice basket-maker still.

As the yucca is a lot softer than the willow used in the other baskets, this one is not intended for robust usage.  However, I tried to get the weave as tight as possible, and I'm happy with its performance as an egg basket so far, despite the fact that it cannot sit up straight.  Still, I like this style;  I think it was easier to make and the materials were definitely easier to collect:  I only get one harvest of willow per year, but the yucca is constantly shedding leaves.  I would defintely like to improve my technique with this style, and make more.

Collecting rainwater

I wrote about my strategies for conserving water last year (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4).  The first strategy, probably the easiest, was the only one I wasn't actually doing--until now:  it's time to introduce my new water butts!

I asked for a water butt for my birthday this winter, and that's exactly what I got.  It's been hanging out on the patio for a little while until last week when the husband finally got himself a new drill--the old one died several months ago and quite a few jobs have been on the back burner waiting for a replacement.  However, the water butt is not longer taking up space in the middle of the patio--he took an hour to fit the diverter into the downspout leading from our roof, and the butt has been gradually filling up since.  We've even used some rainwater to refill chicken drinking containers.

And I now have a second butt, bought at the local discount grocery store.  I saw it advertised in their weekly flyer and we went early on the first day and snapped (the only) one up;  I was anticipating them going on sale, as I remember seeing them last spring and umming and ahhing then (after kicking myself, I made a promise to get one if they ever stocked them again).  And if they have another one next time we go shopping, I'll get that one too.  I could probably get about six or more all in a row, feeding one another from that downspout.  I would even like to have a couple collecting from the garage and one from the chicken house (need to put up gutters on both first)!  And even if we have a sodden summer this year instead of a drought I know I still won't regret having them.

Growing feathers

Growing new feathers, Mar 2019

Those six new rescue hens are all now fairly well integrated with our existing flock, now up to twelve.  A couple of them are very curious and friendly, while the others are still pretty timid.  However, all are growing a least a couple new feathers (not a moment too soon for such bare birds).  One's got new ones all down her neck and back;  one's even growing a new tail.  No names, at least not yet.  We've not really named our new chickens for the last couple of years, as we planned on eating them eventually;  we did eat some of them (all cockerels).  Last year's remaining cheep--hatched about seven months ago--is still called Cheep (and all grown up, laying nice white eggs now and no longer saying "cheep");  we may eat her in due course, however we have not eaten any old hens yet--so we might not.

Though the whole flock has been together for more than a week now (and within sight of each other for another two weeks), I'm not fully ready to confine them to the small enclosed regular paddocks just yet;  there are still some minor squabbles every day, and vulnerable chickens still have room to run away while they're in their big (though muddy) yard during the morning, or throughout the rest of the back property in the afternoons while free ranging.  The paddocks are too small for anything but a fully cohesive flock, where everyone knows their place in the pecking order:  we're not quite there yet.  The newbies also haven't graduated to the chicken house either:  still sleeping in the old rabbit hutch but I anticipate they'll all migrate to the big coop over the next week or so.

We're not quite at full spring lawn/plant growth either;  I took the old flock off the lawn for about six weeks altogether this winter after they scalped the grass, and even with only light access to it now, it's not recovering quickly enough;  they may all have to stay in their yard fully again, at least for several days at a time.

In the allotment, March 2019

I still don't have a photo of my allotment!  Picture an open, flat but very slightly sloping plot, the center third of which is covered in large sheets of cardboard, weighted down by bricks and odd bits of pallet wood.  There's a roof-less A-frame chicken house approximately 1 m tall in one grassy corner at the bottom, a very weedy patch of moth-eaten looking cabbages in the next corner, an uncovered compost pile near some odds and ends such as a short roll of chicken wire and a few panes of glass (from a non-existent greenhouse) at the top, and a few newly cultivated patches just below it.

These cultivated patches were the section I first covered in cardboard last year, and are the only place where it has managed to break down fully (it was also covered in weed and plant trimmings, which no doubt helped keep them moist and compost down quicker).  Despite this, the weeds and grass underneath were not quite all dead yet, so digging and raking was done, by me, the husband and the son.  We sowed a triple row of broad beans, two triple rows of regular peas, and a single row of yellow mange tout peas (both peas I saved myself from last year's harvest, but there wasn't much mange tout) and put in pea sticks for them to grow up (the broad beans are only dwarf and won't need supports).  I also put down a few short rows of early veg seeds like spring onion, miners lettuce, carrots, beetroot, mizuna, and arugula. 

Then last weekend, the husband took two smaller pallets we'd scavenged and turned them into basic cold frames and we built and sowed a hot bed under one of them:  we dug a hole the width and length of the frame, about 30 cm deep, packed it with two wheelbarrows of horse manure and straw, then loaded the soil back on top.  The frame fits over it with two of the above-mentioned panes of glass resting on top.  The idea is the manure heats up the soil as it composts, and the glass keeps the heat in, encouraging plants to grow quickly, particularly this time of year when the soil is still fairly cold.  I sowed turnips, beets and lettuce in it.

Despite the digging and raking, I think we'll be fighting the grass all this year.  Hopefully we can get it under control, and with one more winter of sheet mulch, eradicate it.

Eating in February

A few leeks with celery behind, Mar 2019

My food totals for February were pretty slim this year!  It's not a busy time for gardening certainly, though we have still been eating our own food albeit from our stores of preserves.  There's still dried chard and dried herbs--we just finished the homemade, homegrown (basil and garlic anyway) frozen pesto, we've cracked open the salsa which tastes more like chutney;  I've been drinking the cider (the husband says it's too sour--what does he know!), and the son has been going through the jars of applesauce and dried apple chips.  And our fresh salads have been enlivened by the pickled beetroot, used sparingly (to make it last, of course).

Egg production did pick up for February, and we've doubled the flock with six new rescues--they are not laying an egg a day unfortunately, but we're getting two or three from them.  I have a feeling they may be older than the usual rescue age of 18 months, as these birds lay huge eggs.  They get a pass, however, as they need to build up their strength and regrow those feathers too.

As for fresh food, it's mainly celery and salad greens now, though the chard is putting out some last minute growth in preparation for flowering.  Rest assured I'll be harvesting it all, and will again dry what we don't eat fresh.  The purple sprouting broccoli and spring cabbages are getting there, but probably need another month;  there are two big heads of cabbage regrowth however which might be ready in a few weeks.  The leeks are still small, as is the kale, and there are maybe two more meals from the Brussels sprouts (including the tops).  I think I need to focus more on my brassicas for next winter;  now that I've got the allotment I'll have more room for them.

Food Totals February 2019

Only a few more sprouts left, Feb 2019

Vegetables:

2 oz Brussels sprouts
3.5 oz celery
2 oz mizuna
2.5 oz salad greens (miners lettuce, arugula, baby chard)

Total: 10 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: 102 eggs from 12 hens
Total feed bought: 1 bag layers pellets (20 kg)

Preserves:

750 mL thyme vinegar (bought vinegar, own thyme)

Homebrew:

Elderberry/blackberry wine still fermenting
Cider still fermenting
4 L cider vinegar bottled up

Buds and blossoms

The neighbor's house and shed, our garage, Mar 2019

Just a few days ago, the almond tree decided to burst into bloom.  I've been out in the afternoons with my pollinating tool--a feather tied to the end of a long stick--just in case the bees are still asleep.  We've had some sunny spells, so hopefully they've been doing their bit too, as the tree is getting too big for full hand-pollination.  I tied down some of the branches last year, and have recently tied another lot down:  trying to keep them within my reach.  They are all within reach of my pollinating tool, but there's so many blossoms!

The plum tree is showing white buds now, as is the tiny Kumoi pear.  I can see them swelling on the two cherry trees and on the two peach/nectarine trees too.  The younger (I really hope this one is actually a) peach is forming them for the first time this year;  this will be the nectarine's second year--maybe it'll perform better this time.

On the other side of the garage, Mar 2019

In non-edibles, the daffodils haven't reached full glory yet, but the gorse certainly has.  I like to have flowers in my garden to tempt the pollinators, even when food pollination isn't needed;  I like to think they'll stick around if there's always something for them.  And I have seen a honeybee or two this past week, during sunny spells.  I try to tell them about the almond tree!