Archive for July, 2008
July 24, 2008 at 10:13 am
· Filed under Gardening, digging, downshifting, food, france, planting, self-sufficiency, smallholding, sustainability, veg
The future plantability of our land is now looking more plausible with the arrival from the UK of our vintage ‘Wolseley Merry Tiller Major‘.
Gorgeous, isn’t he?!
After a day of tinkering (by an expert, not me!) it is now running beautifully and starts on the first pull. Despite our soil being just four inches of concrete on top of clay it does a fine job. In half an hour I managed to turn over the same sized patch as had recently taken two wwoofers the entire day! Because the ground has never been dug before and is FULL of weeds it is really hard work to keep the tiller under control. I plan to turn it over then wait a month and turn it again, etc, etc until I manage to get a fine tilth – with the addition of some chicken manure and compost, etc – I’ll also plant some clover and then dig that in as a green manure. Hopefully by next spring we’ll have some new veg plots to plant in.
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July 22, 2008 at 1:00 pm
· Filed under Gardening, downshifting, food, housekeeping, planting, recipe, seeds, self-sufficiency, smallholding, sustainability, veg
When I planted the cucurbits in May, I simply mixed up all the tag-ends of various seed packets and opted for pot-luck-surprise when it came to germination. Unfortunately, of the 13 plants that came up, just 2 were courgettes and the rest appear to be pumpkins! No sign of the hubbards or summer squash or cucumbers which I also planted; clearly my seeds have been hanging around for too long…
Apart from the lack of variety, planting direct into the compost heaps has been a great success and the plants are all RAMPANT and trying to climb out of the compost heap and take over the world!!
One or two pumpkin plants are OK, but 11 is quite a lot and there are already dozens of yellow balls maturing in the sun. Faced with the possibility of having to carve over a hundred halloween pumpkin faces, I panicked and decided we should start eating them as soon as possible. So baby pumpkin is now on the menu. I’ve tried roasting them whole in the oven – just drizzle olive oil over fist-sized pumpkins and bake hot for 25 minutes – they are sweet, juicy and delicious and you can eat the whole thing (i.e. no need to remove seeds!).
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July 7, 2008 at 9:31 am
· Filed under Gardening, birds, building, diy, downshifting, environment, organic, permaculture, pond, self-sufficiency, smallholding, sustainability, wildlife
There are plenty of toads at our place, but they like hanging out in all the wrong places and last week I had to collect one from the B&B where it had decided to investigate one of our guest’s belongings! As there are no water sources on our land, I’ve got plans to make a big pond in the field, but in the meantime we need a smaller pond to attract all the right creatures into the vegetable patch. Even a tiny pond is an important resource for all the birds, insects and little creatures that call our garden their home, so it’s high time I met their needs.
Making a quick pond couldn’t be easier if you can get your hands on an old iron bath. Yes, you can dig a hole and put plastic liner in, but baths get chucked out often and as they are designed to hold water all the work has been done for you. They are also free, always a plus point! No matter how small your garden, you should be able to find a corner big enough for a bath pond, and you’ll do wonders for your garden’s biodiversity.
My bathpond has been dropped into a hole so that it’s at ground level. The pots are waiting for some reeds which someone is giving me. There are plenty of places for creatures to get in and out of the water (logs, stones, etc) . The tiles around the edge are really just to hide the stark white of the bath, but they have the added benefit of creating little spaces where small toads, etc. could hide. Just out of shot is a pile of rotting logs and various nooks and crannies for who ever wants them. Now the bath is in place, I’ll also be able to plant around it so that there’s vegetation around the edges. The tyre at the end will be home to a comfrey plant. If the plan works my various toads should spend more time in the veg patch munching those darn slugs and less time trying to get inside the knickers of my guests!
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