Chicks Come Early

I'm now feeling much better - thank you to every one for the well wishes. I think it must have been some sort of 24 hour bug and I'm feeling really guilty about it, as my dad, who came to help out with the children, has now got it. No need to guess who's to blame for that one! I just hope he feels better soon and it doesn't spread to the rest of my family! 

 On a brighter note we had some chicks hatch yesterday. Two days earlier than I had marked on the calendar, so I guess she must have been sat on them in the coop for a little longer than I thought before separated her from the rest of the flock! 

 Out of seven eggs, six hatched, one chick was deformed/injured so had to be dispatched straight away (away from the sight of the children) but five chicks isn't bad really. I bet they'll all be cockerels now though! 

 The girls love them, it's going to be as much as I can do to keep Ev away from them! She's really gentle with the chicks and helped me pick up all the egg shells and tidy the nest then told her mum all about it when she got home. What a great way for a little person to learn about life and food!

Melissa seemed fascinated by them as well so hopefully I've got two budding young poultry keepers in the making!

Poorly

As a rule I don't get sick very often, when I worked full time I'd go years between sick days. Having children does change that a bit as they pick up everything going. So when I was rubbing my two year old's back at one in the morning while she was being sick, I wished I could be sick instead of her. 

Yesterday I got that wish, as I didn't leave bed all day except to go to the toilet. I'm still not right this morning and I think my wife is coming down with it as well (although she insisted on going to work).

I just love this picture! My wife got them done at the weekend

My dad was a star yesterday though, as Claire was off all afternoon and evening (with something she couldn't cancel) so he came to look after the children. 

I think he decided that there are many things easier than looking after two young children on his own! He assured me he wasn't going to do any nappy changes (diapers to the Americans) while he was here but he rose to the challenge and did any that came his way! Along with making their dinner and getting them ready for bed. I think he enjoyed it really!

I'll do some normal posts when I'm feeling a little better. Hope everyone else is doing good.

Strawberry Growing

I'm pretty good at growing most things but I suck at growing strawberries. I'm not sure what I do wrong but they never seem to do very well. 

Working at a friends house today I think I saw the answer. 

Strawberries in guttering

 I know growing plants in guttering isn't new but I thought this was a great use of space and at "toddler" hight a great way for children to pick their own. 

Great use of space

There were loads of strawberries ready to eat and I imagine it's far easier to control any runners or weeds and watering would be straight forward! 

I might have to try this on our fence at the front of the house next year and see if we can grow a few more berries this way. I've got some old guttering saved from a job back in the winter that would be ideal for it.

Anyone else been growing in this way or similar?

Mulching With Wood Chip

I've managed to stay somewhere near on top of my veg garden this year with weeds, but the soft fruit garden is another matter. It's full of nettles and docks. And I mean full 

There is a fruit garden here somewhere! Honest!

 So this week I've made it my job to tackle it before it all goes to seed. After a few people recommending a video I watched one over an hour long on the "back of Eden" system of gardening, I thought I'd try a lesser version of it and mulch the soft fruit garden with wood chip from my tree surgeon of a brother.

Laying newspaper down first once I've pulled the big weeds

 I laid a layer of newspaper or cardboard down first to try to suppress the weeds and then a good 4 inches or so of wood chip. I always thought that wood chip was meant to remove the nitrogen from the soil but apparently that's more when you dig it in, also you're meant to counteract it by adding manure to the surface when it's needed. Anyway I doubt it could use up more goodness that all the weeds!

Mulching the blueberries

Blueberries mulched and netted

I can now see what is fruit bushes instead of trying to find them in the weeds.

I'm about a third of the way there with the fruit garden now. There is another couple of loads of wood chip at the farm that I'm going to bring up and lay down on the rest of it. I could also do with finding a source of cardboard as I'm thinking the same system would be good with my willow coppice to keep the grass down.

Anyone else been mulching with wood chip?

First Pull

We're starting to have our first proper harvests from the garden other than herbs now.

Baby beats and broad beans

I pulled some baby beats (always sounds like a DJ) and broad beans to have with dinner on Sunday. Now is normally the time when I wish I planted double the amount so I could harvest half the crop as a "baby" one as it all tastes so good!