No room! and a duck truce

So much to do at the end of April.  My sowing window is almost closed for summer plants.  But next up are autumn and winter plants, some of which are already going (leeks, cabbage and Brussels sprouts).   And as usual, I'm running out of space to plant everything out.  I want to grow it all!  But where do I put it?  

I had earmarked a bed at the allotment for my squash but now that push comes to shove, my cabbages are ready to plant whereas my squash aren't even sprouting yet.  I desperately need kimchi so I can't neglect my cabbages, right?  It's ok, I have a backup plan:  when I harvest my garlic I'll put the squash there, despite it growing in that same bed last year.  It won't mind, so long as I put another generous helping of well-composted horse manure on the bed first.  

I also wanted to grow my tomatoes directly in the ground but it looks like that's not going to happen either;  they'll have to grow in containers again.  About half of my containers are already full of overwintered onions however--I'm not certain when these will be ready for harvest, but I can tell it's not imminent.  Luckily I've acquired a large wooden shipping box and have filled it with some of that horse manure, ready for at least four plants.  I already had another one, just need to fill it.  They are more like raised beds really, not like the individual plastic planters I already have.

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I finally got those lethally prickly rose branches sent off in the gardening waste collection but even after two pick-ups, I haven't cleared all the bamboo roots!  That was a big plant.  There's still a mighty clump waiting for the next collection in two weeks' time.  I'm kind of wondering if I should have saved some more of it to grow as screening, for instance in the small front garden (recall I did save one small piece, replanted in a container sunk in the ground out back).  I guess it's not too late to break up that big chunk--I'm sure it'd still grow even three weeks after uprooting.  In containers, of course.

I think the Snowflake ducks are settling into the flock, a few weeks on from their forced integration with our two old ducks.  Initially I was letting them free range with Boy Duck and Girl Duck but locking them up in two separate yards overnight (Snowflakes in one, Boy and Girl in the other);  however Boy Duck--and as my sister once remarked, "that duck is a jerk"--had nightly been breaking out of his yard and into theirs.  So after a bit too much of that malarkey, we decided they might as well be locked up together.  And after a few weeks things have somewhat calmed down--at least we're not hearing panicked quacking at all hours. 

Picking up the pace

Quite a lot of gardening has happened over the past week, mainly in the Perennials section at home, but a bit of action at the allotment too;  it's the end of our spring break off work/school.  The son and I finished working on the bamboo at last and also drastically cut back the overgrown laurels at the very back of the property.  The laurels were planted by a previous owner, presumably as a hedge;  now they are part of my regular coppice rotation and I cut them back every five years or so for firewood.  

On a sunny, dry day I managed to dig out some of the excellent compost from the bottom of the chicken yard and spread it on part of my veg beds, both around my strawberry plants and onto a weedy bed destined for onion seedlings.  I have a tray of onions, rather small, which I will transplant in a few days after the compost has settled/been rained on.

In addition, I finally sowed a packet of parsnip seed in another bed I'd cleared earlier (with the help of my free ranging poultry).  There's a space below this bed which is earmarked for carrot seed:  very soon!  I also transplanted some lettuce seedlings in between the parsnip rows, and put a short row of dwarf beans at the back (I'd soaked them first);  then I covered the whole bed with insect mesh, mainly as a pigeon deterrent.  

Speaking of pigeons, it looks like they haven't stripped all my plum flower buds off this year--maybe we'll get some fruit at last?  We were wondering if the old pair of wood pigeons moved on/died--we have still seen a pair of them in the garden, just not eating buds off trees:  this might be a new pair who don't know the delicious taste of flowers yet.  Perhaps the Kordia cherry will have fruit too!  I'm keeping an eye on things, but there's not much I can do to prevent them if they decide to attack.

I'm starting seeds and pricking out seedlings regularly;  most of my seeds are started outdoors, broadcast into small pots on my patio table and then pricked out into trays--only roots like parsnips/carrots/beets get sown directly into their beds.  My tomato seedlings are spending nights indoors but having day trips to the patio for sunbathing--only a couple days have been too cold/windy for them;  hopefully in a week or two they'll be acclimatized enough to move out and I can start my next batch of indoor seeds:  cucumber, zuc, squash.  I don't have enough room on my sunny kitchen windowsill for everything at once.

At the allotment my snap peas and beets are just emerging under their sheet of insect mesh.  I prepared another row nearby and put down my kohlrabi seedlings, also under some mesh.  I took the mesh off the broad bean bed at last (mesh goes on most of my newly planted/sown beds to keep birds, mice and cats off) and put it over the kohlrabi instead.  As a brassica, it's in most need of the mesh to keep the cabbage white butterflies off when they start to lay eggs next month.

I'm still harvesting Musselbrugh leeks, but getting very near the end now.  Maybe a dozen left?  I'm also picking purple sprouting broccoli once a week, hopefully till May at least.  And rhubarb once a week too, though it's prolific enough for a much more generous harvest;  maybe I should make a batch of wine this year, something I haven't done for a while.  I rarely drink alcohol but it makes a unique gift.

Duck discord, and Perennials renovation

The son has been practicing his photography, April 2026

Our three new Snowflake ducks have been free ranging with Girl Duck and Boy Duck;  they are still very nervous and Boy Duck has been terrorizing them regularly.  Drakes are real jerks!  The Snowflakes haven't gone around the garden much as Boy Duck keeps chasing them into a corner and not letting them out (while eating their food and splashing their water).  The daughter keeps asking if she can whack him (the duck whacking stick is a light, whippy bamboo cane--it gets his attention but doesn't really hurt him) but I've told her no:  they have to sort it out themselves.  Hopefully it doesn't last for much longer, though I'm thinking of locking Boy and Girl in their yard for a few days again, to let the Snowflakes have a break (although Girl Duck hasn't been aggressive to them, it would be unfair to separate them as they are a bonded pair).

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In other garden news, the son and I have been gradually reducing our bamboo stand out in the back corner of the Perennials section.  We're using a shovel, a hand saw and a lot of brute force.  It's a clumping bamboo but has outgrown its space;  I'm actually going to get the whole plant out, discard most of it, and replant one piece into a large plastic planter.  This can be sunk back into the ground where we dug it up, and hopefully will keep it contained;  the plant has been there maybe 15 years, and I don't think I'll be able do this job again in another 15 years.

For several years the Perennials section was also the large duck yard, and as such it has been a bit neglected.  I've just cut down a large feral rose back there, right on the fence line.  The growth was spectacular;  it was at least 3 m tall, maybe more.  Normally I keep all my green waste on site for composting, or for kindling/firewood, but these trimmings are outrageously thorny:  dangerously so!  Instead I'm putting them in the garden waste bin to be collected next week (the bamboo roots will go in too).  

I have a vision for that back corner of the Perennials section.  I imagine it a little hideaway:  shady, screened in on all sides by greenery, with a little patio just big enough for one or two chairs.  A secret place, good for kids and grown ups too.  The greenery is there--it just needs a little taming.  

Autumn jobs: harvesting, clearing away (and still planting!)

 

After working at the allotment (that's me), September 2025

This past Saturday I cut down the tall artichoke growth at the allotment, in preparation for moving some of them to the back;  they have been taking up about a 2m x 5m bed near the front until now.  They made a very fine privacy screen!  But they can do the same job at the back of the allotment, shielding me from the view of the houses beyond.  I would rather have that front bed for annual vegetables and keep the (lower maintenance) perennials to the back;  also to the rear:  raspberries (trying to get them a little more orderly too) and newly planted asparagus.

The son came with me on Sunday and we planted the garlic in one of the squash beds;  I'd just picked all these squashes and cleared away the vines and weeds.  This bed had been sheet mulched just before the squashes went down in May (and we topped up the mulch after the garlic went down) but was still somewhat grassy and had new bindweed too.  I've not seen bindweed until maybe last year but the whole site suddenly has it, not just my own plot.  I don't know how it was introduced but we've all got it now.  I'll try to keep on top of it;  I've been pulling it out where I can.  I still have a few squashes growing in two other beds, ready to pick now too.

I'm regularly picking fennel bulbs from the allotment and the second small batch of kohlrabi.  Even the tiny beetroots that I left after picking the main crop are big and ready for harvest now (that surprised me!  I'm now glad I left them);  the self seeded achocha are coming in now too.  There are also a few tomatoes left to come:  I have the plum toms in the ground and a few more cherries in planters at the front.

At home I cleared away all four zucchinis plus weeds and replanted with the last lettuce batch of the year;  I put down some netting over it, mainly to deter my own chickens and ducks but also to keep pigeons off.  The Chinese cabbage and pak choi I planted in the next bed over look very happy under their own net, and they are right next to my strawberries, producing a second crop.  I still have some spring cabbages to put down somewhere; these are the final seedlings of 2025 (at last).  They look a bit spindly--I hope they grow a bit before winter.

I'm still picking the last few salad cucumbers at home, along with some lettuce;  there are still plenty of early leeks which I'm picking every other day or so as my onion substitute.  And we're still eating our apple a day!

From tarp to asparagus

How is this grass still here?  September 2025

We had a nice autumn day on Sunday--equinox I think?--and so the whole family went to the allotment to plant out the asparagus at last.  I grew them from seed in the spring and they have been waiting patiently in their pots until now.  

First we pulled out the cherry tomatoes from their planters at the top of the allotment:  all the remaining (mostly green) fruits came home with us to make fermented green salsa.  Then we moved the planters back down to the bottom of the allotment where they will stay until spring, possibly planted with overwintering onions (haven't decided yet).  

Then it was time to pull up the tarp and carpets where the planters had been, revealing a lot of worms and surprisingly a strip of green grass.  The daughter "rescued" all the worms while I dug out the grass;  the husband helped me prepare three rows and plant out while the son pulled out bramble vines at the back of us (not shown).  

I mulched with some wood chips (from a pile near the stables on site) and the son helped me pull the carpets back, to keep the weeds/grass from resprouting.  We moved the tarp onto the path at the side (again, not shown) and weighted it down with bricks.  The path is between us and our allotment neighbor and we generally keep it covered with pieces of carpet to keep the grass from growing--however, sometimes I need that carpet elsewhere.  I don't have enough pieces for both the path and the beds, and it's handy to cover really grassy beds with carpet over winter.  However, I'll be sheet mulching in places too, having collected some large boxes from my work in the summer.

There are still a few jobs to do as we wind down towards winter:  harvesting and clearing away the last of the in-ground tomatoes and squashes, planting out the garlic, and moving the artichokes to the very back of the allotment.  The asparagus are close to the back, but there is a disused space between them and the boundary fence, full of pieces of wood/pallets/wire/other allotment detritus.  It's mainly growing brambles and nettles, but I think it would be much better to grow artichokes. 

A family affair:  asparagus finally planted, September 2025

Rain, and therefore more work

Rain!  The wider back garden, seen from the son's window, July 2025

The evening after writing the previous post, I watched a youtube video (but I can't find the link) about the hosepipe ban from a vlogger with an allotment who lives in my region (with the same water company);  people in the comments suggested visiting the water company's website to confirm than hosepipes can in fact be used in this region for watering food crops.  On the website, the company goes on to ask that a watering can be used if possible but that people won't be fined for using a hose for this purpose.  

I'd already rolled up my hose at the allotment and have been watering by hand this past week--I'm able and willing to do it at this point.  However, we've had a change in the weather:  it's been raining--and typically, it happened the day our school summer break started!  The last rain we had, about two and a half weeks ago, did top up my barrels but didn't much penetrate into the soil.  I planted out some autumn/winter cauliflowers at the allotment last week--clearing away the turnips to make room--and the topmost cm (or less) was damp but under that was pretty darn dry.  Thankfully, after a prolonged heavy rain on Saturday, the soil is moist and soft, perfect for seed sowing:  which I already did at home, moving seven random strawberry plants (and clearing lots of weeds) from the herb bed, and resowing with daikon radish.

Now I can get on with my succession planting at the allotment, which I've put off because of the heat;  I've carried on succession planting at at home as I'm able to water by hand several times a day if needed.  I'm ready to clear away the last of the new potato bed (been digging and eating these gradually) and the snap pea bed (left to dry for seed).  Perhaps I'll also pull out the rest of the kohlrabi and resow/replant their bed too.  

At the allotment I'll sow at least one more bed of beet seed, and one of winter radish (the large cooking type, not the little salad ones).  I also have some asparagus grown from seed;  I need to decide on a long term location for these.  At first I dismissed the allotment because of the ongoing couch grass infestation--but then I reconsidered:  is that really such an issue with asparagus?  Can I make a raised bed for them, perhaps?  Or can I maybe just keep sheet mulching around them as needed to keep the grass at bay?

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In other gardening news, I'm so swamped with vegetables right now it's almost overwhelming.  I reminded the husband about the summer it all became too much, though this time thank goodness it's not for the same reason (I don't think I could handle doing that again!);  this time it's the sheer volume of work I've been doing.  

I watched another youtube video (below) about self sufficiency in the veg garden, and this man, Huw Richards, estimated it took about four hours of work per week.  I would say that's roughly what I've been doing in the active months--mid spring to say mid autumn--but I would have to add that's not all the work that's required.  It takes me a minimum of half an hour every day for preparing, cooking, preserving, etc, in addition to the actual work of growing the food in the first place.  Sometimes I'm at it for two hours in a day, if I've got a lot ready all at once, for instance when I did the big kimchi marathon two weeks ago--or when I picked, pitted and froze all the Morello cherries from my little tree.  I like growing, I like to cook;  but really, the sheer volume of it is getting away from me again.

 

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.

Half the apple harvest and bonus bamboo, 2024

Laxton Fortune apple tree, August 2024

It's a very short window for my Laxton Fortune apple tree, which I believe is considered a dual purpose fruit--both a cooker and an eater (aka culinary and dessert apple).  The son tried one about two weeks ago, still somewhat flavorless;  then last week we tried another with enough potential for me to pick a couple of baskets and make some apple preserves;  then a few days later we yet again tasted and I made the executive decision:  it's time! 

We were warned a branch might break (one small one did), August 2024

I picked half of them one day, then after a very windy morning, the son picked the rest.  If left on the tree, they will continue to ripen and become a little too sweet and somewhat mushy.  We got them at the perfect time:  not too sweet, nice and crisp with a tender skin. 

I didn't thin any apples this year, though there was some natural fruit drop in June;  to be honest, I was expecting the fruit to be smaller.  Some of it is a bit too small, but most of it is around "lunchbox size" or bigger.  I've made applesauce and one bottle of apple halves with the first round but the rest are still hanging out in my kitchen in cardboard boxes;  the daughter is faithfully plowing through several a day, and the son and I are doing our best too.  I don't actually know how long these apples will store;  since they are an early variety, I suspect not that long.  My other tree, Sparta, should be ready in September and those apples store at least a month (we generally eat them all by that time so I'm not sure how much longer they'd last either).

I haven't weighed or counted my apple harvest either!  I am good about vegetables, but my rule is to weigh them after preparation, i.e. trimming/peeling/etc.  This throws me off with fruit sometimes, so I don't often weigh it.  Maybe I need to set a different rule for fruit, to help me count it in my totals.

For beans at the allotment, August 2024

My bamboo in the perennials section (the duck yard) has really taken over its space so I got the son to cut it back by 75% this summer and many of the canes, while narrow, are still acceptable for garden stakes.  I've taken quite a few bundles up to the allotment for my beans and cucumbers, and have portioned them out a bit among the garden cucumbers too.  But I still have so many, some of them may end up as kindling.

Cool weather: bad and good

After a promising start to May, summer has rather fizzled out, turning cool and wet again.  It was cold and wet in spring, and my plants are still behind schedule because of this--the cold meant everything got a later start than usual. 

It doesn't look so good for my corn, squash and zuc;  and my tomatoes look a bit iffy as well, though these I've been growing and saving seed from these for years so I think they might still pull through for me (being somewhat adapted to a cooler summer).  My cucumbers are also doing their best and putting out some tiny flowers but the vines are still very short.  Last year (hot but not excessively dry) I got a bumper crop of all of these, greatly increasing my year's grand total of veg--it looks like it will not be repeated this year. (Note: at least half of 2023's squash were eaten in 2024, and will go on the record for this year's grand total.)

Conversely, my cool weather crops are loving it: including my lettuce, sugar snap peas, beets, kohlrabi and other brassicas.  The pea plants were so small and spindly when I first put them in--I didn't have much hopes for them actually--and now they are cranking out about two pounds of peas per week with no sign of stopping.  Maybe they'll keep it up all summer.  The beets and kohlrabi are bulbing up much more quickly than last year, and the lettuce just keeps on coming no matter how much I pick--we're eating a salad pretty much every day.

My perennials produce whatever the weather;  whether hot or not, the raspberries, currants, rhubarb, artichokes, figs and herbs are pretty reliable.  The other fruit trees are affected but obliquely, such as if the bees are out when they flower, or if the cherries get sufficient rain in spring before the fruit matures. 

I'm used to a washout summer though--it happens frequently on this soggy island.  I've learned to plant for both scenarios:  hot and dry or cool and wet.  This way I'll at least get something!  My preference?  I like both kinds of crops really, but when it comes me personally I'm not good with heat.  I'm more of a sugar snap pea than an ear of corn.

A tour of my allotment, 30 June, 2024

Let's have a look at my allotment.  Photos to follow!

At the very top of the allotment (not pictured) is a small bed of beets, some of which have been harvested already.  But it's also getting weedy/grassy again so the empty parts of the bed have had some cardboard laid down in anticipation of more sheet mulch.  I just keep on sheet mulching!  There is also a stack of semi-usable wood and other bits of allotment detritus at the very back against the perimeter fence, and to one side is the very grassy/weedy raspberry bed;  we've been picking plenty of rasps over the past week, mostly to freeze.

Then further on is the chicken yard (seen obliquely in a couple photos below), currently not occupied.  I was excited to see some self-sown squash in it but that disappeared about a week later--so disappointed.  I was going to plant it up but maybe I should just put the chickens back in instead.  There is a small bed on the side of the chicken yard, newly sheet mulched and planted with some purple sprouting broccoli.  Slugs love this, but they don't love the new sheet mulch, so I'm hoping it'll grow enough by the time the slugs work out where it is.  Also on the same side (at the very edge of my allotment) are a couple each of:  redcurrant, gooseberry, rhubarb (shown below: broccoli at the very top left in rings, leafy rhubarb top right).

Snap peas at the very front, small squash and corn in the bed, rhubarb and raspberries at the back right, June 2024

The bed pictured above is towards the middle/back of my allotment and has been newly sheet mulched.  The plastic rings are surrounding some of the corn seedlings to protect them from getting stepped on (as they are still pretty small) but also to keep them a little moist and warm as they grow on.  I really like putting one of these rings around all of my transplants if possible, to ease the transition from pot to ground.

Leeks and grass, with climbing beans to the back right, June 2024

This is the other side of the same bed, now fully planted with leeks.  The furthest rows of rings I only just planted out at the weekend;  the ones around the other three perimeter sides are there to prevent us accidentally stepping on them, as these are even smaller than the corn.  This bed has some grass growing through the sheet mulch but I can't deal with it as it will disturb my precious leeks.  I do know through experience that most of my plants will still grow reasonably well while swamped with grass, so long as they get a good foothold before the grass takes over.  There are also my climbing beans at the top right, some starting to grow up their supports.

Broad beans to the front, a climbing bean structure behind (and the chicken house and yard at the back), June 2024

Moving on.  Closer to the front of the allotment is this bed of broad beans which I've been picking every day for a week, but think they're about done now.  I'll sheet mulch over it as soon as I've got every bean.  Next to it (to the right), where it looks so grassy, is a smaller bed of snap peas which have also come into their own.  We've been eating these (and freezing most of the broad beans) and they are still flowering/producing well.  

At the very front of the photo is a bit of insect mesh covering a newly sheet mulched bed I sowed with beet seeds at the weekend.  The son helped me lay the mesh and bury all the edges in the hopes that no slugs and bugs will penetrate it.  I've found they don't care much for beets--even smaller seedlings--but will eat the shoots just as they emerge;  I hope my fortifications are sufficient to keep the beets alive long enough to pass this stage.

Lots of artichokes, all of them tall with small heads, June 2024

Again moving forward (the other side of the broad bean/snap peas bed are more squash, climbing beans and corn, not pictured) is my row of artichokes, stretching across the width of the allotment.  I think there are about 12 plants?  They are very tall:  the artichoke heads at the top are out of my reach entirely and I have to grab the lower stems and bend them over to cut them.  These are coming in at about ten heads every two or three days;  I expect this sort of production over the rest of the summer.  But it's not much to get excited about:  these ten heads give about 3 oz total of edible hearts--not a lot of produce for a whole lot of plant.  Luckily I like the flavor and I have a fairly quick method of extracting the hearts (don't bother washing, just dump in slow cooker and when soft: let cool and peel);  and it's free food after all, being a perennial with basically no maintenance other than harvest. 

Cherry toms and pickling cucs, June 2024

And last on my tour is the front of the allotment, sporting my collection of motley containers and shed.  There are more containers on the other side of the shed (slightly visible behind);  also beyond are my black plastic composters.  The other side of the bed itself has my in-ground plum tomatoes (one white tomato support is just barely showing at the top left corner).  Some of these containers lost their first planting of cucumber seedlings to slugs.  I will be replanting them with a later sowing:  the son emptied out the old compost (and mounded it around the toms, so as not to waste it), gave them a very thorough spray with the hose inside and out--and we moved them to a new spot just to be on the very safe side.  I hope to replant by the weekend.

At the allotment, July 2023

A tangle of new garlic, June 2023

The husband was in charge of digging up the garlic harvest at the allotment last month;  I spread it on a wicker panel on the patio to cure for a few weeks, then into a couple of large plastic trays in the garage to finish off (it kept getting rained on).  Last year I tied my garlic into bundles by their long stems and hung them from the garage rafters, but I might go back to my old way of storing them:  trimmed of their stems, in a kitchen cupboard.  The last of the hanging bulbs went moldy before we used them--if I look at them more often I can hopefully discover any problems earlier.

The daughter (aged 3) helped me pick all the broad beans, and even helped me shell them.  Although the bed was very weedy they were still productive;  most of the seeds sprouted into several stems, each bearing several pods.  Some pods were massive with up to 8 beans;  most were a more modest 4-6.  The son is helping me gradually sheet mulch over this bed.

A regular producer, we have been picking 6-8 artichokes most days.  Rather than picking a big batch all at once, I'm finding the small but steady approach more manageable.  They are kind of time consuming to process: I cook them whole for several hours in the slow cooker, then once cooled I'll peel the outer petals and choke to reveal the heart.  For such a huge plant--they're all about 2 m tall--the resulting harvest is pretty puny:  those 6-8 hearts typically weigh in at around 1.5 oz.  Not each mind you, but total.  Is it worth the space and effort?  For now, I suppose so;  they're a perennial and therefore free.

Another perennial producer is the raspberries;  last year they overwhelmed us.  This year they are fewer though bigger (pretty small last year).  Actually it feels like a good amount this year:  not too many, not too few.  I made a batch of wine with them last year which has turned out very sour;  however I also made a batch of too-sweet redcurrant wine.  Half and half in a glass with ice they are a perfect match.

The chickens and ducks (4 and 2 each) are also in residence, probably for the rest of the summer, though none is very happy with the arrangement.  However, we're getting 1-2 eggs a day, both chicken and duck.  I try to give them something green and fresh every day when I visit, which is all too easy to procure in our still weedy allotment;  I wish I could let them free range a bit, but we still have no fencing.  It's on the list.

Weaving a fence

Keeping the ducks in, May 2023

 The old roll of chicken wire which enclosed the duck yard was finally deemed beyond repair and chucked out;  I bought it many years ago and it had been disintegrating slowly but surely after the first few years.  Rather than spend money on another roll of wire, I spent time and effort instead and made myself a bit of free fencing.

I pruned my narrow-cane bamboo plant fairly hard this spring;  it's a clumping variety but still pretty fast growing and produces a lot of new canes every year.  I think it was about 10 cm tall when I first planted it, but now it's taller than me, and the clump was wider around than I can encircle with my arms--I pruned it back to about that width.

I then took the longest, thickest canes--between the thickness of a drinking straw and a pencil--and started weaving them in an open diamond shape weave fence.  To keep the structure secure I tied each place where two canes crossed each other.

To make the ties, I collected a bunch of too-small/holey black socks from my son, and cut them into little strips:  stretchy and durable.  I don't know how many I used, but each cane had around eight ties on it (but obviously each tie connects two canes).

To begin with, I worked the first meter or so of fence laid flat on the ground, as it need some length before it could support itself;  after this, I put it upright and wove the remainder in situ.  It took me several days of work, although I spread it over several weeks, mainly depending on the weather (this was in early spring).  I think it should last as long as the chicken wire did, and hey, it was free.

Last year's fennel regrowing, May 2023

A whole week of gardening

Wow, our family had a week off school and work and I spent almost every day gardening!  As luck would have it, it was dry and warm-ish:  good weather for being outside.  

I still have battle wounds from cutting down the brambles at the very back, despite the leather gloves;  as we have no loppers I used my hand sickle.  I bought the sickle from ebay, never having used one before;  after experimenting it seems to be a left-handed one.  It's still useable for this righty, after altering my technique.

The son and I managed most of the winter/spring pruning, both of edibles and ornamentals.  After cutting back the apples, I tied down a few branches to keep them 2-D against the fence--they aren't properly espaliered, but I don't let them grow out from or above the fence.  We saved all the long, straight trimmings for use as garden stakes.

The daughter helped me collect yet another basketful of almonds from around the tree.  I can't believe how many there were--about a hundred.  I hope they're still good from having spent the winter on the ground;  I'm keeping them in a separate tray from the main harvest, but they look fine.  We also tidied up the little patio under the almond tree and put a couple of chairs back out there;  it's a mostly private spot with a nice view of the Perennials section.

I got through all of the small trimmings for the woodpile;  the narrowest diameter (pencil thickness) I made into kindling bundles, tied with a yucca leaf (our large yucca constantly sheds leaves: fibrous and strong).  A bit time consuming to make, but hopefully worthwhile for next winter--they're a lot more convenient to use than a pile of twigs in a box (my usual kindling storage).  The husband also sawed the last large trunk pieces into stove lengths and the son and I split some of these.

The son and I also dragged out the chicken tractor and persuaded the chickens to start work.  Four went in willingly after corn was involved;  the fifth was conscripted forcefully.  But they all seem a lot happier to be on some fresh ground with greenery and maybe a few bugs, despite the smaller living quarters.  We have been moving them every day, starting with the empty veg beds.  

What a busy week--and that's only a sampling!  I sowed a few more seed trays, worked at the allotment, started some new duck yard fencing, and more.

Growing firewood

I'm not quite prepared to do the year end food totals until next week (though I haven't posted the monthly totals here, I've been logging them on paper).  I've had my blogging break, and my life is somewhat on track.  Sort of.  I'll see if I can get back into the swing of things here.

This weekend the whole family got together out back to start coppicing our various hedging trees for next year's firewood (kindling, actually).  I have been saving trimmings from the garden for several years now;  the hedges are hawthorn and laurel, but the wood includes some elder, rose and fruit tree prunings too--among others.  The hawthorn and laurel both take coppicing very well, producing a lot of growth after a big cut--these I try to leave several years between trims, though I stagger the harvest and try to coppice a couple every year.  It sort of depends on which is the tallest/bushiest.

We don't produce enough trimmings to run our wood stove on, but certainly enough for kindling and for barbecues in summer.  No trees are killed for the sake of our barbecue--coppicing is a renewable, free source of wood.

In the allotment, Feb 2022

This week the son, daughter and I have time off and already I've been to the allotment twice.  Just for quick visits:  it's been windy and rainy for a few weeks now, and not pleasant for working (especially with a toddler);  regardless, stuff has been done.

Yesterday we quickly dropped off kitchen scraps for the compost and transplanted a rooted year-old redcurrant cutting.  We have a sort of Perennials section at our allotment: a long strip at one edge that comprises the raspberry patch, a couple of rhubarbs and the newly moved gooseberry.  It now also contains my yellow (autumn-fruiting) raspberry bush too, transplanted today.  (Maybe I should move the artichokes there too.)

Today I sowed around 60 pre-sprouted broad beans in two rows and the son picked a good portion of Brussels sprouts for our dinner.  We've picked pretty much all of the big ones now, so are working through the smaller ones;  I think there are only one or two meals left to harvest.

I have a good sized sack of peas soaking too, some of which have begun to sprout so they will be sown hopefully before the week is over;  if not, I'll have time to go up with the daughter before work/childcare as my reduced hours start next week.  And I plan to empty and relocate the large planters from my patio;  I'll refill them with fresh compost and probably put in some more strawberry plants.  Along with this, I'll transplant a rooted fig cutting I took last year.

There's plenty to do, and if I want to have a productive harvest I'd better get things done.

Growing trees from seed

I've got five hazel seedlings altogether, June 2021

I wasn't sure if I would get any hazels left alive, as something was nipping off the tops as they emerged in their pots.  Probably a slug, despite the fact I had the tray of them on my patio table.  I also found one seed pulled out of its pot, root broken off--maybe a rodent, though it didn't actually eat the seed, so perhaps a bird tugged it out.  Despite all that, from a good double handful of nuts stratifying over winter, I now have five hazels with strong growth on them, and I have high hopes for their future.  I collected the nuts myself last fall, and they were all good tasty big ones, so maybe in a few more years I'll be collecting them off my own bushes.

One year old quince, June 2021

I also have three quince seedlings, all sown from shop bought quinces (I didn't even properly sow them, just scattered them on top of some patio planters in the middle of winter).  One is a full year old, and two are newly emerged, though all were sown the same year:  2019.  The year old one is big enough that I will transplant it into the garden this autumn, and I will try to keep the other two alive (a predecessor dried up in a too-small pot).  I'll also try to keep the hazels alive!

Incidently, I still have a little peach tree in a planter, barely hanging on.  It too was sown from the seed of a shop bought peach, but has been badly affected by leaf curl every year.  I don't think it'll last to be honest, although it is several years old.  It flowered last year for the first time, but has not yet fruited.  You can see its little trunk in the photo above, just behind the quince.

I did some gardening

Whoa, as big and exhausted as I am (pregnancy was a lot easier the first time, 10 years ago), I managed to get a few jobs done so far this month.  I also supervised the performance of a few others.  Here's what I did/oversaw:

• Harvested runner bean seed (finally)
• Tidied away all bean and pea supports in the garden
• Dug out a few legacy shrubs (planted by a previous owner and still on the margins of the veg patch)--supervised
• Potted up 4 rooted blackcurrant cuttings for gifts (fingers crossed these are still alive)--supervised
• Pruned fruit bushes and took 18 new redcurrant cuttings and lightly pruned the Kumoi pear
• Pruned one (of two) grape vines
• Spread contents of chicken house on one garden bed--supervised
• Cut back some overspreading bramble vines (unwanted) in the perennials section and did a general tidy up there
• Cut back all 2019's willow wands and tied them up to dry for basketry 

There are a few more jobs to do, such as pruning the two apples trees, fig tree and second grape vine.  It's almost time to start sprouting peas and broad beans, and for starting some onion seed indoors.  Better get on it.

Well into autumn

Now a full month after equinox, the clocks have changed--it feels like we've lost so much light.  Tonight sunset was before 5pm, and it's only going to get darker.

The garden is mostly asleep now, both edible and ornamental.  I've still got runner bean pods maturing on their vines and there are a few leeks, kale and chard, but I've let the ducks have the full run of the vegetable patch to tidy it (or flatten it at least).  There are still some cherry tomatoes on the patio still, though the plants are mostly brown and leafless. 

Our mature horse chestnut tree is losing leaves, and some of the fruit trees are starting to turn too.  The son has gone out with the loppers and cut down the old growth from the artichokes (plenty of new growth at the bottom though), and the husband dug up the (small) Jerusalem artichokes, though we haven't eaten any yet.  The grass is very very short now, and the chickens are only allowed about half an hour a day on it;  soon they may not be allowed on it at all.

And the chickens and ducks aren't laying much now.  Maybe one egg per week from the ducks and one per day from the chickens (though not the same color every day).  Surprisingly, the boy chicks are still being quiet--they're still growing, and I don't expect their sisters to start laying till at least January.  I expect egg production to stop any day now (and roosters to start crowing too).

A new strawberry bed

I've been faithfully collecting a few boxes a day from my work and sheet mulching the last uncultivated section of my allotment with them.  Unlike last winter, where I didn't have enough organic matter to put on top and had to leave the cardboard bare, weighted down by bricks and bits of pallet wood--I've got these all covered tidily with wood chips, scavenged from the communal waste.

I got hold of my neighbor who previously promised me some extra strawberry plants from her big bed, and we made a date for me to collect them.  In exchange I brought her some homemade oatmeal cookies--and a box of partly composted chicken bedding (manure and straw) to put on her strawberry bed after we pillaged it.

So the husband and I brought them to the allotment and transplanted around 30 in the sheet mulch.  The weeds underneath won't be dead yet, so we just put some of that chicken bedding mixed with sand and planted in that, and tucked the wood chips around to keep the moisture in.  They'll need watering regularly for a while I think.  And hopefully next year we'll have lots of plants and berries of our own.

(We've already been twice to the pick your own farm and brought home 15+ kilos of strawberries for freezing, drying, and gorging on fresh;  we might go back one more time too.)

Strawberry chips, July 2019

Two kinds of artichokes

New season artichokes, June 2019

My artichokes are massive this year--even bigger than last year, both height and width.  The divisions the husband replanted for me earlier this year are also growing strongly, though they'll need another year to catch up.  But the heads are still tiny.  I'm sure they variety I bought was supposed to be a regular globe artichoke, and I'm sure they're meant to be bigger than golf ball size.  Oh well.   

Newly growing Jerusalem artichokes (and lots of weeds) June 2019

I took home some Jerusalem artichokes from the communal waste at the allotment last autumn and replanted them at the back of the perennials section;  they're now growing tall and I look forward to trying them at the end of the season.  I understand this is a plant that's hard to get rid of, so I hope we like them;  I've eaten them before, but the husband and son haven't.