Sunday 15 January 2012

First real Frost

Didn't do much today because the ground was too hard, due to the first real frost.

So decided to try forcing some Rhubarb, to get an extra early super sweet crop.

First I put some straw around the crown, then placed an upturned bucket over that and weighted it down. I wont look under again until the Rhubarb pushes the bucket off.

I love Frost because of the photo opportunities, here is a Teasel head.

I know the temp got well below freezing as one of my rain barrels, without a lid, had at least an inch of ice capping.

But the frost also has a cleansing effect and can kill off lots of pests, if you can turn over a patch of soil any slug eggs there will be finished off by frost, best to do the digging the day before a frost is due.

Our Chickens don't seem to mind the cold, but have reduced egg production, as expected, the last few days we have only had 1 or 2 eggs a day.



So as I said not much to do today, couldn't have dug anyway as the soil was too hard.

All I had to do was top up the compost bins with kitchen veg waste, and set up the Rhubarb forcer.

Was hoping my seed potatoes would have arrived this week as need to 'chit' them, but alas they are late!

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian.

2 comments:

  1. Love the frosty pictures! It wasn't that cold over here, I was able to do a bit of digging today, but have spent most of the weekend filling the windowsills up with seed pots.

    What type of potatoes will you be growing this year? I've gone for Vales Emerald, King Edwards and Kerrs Pink for a bit of variety.

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  2. Mad Kiwi Bird, Hi, thanks. This year I'm growing Accent (1st early) Charlotte (2nd) Cara & Sarpo Mira for Mains. Like to change each year, but always grow Charlotte as a good all rounder.

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