Grey / Cabbage / Blueberries - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 11 July, 2022

by Rosemary at 11:40am in Smallholding 2 comments Comments closed

Monday 4^th July

Dry, some sun and a rather brisk breeze. I don’t know what happened to last week, but my To Do list is scarily long. Keeping too many plates spinning.

After tea, we gave the lambs their second Covexin vaccination, did all the sheep with Clik and tagged the lambs going away on Thursday.  I put Spotinor on all the cattle this morning. The flies are awful. Smokey needs two good coverings with repellent every day.

Tuesday 5^th July

You take your eyes of the garden and the weeds are rampant. The peas are especially bad because they cling to the weeds making harvesting difficult. Anyway, made a start.

Duck, one of our cockerels, made himself a dust bath. I think he'll need a ladder to get out.

Duck's dust bath.

I love the orchard uncut, although Dan has strimmed bits to give the hens some clear space.

Orchard,uncut (pretty much).

Something has eaten my Busy Lizzies *tears*

A feast for someone.

Wednesday 6^th July

It was a day for trailers. Collected the livestock trailer after its service. It hardly needed anything done, thank goodness. Then it was a change of trailers and off to the feed store for a tonne of layer pellets. I could have wept. I’ll have to put my egg prices up to £2 a half dozen and we’ll have to think really hard about what we’re going to do when egg production falls off in the autumn. It’s costing me £4.40 per day to feed them. Not good.

I’ve ordered enough pig food to do us until the pigs go to slaughter in October. That’ll be eye watering too.

Thursday 7^th July

The sheep departures didn’t quite go as planned.  Our last Coloured Ryeland, Astrid, and her lamb DID go as planned but the folk buying Kit and her two have Covid, so that’s delayed until next Thursday.

The folk who have bought the six, including Bean, didn’t trap – there was a problem at her work and the message she sent me to tell me didn’t send. They’re coming Sunday now. I’ve kept the six in the wee paddock by the barn – Dan moved the hurdles to give them more room and more grass.

Sheepfold is our driest field and is looking a bit parched. I’ve let the ponies overgraze it. I think I’ll divide it on two and let one half grow back.

Parched Sheepfold.

Friday 8^th July

I’ve spent most of the day weeding. Only one bed left to go. The blueberries are almost ripe, so they’ve been covered.

Blueberries.

Protected blueberries.

And the raspberries are coming – it’s an autumn fruiting variety, Joan J.

Raspberry Joan J.

The runner and dwarf French beans have their first flowers. And the squashes are setting fruit. Least said about courgettes the better.

 

Saturday 9^th July

Very hot and sunny but quite windy. The sweet peas are glorious – but note to self for next year – don’t grow them in a wigwam, because you can’t pick the ones in the middle.  Picked a load for the house and the boot room though.

Sweet peas.

The dahlias are starting to flower. Exciting!

Oh, the anticipation.

The veg garden is looking OK.

Our vegetable garden.

Dan lifted the shallots; one variety was much better than the other two. I hope my notes are good enough to identify which variety it was. Once lifted, he covered the area with manure, Remin and black plastic. We always say we’re going to do this but rarely, if ever do.  And I sowed lettuce and rocket.

Manuring the beds.

Sunday 10^th July

So hot today. Too hot to do much outside. Dan picked some raspberries in the wood; I was going to lift beetroot but I can’t face having the oven on to cook them for pickling.

Dan was up at 5am and went out to shoot rabbits. He got two, which will feed the dogs for a couple of days. Diesel caught his own and left the remains in the hall. Maybe he’s showing off to the dogs.

I fed the tomatoes and cucumber; the cucumber’s going great guns. But the tomatoes are really sad. And we have a cabbage. I’m inordinately proud of this because I’ve always been rubbish at brassicas and bough plug plants last year. Grew from seed this year, with reasonable success (although it’s early days yet. Blizzard loved the outside leaves too.

Inordinately proud of this cabbage.

Bean, Scoot et al went off to their new home near Fort William. That’s us down to four ewes and six lambs now. Nearly there.

Dan and I cleaned out the cow shed and built Grey’s pen. I should get him shut in tomorrow. Ten days just, then he can get out with the girls again and do his job all over again. Lucky boy.