Update, March 2023

The weather has been up and down over the past few weeks, with a few really nice days, and some cold wet weather, including snow.  On the whole, mostly not great weather for gardening, though I've managed a few snatches here and there.  

I'm slowly building a woven bamboo fence for the duck yard, replacing their disintegrating chicken wire.  I'm using narrow diameter canes I pruned from the bamboo bush earlier this spring, woven and tied together.  I collected a bunch of holey black socks from the son and cut them into small, stretchy strips to use as ties.  It's only a light fence and though decorative probably would not keep chickens in;  ducks are easier to contain as they don't really jump.  I've got the middle section of the fence in place, but it needs to extend a bit further on each side to keep ducks in.  (The three ducks are still in the much smaller chicken yard, under the avian flu housing order.)

The chickens have tractored most of the veg beds at home, and are now onto mowing the lawn in their tractor.  It's nice to see the beds all tidy and ready to sow, and it only entailed moving the tractor a few feet every day--what hard working birds.

I put down a few more rows of carrot seed in the kitchen garden, and the son helped me put down another batch of snap peas at the allotment.  The first batches of peas and broad beans are sprouting up, at last.  I've left the insect mesh on top of them until they're a couple inches up--next week hopefully.  If we get some warmer weather, they might come up a little faster.

I've begun harvesting my small patch of purple sprouting broccoli, have collected a couple of eggs (the first of the year), and am still picking curly kale and the odd leek.  The spring cabbages probably won't be ready until May or June, but they are finally starting to grow after overwintering in the kitchen garden.  Fruit trees and shrubs are starting to put out buds and the plum tree is actually blooming.  

Hopefully the weather will start cooperating;  I have lots more to do this spring.

Starting seeds

 A nice bit of weather at the weekend and I managed to get some seeds sown, both directly in the garden, and in trays.  Most of my seed trays are started outside, as I don't have the room or inclination to decorate my kitchen with them;  there are, however, a few warm weather plants currently gracing my windowsill:  tomato and celeriac seedlings, for instance.

This weekend I raked over a bed the chickens had already tractored for me (scratched, weeded, and manured for two days), and sowed two rows of carrots and three of parsnips.  The carrot seed was last year's, so I may need to resow (it doesn't keep well after opening, apparently), so I sowed it all fairly densely, in the hopes some will germinated.  Not a huge deal if they don't, as I have a couple of unopened packets ready to go.  I also marked the rows with a string between two sticks, to make for accurate hoeing, and then finally put down some insect mesh, in the hopes the birds and bugs don't demolish them as they come up.  I'll take it off once they are well established.

I also sowed a tray each of lettuce, kohl rabi, beets, and red cabbage;  the husband dug me out a big sackful of nicely aged compost about a month ago, and I sieved some of this and mixed with a bit of sand to fill my seed trays.  It's lovely stuff, and I have another three composters full of it at the allotment.  He's suggested making a few grow bags with it, for tomatoes/cucumbers/etc.  If I have enough to spare, I think it would be perfect for that.

April will be my big push for most seeds, but I will continue to do some early batches in March, including some more direct seeding of roots in the kitchen garden at home. 

I can't believe it snowed

The son got his birthday wish one day late this year:  he had a snow day off school;  he and the daughter stayed home and had a fun morning playing in the snow, although the daughter had to come in twice to change into dry clothes and warm up her hands.  Myself, I only visited briefly to take a few photos as I've been unwell this last week (feeling better now).

Berberis starting to flower, March 2023

Although I had prior warning, it seems some of the plants were caught unawares, including the almond tree.  I don't think it took much damage, not being in full bloom, though it looks pretty flowery in the photo!

Almond starting to flower, March 2023

The combination of very cold weather (we had a week of frosts leading up to the snow) and my illness meant that a batch of broad beans got sown almost a week later than I planned--this time I pre-sprouted them in a jar in my kitchen (instead of in the garage in a bag of damp compost) so I just kept rinsing them twice a day, trying to keep them growing and not going moldy.  Thankfully at the weekend--snow all melted--the son helped me get them in at the allotment.

Daughter and son making a snowman

I've also not yet started my March seeds;  I particularly want to start the beets, but there are quite a few seeds to go.  Hopefully I'll get time to start some trays this week, or weekend at the latest.

State of the flock, March 2023

We currently have five hens, ranging in age from about 3 to 6 years old.  That's pretty ancient, for chickens.  Even to make it to 3 is quite a feat!  They really aren't laying eggs, mainly due to age I think, but also partly because they've been locked indoors for so long (since November, because of the avian flu outbreak).  

We also have two ducks and a drake, all around 4-5 years old.  I don't actually know how long ducks usually last, but I'm guessing these are getting up there too.  No eggs from this lot either.

As we are under the housing order, all the birds are back at home where it is a little more roomy than at the allotment.  Plus I can comply with the biosecurity measures much more easily than at a semi-public place.  For the coldest part of winter, they were in their house/yard with a little covered porch.  Now that it's a bit warmer, we've dragged out the old chicken tractor for them.

The husband built the tractor out of some old pallets, wire, and bubble/foil insulation.  It's very small, maybe 1 m x 1.2 m;  has no floor or windows, just a piece of wire where the front "door" is.  On the plus side, it's very easy to move.  We've got the hens living in there now (the ducks are still in the yard), and the son and I move them to a new bit of the veg beds every day.  So instead of constantly standing in their own manure, they get fresh ground with a chance of greens and bugs.  Maybe not a great situation, but certainly an improvement.

Because of the ongoing bird flu situation, I don't think we'll be getting any new birds, instead letting our flock die out naturally.  If scientists make a vaccine or if the virus evolves into something less nasty, I would probably change my mind.  Until then, it's against my animal welfare principles to get more birds when I know they will be miserable.  I will do my best with the flock I have, but I won't be adding to it.

At the allotment, Feb 2023

It's good to get out into the garden and allotment after the winter.  I always need that few months of break time, and when the days get longer and the spring flowers start to bloom, I feel refreshed and ready for a new year.

This past weekend the whole family visited the allotment to sow the pre-sprouted broad beans and snap peas.  The son and I made two large trenches and then we put down the seeds somewhat evenly;  I knew roughly how many seeds there were, so I put down a divider in the middle of the trench and we counted out half for each side.  After we finished sowing we covered the trenches with insect mesh (weighed down on all sides with more soil);  hopefully this stops the mice/rats/birds digging the seed out.  I'll take it off once the plants are up.

While digging at the allotment, I discovered two large-ish overwintered beets I'd missed in my last harvest;  the woodlice seemed to have overwintered with them as they were pretty holey--I decided to compost them.  I also found a dozen or so overwintered onions;  these I grew from seed last year and were pretty pathetic at harvest time.  I didn't bother with these smallest ones, still growing now.  They actually look like they might go on to produce something worthwhile this year!  I'll let them carry on.

My garlic patch too is growing strongly, though the grass is coming in pretty strongly as well.  I've given up on eradicating the grass.  My new strategy is to knock it back long enough to get my plants up and growing (using sheet mulch).  Well to be honest that's my old strategy too, but it was in the hopes that the grass would actually be defeated.  

The leeks, planted out last spring, are in a patch that will need a solid sheet mulching again--very thick luscious grass.  The leeks managed to get a good foothold when I planted them, and are of acceptable size;  the last one I harvested had an amazing root ball which I replanted in a new spot after cutting off the leek to eat.

Finally, I picked some kale from my two year old plant, still going strong.  I picked some last week too, and discovered a fat green caterpillar on it--how did it survive all that prolonged frost we had?  That kale just keeps on giving;  I'm hoping to get it some friends growing this year too.

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.

The first seeds of the year

It's not till March that I get the main bulk of my seeds started but that doesn't stop me getting a few things going in February.  This month I've begun with:

Broad beans and snap peas.  These get chucked into a plastic bag with a handful of wet soil/compost, and placed in my unheated garage to sprout in situ.  I prefer to pre-sprout them before I sow them in the ground, to give them a better chance of actually coming up (and I do them in the garage so I don't have to acclimatize them to cold temps like I would if I'd done them in the house).  Direct sown, mine usually never even appear.  Mice?  Slugs?  Both, no doubt.  I started 150 broad beans and 200 snap peas last week.  When they are sown, I'll pre-sprout one more batch.

Onions.  Today I broadcast a small handful (maybe 100 seeds) onto a small tray on my kitchen windowsill, to be pricked out individually once they pop up.  I don't have a good track record with onions.  The only year I got a decent harvest was the year the rest of my garden drowned (that was one soggy summer).  So I presume they need a bit more water than I usually provide, but to be honest I'm probably not going to water them any more than usual this year either.  We'll see how it goes;  they'll be planted out into well-manured soil at the allotment, at least.

Tomatoes.  In the past I've sown tomatoes a bit later, but last year I sowed them early and was much happier with the resulting harvest.  These I did today and they are next to the onion tray on my windowsill, both wrapped in plastic bags to keep a little more warmth in.  Unlike the onions however, they'll be potted on once or twice after pricking out, and not planted out until May.  I have cherry toms, salad toms (a variety I've been saving myself for years), and plum toms from a free packet--I mean, why not?  Maybe this will be the year of the tomato.