COTTAGE ECONOMY

Demons emerge

2009-08-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

Within a few days of those eggs being spotted they emerged into these little chaps, soon to devour a cabbage in a single day and treble in size. Ready to move onto the next meal. Im afraid i didnt leave them on there any longer so you could see the adult munchers as i think we have all met the Cabbage White Caterpillar.

Blooming Marvelous

2009-08-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

These little eggs may seem delicate and not worth worrying about on the veg plot but BEWARE !

I cannot resist planting plowers amongst my veggies and Marigolds are without doubt my favourite. The Pot Marigold petals are used in salads, as are Borage and Chives, so are not just pretty but tasty too.

2009-08-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

I just love these little darlings, pink shallots, preserving is in full swing now with all the kitchen garden produce coming in by the trug load and these beauties will be divided between saving for cooking and Sweet and Sour Pickled Onions. I am also growing some Paris Silverskins for pickling which are not quite reading yet. Our main crop Onions are finishing off under glass so that they will store all winter.

kitchen garden update

2009-07-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is the best time of year on the veg plot with vegetables and fruit being picked in profusion. Its fantastic when every meal you sit down to is made from your own home grown produce. The soft fruit is especially good this year, these Redcurrants coming from just one bush ! We have picked 3 types of Gooseberries (May Duke still to pick), all our Redcurrants, 2 Blackcurrant bushes (2 more to go), and are still picking summer Raspberries Tullameen by the bucketful. I only wish our top fruit was as good this year but alas our trees were devasted by EVIL catepillars of the winter moth. They munched their way throught both leaves and flowers of all our trees and left us with only a handfull. The organic handbook will be hidden next year in favour of spraying the blighters.

On the veggie side of things were are harvesting Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, French Beans, Courgettes, Spinach, Cabbage, Salads and Onions. Asparagus was delicious while it lasted and runner beans are in full flower.

More soon now im back in the chair...... good gardening x

summer fayre

2009-07-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Its been some weeks since my last blog. Life has a way of dropping a bomb on your happy world and everything gets mixed up in the fall out, something has to give while you sort your life out again and for me it was the blog. So to start off again on a cheery note i thought a pic of our stall at the local show would get me in the mood. Food is always a comfort !

Our local shows have all been well supported despite the credit crunch, sunshine and good fortune smiled on us and we have met some lovely people. What more could you ask for !

Poppy Power

2009-05-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Couldnt let today go by without showing you a picture of my favourite Poppy - Mecanopsis Cambrica - The Welsh Poppy. Yes, i know they are not rare but they are just simply beautiful. I guess they have added meaning to me as my grandmother always had them in her garden. As a small child is was a fascinating place, with self seeded plants in every nook and cranny, and chickens at the bottom of the garden. Cabbages rubbed shoulders with Roses and Blackcuarrants with Onions. It was a true cottage garden. Her apple trees were nameless delights and her wall trained Japonica provided the fuit for the most amazing Quince Jelly.

VISITORS

2009-05-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

This gorgeous duck family are the first we have seen this year. Mum has kept them well hidden and still has 5 if you can see them all. We always throw some mixed corn under the bird table for passing Ducks but recently we have only had Pheasants visiting. We have 2 Swallow families nesting in the outbuildings this year and we have not got round to counting the House Martins under the eaves. We are thrilled each year with the amount and variety of birds nesting in the garden. Every one is a treasure to behold.

A BIG THANKYOU

2009-05-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

I must start tonights blog with a VERY big THANKYOU to Karon at Dream Acres for the wonderful gift i received. This delightful scented Key Ring will take pride of place at home. Karons goodies are all hand made originals from her home in Scotland, and her Dream Country Chat blog is addictive.

Green Fingers

2009-05-15T11:43:00.001-07:00

I have been delveing into my family history, on and off, for a while now and having searched the photos i believe this to be my Great Grandma Emily. Having seen the size of this sunflower I am desperately hoping that her green fingers have passed to me. I adore gardening and have visited many gardens, but never have i seen such an emormous specimen. A positive Triffid! It looks like she had an amazing garden and possibly some hens so we have that in common too.

My Silver Grey Dorking who has gone broody is now sitting tightly on a clutch of Bantam Wyandotte eggs. The cockeral is a Buff and his girlfriends are Buff, Pencilled, and Silver Laced (otherwise known as Buffy, HB, and Coco), so im hoping for a selection of chicks. Its her first time going broody so fingers crossed that she is a good mum.

natures bounty

2009-05-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Its hard to imagine a more spectacular time in the countryside when you see woodland filled with Bluebells. Even the hedgerow surrounding the Kitchen Garden is filled with their nodding blue heads. And the fragrance ! ! it just cannot be surpassed. OK, so seedlings of other native plants drift into the garden, so what ! One mans weeds are another mans compost. And if they didnt germinate it would not say much for the quality of our soil.

Talking of soil, we have ousted the Globe Artichokes from their raised bed and moved them elsewhere, and are now re-jeuvenating the soil. Mr Mole kindly decided to dig most of it our last year and the bed has become very low so we are taking the opportunity to incorporate well rotted manure and leafmold by the barrowfull. This will be home to some unusual squashes this year. More about them later.

2009-05-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

The large container is our Cider and the Demijon belongs to a friend who is trying home cider making for the first time. We all got together last Autumn and shared in the crushing and pressing of the apples. He then left his Apple juice with us to ferment.

spring flowers and May showers

2009-05-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Its been some time since my last blog, i guess im better at reading others than writing my own!

So whats happening in the kitchen garden? "Everything " would seem the accurate answer, with seedlings popping up everywhere and the greenhouse bursting at the seams. We started cutting Asparagus on 27th April, just a couple of days after the Swallows arrived. Most of the fruit trees have finished blooming and baby Gooseberries and Redcurrants can be seen in the fruit cage. The vegetable beds look somewhat barran but, as we grow most crops in Cell Trays, this will soon change. Magical instant gardening ! Our Happy hens are still laying well, except for one Silver Grey Dorking who has gone broody. We will be moving her to a little ark and setting a clutch of eggs under her. The first Cuckoo was heard on 24th April so the Cider needs syphoning off into bottles ready for those hot summer nights which (after last year !) we are long overdue for.

Welcome to April

2009-04-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

What a great week we are having, this weather has meant we have been able to catch up on a lot of things on our smallholding. Seed sowing has been in ernest. Raised beds are nearly all cultivated ready for planting to begin. Fruit cage has new Raspberries planted, all ties on bushes have been renewed, organic feed has been applied along with compost. And last but not least our happy band of Chickens are laying eggs by the bucket load. Hooray for Spring

Fragile Blooms

2009-03-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

The fragility of delicate spring flowers never ceases to amaze me. After a few days of sunshine last week the garden is ablaze with colour, including these little beauties which have emerged from no where. Not planted by us but a very welcome addition to the spring show. But this week has changed things completely, rain, wind, sleet, we have had it all. Yet through it all the blooms manage to survive, they are simply amazing.

Daffodills are a special sping flower for me as i carried a bouquet of them on my wedding day, nearly 22 years ago. How the seasons change, on that day in mid April they were the only flower to be seen in our local park where the photos were taken. But today we have Camelia, Cherry, Forsythia, Pulmonaria, Tulips, Muscari, and even a Rhododendron opening its buds. But its still the daffodills that i am picking for the house.

2009-03-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

I adore Hellebores but they are such shy flowers, hiding their beauty from all but the Bees. Floating their upturned blooms in a bowl of water is the best way i know of appreciating their diverse colouring.

Our first Daffodils have opened this week a variety called Little Witch, closely followed by Tete a Tete, whilst many others are teasing us with just a hint of colour showing. We caught a glimpse of Long Tailed Tits building a nest in the old native hedgerow and the Blue Tits have been inspecting last years nesting holes. Isnt Spring wonderful !

SPRING IS HERE

2009-03-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

At last !

Its amazing how much has changed in the garden given a few dys of sunshine. This is my first sight of a Honey Bee this year. Cant blame them for keeing their wings dry. Its hard to imagine how they can fly with those pollen sacks on their legs so heavily laden. The crocus were also full of Bumble Bees looking decidedly drunken! I know this spring sun has cheared me up enormously. Its been hard to get in the mood for seed sowing when the ground is covered in snow but now there is no stopping me.

a thief amongst us !

2009-02-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

I just could not resist taking a pic of this little thief helping himself from my friends compost bucket. His artful antics kept us amused for some time and who could begrudge him his rich pickings. His chums were on our hit list last summer after damaging our fruit cage and trashing the raspberry canes. They then systematically stole all our cordon apples. However, this little chap lives some distance from our smallholding so the only crime he is guilty of is time wasting! He has reminded me that i have a lot of netting repairs to carry out before the season realy gets started, hmm. . . not my kind of fun, rather be weeding or sowing any day.

Multi Coloured Egg Box

2009-02-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

Here are my beautiful blue eggs, along with those from my other hens, arent they delightful. Its these little things in life that perk up my days. Like yesterday, walking in the woods we saw a stoat. He/she was probably in pursuit of lunch as the rabbit burrows were close by. Alas the camera was in the car, all nice and warm but useless. We stood quietly for some time watching his antics, it was fantastic, just 15ft or so from us. They are such agile creatures. We are hoping the stoat family are living in the same bramble bush as last year, from which we were able to watch the fun and games of their young. Heres hoping!

A NEW START

2009-02-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

What a great day to start blogging, the sun is glorious after the past weaks of snow and rain. Perhaps Spring is not so far around the corner after all! Our wonderful bantam Wyandottes are coming back into lay and we recently discovered that a couple of our new Dorkings lay beautiful blue/green eggs, unlike their palls who are all white egg layers. Im over the moon, i have always wanted a selection of coloured eggs, reminiscent of those my grandma used to have.

All the kitchen garden seeds are sorted and ready for sowing, whilst seed potatoes purchased at Hampshire Potato Day are layed out neatly and beginning to chit. This is such an exciting time of year, a new season awaits with everything poised to burst into bud, and the garden positively beckoning us to start sowing. Meanwhile i shall get on in the kitchen, making yet more Marmalade before the Seville Oranges leave the Veg Shop.