Fairweather Fallen

Without so much as a bat of an eyelid, the last few months seem to have flown by. To my disgrace, it has been nearly three months since I last went out to the plot, and also since my last post on this blog.

With the nights (and mornings) drawn in, and schedules busier than a potting shed in March, I found it increasingly difficult to find a good batch of time in reasonable weather to get over to the plot to check on progress.

Flooding in Kenilworth at the beginning of December

Of course, the weather has been horrendous - flooding and more flooding; the second wettest year on record... it was a genuine shock recently to have a day when it didn't rain and you could enjoy being out in the fresh air.

I have to thank Maggie and Anne that the plot has been maintained in my absence. As I write, I remember all those plants that I had laboured over last summer - the beetroot and the cabbages - which have stood outside in the wind, rain and hail, with no assistance from the grower who put them there.

I have absolutely no idea how these have got on - all I know is that the last radish that was left in the ground apparently is now the size of a large turnip(!). I'll probably go over there at some point soon with my tail between my legs, and confess my carelessness to the small remnant of neglected veg.

I guess in the next few months I will begin to heed my own advice from my posts last year, and start planning in advance for the forthcoming growing season. I was kindly given a grower's handbook for my birthday last week, from which no doubt I shall garner some more nuggets of wisdom...

Frankie hen and dandelion

In the meantime, it is a pleasure to announce that Em, my wife, has embarked on a blog of her own about domestic chicken keeping - called Happy Garden Hens. She has a great eye for a photo, and you can find out a lot more about the smallholder trials and tribulations we have faced with our brood.

Fading light

Although it has been a busy weekend, I have just enough time to show you what is going on at the plot - which to be fair isn't an awful lot...!

The days are getting appreciably colder now - the warmth and stillness of the summer mornings seems to have gone... the grim reality is that in this fading light there is not much time left for the plants to thrive.

There's a chance that these little french beans will just about grow enough to make a decent portion or two - as you can see from the shot below, the plants haven't really grown up the canes...more meandered around horizontally - I've done my best to tether them up now, but I'm not sure it will help.

The cabbages have not been eaten - which is a good start! They also appear to have straightened up and grown a few more leaves each, which is encouraging too (excuse the bricks - subtle as!):

As long as they continue to avoid being eaten, they should hopefully bloom and at the very least produce some tasty leaves. I would be surprised if they develop hearts, but you just never know...

The beetroot are still doing well - I'm really willing them on now to beef up underneath; a few appear to be showing signs of root growth. I've never liked beetroot out of jars - hopefully these will make a convert of me.

And finally, in what I will dub the 'rogues gallery', I have two solitary veg plants that have grown with little care or attention - and from seed, where all others failed - a lonely carrot, and another radish: 

Last (and only) carrot standing

The real problem of course with all veg that grows sub terra is that you can never quite be sure when the right time is to pull them up... I think the carrot will wait a little longer, but perhaps this radish is not far off (not that I really care, the last one was pretty foul!):

The radish 

I decided not to show you the fennel seedlings - the picture was pretty unclear... you'd probably also make out more than was actually going on! Sadly, at least one has fallen prey to a gastropod, and to be honest I don't think the others will survive much longer. Perhaps a poly-tunnel will be a worthwhile investment next year.

Planting out at the plot (part 3)

Well, it has been a while since my last plot update, so here we go...

(If you haven't already, you can catch up by reading parts 1 & 2)

I had the opportunity yesterday morning to go over and plant out my cabbage and fennel seedlings... but first thing on the agenda was to have a look at how the existing plantings were doing...!

These are my beetroot seedlings under the netting... they are now flying! Each one has at least doubled its number of leaves, and they are lovely mix of rich red and green. I'm in serious reach of actually producing a decent crop of these - slugs and snails, please extend some mercy now...

The french beans are still growing... not as tall as I was expecting, but perhaps leaf loss earlier in their life has stunted their growth a little... they have started to produced little mauve flowers which is an encouraging sight.

Not doing so well are the peas - one plant has managed to grow reasonably, but the other (above) looks like it has been shredded! I had this problem when growing them directly from seed earlier in the year... looks like I will have to leave pea growing to the back garden at home.

Anyway, onto planting out the new subjects...

Thanks to some sage advice from my friend Maggie, the section of the plot that I had planned for brassicas would have been overrun had I not covered it a while back with a length of carpet. Lifting it yesterday I was amazed at how well it had prevented any weed growth.

After a little forking and tilling, I planted the five seedlings in a zig-zag pattern... I'm now just hoping that the netting I've put in place around them will stave off cabbage whitefly and anything else that would take a fancy to them.

Finally, I also managed to plant my fennel seedlings... I was in a bit of a rush before work to get these done (as the cabbages took ages to net), so I quickly dug over the soil and got them in... four in a row. Then - sensing how delicate and feathery they were - covered them with a length of heavy duty wire mesh as a quick means of protection. 

And there we have it - a semblance of order has returned to the plot. You can see in the wide shot above the wigwam of netting over the cabbages at the back, and the wire mesh over the fennel. The beetroot are under the netting front left, and the various beans and peas along the right-hand side.

That's pretty much it now for things to plant out, unless I decide to get some winter potatoes in some of the empty space - of all the things I've grown over my short experience, they're pretty forgiving, so it may be worth a shot.

Greater taters and abject neglect

Over the last week I've not been up to much in the garden or up at the plot - I turned my ankle quite hard the weekend before last, and the only tending I have been doing is to a swollen and bruised foot!

Still, I have managed a few notable harvests from the garden:

I'm not sure which variety these potatoes are - they look a little Anya-like, but with a white skin rather than reddy-brown... if anyone has any idea, do please let me know... 

The yield was about the same size in weight as the white round variety I pulled up last month, but the quality and overall size were improved. Harvesting them was a challenge in itself, as there were not one, but two ants nests in the grow bag! Thankfully, they were not able to nip quick or hard enough to leave any bite marks!

I also found some more runner beans on my seemingly evergreen runner plants - the three to the right were particularly pleasing, especially as they had hid from my attention until I spotted them when harvesting - all on the same shoot! I don't go in for shows, but they would be a reasonable effort for a matching trio.

However, with the good comes the bad and the ugly...

After harvesting my only radish from the plot a few weeks ago (and not being overly keen on the smell or flavour), I neglected my radishes in the greenhouse, and they have wilted and run to seed. After all the effort keeping snails away, I've let them go to ruin... shameful.

My cabbage seedlings are looking decidedly anaemic... they have also had some visits from caterpillars/white fly larvae, as you can see. However, before these seedlings completely fade and die, in the next few days I will plant these out at the plot to see if they can kick on and produce anything of a decent size...

Lastly, I have just two or three fennel seedlings that have survived the lack of care and attention - I will get these planted out too. To be honest, with it now being September, it may prove too little effort too late, but again, we'll see... I did have five seedlings, but another snail put pay to two of them.

Hopefully there'll be another update from the plot soon... will be interesting to see what a week or so has done to the plants there...

One chicken, two chicken - three chicken, four?

Towards the end of last week we were getting set for new arrivals... two more chickens to add to the two we currently have...

Frankie and Jerry - residents at Fallen Towers

We bought an extension to the existing coop and run, which now gives the chickens a lot more floor space, and given that we are likely to be in the garden less and less as the nights draw in and temperatures drop, more room to scratch about without needing to be let out into the garden quite so often.

The original house (r), with the extension in the foreground

I extended the concrete bowl, already fashioned for the coop move some weeks ago, and after only a few adjustments to make the surrounding bricks more level, the run was installed and ready for the extra chooks.

Two un-named Cotswold Blacktails

They were picked up on Friday - two good-looking Cotswold Blacktails - Em and her sister Jo introduced them to the run extension, with the two existing birds in their original house (the idea being that they would get used to each other before we put them in all together).

Frankie, who is top of the pecking order, appeared to have very little issue with the two extra companions... she even appeared to come over to the mesh between them to say 'hello'. For Jerry however it was a different story...

As soon as they came out of the box and were put in the extension, Jerry 'bocked' and squawked for what must have been 5-6 hours straight. She can be a bit mother hennish, but even so, this was so loud and prolonged Em had to go to the neighbours either side to apologise and to let them know what was going on.

Jerry was getting more and more distressed, and also laid a soft egg in the middle of the run, which is most unlike her... she seemed unable to take her eyes off what I guess she must have seen as intruders, or a threat to her second position. We were prepared for a bit of pecking between them - a few squawks and flying feathers - but not this much audible and visible distress.

We're responsible pet owners, and we've given Frankie and Jerry a great life here. We wanted to do the same for these other two chickens, but we were coming to the slow realisation that unless we were willing for our own sakes (and for the neighbours) to put up with this palaver for another few days, and continue to see (and hear) Jerry in this much distress, we were going to have to take the the two new ones back... which in the end is what we did.

Our supplier very graciously refunded us, despite the contamination risk posed to the rest of her flocks (because they had been in close contact with our two hens) - the Blacktails were put in a separate run back at the farm to undergo a quarantine procedure before being sold to someone else.

Rulers of the roost

Oh well, you live and learn. We haven't ruled out adding to the brood in future, but with the loss of a chicken so recently, we weren't prepared to see our other beloved chicks come under unnecessary distress too.

If we had a farm / weren't surrounded with neighbours, and we hadn't named our chickens and treated them like pets, I think we would have just got on with the noise and let them sort it out... Jerry would I'm sure have got used to it. But for now, it remains just Frankie and Jerry.

Planting out at the plot (part 2)

Yesterday I was back out at the plot getting the beetroot planted out...

I've opted to plant them in the same place as originally planned back at the start of July. I had ten seedlings in all, of varying quality... they look good planted out though in two rows of five... just hoping that they can flourish before it gets too cold.

The picture above was taken before I covered them with copious amounts of netting - the local wildlife is apparently partial to beetroot leaves... Maggie gave up on hers earlier in the season after they were pretty much all eaten!

I also took along a few other seedlings that had grown well over the last few weeks. I was given a mixed variety of beans and peas - so, with all the naivety of Jack, I planted them to see what beanstalks would grow...

I can identify peas of course... apparently these are also on the local wildlife's most wanted list, so I wrapped them in netting too.

I also added what look like a couple of french bean seedlings on the end of the existing row of beans I have growing... probably a little young to plant out, but nothing to lose now really...

The beans planted last week have wound their way around the short canes, and don't appear to be too adversely affected by the leaf losses...

And finally, as a reward for my progress, it was time for my only radish to be harvested:

The sum of this year's plot crop thus far...

After a wash, it was quite a dark colour... it also smelled like sweaty feet - not the most appetising odour...!

The radishes I planted in year one of my grow your own adventure were sweet and crunchy... I did a taste test of this one, and boy was it hot! My tongue was on fire, and my mouth ulcer was raging...!

If the French have these for breakfast, goodness knows what they eat the rest of the day long!

Part three to follow soon - more radish(!), and some fennel and cabbage seedlings...

Planting out at the plot (part 1)

It's been nearly a month since I've been over to my plot in my friend's garden, and this morning before work I went over to get my dwarf bean plants into the ground. This was my view upon arrival: 

Almost none of this greenery is intentional...

Quite frankly, a brazen offence to the world of allotmenteering. I would be embarrassed, but there just isn't the time! The only encouragement I can garner from this is that things will grow and grow well if only the slugs and snails gave them a chance!

A reminder of how it used to look (*blush*)

Well, there was no time for a pity party - I had 45 minutes to plant four plants, which was achievable. I'd got prepared - the plants had grown their second sets of leaves, and were starting to produce the stem growth which would wind itself up the canes.

Unfortunately, between getting the plants out of the greenhouse, leaving them out overnight during an unusually windy August evening, transporting them in the car, and then perhaps also being a bit cack-handed (I am left-handed, so that is a true definition!), some of the large primary leaves were either broken or falling off. In fact, in the next picture, you can see one upturned leaf already fallen to the floor... gutted.

Still, pressing on, and with the four plants in the ground, up went the canes. A few minutes later, having seen just how much the gusts of wind were moving the plants, I added some short canes too so that the plants would have something to gain immediate support from.

I'm just hoping now for the plants that have lost some leaves that they will quickly settle in, and given a chance, produce some beans at the end of it.

So, one of those mornings that should be exciting, but just ends up tinged with mild disappointment... if only there was something, anything growing on the plot that would give me some hope...

But wait... is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's a radish!:

I'm not sure how this one survived, but survive it did! I've not picked and eaten it yet - I think I'll savour the fact that I've intentionally grown something on the plot just a little bit longer...

In the next part of this thrilling series (ahem), I will be planting out the beetroot and fennel...