It's a hens life...

 January continued to bite, only The Mother was able to brave the snow for corn. She was happy because she didn't have to share.

 The weeding was still on hold in the front garden.

The big thaw did eventually happen and perversely, the pond is looking relatively clear despite lots of debris.









 The Hellibores think its Spring











as does the Witch Hazel










and this plant that I repotted last year.










In the front garden the Magnolia Stellata is in bud again, marking another year.














I could not bring myself to prune the Cornus alba with its gorgeous red wood.

















Finally, the weeds are in remission in the front garden...

















and the tulips are growing.

but the chickens are the most happy that the snow has gone (for now) and are giving us an egg a day.

Messy Garden

 Sadly, I'm behind with the gardening. I've managed to do a little weeding but felt overwhelmed by the size of the task ahead. This was once the gravel parking area.

 The box balls and the Cornus alba are all that's visible - thankfully the weeds are hidden by the leaves.

I have to include this photo of Rosie, as some people will want to see that she is larger than the chickens now.

The chickens didn't like the snow, they huddled inside until it melted and enjoyed extra rations.

The snow was also a good excuse not to do the weeding...

Weather stops play

The garden has had to take a back seat recently, but at least the weather has been so awful that the weeds aren't growing so quickly.

Yet again the pond has gone black - it looks very dubious.













 Rosie has been doing her version of gardening, which hasn't been too helpful, but at least she's doing something.

 The gales and rain have been raging but thankfully, the only damage was to the small green house.

Thankfully, some crops are still surviving; here is the curly Kale

 And the lettuce is looking very green.

The chickens are managing to average an egg every three days or so too.

Now the weather is turning much colder, I'm going to have start tidying up the garden and think about spring veggie planning.

Harvest

 There are still a few veggies left to harvest...this was the last courgette...

 Chantelle carrots










Curly Kale

 Sweetcorn (but it wasn't very sweet)

 Tiny pumpkins -  biggest one was 4 inches in diameter!

There are some other plants that are still managing to flower but generally everything is getting ready for winter. Even the chickens have stopped laying, except for one egg on my daughter's Birthday. I had to go out and buy eggs for the Birthday cake. Roll on Spring.

Yolky update

A little while ago, one of the hens laid a tiny egg.










We cracked it in the interest of science but there was not a proper yolk. It was interesting but it hasn't happened again. The hens are still laying about 2 eggs a day though, despite the shorter daylight hours and lower temperatures.













We also had a busy time collecting apples. We made them into apple juice with the help of my friend, Nicky

 It was great fun to see the apple juice emerge from the press but we were exhausted.










By the end of the evening we had the most fantastic apple juice ever but we were so exhausted we could have done with a glass of the original contents of  the bottle!

Autumn Harvest

There is something tremendously satisfying in growing your own veg. Tonight we finished the last of our Desiree potatoes. They tasted great fried with a bit of onion and garlic.

The curly kale is growing well. Not sure how I'm going to cook it.
















I'm very pleased with the carrots, it is the first time I've managed to grow any without carrot fly or other foes eating them. I think I should have thinned them out though.

The carrot tops are going to a good home!

There are plenty of these about, they seem to like the spinach.









Meanwhile, in the front garden there is plenty of life...a Red Admiral sunning himself on the gravel.

The garden is looking more how I imagined it now.

This is Thomas' Rowan tree after 3 years it's starting to look pretty good.

The Cornus Alba is looking amazing. I hope to take cuttings from that soon.  It tried last year let's just say the success rate was 1/20...

Veggie trials and tribulations

One of the main points of the house and garden has always been to grow our own fruit and veg. This has met with mixed success. The giant sunflowers survived to produce this beautiful seed head.

 We are also succeeding with the courgettes.

 My son, managed to grow sweetcorn. This is an old variety so it has been a bit slow to take off. It is growing well now but I don't know if there is enough daylight left for the corn to grow to a decent size. He's done a lot better than I have managed before.

 The spinach is definitely still perpetual and the chives are growing well. The red lettuce finally bolted but after providing 3 months supply for 50p, I'm not complaining! The new lettuce leaves are growing in front.

Sadly, the peas died in the wet weather having been blighted with fungus.

Likewise, the cherry tomatoes that covered a whole bed failed in a mouldy mush.









The butternut squash is growing finally but with little chance of success,

unlike my son's efforts, I think they are pumpkin or some type of squash.











The curly kale is taking off so hopefully we will have some more greens in late Autumn

My sister gave us some delicious raspberries canes that are particularly tasty this year. Thanks!










The last of the desiree potatoes are ready to come up. They have been fantastic addition to our cooking recently.

 For many years I have been trying to grow carrots but this is the first time that they have grown successfully. They have been under a fleece layer to stop carrot fly getting to them.







This is despite the close proximity of the fleece to the chickens (see back left of photo)

 The dwarf beans have been good.

 I have no idea what these are as my son grew them. Any ideas?

 Swiss chard has been very tasty in salads.

 Meanwhile, our little extravagance has been the dehydrator. Dried apples are great but they just get eaten too quickly.

The chickens have been benefitting from their mixed diet of perpetual spinach and pellet feed. We're still getting 2 eggs a day, mosly jumbo size!