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)?

Whittling down the stored squashes, February 2025

I thought there were only two left, but I have photographic evidence:  there are three squashes on my windowsill;  I've been having trouble keeping track of this batch ever since I grew them in 2024!  Before we cooked the Big One, which was far too big for the windowsill, they were all on the living room floor on their own two mats;  one of the remaining squashes, at the left of the photo, does overhang the windowsill by a little bit--it's about half the size the Big One was (it's also the furthest left in the photo in the second linked post).

Three squashes left, February 2025

Something I noticed last year;  while these squashes started out green, and were fully ripe when picked, they have gradually been turning yellow/light orange while in storage.  The photo above doesn't really pick up the color, but the one below does, cooking in the slow cooker.

Cooking it up for puree, February 2025

The flavor and texture has been excellent again this year;  the Big One mostly got cooked into puree, as it was just too big for the fridge after cutting it open.  I had both my slow cookers running for a couple of days to get through it all, and the cut open squash stayed on my kitchen table until I got through it all.  When I make puree, most of it gets packed into my silicone muffin pans to freeze in small portion sizes (about 3/4 of a cup) and then these "muffins" get packed into freezer bags, really handy for taking out what I need.  

What do I make with frozen squash puree?  I like to put a couple into a stew or curry to thicken it (with a dash of vinegar it's very similar in taste/texture to a tomato-thickened stew);  I've found a low carb muffin recipe we like (link opens to another website);  as a vegetable side dish on its own (add extra butter);  or maybe a pumpkin pie or two.

And I definitely saved seed from my Big One;  I've been saving and growing from my own seed for many years now.  Some of my colleagues at work requested some, and I suggested we have a growing contest for the biggest squash between us--I hope they'll all get a huge one, and we can bring them in to work to show off!

Ducks and chickens, February 2025

Recently I read that Wales has imposed an enclosure order for domestic birds because of the spread of avian influenza.  We live within about an hour of the Welsh border as the crow flies, so I am expecting the same for our birds any time now.

Free range, February 2025

Because of this, I'm implementing as much free range for my own birds as I can;  the two ducks are getting it in the morning, including the veg patch.  I've covered over the most delicate plants with netting (including a newly planted row of strawberries) and they can help themselves to the rest;  while omnivorous, they tend more towards the carnivorous/insectivorous side--chickens tend towards herbivorous.  The ducks don't much bother about my plants (though they do dig/dabble a bit and can trample).  I want them in there for slug patrol right now, their favorite treat.

Envious, February 2025

In the afternoons when I get home from work I usher the ducks back into their own yard, shut the gate to the kitchen garden, and invite the chickens out for their turn on the lawn:  they get to free range until dark.  Chickens are not yet allowed into the kitchen garden and the fencing around it is low enough for them to jump/fly over;  I have to be home to supervise their free ranging.  Where the ducks might unintentionally flatten a few things, the chickens would scratch and peck everything down to nothing;  there are plenty of weeds I'd like them to annihilate (and hopefully they will later in the spring) but right now my cauliflowers, cabbages and pak choi are too precious.

The different preferences of chickens and ducks really complement each other in the veg patch:  one cleans up the pests and the other cleans up the weeds.  Both give excellent fertilizer too.  My chickens are laying a few eggs a week, and Girl Duck does keep sneaking off by herself, to Boy Duck's dismay;  but I haven't found any duck eggs yet this year (she doesn't lay in a dedicated nest).  

We are ready to cover our chicken yard completely if we get an enclosure order;  the ducks will have to join the chickens in there (not fun for anybody) but there is enough space in both the house and the yard for all eight birds.  I might even see about putting in a few perches into the yard to give the chickens a place to rest out of the way of Boy Duck:  he is pretty aggressive to them, though luckily he isn't very fast or sharp.

A little bit of pruning

After a very sunny and pleasant Sunday (for the beginning of February, that is) I had managed to get a couple jobs done in the kitchen garden at home;  normally I prefer to visit the allotment on the weekends--as I'm more likely to strong-arm the husband and son into coming with me--but there's been too much going on at home recently (we've had the whole house rewired and what a mess!). 

The fig tree after a little haircut, February 2025

It was so nice though that I left my housecleaning and went out for some gardening instead:  I lightly pruned the fig tree and tied down a couple longer branches next to the fence (pictured above).  I also made sure to pick off all the medium sized immature figs;  these won't go on to ripen properly in my climate but I leave the tiny ones to grow into new season figs.

Ruthless with the redcurrants, February 2025

I already pruned the blackcurrants, whitecurrant and the mature redcurrant in the perennials section earlier this winter;  I was pretty ruthless with the blackcurrants--for a couple years I've not been able to harvest them in time so I wanted to make it easier for me to get to them:  maybe this will motivate me!  I also have several younger redcurrants grown from cuttings which I really need to move to the allotment;  these I chopped down by half to make them easier to transport:  hopefully by next weekend, rain or shine.

Incidentally all the prunings go to a woodpile to dry for next winter's kindling;  I have a pretty big pile already.

Planning for 2025

Wintertime gardening--I'm still not quite in active gardening mode.  Just a little bit of harvest once a week or so (leeks, radishes and swede this week).  I'm really enjoying having some fresh veg regularly;  most winters it's all run out by now, bar a small leek or two.  I credit this foresight to actually writing down a garden plan last winter.  I guess it's time to write the next one, though as the first was fairly successful I don't anticipate making any major changes.

I originally divided my available space into six major sections at the allotment, plus another two in the kitchen garden at home (a much smaller space).  I decided which crops I would focus on for these sections, going for bulk rather than variety.  The allotment:  tomatoes, beets, squash/corn (interplanted), beans, leeks, pickling cucumbers.  Home:  zucchini/salad cucumber (interplanted), brassicas (mainly kohlrabi, with cabbage and pak choi).  

I also allowed for succession planting, starting certain seeds later in the year to follow on;  for instance lettuce, pak choi and spring cauliflowers to follow the two beds in the kitchen garden.  I also put later sowings of radishes, turnips, beets to follow on from broad beans and snap peas.  This way, I was able to pad out my harvest totals, and keep the beds in production rather than going back to weeds.

This year the slight deviation will be to grow some potatoes.  We are a low carb family so I don't grow potatoes very often--every few years is plenty.  However, I'm ready to buy a small bag of seed potatoes for this spring, probably to grow in my big containers at the allotment.  I'll also try sowing all my beets directly this year (the first bed in the spring were all transplants), hopefully to increase my yields even more.  Other than maybe a few fine tweakings, my plan is ready to go.

After the ice

It did finally melt, though the last vestiges of ice took another several days after my last post.  However, I made it to the allotment to pull some big leeks, small turnips and baby beets--these last two from the late sowing in July/August (I picked all the big beets and turnips in early autumn, all the little ones in late autumn, and couldn't believe there were any roots left!).  I still have quite a few leeks left, but only a couple turnips now (and probably a few more baby beets too).  I also have a couple radishes both black and white, and a couple of swedes (rutabagas) ready for harvest;  my garlic bed is up and growing, as is the purple sprouting broccoli, both for harvest later this spring and summer.  

I also have recommenced sheet mulching, having been stalled by the weather: a few cardboard boxes at a time,  a couple times a week.  So far it's just the sheets, as I haven't been able to face digging out any more mulch (straw/manure from the stables at the one end of the allotment site). 

At home my overwintering cauliflower plants seem to have survived the weight of snow/ice on them for a week, as did the komatsuna, tiny pak choi and white radishes.  The few Savoy cabbages I have left weren't pressed down under the snow like the others;  these are fine--ready for harvest really, despite being small.  The lettuce however, looks like it bit the dust. 

I bought one bag of potting compost just before the ice, to start a few seeds with--so far I have a pot of onion seed, just starting to emerge.  Soon I'll be moving on to tomatoes and broad beans:  either at the end of this month or the beginning of February.  I haven't even finished yet and already it's time to start!

Frozen

 

The view from my back door, Jan 2025

After our two week break from school/work, we got a snowfall;  I was hoping it would melt in an ensuing rain, but there was too much snow and not enough rain--it froze and stayed that way for more than a week.  No harvesting vegetables in those conditions.  I'd missed our allotment visits the week before too as the daughter had been sick--in fact she had such a high temperature on Christmas day we took her to the hospital.  Thankfully she's fully recovered now but it meant no trips out until she recovered.  Then it snowed.

Cranberry flavor, Jan 2025

At least she (and the rest of us) were well enough to enjoy the surprise snowfall.  We made snow ice cream (above)!  I would have liked to make it with homegrown ingredients, but as we had such short notice, we made do with half a liter of cranberry juice poured over a bowl of snow. 

Made by the daughter (age 4), Jan 2025

The kids also made a snowman each, we had a short snowball fight out on the street, made hot chocolate and cookies, played board games...it was a fun snowy day.  It was the first day back at school the next day, so we tried to make the most of it.  

And since then, complete frost, with the whole garden iced over.  I had wanted to pick leeks and turnips at the allotment, but I knew they wouldn't come out until it melted;  I'll try to get over there later today.  I've got some cardboard to sheet mulch with too, but again, no point sheet mulching on top of snow.  I'll have to see if the turnips survived;  hopefully my overwintering cauliflowers at home are also ok, buried in snow with temps down to -6C at night.  In fact, I was so worried about the ducks in that cold, I let them have full free range including the patio and left the garage door open for them just in case (they won't normally sleep in a shelter;  they're waterproof after all and prefer to be in the open).  They were ok, as were the chickens who mainly stayed in their coop.

Grand total of garden food, 2024

Vegetables: 318 lb, 10.5 oz (incomplete)

Fruit:  2 lb, 7 oz (incomplete)

Eggs: 1262

What a year!  I broke my record of 2023, which was 277 lb.  However, I must state that some of 2023's veg wasn't recorded until 2024:  of the more than 100 lb of squash (!!), around 82 lb of it was grown in 2023.  We ate fresh squash every month of the year except August (and then we ate it from frozen!);  we ate our last 2023 squash in July of 2024.

Other notable amounts:  26 lb of plum tomatoes and 20 lb of cherry tomatoes (unlike the previous year, almost every tomato ripened by the end of the season), 16 lb of beet roots (plus 12 lb more of the greens) and 15 lb of kohlrabi.  I marked the total as incomplete as there are indeed some more squashes from 2024 to be weighed and eaten in 2025 (though probably not a full 82 lb).

Fruit was actually better than the previous year (though still rather sparse), but like most years I didn't record it faithfully, so the totals are similar.  We had probably 20 lb at least of apples, plus a couple more lb of raspberries, but I only recorded a few ounces of the berries, few figs and one pear.  I don't have a good method for recording fruit like I do vegetables, probably because I don't prepare fruit like vegetables (I weigh veg before cooking, but fruit rarely gets cooked in our house, just eaten).  

Our newest adopted four hens, the Specklies, did us proud and really bulked up the egg production in the last year, more than double the previous.  Sadly we've lost two of them this winter;  as a high-production breed, they are also short-lived.  Hopefully we can adopt another four to join our flock later in spring, when it warms up a little. 

See previous grand totals:  2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016