Cloches become tea feeders

July 2020: the pumpkins have all been planted outside now and we are using the plastic water container cloches, inverted and dug in, as 'tea' feeders.  Using a dilution of water to tea of 3 to 1. The tea is made of equal quantities of Nettle, Comfrey and Borage (steeped till stinky in an old water butt) which we will feed every other day till the end of August to give the plants maximum support to produce big fruit. Being around all summer will hopefully reap some food rewards for the winter ahead.

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.

Lockdown woodshed project

The old woodshed was falling down and an ungainly crawl to grab logs in the depths of winter, SO....the lockdown seemed a good time to get to work building a new one with a dedicated compost loo on the side! 

Once everything was hauled out the new location and size was laid out in timber

Then the first part, a recycled door frame from another project was added

 

Some side struts then rat-proof mesh laid under the floor of the loo

Buying timber was impossible due to the lockdown so it had to be begged and borrowed and picked out of the fire pile

Suddenly the shapes were appearing that looked like a building

The back was recycled metal sheets coming from a local horsebox conversion

Our window had to receive extreme renovation and a lot of putty.

Then sunshine smiled and the plan was really coming together

We still have doors and loo seats to build but its looking remarkably like the prettiest woodshed ever! 

Predators!

SO angry with myself right now, having planted a whole packet of my posh seeds in time with the new moon the mice have eaten every single one overnight, now I will have to wait a whole month before I can plant again!  Hungry mice in spring time can devastate a crop, even with the polytunnel open for the cat and catnip spread everywhere.

In praise of the Brassica

 This early springtime with our seedlings only just hardening off is often called the hungry gap. As well as foraging for wild garlic, sweet cicely, and ground elder, nothing fills the hungry gap like the cabbage family with broccoli, kale and spring greens. Going out to the patch to pick these purple lovelies is a really good way to add even more vitamins to any foraged salad bowl. Way better than a bunch of flowers!

First spring of the new world!

Following the deadly spread of covid 19 virus growing your own food just went from a hobby to a way of life for the food emergency that is bound to come so....without being anymore post apocalyptic about it.....Today the polytunnel got a soil conditioning treat with chicken manure pellets and then some nicely rotted straw on top. With the seedlings safely out of the way from any slug predators!