Chickens For Pest Control

Last year I suffered terribly with saw fly on my gooseberry's and current bushes. That winter the chickens had the run of the veg & fruit garden and would you believe it - not a leaf lost to it the little buggers this year.

I think this is organic pest control at it's best.

 I'm going for the same approach this year. Now we've finished with the fruit garden I've erected a temporary fence to separate it off from the veg and I've released the chickens in there to eat any bugs for me, whilst adding their manure to the area and reducing the weeds as well. 

 It's a really simple pleasure in life to let animals out on to bigger pasture. The hens loved their new pen and I loved watching them explore. I remember being a child and my father and I taking great pleasure when the ewes and lambs were let out of the shed for the first time. We'd stand for ages, not talking, just watching them enjoy their new space.

These young hens have certainly earned their keep this year!

We Need Some Cold!

My brassicas are looking so good in the garden, I'm really proud of them this year. 

But I looked a little closer and I could see that my hungry gap crop, purple sprouting broccoli, was doing a little too well! 

It had started to produce the flower buds that we eat about 5 months early! I'm gutted really, although we'll still enjoy eating it, as it's a crop that is perfect for when there is little else about. 

I put it in no early than any other year, but it's been such a good year for growing that it seems to have run away with itself! I could do with a good cold snap now to slow everything else down.

Anyone else had crops when they shouldn't this year?

Mice!

The nights are getting colder and the little bas##rds are starting to come inside. I'm referring to our furry little friends the mice. 

I've set traps for them, blocked up any holes I can see and yet they still find there way into the house. I hate hearing the trap snap shut but at least I know that's another packet of crisps they haven't eaten!

In truth its not just this time of year we've been having problems with them, all year they've been a major issue in the garden. My mum has suffered worse with mice in her garden this year, above is a picture of what is left of her beetroot, not very appetizing I'm sure you'll agree. 

I didn't have a single strawberry this year. I blamed my inability with growing them, but I've seen the evidence and I know it's mice, my neighbour said she's caught 50 while her strawberries were growing!

So any hints or tips on getting rid of them? I'd rather not get a cat as I'm just not a cat person, also many friend have said that you end up with more in the house as the cat brings them in for you still alive!

I bait the traps with either peanut butter, chocolate or good old fashioned cheese (for the Tom and Jerry type nostalgia) and I can normally catch the one I'm after but I need to less the numbers considerably!

Can Rotator Prototype

As any one that reads this blog knows, our house isn't massive. So I'm always looking for new storage solutions and lately I've been looking at making some can rotators for the pantry. This is so we can keep a better stock of cans and always use the oldest first.

My prototype model

 The idea is to make a door for our under stairs cupboard that contains all of our canned goods and rotates the stock for us as well (few things annoy me more than wasting food). The door will be made out of ply and have six rows of cans on the front, and use a castor to help it open smoothly.

Pull the oldest can out first and new ones go in the top

The prototype works well and is ideal for screwing to the wall and keeping a dozen cans in and although it looks basic it would be great for someone to keep tinned dog food in their garage.

I thought I'd post this up here and see if anyone else has any ideas for can rotators or any links I should look at for inspiration? Cheers for your help guys!

Branch Out Of the Oak Tree

With some heavy winds at the weekend one of our oak trees suffered the loss of one of its limbs.

 Typically this is the only tree that we've done some major work on trying to preserve, but the damage isn't too great. It amazes me when what seems like a small branch falls out of a large tree like this, the branch is as big as medium tree! Huge amounts of wood are in these trees! I'll do a post on the nine large oaks we've got here at some point.

I'll have to get the chainsaw out next weekend and log the branch for some of next years firewood and then get my brother to climb up and tidy it all up a bit.

Anyone else having to do work to try to stop their old trees falling apart?