OwnGrown

We have just started using the carrots pictured here. They are a little small but there are plenty for the next few weeks.

These are the three current chickens. The eggs are fantastic - the black one lays dark brown eggs with a very firm white so the egg stays together when being poached in boiling water without the white going everywhere. One or two more would be an ideal number.

In answer to a request in the Discussion Forum section, here is some information on keeping chickens. The walk-in cage is constructed using 3″x3″ treated timber and 1″ square mesh netting which is in 3′ wide rolls. The 8′ long timber is in holes about 18″ deep and the wire mesh goes down about 12″ with cement in the trench to stop foxes or any other animals digging under the wire. To ensure nothing gets in, the top is also covered. This cage is 9′ square with their house in the middle. In bad weather they can shelter under the house. Three or four live here providing around 15-18 eggs per week for most of the year. They are fed quite simply on layers pellets and scraps of greens from the vegetable garden. So easy and so rewarding!

Not at all good this year! Not sure exactly why but they were hit hard by a very heavy rain storm when may flowers were knocked off and plants partly flattened. I also think the manuring may have been overdone a little. Anyway we shall have, and are having, some beans but not as many as we should.

These have started - the first courgettes will not grow very big so pick them small and let the plant develop. We always pick the courgettes small and ensure we have enough by growing a few more plants. The courgettes will grow very fast if not paicked and become far too big in just a few days.

Now picking peas and have been for about a week. We tend to have a glut during the short season so these can also be frozen if there are too many.

Not much to say over the past couple of weeks due to incessant rain and now a partly flooded vegetable garden which isn’t doing anything any good. Temperatures have also been a little low so everything has almost ground to a halt - many plants looking very sick and turning yellow showing how much they hate constant saturation. Sowing seeds is also impossible - they would probably float away and, if not, fail because they are saturated! Hopefully, within a few days we should see some produce if it warms up a little.

These are a real nuisance this year and causing a lot of damage. I have tried different ways to control them over the years but slug pellets seem to be the only effective way. Some makes of these are hopeless and the slugs seem to thrive on them but the Bio product does a good job.

Started lifting the earlier maturing garlic. Ideally these should be left to dry outside but it is too damp at the moment and almost no sun so they will be hung up indoors. These early maturing ones will not last in store as long as later ones but should be fine hanging up for a few months. The largest ones will be kept for planting in October - see earlier entries.

A discussion forum has just been added for people to ask questions, exchange information etc. Clicking on “New!! Discussion board >>” at the top of the list on the right will take you straight there. All you have to do is register to start a new topic or join an existing one.