Main Crop Planting Begins

Sunday saw the main hub of our vegetables for 2008 enter their newly rotavated patch. I had some help for the day from my better half as there was so much to do. Before the planting began, I popped into the greenhouse to see how things were coming along. I found a new colony of snails that had taken a liking to my little Magnolia which is currently struggling to keep it's leaves! The Tomato plants had also taken a bit of a hammering along with the Morning Glory seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago. I found single seedling stems just left while all their leafy greenery had just been chomped into oblivion! ...I wasn't happy.

I am not one for killing any form of life, much to the ranting of my loved one "they're taking food out of our mouth's honey, for god sake put some slug pelletts down and be done with it!!!". I have been collecting garden sieve fulls of the little blighters from inside the greenhouse of late, being the most humane way, to my mind, but I'm sure they're finding they're way back across the garden to the warmth of the glass house once more. I have filled all possible ways in now with a special expanding foam ...at least I think I have found them all!

The first in the new patch were the potatoes. We are sure to have a plentiful supply this year with both varieties now in situe.

The Carrots were the next in, of the old fashioned purple kind and a mixed variety of organic white, yellow and traditional orange.

The Beetroot seeds I had were out of date so I went for a Crimson Globe version from Thompson and Morgan. I spaced them in the hope that they wouldn't need thinning later on but we shall see how they develop. Although the patch looks huge, my eyes were bigger than my tummy and I have sown many more seedlings than we have room for.

We will only be able to house 24 Cauliflower but have 46 growing happily away in the greenhouse! They need a few more weeks in the warm to establish themselves properly in order to stand up to the elements in the patch. The leeks are also doing well but are not quite big enough yet either, so I have left large gaps for things to go in at a later date.

I have no room in the patches this year for Butternut Squash, Pumpkin or Marrow, so I shall go for a walk around the farm with some seeds and scatter them here and there and see what happens. It makes for an interesting walk anyway!

I will also have to find another spot for my lettuces and the special little polytunnels that I found in Lidl. I would like to sport them somewhere in the garden but I shall have to put my thinking cap on for that one.
The Chickens helped to rake out the patch before the planting began. Dora and Minnie are right at home now on the farm, although a little skittish! Gary and Basil ended up having a face-off with both parties refusing to back down. I said to Gary to just walk away to which he was most annoyed! "I will never back down to a Chicken honey, you should know me better than that!". It all went quiet so I carried on pulling bits of tree root from the soil only to glance round and find him flicking soil over Basil with a garden rake! I had to separate them in the end and put one of them in the chicken pen!

It was the first really beautiful day of sunshine this year and we stopped for a lovely sandwich and beer lunch, sat on the log by the fishpond. The chickens found a liking for cheese as it dropped from our sandwiches into the grass and the odd grape seemed to go down well too.

Poodle came over for a bit and had a long drink out of the pond before settling down in a shady bit of grass next to the log. Her wheeziness is so much better in warmer weather and you wouldn't even know she had cat flu come mid-summer. She sounds like the bag pipes in the Winter but seems happy enough!

After the patch was filled to bursting point we retired to the greenhouse and drank Vodka and Orange juice whilst planting up a few more Courgette's, Lupin's, Foxglove's and Aubergine's. I became quite liberal with my sowing towards the end, convincing myself that we would find somewhere in the patch to plant everything! ...We now need another patch in retrospect with a clear head!

The Buff Orpingtons

I ran out of mixed corn for the chooks this Tuesday and headed up to my local country stores to pick up another sack. They had lots of lovely new livestock consisting of gorgeous bunnies, bantam fowl, white doves and BUFF ORPINGTONS!!!

I have been on a waiting list with my chicken man in Windsor (The garden Hen - please see link on the right handside) for nearly 2.5 years now for 2 Buff Orpingtons but haven't been too successfull. The two that he had put aside for me last year turned out to be chaps and I really can't house another cockerell as I know it would put Basil's beak out of joint!!!

I stood in front of the pen with these beautiful Jersey cow coloured creamy birds in front of me and instantly knew the two I would take should I decide to take the plunge. 'Sod it' I thought, I never make enough spontaneous decisions, so promptly asked if the two could be boxed up and popped in the back of my car. I was so excited I nearly forgot the mixed corn!

I got back to the farm and decided to put them in one of the stables before introducing them to Basil and the girls. Once they were settled in there I sat down with my Chicken encylopedia to read how best the introduction should be made and when. A night time encounter seemed to be the go once the other birds had gone to roost and felt all sleepy in the dark, that way they would have a peaceful night and wake the next morning to find they're new roomies there when they opened their beady eyes! I followed that advise to the letter and promptly stuffed Minnie and Dora into the hen house under the cover of darkness.

The next morning however the teething problems had set in. I was initially concerned about Basil the cockerell and how he would take to the change but in fact it was the other girls that I really needed to watch. Constance (the butt of most of the jokes to date) really started to put the beak in now that she was off the hook. I'm still having to keep a close eye on her as she really does go looking for trouble. Lavender is a close second in trying to cause agro and Betty has turned out to be a bit of a sheep and just follows her peers in their thuggish behaviour, although not quite as bad.

By Friday there were still problems in the coop so I took some further advice on spraying them with watered down vinegar so they all smelt the same. So far, this has really worked and I have really noticed a difference in behaviour since. I just wish I had done it on the first night, it may have saved a world of trouble!!!

Spring Snow Dump!!!

This morning was a surprise to all. That eerie silence was all around and on lifting the bedroom blind and 'Oh My Godding' we raced outside as quickly as possible to explore the newly covered white land.

I couldn't wait to see how the chookanoos would react to the white blanket of snow covering their pen and donned in my nightie, green wellies with chicken hat, I raced into the pen taking pictures of the landscape as I went. The new recruits, Dora and Minnie were first out trying to escape Basil's amorous morning affections, while the others point blank refused to come out of the hen house being scared of the new floor before them.

The newly rotavated vegetable patch was under an undisturbed blanket of its own leaving me puzzled as to what to do this Sunday. Not easy to plant when you can't even see the borders! Plenty to do in the greenhouse though so not to worry. The tomato plants need potting on for a start.

By 12:30pm the snow had all but gone and the sunshine came out and that Spring feeling reigned once more. I decided to tackle all the weeds growing up through the gravel in the greenhouse as they were begining to overtake everything else in there. The heat from the sun had really built up by the afternoon and I kept having to pop out for a breather. I must have collected over 120 snails out of there a couple of weeks ago only to find the rest of their reletives and friends today among the weeds. I'm hoping I'm snail free now and that no more of my prized seedlings get munched!

Minnie and Dora are finding things a little more easy going now on their 5th day with the old crew. The constant squabbling and pecking has now faded and peace seems to be descending on the coop once more. I didn't realise how tame and friendly Buff Orpingtons were.

I sat with them for a while today in the sunshine and Dora hopped up onto my outstretched legs and made herself at home after snuggling down. On day 2 they were eating corn out of my hands and made it very clear that they felt safer with me in the pen for the first two or three days, not daring to leave my feet! I'm just trying to work out the pecking order now and who sits where? ...time will tell.