Trimming and planting trees

The whole family worked to trim back the very overgrown hawthorn hedge last weekend, collecting a very big pile of sticks and branches for next year's wood pile.  We treat this hedge more as a coppice, and it's on a 5-7 year cutting rotation.  We cut a few last winter too and this winter took down the rest.  South facing, it has let in a lot of light!  But I liked tall green wall it gave us as well, so I don't mind the overgrowth either.  I expect a lot of new growth this spring.

The husband was in charge of the electric saw, I commandeered the loppers, and the son was on transport duty.  The daughter helped by digging holes quietly in the far part of the garden, away from all the sharp stuff.  

I mentioned to the husband that the laurels need it too, but not until later in the year;  they are part of the same hedge, both planted by a previous owner.  Although laurels can be cut back hard too--even to the ground--I don't coppice them in the same way as the hawthorns;  unlike the hawthorns, they grow in the shade of the mature horse chestnut tree and block out the view of at least three neighbors.  A welcome privacy feature, I treat them as an actual hedge and try to just trim them back every other year or two.

And on the subject of trees, the husband also planted out a pot grown quince that I started from seed several years ago;  our local greengrocer used to sell quinces, and over a few winters I scattered seeds in several planters on my patio, with fingers crossed.  Well, two are still alive:  one that was planted out last year (and we'd thought died in a hot/dry spell, but happily has new growth) and this one, a year younger.  The first is planted against the fence and the second is near the chicken yard, free standing.

February sowing and pruning

More than a hundred broad bean seeds later, I've almost run out of small pots.  Hopefully they sprout quickly so I can transplant, otherwise I will run out!  They are all stacked up in trays on my patio table now, waiting for a leaf or two to emerge.  I don't normal start these in pots, but I decided to try it this year, to improve on survival rates (I would estimate that my usual pre-sprouting and then sowing direct sometimes results in 25% or less survival:  pretty bad).

I sowed some warm season seeds in trays for my kitchen windowsill for later pricking out:  tomatoes, chilis, etc.   I used to sow these individually in modules but I don't bother now:  it takes up too many trays.  I sow at least two or even three different kinds of seed in a tray with a little stick as a divider, and label which side is which;  I will prick them out into modules or well spaced in trays and then pot on to small pots as they grow.  These take a lot of babying!  But I like growing and eating them.

In anticipation of an apple harvest this year--my little trees have produced biennially ever since I planted them and last year had no apples--I very lightly pruned them, taking care not to cut any branches with buds on them.  The Sparta tree had twenty or more water sprouts without any buds; the Laxton Fortune is less vigorous (and a partial tip bearer unlike Sparta) so I took only about three smaller branches off, all of which were growing too high/in the wrong direction.  Both trees grow against my fence and I prune/train them down to within my reach, about 2 m tall;  this is only necessary once a year to keep them in their allotted spaces.  Luckily the growth can be kept in check easily with a pair of hand loppers.

I also pruned my fig tree and its companion grape vine, trying to keep them both within their own spaces too.  I have to be careful not to let the vine overspread onto next door's conservatory--which it is planted next to--but onto its own arbor.  To that end, I keep it pruned down to one main stem growing up one of the arbor supports.  I have to pull off wayward shoots during the growing season too, about once a month.

The last winter pruning to do is the roses and currants (black, red and white).  I have some nicely rooted redcurrant cuttings from two years ago that need transplanting;  it's so easy to get currant cuttings rooted:  take some pruned wood, stick it in the ground, leave until next winter.  I save all the other woody prunings for my kindling pile.

Starting off the new season

At the weekend the whole family went up to the allotment for a bit of sheet mulching, the first visit there since the end of December.  Not much had changed, other than the garlic sprouts being marginally taller.  We had to track down a couple of composter lids which had blown away (one near, one a bit far) and get the roof back on the chicken house--luckily all chickens are safe at home though their roof here needed a quick fix recently too.  I brought home three leeks;  there are about three still growing, my total for this season.  

Also at the weekend I got down my boxes of seeds and went through all the packets, throwing out some very old seed and organizing the rest by which month I will sow it:  I have little dividers marked Jan-June.  I also threshed the few dried bean pods I'd saved in the summer for seed--when I have a lot of bean or pea pods I put them in a cloth bag and whack it with a stick like a pinata, but there were only a few dozen so I just broke them open by hand;  I'll look forward to sowing these in April.

I have several packets of seed to sow indoors this month: tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, chilis, eggplant; and broad beans outdoors.  In the past I usually pre-sprout the broad beans in a small plastic bag of damp compost in my garage;  once most of them have a little white root sprout, I sow them in the ground.  While pre-sprouting is more successful than just direct sowing them straight from the packet, it's still hit and miss--mice/birds/slugs/whatever seem to get a lot of them anyway.  I'm going to individually sow them in pots and toilet paper tubes this year using my waste wool method in the hopes I have better success.  It's more work to have to transplant 150-ish starts but if that means I get 150 plants, that's worth it.

We gave the chicken tractor a quick tune up (it needed a little bit of waterproofing material on the roof ridge), and after more chicken wrangling than seemed strictly necessary, it's up and running.  My veg patch at home needs some serious scratching and pecking, so half of the flock is hard at work while the other half (the newest rescues) are looking on longingly from their yard--it really only fits four chickens at most.  I still don't know which is preferable to a chicken:  the very small tractor which gets fresh ground every day, or the much larger yard which gets muddier every day (though we also raked in a pile of garden debris at the weekend so it's not quite as muddy now).  In one they have enough space to walk about five paces one way and three the other, but like I mentioned it has fresh plants/grass/weeds/bugs every day;  the other they can run laps and flap up to different levels if they like, but it's a mudbath this time of year.

Eating all that squash

If you recall, I really outdid myself with squash in 2023.  We are down to 12 from 21 in total, still hanging out in the living room:  the "small" ones are lined up on the windowsill and the remaining four Big Ones in the corner on their own cotton mat.  Many of the "small" ones are actually bigger than those I have grown in previous years--I would call them "big" if it weren't for the massive ones on the floor!

So how to get through (at an estimate) around 150 lbs of squash?  Well, first off it's luckily a very good keeper.  The son and I harvested these in mid-October and the majority of them have stayed perfectly sound with no special treatment.  A couple started to develop a soft spot, but were discovered quickly;  after cutting out the soft spot, the rest of the squash was still good to eat, which we did.  

The big squashes have been mainly simmered in the slow cooker, pureed and then frozen in muffin pans to make nice little portions.  We do this for quite a few things;  after freezing, the "muffins" go into a freezer bag.  I can take out the portion I need easily.  I particularly like to put a couple into a stew to thicken it up, and if paired with a tablespoon of vinegar, makes the stew look and taste as though it has tomatoes in the broth.  Not sure if it would work as a tomato substitute for something like pizza, but maybe I should try.

The puree is also a tasty side vegetable in its own right, particularly with some butter swirled in, and I have used it in place of mashed potato for the top of shepherd's pie too.  It's rather like sweet potato in taste, color and texture.  Of course it makes a great pumpkin pie too.

The smaller, easier to chop squashes--i.e. the ones that don't require a hatchet--are very nice cut into bite size pieces for stir fry, stew, curry, etc.  Big or small, I don't peel them as there is no difference in taste or texture with the skin and flesh.  However, I don't bother trying to cook/eat the seeds as they have a very woody outer casing;  I have some saved for this year's planting, but the chickens can have the rest.