What to Grow Next?

I need your help.

I’ve almost finished harvesting my onions and garlic, and I’m essentially left with a patch of bare earth with my raspberry bushes permanently in situ at one end. After I’ve dug over and fed the soil, I’m not sure what to do next.

So this is my question to you - what should I grow there?

I’m thinking I’d like something that’ll either grow from now until early winter, and be ready for harvesting then, or perhaps something that’ll grow into the deep dark depths of winter, and be ready for harvesting either around Christmas, or early next year.

Any ideas?

Tags: what to grow now

Jimmy Doherty of Jimmy’s Farm fame was on TV again last night. He, along with Jo Howorth, founder of the British Hen Welfare Trust (formerly the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, the organisation that we rehomed our own ex-battery hens from) were researching how ‘clever’ chickens are, and their natural behaviours. What he found is something I’ve found out myself from just a few years of keeping chickens:

1) Chickens are fantastically fast learners.

2) Despite being denied an environment that allows them to fulfil their natural instincts, such as scratching and foraging, dustbathing, perching, etc., they eventually revert to these behaviours without learning from other experienced, free ranging hens. Ours did this within DAYS. This is a MASSIVE issue - one reason alone to realise why barren battery cages, even the so-called ‘enriched cages’ (misleading name, they’re still utter shit, pardon my french), and factory farming practices are cruel and should be wiped off the face of this planet. The excuse ‘they don’t know any better’ is just tripe.

3) Chickens are predominantly social creatures, and are actually quite sophisticated in this regard. This also means they can slot into family life very easily. They’re fantastically adept at taking care of themselves (although, in all honesty, trying to syringe feed a completely obstinate and poorly hen its medication is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done… if only I could have explained ‘it’s for your own good’.).

There’s a common perception, I think, that chickens are just stupid. OK, so perhaps sometimes they are lacking in common sense, but I’ve always maintained that they’re extremely fast learners. In fact, on ‘The Private Life of Chickens’, they showed a short sequence where a mother hen was teaching her chicks to feed out of the ‘right’ colour bowl. They picked it up insanely quickly, abandoning their own experience in favour of following their mother’s instructions. That’s just amazing.

I suppose my point is, and ultimately what Jimmy is attempting to do, is showcase just how perceptive and, on a level, ‘intelligent’ (we’re not necessarily talking IQ here!) farm animals are. I have the feeling that many humans have a tendency to only respect animals that they feel are ‘intelligent’ or responsive, or even just good looking; dogs, cats, dolphins, elephants, for example. But the humble farm animal tends to get overlooked, I suppose so there’s not so much cognitive dissonance in play, which leads to (subconsciously) abandoning any anxiety in favour of ignorance when it comes to grappling with the reality of how millions of animals are raised and slaughtered each year. I also find it incredibly sad and frustrating that millions of animals are brought into this world (think male chicks), only to be discarded because they’re not ‘worth’ anything to us. It goes against everything I believe is right and just.

It just comes down to respect, and that can only be gained through education and awareness. The trouble is, I think the people who’s opinions and perceptions need challenging won’t have bothered switching on to watch this kind of programme. They were probably sitting in KFC chowing down on their cheap-as-chips mega bucket of factory farmed food, blissfully ignorant.

Tags: battery hen welfare trust, british hen welfare trust, chickens, factory farming, free range hens

I have become somewhat of a compulsive weather forecast checker over the past few days. You see, we’ve had no rain in about a month. Or at least, that’s what it feels like. I can’t actually remember when the last time some H20 fell from the sky, but then, I can’t really remember any further back than about 2 weeks ago.

I know I’ve been absent, but to be honest, all I’ve been doing in a Smallest Smallholding-type way is watering plants and forgetting to repot my peppers and chillis. Everything is pretty much getting on and growing quite happily.

I went away for 4 days to Cork in Ireland (with other crazy Harry Potter-obsessed friends and some lovely Americans, who all made for one EPIC weekend of fun and frolics - see pic below, click to enlarge!).

And when I came back, my onions seemed to have grown about half a foot taller, my squash plants had exploded and the beans had scrambled further up their bean poles, and flowered. It felt like I’d been away for weeks, rather than days. A couple of days ago I started digging for gold, AKA digging up my charlotte potatoes. My yield is definitely lower this year, probably in part to the DISTINCT LACK OF RAIN.

Yes, it’s getting to me a bit. I feel more than ready for it to just chuck it down. And when it does (because, let’s face it, at some point it just has to), I’ll more than likely be standing out there, sucking it all up (not literally) like the crazy vegetable-growing vegetarian weirdo harry potter obsessed cat lady that I am. I just feel like it *needs* to happen soon, or I’m going to start getting twitchy. It’s a strange, compelling feeling. Maybe I need to do a rain dance with some bamboo canes.

And whilst you let that image ping about in your brain for a while, I will digress. Last weekend I ate my first ever homegrown raspberry from my Polka raspberry plants. Good grief. Talk about fresh and zingy! I cannot wait for the first proper crop. My plan is to grab some meringues, crush them, add some ice cream, and tip a few raspberries on top. As pretty as they are, I’m not bothered about presentation. It’s all about taste. Pure unadulterated, non-supermarket fare.

Saying that, I may hold back on the ice cream somewhat. I’m in the middle of a healthy eating kick that’s coinciding with my running. Before I went to Ireland, we managed to run for 20 minutes non-stop. For a beginner, that was a big deal. That gives me hope. After a brief 1 week hiatus, I’m back on the training programme and feeling optimistic that 2010 really will be the year that I got a grip and sorted myself out. Seems to be working so far; I no longer have a vampirish (topical!) pallor, my clothes are actually starting to sag in all the right places (meaning I’m toning up, but unfortunately this means extra expense in replacing them for smaller - yes! smaller! - sizes) and I’m no longer walking around with the weight of the world on my shoulders. It’s a strange feeling.

Anyway, best sign off. I have a weather forecast to check. Rain, anyone?

Weight: 10 stones 12

Edit: Have checked forecast. Rain due tomorrow, apparently. HURRAH!

Tags: onions, rain, rasberries, running, veg

I’m sorry. This was written last week. There are no pictures. I am bad. I will write again tonight. Please bear with me…

***

Three draft post entries and a million photographs later, I am here. I am here!!! I’m finally sitting down to write this bad boy.

I know I should have written earlier, and believe me, I intended to. But it’s that time of year where the days are so long that they just become packed with non-bloggy activities. I’m surprised I’ve managed to keep watering my plants, so we’ve had a relatively small casualty count this year. I still need to do a lot of repotting, despite writing about it over 4 weeks ago…

My chillis and peppers are coming on very nicely - so far the greenfly has stayed away and the banana (long sweet) pepper plants in particular are skyrocketing. And yesterday I found myself mesmerised by the Delicious Miss Dahl’s cooking, and have resolved to put on my apron today, get some recipe books out, and start expanding my culinary horizons. That’s partly why I enjoy my own food - I get to enjoy the food at its tastiest and freshest, and it forces me to think of ways in which I can use gluts of vegetables in interesting and exciting ways. Hopefully I’ll be able to update with some tantalising pictures in the near future…

Outside the runner beans are steadily making their way up the runner bean poles, the Charlotte potatoes have grown about a foot in a matter of days, as have the onions and garlic. I planted a few of the butternut squashes straight into the (fertilised) ground, and after an initial rehoming shock, they seem to be doing OK. It remains to be seen whether they need an extra hand in terms of soil warmth, but for now a regular water and feed seems to be enough. Nearer the house, the wild alpine strawberries have finally come into fruit, and despite their size, are absolutely delicious. I’m hoping to set aside some time to find some useful recipes for them. Likewise, my polka raspberries have fruited on the first year’s growth, and I’m looking forward to a few raspberry tarts and apple and raspberry crumble a bit later on this year.

Aside from the vegetable garden, the flower borders have virtually exploded over the last fortnight. A mixture of heavy rain showers and warmer temperatures mean everything is ‘growing like the clappers’ - including the weeds. Yes, the annual Battle of the Bindweed and Brambles has well and truly begun. This afternoon I’m readying myself with a few green bags and my gardening gloves, to begin an assault that will probably take a few hours. That’s in addition to the arduous task of lawn mowing. Here in suburbia, there definitely seems to be a trend amongst the menfolk and their lawn mowing - as in, it’s what they do on a sunny weekend. Tend to their lawns. Mow and strim and tidy. I bet many of our surrounding neighbours want to tear their hair out everytime they look at the state of our smallest smallholding. Neatness is not my forte.

I’ve allowed two or three ‘nature’ areas - that is to say, I’ve allowed two or three areas to just do their own thing, and become overgrown. It’s great though - they’re buzzing with life. They tend to resemble patches of long grass, nettles, thistles (flowers are fab for bees et al) , a couple of woodpiles and a few wildflowers, and probably annoy our lovely but neater neighbours, but I think it’s really important to give over part of your land for that kind of use. It’s a kind of controlled natural chaos, or a ‘breathing space’, as the BBC would put it.

And so, I plod onwards, nothing really exciting to tell. I still have lots on and lots planned, so I *promise* I will make a concerted effort to post again soon. My ‘experiement’ may well be underway in a week or so, so keep checking back!

Weight: 11stones 1lb (almost at my first milestone!)

Running: Week 4 of 9 - Up to 6 minute intervals…

Tags: veg