Leek Thief

Sometimes you learn things the hard way. I'm living back in "proper" countryside now, not like the village I was before. That means if I leave plants outside the rabbit fence, even just for a couple of days to harden off, they will probably get eaten. My leeks are now much shorted than they were to prove this! Rubbish.

"Shorter" leeks

Now what though? Plant some more - its too late really or just plant these - will they do any good or grow bushy? Some help please!

Nice pot of salad

Everything else seems to be looking good and we had our first salad last night from a pot in the green house with loads more nearly ready to have.

Lots of Planting

With the greenhouse now glazed I've been getting on with some serious planting this and last weekend as I'm a little behind.

Marigolds always germinate really well

Firstly I potted on all my tomatoes - this is a job long overdue but they weren't as root bound as I thought they'd be.

I also planted sweetcorn, sunflowers (inside and out), marigolds, sprouts, purple sprouting, cabbage, runner beans, french beans. I pretty much filled every pot I could find. I also put in another row of carrots and some peas outside but my beetroot hasn't come up get (or more likely the slugs have had it).

Some weeds are also starting to make an appearance so I'll have to get the hoe out tomorrow!

Are you on target with your veg planting this year?

Cutting Ties

Well now it really feels as though the gamble to move to our smallholding has paid off.

Today we sold our old house, it wasn't without complications but now its sold and its one less (major) thing to worry about.

Our old house in a lovely village

We loved our old house, but it was never what I really wanted long term as it was in the middle of village with just a normal sized garden. I'd filled this garden to bursting point with veg, fruit, chickens and sheds but I always knew I wanted more land in the end. It was the perfect first house and we had five lovely years and some great memories, but no regrets about moving on.

The old garden - Not quite enough space for all I want to grow!

The old house was much bigger and we do miss the inside space a bit but with all the land we've got now I'm sure that, with planning, we can extend in a couple of years time depending on work and finances. As well as this we're in a much quieter area with beautiful views and 5 acres with endless possibilities!

Its always risky buying somewhere else without selling your other house first but I'm so glad we took the risk as its paid off.

Bye bye old house enjoy your new owners!

Nettle Soup

Last week we had our first meal from our smallholding, nettle soup! It's going to be a while until our veg is ready to eat so I thought a foraged meal would be a better place to start.

Nettle

Unfortunately, finding the nettles was far too easy.

Collecting your nettle in a old Waitrose bag makes them feel posher

The recipe i used goes as follows:

One carrier bag of nettles,

One onion,

Two garlic cloves,

One potato

1200ml of stock

salt and pepper

Adding them to the saucepan in batches as they soon wilt down

Fried the onion in a little oil till softened, then added the diced potato and garlic. fry these for 5 minutes before adding the stock and the nettles (well washed).

Wilted down nettles

Leave this to cook for 20 minutes then blend it together 



Blend it

Nice, cheap tea

 Although the soup was nice it did taste a little like it was missing something, maybe some herbs and spices would have improved it - anyone with any suggestions?

A Rather Large Chicken Run

A productive weekend. Managed to do some stuff to the house yesterday and today I finished the chicken wire! As well as this I back filled all the soil for the whole garden fence, a horrible job and one I've been putting off.


Nice sized chicken pen

Whilst fixing the wire round the chicken pen I've been whistling the tune to Jurassic park, I think I may have made this pen too big! Still I've got the space and I'd rather it was to big than too small.



a waste pile of soil in the middle will give them something to dig through

I now need to make a gate and build a coop before I can get any chicken. Still not sure what type to get, it's a toss up between hybrids that will lay well all year (ish) or rare breeds with the possibility of selling any birds that I can rear but slightly less in the egg production department.
Which way do you think I should go?