A Smallholder's Diary

I promised myself that this year I would make an early start to spring planting making full use of the greenhouse to maximise the growing season. Of course I didn't manage this - there were too many other things getting in the way. That late flurry of winter in February didn't help either. Anyway, I did make a tentative start a couple of weekends ago with the annual greenhouse repair and rotavating of the veg plot. I did also sow a few seeds in the greenhouse and put the shallot and onion...

Just a few weeks ago we had snow lying on the ground and temperatures were down as low as -16C. The ground was frozen solid and I avoided spending time outside as toes and fingers felt like they were going to drop off they were so cold. Now the daffodils and snowdrops are out and today there has been a definite feel of spring in the air. Before we know it the evenings will be getting longer and temperatures will climb and hopefully lots of opportunity to sit out in the garden to enjoy the...

Now that April is here I decided this weekend that I really need to get on with serious seed sowing. We are going away for a few days later this week so I debated with myself whether I should really sow too many in the greenhouse, but decided in the end that I really need to get some going and hope that the lady who comes in to feed the animals will remember to water the seedlings this time! I had already sown some tomatoes, some lettuce, peppers, basil and coriander, so in the greenhouse I...

The last couple of weekends I had good intentions of doing loads in the garden. However, with various other things going on it didn't quite happen. Last week I finished of mulching the veg plot. I then planted some garlic cloves. Technically I know I am either too late or too early. The best time is autumn to early winter, but the frozen ground prevented that this year. The next best time is early spring. Clearly, it is currently neither of those, but I thought it would give it a go anyway. I...

Spring seems to be slow in getting going this year. It certainly looks like spring with bright sunshine and with a few early flowers bursting into life, but it doesn't really feel like it. I had hoped to make an early start with sowing this year, but I have been a little anxious about this as my greenhouse is not exactly well insulated so is rather on the chilly side still. Ventilation is certainly helpful in the summer, but not in early spring. Nevertheless, I have made a tentative start....

I have not been very good at posting here recently, but this does not mean I have been idle. Quite the opposite in fact. The recent warm weather has allowed me get on with getting the veg plot into shape with planting out some seedlings. This is the first batch that I had out hardening off ready for planting out: I am trying starting off my parsnips in toilet roll tubes again, but this year I am trying planting them out earlier. What I found last year was that even though the seedlings may...

My garden shed has fallen into disrepair recently. I say recently, it actually started last year when roof fell in. What had happened was that the felting had come away and the roof rotted through and gradually fell to bits. So last summer I replaced the whole roof. Somehow I never managed to get around to clearing out the debris that remained on the floor and there is certain amount of repair required to one of the walls; the back wall forms part of the goat pen and they have managed to make...

Keeping on top of weeds has never been my strong point. However, in trying to keep them down my best friend has been my hoe. The difficulty with this though is that it can be difficult to get into small spaces and there have been a number of times when I have accidentally chopped off the tops the plants that I am trying to grow. I have been looking for something smaller that would do a similar job for ages - a hand hoe of sorts so I could get into those crowded areas with less chance of...

This is a guest post by Marina Chernyak of DecorativeMirrorsBoutique.com Baskets have a way of looking festive and special; giving ordinary things an extraordinary flair. Take these dollar store items for example, and by the way the basket came from the dollar store also. Baskets make our bathroom look classier. There are many toiletries that can be had for a dollar and placing them in a decorated basket gives them that extra eye appeal. Take time to find the wanted items...

Our plot is bordered on three sides by long leylandii hedges. On the plus side, they give us privacy and shelter our garden from the winds that can whip across the fens. On the downside, they do require a certain amount of maintenance. What we used to do was to "get a man in" to do trim them back and keep them under control, but this has become increasingly expensive so we have put it off. Of course now they are very tall and are spreading out. So much so that the farmer who owns the field...

Well I have finally bought myself a chainsaw. This one I bought on Preloved for the bargain price of just £40. Before I bought it my wife extensively Googled chainsaw accidents and found lots of grizzly tales. So as a result I have also bought some safety equipment as well - as I have managed to make a bit of extra money recently I had some money in my Paypal account so bought these on Ebay. The chainsaw looks quite old, but seems to work just fine and will be good enough for I want to do -...

As we reach the end of the summer, during the season of glut when we are knee deep in some crops, particularly at the moment courgettes, apples, damsons and pears, the focus is on finding ways of preserving it all. I have been freezing some of the smaller courgettes which will be fine for roasting, but not much use for anything else. I tend to find that the taste and texture of courgettes is significantly altered for the worse by freezing, but if you roast them this overcomes this. I also...

This pumpkin plant has self-seeded in one of my compost bins. I didn't really expect it to come to anything, but as you can see I have two large ripe pumpkins. There are also two smaller ones just out of the picture which are yet to ripen. This plant has actually done better than the ones I have planted and carefully tended! You may notice that they are a somewhat odd shape. This is, I presume, as a result of my accidental cross-breeding last year between a pumpkin plant and a butternut...

Now that the weather seems to have progressed from "flippin' cold" to "a bit chilly" I have managed to spend much of the last couple of weekends preparing the veg plot for the growing season ahead. This is a process I normally do in the autumn, but being as autumn came to a bit of an abrupt end as winter descended and the ground rapidly transformed into permafrost, there was not any chance doing any serious digging. Well, not with a spade anyway - some sort of mechanical device might just...

The last few days have proven to be somewhat eventful and indeed, well how can I put this...... messy! Things started on Wednesday evening when I came to shut up the chickens, goats and geese. No problems with the chickens and goats, but no sign of the geese anywhere. I searched the garden and could not see them anywhere, and neither could I find bits of goose from being eaten by a fox (sorry to raise that but that has to be the first thought when you can't find your geese). So by this time...