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.