Rainy days - thank goodness! - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Sunday 1 June, 2008

by Rosemary at 7:20pm in Gardening 1 comment Comments closed

We've had a half and half day today - warm sun in the morning and warm rain in the afternoon! I planted out the sweetcorn this morning, so I'm grateful for the rain. It's been very dry for about six weeks, but we had rain earlier in the week and today, so everything is growing great - including the weeds!!

The worst thing about having to net everything is that weeding is a bit of a chore. I find the job quite satisfying but I hate taking off the net and even worse, trying to put it back on. It's much easier with two.

We've not had any further problem with Mr Fox, thankfully and touching wood. The Marans are growing well - we moved their run down into the orchard this morning - it's the first time our lawn has been cheep-free for months. Chip and the girls are now off the lamp during the day and had their first tray of soil today - great excitement all round! They do skitter around when you go in - scattering to the four corners of the run.

I've put a diary entry on earlier about the wild ducks that had adopted us - well, now they've adopted our pond. There are two males and one female - we think they are the ones that have been coming for a couple of years. Today, they found the pond and have spent the day between the layer pellets and the pond, swimming and preening and dozing in the rain. I suspect that they will be the end of most of the tadpoles, but I haven't the heart to chase them away.

We've moved the sheep into the far end of the orchard. We'll have to strim the field. Since we got the sheep in September, I've been worried in case we didn't have enough grass. Not so - they simply aren't making any real impression on the field - and they could do with losing some weight before October, so they're on restricted grazing.

We should be able to let the pigs back through into pen one next week - pen 2 is completely bare, so it's rooting activity only. Pen 1 is growing nicely now that it's rained, so should be OK for next weekend, then we'll resow pen 2.

And I've ordered my tickets for the Highland Show - definitely Saturday and maybe Thursday, if I can get the day off work.