Fruit and Veg Season

It has been a long time since I posted anything about our fruit and veg in the smallholding. Recently I've been slightly distracted by all the beautiful spring flowers and the renovation of the lounge. It's time to put things right and get bang up to date on the growing season.

April


In the middle of April we finally got all the onions into the veg bed, clearing some space in the greenhouse in time for all the seedlings to be potted on.

In order to increase our productivity M had a rejiggle of the polytunnel beds and created larger, deeper planting areas. Thankfully we have an abundant supply of rotted horse manure nearby and were able to fill them up before top dressing with some top soil and compost.


After the rather unsuccessful cut flower bed experiment last year we decided we'd use the 'lazy bed' as a new strawberry bed. Again M added more side panels to increase the depth and then we filled it up with manure to save on the amount of compost we needed.


Following a very long, cold and wet winter the weather in April thankfully took a turn for the better and M was able to get the first cut of the grass around the orchard.


In fact we had some gorgeous early morning walks on the beach enjoying the spring sunshine.

      

Last year we received some tree seeds from the Woodland Trust as part of their plan to encourage nationwide tree planting. Not all of the seeds germinated but those that did spent the winter in little pots before they started to grow again this spring. We had a couple of Rowan and Alder seedlings but the majority were Dog Rose. At the end of April we chose an area along the fenceline of the woods and planted 9 rose and 2 Rowans. Given the recent deer activity we put protectors around each tree so hoping they would get established quickly.

May


Sadly at the beginning of May Wilma, one of original chickens, died. She was the first one to lay and although not as friendly as Morag she would feed from our hands and could be comical to watch. With only Maisie left we decided we needed to get her some companions quite quickly. So after a short trip to a local breeder we arrived back with 3 new pullets.


We got another ISA Brown, a Sussex Light and a Silver Sussex? Unfortunately when they got out we realised that the Sussex Light had a badly deformed foot and was not keen to move around at all. Long story short, we did a quick turnaround and exchanged her for a healthier specimen.

Rusty the ISA Brown

Lotus the Silver Sussex

Madge the Sussex Light

Maisie initially seemed to be less than impressed by her new friends but soon started to tolerate their presence and even allowed Rusty to eat next to her.


The early May Bank holiday afforded us the opportunity to pop down south for a very special family birthday. It was a wonderful weekend and given the distance travelled we made the most of our trip by going to look at compact tractors. A few days after we returned it was delivered, one very happy chappie on his new tractor (with flail mower).


May continued with the most amazing sunny, hot days. The orchard was looking great with blossom appearing on most of the trees.


As usual I sowed plenty of tomato seeds this year with the addition of some tumbling toms for hanging baskets. I really wanted to make the most of the space in the polytunnel so we also got some strawberry plants into baskets.

We attempted to grow mushrooms about 10 years ago and only succeeded in producing a lot of flies. Not to be deterred we got another little kit and were thrilled to have our first tiny harvest of beautiful mushrooms.


I have always loved the time of year when the greenhouse is bulging with seedlings, overwintered plants beginning to grow and the obligatory tomatoes planted up.


It always feels like we are really starting to get somewhere and all the hard work during spring is paying dividends.


Although we don't often suffer from strong sunlight we opted to put up some greenhouse shading to protect the tomato plants. This was well worth the time and effort as the hot and dry weather continued throughout May with the greenhouse temperatures regularly reaching 40⁰C.

At the end of May Rusty started to lay, they were really small eggs but we were thrilled to have our first ever double yolkers. They tasted wonderful too.


As the good weather continued we were pleased to see the onions putting on plenty of growth and the newly planted peas and French beans were just starting to show signs of becoming established.


Even the potatoes which had a slow start were producing plenty of foliage.


At the end of the month we enjoyed another relaxing Bank holiday and even spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden with a glass of Pimms. However, we were also beginning to wish and pray for rain. The ground was the driest we had ever seen it here and the deepening cracks were visible in the veg bed. After 6/7 weeks without any rain the water butts were emptying fast and we were concerned about the survival of much of the recently planted veg and flowers. Still it was lovely to bask in the sunshine and soak up plenty of Vitamin D.