Chickens first visit to the Allotment

Today we decided to take the Chickens to the plot for the first time, waited until the ground was less frozen, and nothing was growing in the fruit cage.

The fruit cage was the best place to introduce them to the Allotment as they couldn't escape, there are gaps in the perimeter fence so could not risk releasing them onto the whole plot, plus there are crops growing they might eat.

They had a lovely time and scratched and pecked up lots of bugs, worms and slug eggs too, they must have thought it was heaven. They were so contented they hardly made a sound while pecking around.


Here you can see them searching for bugs etc amongst the Black & Red Currant bushes, we use hen house muck to mulch the fruit bushes, free chicken manure.

They found lots of worms, slug eggs were evident too and they loved scratching around and eating them up, good for us too.

Quite a few of the other plot holders visited to see our Chickens and were impressed how fit they looked, I think we will make it a regular thing bringing the chickens down to the plot for a day out.




Other jobs done:

If you remember a few months ago I sowed some Pea & Broad Beans seeds into toilet roll tubes & kitchen roll tubes.

Well here they are planted out in the green house, for an early harvest. Topped up the soil with more rotted manure for a good start.

Managed to dig up some Parsnips as the ground wasn't frozen anymore and also have another Bonfire, the weeds I pulled/dug up last week and left to dry were ready to burn also burnt some dried rotten wood.
The patch I set aside for the Potatoes was weeded and I burnt those weeds, also spread out some manure.
Next job to use the Rotovator to mix the manure in & turn the soil as the 1st & 2nd early Potatoes are 'chitting' as we speak. Check out next weeks Blog for news on that.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Frozen Solid

This weekend not much got done, due to the frozen soil.
While the rest of the country was under a blanket of Snow, all we had was frost & Ice.

But was an ideal time to do some clearing and burning of weeds etc.

I love a Bonfire.


All the weeds & spent woody veg, stuff that wont compost well, was dried as below, and burnt on the bonfire.

No better way to put some goodness back into the soil as the potash from the fire adds carbon to the soil to improve it.

Dried rotten wood also goes onto the fire.



I have a way of drying weeds etc ready for the bonfire, as shown here.
It's just a piece of stiff wire mesh on top of a couple of Breeze-blocks, this means the weeds are not going mushy on the soil, as rain can soak through, also Hedgehogs cant shelter in the weed pile and risk being burnt when set alight. But I always move my dry weeds to a new bonfire location to be sure.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Chicken Blog time

Thought it was time I blogged about our Chickens.

It's almost a year since we re-homed our ex-battery hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust.

Hetty, Betty, Peggy & Maud settled in well, so well in fact that they have produced almost 900 eggs between them in the first 9 months that we've had them.
Here you can see them enjoying a juicy apple, we normally chop up apples, but when we saw one if these, designed for feeding wild birds, we thought it would be good exercise for our 'girls' and fun for them too.
It's important to give them play things, to combat boredom. Ours do seem to be 'Happy Hens'


Another favorite of theirs is the mid day snack, which can be a mix of most things you might have at home:
Fresh Greens, Bread, Biscuits, Mealworms, Cereals, Apple, Grapes, softened veg & cooked pasta (maybe veg leftovers too) almost anything goes.
But an hour before roost time, we give them Supermix Corn, this is a good slow release food for them to digest overnight.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

A lovely, but cold, Saturday

Well the weather forecast was correct and the sun came out so a perfect day to visit the Allotment.

The Onions I planted out last year have survived the winter so far.
White 3 rows to the left, Reds 3 rows to the right, about 30 of each.




The Leeks I planted last year, early ones on the left, late ones on the right, have also survived the winter well.

We have harvested some of the early ones for Leek & Potato soup and were lovely.

The late ones will mature later this year for a successive crop.



As I said the sun was shining, after a frosty start and the ground was still quite hard in places, so all I could do was do a spot of weeding.

The Asparagus I planted out in April last year, was in need of a good weeding and looks a lot better for it.

I had to be careful with my weeding fork as Asparagus roots are fragile and don't like to be disturbed, we haven't had a crop yet so didn't want to risk damaging the roots.

I also planned for the next few jobs that need doing.



In other news:

The 1st of my potato order arrived this week.
The Charlotte (2nd early) are 'chitting' now in egg trays, in a cool but bright place.

The rest are expected to arrive within the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

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.

Happy New Year

The Allotment doesn't look any different than 2 weeks ago.
It has survived the storms rather well, the greenhouse had just one glazing panel pop out, but easily put back in.
I replaced 75% of the glass with perspex a few years ago, so when one pops out they don't smash as glass would.
The shed also needs some new roofing felt, but that was expected as it was due a repair before the storms!


All the crops over wintering are doing well, Leeks, Onions, Garlic and some Brassicas, but the Cauli's I put in seem to have been eaten, slugs I suspect as they were under netting!

But the Cox's Orange Pippin Apple trees I planted out in November are doing really well and as you can see are in full bud/leaf I'm hoping for a small crop this year.

Chicken news:
The chickens are doing really well, the egg count for 2011 since we got them in March was 896, not bad for 4 ex-battery hens.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Chicken news & Parsnips dug up for Christmas dinner

Here is one of our Chickens 'Maude' standing on the top of the new fence I put up to segregate them from part of our garden, I think I will have to make it taller (it's already about 3ft/90cm !) or maybe I will build some narrow planters to stop them.
I don't know about your gardens but ours is now a mud bath after all the rain we have had.



It has been a long time since I was last down the Allotment, but the rain, again, has thwarted attempts to much down there.

I have managed a hurried trip or two, over the last 3 weeks, but today the driest for a while, everything is fine, rather dormant now as temps have been in single figures for a month or more. But crops put in are surviving.



Leeks, Onions, Kale, Broccoli & Brussel Sprouts too.

I thought best go and dig up some Parsnips for Christmas dinner to go with the Carrots, Runner Beans & Potatoes harvested earlier.

As we have had some very cold days, the Parsnips will be all the more sweeter for leaving them in the ground longer.







Here you can see another one of our cheeky girls 'Peggy' also on the new fence!

As the nights and the days are much colder we have been feeding them warm mash in the morning, this is made from 'crumb' feed just mixed with warm water to a Porridge consistency, they love it and eat every last bit which is good as the 'Small Holder Range' of feeds contain all they need for good health and strong egg shells.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian