the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

This year's menu

Where does the time go? I can't believe it's nearly May already, and most of our fruit and veg is well underway. This year I've more than doubled the size of the raised beds, by incorporating one of the pig pens into the veg garden. Strangely enough this hasn't seemed to double the effort required, and for the first time ever I feel almost in control of the veg growing... (Now just wait for some sort of disaster to befall me!)

So, we've got in the ground, or to shortly appear in the ground:

• Garlic, growing nicely. This is actually elephant garlic that we bought as a head from Edinburgh Farmers' Market in December, so we'll see how it goes.
• Shallots, also growing nicely, and again a new variety this year.
• Onion sets, red and yellow, which have shot up the past couple of weeks.
• Spring onions, in the onion bed and sown between the peas.
• Peas - Greenshaft and Sugar Pea Norli, the latter a mangetout.
• First lot of carrots just sown, Nantes 2 and Autumn King I think.
• Calabrese, sown in the greenhouse and planted out this weekend under fleece, where they will remain until harvest. I'm determined to successfully grow some brassicas this year, and the fleece is the answer I think....
• Cabbages (Holsteiner Platter) sown in the greenhouse, should be ready for planting out in a week or two.
• Parsnips, Tender & True, sown and just starting to show.
• Beetroot, Libero RZ in the ground and showing, we've also got some long ones to sow soon.
• Spuds, lots of Red Duke of York, and a few Pink Fir Apple, Maris Peer and Robinta, the latter two new to us this year.
• Tomatoes Super Sweet 100 potted on this weekend to their final big pots.
• Courgettes, sown in the greenhouse and gorwing nicely - Defender and Nero.
• Sweetcorn sown this weekend in the greenhouse and already sprouting thanks to the April sunshine.
• Loads of lettuces, in the greenhouse and planted into sinks outside - Little Gem, Rocket, Saladini, Frisby, amongst others.

Still to come are runner beans and drying beans, and a few other bits and pieces (I might try fennel again since I've got the seed and failed last year). This year I've abandoned the soil blocks and have sown straight into shop-bought seed compost in small pots. The germination rates have been excellent, and it's proved to be a time saver too. I'm sure there would be benefits to using a blocker when sowing and planting out large quantities, but this year has definitely been easier without them.

Humboldt Hens

We're just back from a fantastic week in the beautiful island of Madeira (more on that later), but waiting in my mailbox was a note from worm guru Amy Stewart with the great news that she and Scott have become proud parents..... of four hens!

They're charting their progress at Humboldt Hens, well worth keeping an eye on. Careful though guys, they'll decimate your worms if they get the chance!

Digging at dawn

How's this for dedication? For the last two mornings, Dan has been out in the garden digging at 6.30am!!

The potatoes really needed to be planted and the weather is a bit unpredictable, so Dan's been taking advantage of the conditions over the last few days to prepare an additional potato bed for the Robinta and the Pink Fir Apple.

He's got all the Red Duke of York planted in the vegetable garden but there wasn't room for the other varieties, so another area has had to be prepared. It had potatoes on it four seasons ago so it should be OK to use again.

I'm sure it will be worth his dedication!