Chop Suey Greens

Always on the look out for new flavours of vegetation,  this year we've splashed out on some Demeter (biodynamic) seeds called Chop Suey Greens or Green Shungiku.
Apparently they like a shady spot and grow to 12" (30cms) tall when you can harvest them back to 2" (5cms) for soups or salads or anything you would do with spinach.
We planted them out small after hardening them off for a couple of weeks because we were running short of pots but they are very forgiving and you can still plant out when they are almost fully grown.
Beware though, don't let the delightful daisy-like flowers bloom as this will turn the edible stems and leaves bitter.

also be hypervigilent against slugs as they too find chop suey greens very tasty, we've used raw sheep's fleece to deter even the hungriest field slugs from trying it on.

Final update: Despite heavy losses due to slugs ignoring any advice against raw sheep wool. Which involved picking them off after dark! We managed to get the greens to grow big enough to harvest.  Did this early this sunny morning to give them some recovery time before the munching monsters of the dark arrive back! 

Poo processing palace

Unsurprisingly the new loo has generated a lot of poo! In order to process this we have  constructed a tree bog composter.
First digging down gently into the roots of the huge sycamore behind the she'd then constructing a rodent proof cylinder to sit in the hole.

Next we have dug turfs from around our veg garden (to cut down on slug habitat) and built them around the mesh cylinder.

We watered the turf in situ to keep them alive, hoping that they knit together and maintain a healthy aerobic aromatic environment while the poo is breaking down. For the tree too this means that the poo is broken down by worms who carry the nutrients where they are needed then the tree can grow towards the rich food source, following their trail.
Finally it is a gorgeous green teddy-bear ready and able to accept our donations as we return what we borrowed from the land.