the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Mr Toad

We've sort of put in a pond - well, it's in but not filled or planted up yet (maybe this weekend!). That hasn't stopped Mr Toad moving in, though. We first saw him a couple of weeks ago - we thought he was dead but I think he was just cold. However, I caught him sunbathing the other day.

He's not handsome, but I rather like him. Just hope he manages to stay clear of the destructo-hens!

First tidy

Dan offered himself to me for half an hour today! So I sent him to cut back the buddleia and prune the roses. Hey ho, we've been together a long time, now!

It's been rather nice here this weekend. Due to other commitments, I didn't get in the garden yesterday, but I was out for a couple of hours this afternoon. Mostly, I was pottering, cutting back some of the dead vegetation and sweeping up, but it all looked much better afterwards.

Dan came round with the secuteurs to do the buddleia but had to go back for the loppers. I didn't cut it back last year, so it was pretty tough. I'm hoping to move some plants around in the spring - I'm not the best picker of plants and I hate throwing anything out, so I end up with odd combinations. Some of the plants in the courtyard need more sun or are too big for where they are, so they will need moved too.

It was just so nice to be out without a jacket on, and get a bit of sun. The fields are much drier, although the BBC is forecasting heavy snow for tomorrow. It won't lie though, so we'll be back to mud. But it was good to see the bulbs coming up - Spring is just around the corner!

Nest box maintenance

One of my jobs over the weekend was to check and clean our three bird nest boxes. We've had one of them up a few years now, and the others only a year or two. Although there's plenty of hedgerow and woodland in the area it's nice to provide a place for them to nest, and gives us a great opportunity to observe them every day.

Two of the three had been occupied this year. The third isn't well-sited facing as it does into the prevailing wind. There's a hedge just a few yards in front of it, which I hoped would prove to be enough of a windbreak, but it doesn't seem so. I'll move it now to a more suitable location.

Nest boxes should be between 10-20 feet from the ground, facing away from the prevailing weather and out of reach of any curious or malicious cats. They should be well-cleaned every year, in early winter, to get rid of any lingering parasites and to remove any unhatched eggs and old nest material. A dowse with boiling water does the trick and makes sure that any drain holes aren't blocked. As can be seen from this photograph our hens support the wild bird population too, by supplying top quality nest-making material!

I'll put our boxes back out next weekend once they've dried thoroughly - they provide a good roosting spot for birds in winter when the weather can be wild. This also gives them a good opportunity to recognise the box as a possible site for a nest in the spring. The golden rule is to never disturb your nest boxes between late January and October - just watch and enjoy.

If you're looking to buy a nest box Garden Birds have an excellent selection.

Mountains of poo

I'm trying realy hard to stick to my regime of cleaning the horse pasture. Four barrowloads on Saturday, same on Sunday and two today. I almost cried with relief when Chris said he'd be taking his three in at night soon. All bar two of the ten barrowloads went on to our garden - I know we'll have weeds but I hope that the hens will clear out at least some of the weed seeds. They certainly love the muck and do a brilliant job of breaking it down.

An article in the local rag this week gave me an idea, though. The article was about Tillicoultry Allotment Society getting planning permission to build a car park and fence in the allotments. It's been a real success story. The area used to be really run down but a new committee has transformed it - all 42 plots are taken and there is a waiting list of 19. Anyway, the article gave the Secretary's phone number so I gave him a call and he's coming down on Thursday with some others to get some horse dung for the allotments. The deal is they shovel it into the trailer and we deliver it. Sounds good to me!

Courtyard garden

The courtyard garden has been an ongoing project for a couple of years (see entries from March 2005 and May 2006, Dan). It's an area to the west of the house that was slabbed but got a bit overgrown. I decided to turn it into a secluded courtyard garden, with a green and white theme. I lifted three areas of slabs to create flower beds.

The west boundary is hawthorn hedge, the east is the house wall, the north and south boundaries are fences on which white flowered climbers (Russian vine, which is a thug but gives the lush barrier I wanted, honeysuckle and a beautiful white flowered clematis called "Elizabeth".

The other plants are white flowered, mainly, and there is a water feature, although the sound of the pump kind of overwhelms the sound of the water - I think it needs some attention!

I like the courtyard, although I don't have time to sit in it a much as I hoped. Yet!

It will need some attention this year as some of the plants need moved and split, but hopefully I'll have more beds this year to split them into. But that's another story!

The breakfast patio

The fence round the breakfast patio is now complete. It's on the east side of the house and gets the morning sun, and is awfully nice to take breakfast on, hence the name.

Here, I keep my herbs, a lovely lilac bush and, for now at least, some pots of lavender (Hidcote). It's also home to tomatoes and cucumber, and has the "three sisters bed" to one side. The runner beans are off and running (pardon the pun) and the courgettes, marrows and sweetcorn all seem fine, although some of the sweetcorn will get a feed of comfrey tomorrow. I'm waiting for the last frost before I put out the squashes and pumpkins!

Much as I love the hens, it's nice to be able to sit there without scraping poo off the bench and table.

Busy gardening weekend

We've had a busy weekend in the garden. Dan's done loads of grass cutting; thinned the swede; dug out the asparagus, since neither of us like it much; trimmed some rampant plants - hydrangea, ivy and comfrey. I've planted bedding plants, weeded endlessly; worried the brassicas (which need planted out or potted on but certainly need something.) It doesn't look like much written down, but seemed like loads when we were doing it!

We've also been working on the "three sisters" bed. Dan's dad is constructing a fence round the bed and the patio - hopefully, it will be finished tomorrow. Mainly, it's to keep the hens out. Not only do I get fed up scraping hen poo off the table and bench, it also allows us to use the patio for outdoor tomatoes, cucumber and herbs, without the hens feasting on them. The "three sisters" bed now has two courgettes, two marrows, runner beans and sweetcorn in. The squashes and pumpkins are in the greenhouse until the last frost is passed (how do you know?). We'll see how it goes - should look nice, anyway.

The orchard is looking well - we've had pears set this year, for the first time. There are loads of cherries on the Morello and a good few on the Stella, but unless we net them, the birds will get them. The Victoria plum has loads of fruit on one side (?) and the plum Opal has set fruit for the first time. The apples are covered in fruit, but will shed a lot before harvest.

We've got gooseberries almost ripe and strawberries on the plants in tubs and loads of flowers on the ones in the bed. The rapsberries and blackcurrants are covered in fruit - and I've still got jars of blackcurrant jam from last year. Can't wait to get started again!

The beetroot looks OK - we've only got one jar left from last year, so the timing is good. I wish I could remember how much I pickled last year. But I also love beetroot roasted, so there's competition for use this year.

Finally, our peas and beans are very poor. We've decided not to grow any for the next two seasons, to see if we can starve out the weevils. You win some, you lose some, I suppose.

Peas and beans and other seeds

I sowed some more seeds this weekend - cucumber "Rocky F1", pepper "Marconi Rossa", pease "Greenshaft" and broad beans "Aquadulce Claudia" - plus some salad (which is already sprouting two days later).

I'm particularly pleased with the peas and beans. We lost a major part of the crop last year to pea and bean weevil so I'm starting under glass this year. I've sown into guttering, cut to the length of the raised bed, so the transplanting will be a case of sliding the seedlings straight into the bed, in the existing compost.

Dan built me a frame to hold the guttering - it's just to have more holders fitted once I've been to the builders' merchants. I think it will hold 10 lengths of guttering, which will be enough to get on with. I will direct sow peas and beans later in the year, but hopefully this will get them off to a flying start.

Black gold

We've finally managed to get hold of some manure. It's a bit last, but better that than never.

It's come from two sources - the farmer next door very kindly gave us a bucketload in return for some pork and some bacon. It's lovely manure - really black and rotted. Young Dougie, his younger son (who's an awfully nice lad), delivered it on Sunday. Now we have to get it on the garden.

We also managed to get two trailer loads from Jellyholm Farm. I saw the heap when walking the dogs, so asked the farmer if we could have some. He agreed for a small fee), so Dan's Dad and I dug out two trailer loads on Sunday, one for us, one for him. We're also "cleared" to get manure from a livery yard where a friend's daughter keeps her pony. If it's not so well rotted, we can lay it down for the autumn.

Lastly, we're going to "poo pick" Smokey's field this year and lay it down for the autumn (or maybe next autumn 2008 - got to plan in advance!!).

Hard work, this gardening lark.

Orchard day

Despite, the cold, wet and windy weather, Dan and I decided to do some work in the orchard today. We weeded round the trees, limed where required (an opportunity to use my pH meter), fertilized and mulched. Dan pruned the apple and pear trees. Once we were working, it wasn't so bad and we had a great feeling of satisfaction when we'd finished. The hedge needs trimmed, but that's for another day.

We also forked over the comfrey bed, limed and added some compost from our bins. The bed was pretty panned, mostly because the hens use it as a rest and relaxation area. The comfrey is important to us, so we need to look after it.

One of our New Year resolutions is to manage the compost bins better. We have five but tend to add stuff in no particular system, so we have all the bins half rotted with new material on top. We also find that the hemp that we add from the hen ark is quite dry and absorbent, so it will have to be dampened when it's added.Dan did some rationalisation today and we've all to work to the rules!!

Hopefully, our manure will arrive in the next couple of days. Better late than never. And we're determined to poo pick in the horses' field regularly this year, so that we have plenty organic matter for the garden next year.

Busy day

It has been the loveliest day here - dry, sunny, blue sky, a bit of a breeze. Out of the wind and in the sun, it was quite warm. So we've taken advantage of it and worked all day in the garden - thank goodness the days are still short! Don't know about Dan, but I can feel a few muscles aching already.

We finished cleaning the glass in the greenhouse. We did about half a few weeks ago - one of the panes "exploded" and it's taken us until today to get a replacement. Dan went off to Stirling to get it, and the lawnmower, which has been in for a service, and some bark, lime and bone meal. Anyway, he must have been almost at our road end coming home when...another one shattered! So we still need a pane of glass. The inside of the greenhouse needs cleaned out now - maybe tomorrow.

We then moved on to the soft fruit. Dan moved the blackberry and planted in the wilds of our hedge. It was crowding the blackcurrants and, to be honest, there's any amount of wild blackberries in the autumn. I hoed the bed and Dan pruned the gooseberries and the blackcurrants. Some of the raspberries need tied in but I didn't get to that. We also had our first shot of the pH meter. The fruit bed was pretty OK, but the raspberries will need a little lime, especially when we'll be putting manure on shortly.

Dan cut down the asparagus ferns and I hoed the bed, helped by the hens. then we tidied up the bed with the strawberries, red and white currants. Some of the strawberries had dead flowers on them - with the mild weather we had in autumn, they started to flower in November again.

Then it was a quick tidy round, sweep up and stand back and admire! Soon be time to start planting again in earnest. Now where's my planting plan...

New gadget

Now, I would always claim to be impervious to gadgets, but it's not really true. So, I have to confess to having a new gadget - a pH meter. Now, those of you who are experienced gardeners might be shocked, nay, horrified, that we haven't invested in this piece of equipment before, but there you go.

I've always suspected that our soil is too acid for some of out crops to grow as well as they could and now I have the technology (costing about a fiver) to confirm this (or not).

So I expect to be liming this season and, in response, getting bumper crops.

If it ever dries up enough to get outside without flippers on...

Spring clean

Spring is maybe a bit optimistic, but I tidied up the shed a bit today and Dan and I started cleaning the greenhouse. We've never done it before but it was looking distinctly green at the end of the summer, so this has been on the "To Do" list for some time.

It was wet and windy first thing but about 10am, the wind dropped and the sun came out. I swept up the courtyard garden and pulled a few weeds, then we started on the greenhouse. To be honest, it wasn't as bad a job as I imagined and it's always easier with two. We've done just over half and might have done more, but as we finished the door, the wind got up again and the rain came on so that seemed like a good time to stop. Also, one of the glazed panels shattered - just like that! So Dan's gone off to try to get a new one.

Looking out the window, the Ochil Hills are black at the top but bathed in sunshine from halfway down.

I think I'll finish the planting plan...

The Courtyard Garden

When we first moved here, there was a pretty scruffy area on the west side of the cottage. It had been a vehicle entrance for one of the cottages and it ran betwen a hawthorn hedge and the house. In due course, we had a wooden ranch fence built at the north end and the area slabbed in grey York stone.

A couple of years ago, I decided to do something with it and make it into a courtyard garden. We put a trellis fence at the south end and lifted some slabs to create a small bed with a pebble pond. We planted climbers on the trellis and the ranch fence, planted up the small bed and lots of pots. All the planting was green and white. I never got round to buying any furniture for it.

We decided to do a bit of work on it over the last couple of weekends. We cleaned out the pond and lifted more slabs to create another two beds. It's been planted up over the last week and we're rather pleased with it. I have left three pots in it, all planted with white lilies, which are beautifully fragrant. I was worried that if I moved them, they might at best not flower and at worst, die. Although I bought some new plants, mainly hardy perennials, I did plant out a number of the plants that were in the pots. I'm sure they are grateful - I'm not very good at pots and don't water them regularly enough.

Some of the plants we have included are: Digitalis Albino, Aquilegia Spring Magic White, Spiraea Bridal Wreath (we have one of these in the courtyard already and it is so beautiful just now), Chrysathemum Silver Princess, Anemone Honorine Joubert, Centranthus albus, Solomon's Seal, Lupin Noble Maiden, Geranium clarkei Kashmir White, white drumstick primula. There is lso a white fuchsia called "Hawkshead", which I had in a pot last year, Hebe Baby Marie, a couple of hostas, and Dicentra alba.

We've excluded the hens, who can destroy an area in a jiffy. They do like a hosta!! I've also seen a table and chairs that look just right, so they will be arriving soon.

We'll just have to see how it goes now, but I'm hopeful that it will be rather lovely in the summer, so we can relax there, with the scent of lilies, a G&T and the soothing sound of trickling water.

Effortless gardening

This week I've achieved so much - sown loads of salad, herb and tomato seeds, lifted piles of parsnips and leeks, moved compost bins, planted out strawberries, weeded beds, bought straw for our incoming pigs, and plenty more I don't even know about. And worked a 40 hour week. And never had my wellies on once.

The secret? Write a list on a Sunday night, give it to your wife (who now happens to take school holidays due to childcare arrangements) and by the following Friday, with a bit of luck, it's all done! Who said this gardening lark was hard work?

Poo picking

We got the first results of the poo picking home today. Those of you with horses will know what poo picking is. For the rest of you, poo picking is the manual (in gloves) removal of piles of poo from your horse's field. This strange equestrian pastime is done to keep the grazing clean and to prevent the spread of intestinal worms.

Smokey and his buddies, Willock, Barney and Wallace, occupy quite a small area of grass. This is because they are all native ponies and can live on fresh air. Too much grass and they get fat. Fast. Now each horse poos about 10 times a day. So the grazing gets dirty pretty quick. Horses avoid grazing areas where poo is lying, so the grass (and weeds) grows long there and gets overgrazed elsewhere. The field is then said to be "horse sick". It's bad management to let your field get like this.

So the owners of the four horses above poo pick. We left it quite late to start but we're doing well and the field looks pretty clean now. Dan and I have taken advantage of this by taking our wee trailer up to the field and leaving it there. As we poo pick into a portable box, we empty the box into the trailer. It saves us having to take a wheelbarrow back and forward to the yard and Dana nd I get the poo for the garden.

Dan's Dad brought the trailer home today and will take it back tomorrow. Dan put some of the poo on the raspberries and the rest in a pile to "mature". It has caused lots of interest for the hens and provided a plaything for Tess, who has been selecting choice balls of poo to throw around the garden. Hopefully, the raspberries will benefit too.

The rise of the Under Gardener

Dan's in London for a couple of days, so I'm, notionally at least, in charge. In case I get bored, Dan's left me a "To Do" list.

So tonight I had two and a half lovely hours in the garden. Gardening in our place is not a solitary occupation. Tess generally goes off and does her own thing, but Meg will be throwing you her ball (and barking at you if you don't throw it back), Cassius will be supervising all you do, the hens will be chooking about in case you dig up a worm or a bug or two. And the midges eat you.

I did a bit of weeding, some sweeping up, which is always therapeutic, and I started work on the orchard. Now, I haven't finished the book yet but I decided (actually, it was on my "To Do" list) to clear away the weeds, top dress with bone meal and renew the mulch around each tree. This was also an opportunity to repair the damage the sheep have done to the rabbit / hen guards. I managed to get five (out of 14) completed and two partly done, before I ran out of bone meal. I will complete this job on Friday, weather permitting.

Tomorrow morning, I will have the watering to do - it's been very warm here today and I think it is a good forecast for tomorrow. Dan usually does an hour in the garden before going to work, which keeps on top of most things apart from the weeds. The good weather also means the grass has started growing - I love when the lawn is new mown but the task can bet just a wee bit repetitive.

So, I'd better get off to bed - I'll have to be up at first light to get everything done! Come home, Head Gardener!

Holiday (?) Weekend

As usual, the weather for the May Holiday has ben somewhat changeable. Saturday was lovely, Sunday was pretty rainy and today (Monday) has been changeable. I rode in the rain this morning, walked the dogs in a mixture ofsun and showers and hung the washing out in warm sunshine.

The weather meant we didn't get the grass cut. Nevermind, it's long clear now!

I've been working away on the courtyard garden. So far, I'm quite pelased with it. I still have to find a table and chairs -I'd like blue wood or a blue mosaic small round table and a couple of chairs.

I've also been clearing out the bed under the kitchen window, ready for replanting. It's quite a small bed, besie the patio on the sout east side of the house. It gets a lot of sun in the morning. Sometimes, I like to have breakfast there.

The bed was supposed to have a blue and yellow theme. The bed is edged with a lavender hedge on two sides, which I like, but I planted a yellow rose in the bed and it was miles too tall and looked daft. There is also a lovely honeysuckle, some crocosmia, lilac drumstick primula, catmint, rosemary and sage whoch are fine. So the rose has been moved and the bed thouroughly (I hope) weeded.

In the greenhouse are growing delphiniums, various blue and white campanula and white agerathemums. I bought these mail order as plug planes and have potted them on. When they are planted out, the bed will have to be netted to protect them from "destructohens".

I can't decide whether to go for blue and white, blue and yellow or blue, white and yellow. This gardening is so HARD! I suppose the best thing is to wait and see what survives my tender care - no doubt Mother Nature will guide me!

The Courtyard Garden

This is my new(ish) project. We have a small slabbed area on the west end of the house. It faces South and gets a reasonable amount os sun, particularly in the afternoon. It is enclosed on three sides, by a hedge (west), a high fence (North) and the house (East). It was pretty grotty, although it was slabbed with quite nice Yorkstone.

Last year, we decided to turn it into a courtyard garden. The idea is that this will be a quiet area for relaxing in with a G&T, after the rigours of the day.

We put up a screen on the south side and lifted a few slabs to make a small bed into which was put a small water feature. This year, I've resumed work on it.

The planting will be green and white, with fragrance. I have five climbers in already: white clematis "Duchess of Edinburgh" and a white honeysuckle "Lonicera japonica Halliana" and another three whose names I can't remember. Two of the three planted last year look a bit sad - the predations of the hens and various sheep haven't helped. Still, they've had a dose of comfrey liquid, so hopefully they'll come away.

I'm using mainly containers, although I might lift a couple more slabs to make another bed. I'm waiting for a delivery of "Muscadet" oriental lilies, "Hawkshead" fuschia and white container geraniums called "Blizzard". We bought a few more containers last week, so it looks less empty.

We do need to get a table and chairs. I know what I would like but I haven't seen it yet.

Dan's putting on a few before and during photographs, all from 2004. We'll put on some from this year as work progresses.

Busy weekend

The weather has been quite kind this weekend, so we've ben able to get some jobs done outside.

We (actually Dan) planted some daffodil and narcissus bulbs in the lawn, which should naturalise over the years. B&Q had bags of bulbs on special one day when I was in, so I bought a number of bags! Actually, they didn't go as far as I expected.

Dan also started to take down the fence between the vegetable garden and the original pig pen. All the spars and the wire have been removed, with the posts remaining. Given the approaching festive season, they aren't likely to be taken out until January. It won't be that easy as they are WELL concreted in. This will clear the way for the extended raised vegetable beds. Four of the existing beds will be extended and a new strawberry bed established.

We've pretty much got our seed order ready to go. We just have to decide what we're going to do with the two pig pens, in terms of reseeding. It really depends on whether we are going to have pigs next year. They aren't much work and the pork, bacon and sauages are lovely. In fact, it's roast pork for dinner today. On the other hand, we do have quite a lot in the freezer.

We ordered our Christmas turkey today from Kelly Turkeys, mail order. No chance of us raising our own. I do fancy trying table chickens though. I love chicken but organic and even free range is so expensive to buy. I'm doing some research at the moment but haven't quite got my head round it yet. I don't want to raise 100 birds - I was thinking of a dozen. Eat some, freeze some and sell a few to friends.

Anyway, the pork is ready, so must go.

Garden competition

We were third in the biodiversity class and have won £10, which we will spend on bird seed.

I think I'll ask for feedback, so we can do better next year. Not that I'm competitive or anything.

New photos

The garden is starting to come into its fullest bloom and is becoming more photogenic, so I've taken a few pictures and added them to the gallery.

Progress report

Well, the pond has been cleared out, filled with soil and now awaits planting as a bog garden. We bought four plants at a plant sale on Saturday - they look a bit lost so we'll get more tomorrow. I'm going for Astilbe, Hosta, Iris and Primula, with a small acer to add dappled shade. Not sure how the acer will do, but I'll move it if it isn't happy. Actually, it was abit of an impulse buy and the more I think about it, the more I regret it.

The trellis for the courtyard garden is purchased, as are the fence posts. There's no further progress there, but the holidays are yet young!

My father-in-law made me two planters out of old wood, to exactly cover two man hole covers. They're now planted with Livingstone daisies / runner beans and Busy Lizzies / peas respectively. I intended to put lettuces in too but they're not ready to plant out yet.

I've taken before photos, so if the after is OK, I'll post the pictures too.

Sunrise on the Forth

We are blessed with a wonderful location here at TAS, on the northern bank of the River Forth just west of Alloa. To the west we can see the Campsie hills, Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument and Ben Ledi (this view features on the Archives banner). To the north the Ochil Hills, to the south Alloa Inch and across to South Alloa, and to the east the sometimes uninspiring view of Kincardine and beyond to Grangemouth. When the sun comes up this view can be anything but uninspiring though, and this morning was a case in point.

I'm getting the hang of my new digital camera and starting to understand the concepts of aperture, shutter speed and exposure. The camera is fairly forgiving though, and I'm not kidding myself I'm anywhere near becoming a competent photographer yet.

Snowdrops

I've no idea if they're early or not, but today I noticed the first snowdrops starting to emerge in one of the small corner beds in the garden. At the very least it's a sure sign that despite the recent cold spell here, the dark mornings and nights are starting to fade and the amazing (to me) cycle of growth and decay is about to start all over again.

Looking more closeley there are all sorts of things starting to grow now - I have absolutely no idea what most of them are, but then the flower and shrub garden is Rosemary's domain and I still struggle to identify even the most common shrubs and flowers. Last year I made some effort to introduce beneficial flowers to the vegetable garden, such as marigolds and poached egg plant, and this year will strive to do the same. Companion planting is something I don't have enough knowledge of to do confidently, so some research is definitely needed.