For those of you that view my blog using Internet Explorer - well good grief, only tonight have I realised what a garbled jumbled mess you’ve been seeing. Got Mr Programming Guru (Rich) on the case! Really, my advice is that this blog is best viewed in Firefox, where it looks decidedly more ordered and a hell of a lot prettier.
Whoops.
FINALLY. I did it - I got out there and have done something constructive on the Smallest Smallholding. And quite a lot for me over the past few days. I’ve been digging out new borders - including the removal of about a gazillion tonnes of bindweed, bramble and nettle roots - done a ‘poo run’ of hen crap before I mowed (high cut on Joe Swail’s advice), more clearing up apples and leaves, more digging out another border, more clearing up apples, and even more collecting of leaves for my leaf mould. I’ve just taken some old compost bags, punched some holes in and bunged in all the leaves from the damson, crab apple and plum trees. I’m still expecting there to be a lot more leaf collecting to do, as each time I rake it all up and I’m sitting with a cup of hot blackcurrant in my hands, admiring my handiwork and how neat everything looks, whoosh comes a strong breezy gust. Cue a steady fluttering stream of leaves falling from the heavens. Cue sigh from me.
It just seems to be that time of year, everything seems to be some sort of messy half-mode - the pyrancanthus berries look positively anaemic as they’re not quite ripe yet, and the borage, roses and cosmos are still hanging on in there, not nearly finished for the season but not looking their best either. The wasps are still busy in their nest, drowsy yet somehow still appearing far too hyperactive, and there are bees dropping by everywhere. Rich took a few pics of a somewhat lethargic bee that had decided to take a breather on the garden gate post. As he went to get the camera, Rich also decided that the bee needed a quick pick-me-up, and returned with not only his camera, but a tissue soaked in sugary solution. We were both stood out there for a good while feeding this bee with a sugary tissue, pot of sugar and water, and a stick (click the image and you’ll see in good detail, the tongue was amazing). “I think we’re both insane” Rich quipped. I agreed and shrugged my shoulders. Incidentally, said bee lapped up the sugary treat and buzzed off, thoroughly rejuvenated. Job done!
This weekend I had also been waiting for the frosts to come. A slightly crispy ground underfoot was enough to get me digging for victory in the veg patch. I whipped 5 or so parsnips out of the ground - my very first parsnips I’ve ever grown ever ever ever. I had chosen to grow Excalibur variety and I was pretty damned chuffed with the results, being a ’snip novice. My digging produced ’snips that consisted of at least a good foot of meaty parsnipness, plus another foot or so of root, and they smelt absolutely divine. So I took them in, cleaned them off and proceeded to turn them into a very tasty curried parsnip soup, half of which is now sitting in my grandmother’s fridge, on account of the fact that I still can’t get my portion sizes right. This Sunday we’ll have roasted ’snips too, can’t wait. Next year I’ll have to at least double the crop that I want to put out - I’ll probably grow Excalibur again and perhaps another variety to compare.
Well I still have an swful lot to do - never did get round to sowing my agricultural mustard, although I might wing it anyway and see what happens. Hell, the grass seems to grow pretty much all winter these days so I don’t see why my mustard won’t. Also got to clear out one of the beds and (carefully) whack all the garlic and super early Radar onions in too. Then there’s all the bulbs to make the Smallest Smallholding look pretty that still have to go under the hedges. Oh, and the cabbages. Now there’s a story for next time…
Good grief… still yet more inactivity this week. I’m losing the plot - well, plots quite literally! Two or three weeks of inactivity and it’s just all a complete and utter mess out there. I stand by the back door looking out and wringing my hands, then retreat inside to busy myself with some other inane job.
The fact is, I need to spend some really long hours out there. The ‘bloody digging’ issue just won’t go away, although there may be some light at the end of the tunnel in the shape of ‘no dig’ approach to creating borders and plots. Hurrah! Apparently you dump a whole load of soil and matter onto the grass, and eventually the worms will appear and do a lot of the work for you. The worst part for me is getting the really compacted turf off, so if that issue can be solved in part and I can try and dig in the spring (ever the procrasinator), I wouldn’t mind that so much. The worst thing is the cats seem so smug, all curled up with not a job in the world to do, showing me how lovely and warm it is inside and how lovely it is to snooze the afternoon away. Really, I should stop being such a limp lettuce and put my jobsworth hat on. Spades at the ready!
I HAVE to do something soon, I really need to be locked out so I can invest some time back into the Smallest Smallholding. It just doesn’t look very pretty out there at all at the moment…and I need a REALLY big barrow.
As the winter is slowly but surely taking it’s grip, I’m starting to feel quite frankly, bloody cold in the evenings. Yet I will NOT have the heating on just yet! Whilst I can still work outside without the aid of a hat and gloves, I won’t put the central heating on. Plus the fact that I am really having to count the pennies at the moment (anyone need a freelance writer?). So we’ve started to use up the logs and kindling I collected from the half-fallen crab apple. It’s actually ok - doesn’t smolder too much and burns fairly slowly, and I think this might be due to the fact that I was exceedingly lazy and just left it in the (well aerated) laundry basket in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. So maybe my procrastination has paid off for once!
I managed to actually do some ‘work’ on the Smallest Smallholding this weekend. Not much - but it still counts as at least something. Ok, it was mostly tidying up again, but it needed doing. The hens absolutely love it when I’m out there, mostly I imagine because wherever I go, inevitably there’s going to be a newly uncovered patch of soggy grass, overturned soil or some other interesting oocurance that will lead to some nice nibbly bits. They have also been assisting me by following me around and systematically obliterating each nice neat pile of leaves I have raked up, or creating great craters in our attempts at levelling out and re-seeding the lawn. I still can’t help but laugh at their signature three-toed footprints that are left behind though, very artistic in their own little way.
We’ve started feeding them pasta in the evenings, on advice from someone in the Omlet forum (apparently pasta as a carbohydrate is calorific, just what Pokey needs), and Yoko seems to be getting better again after a brief couple of down days. I think going to bed with some pasta in her crop has given her the extra oomph she’s needed. She’s started shouting a bit again, which is actually a welcome sign, but I won’t feel like things are really back to normal until she starts shouting at the floor again.
Rich has been busy plastering in the kitchen, and despite his initial frustrations he’s starting to enjoy it as he becomes more proficient. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to (perhaps physically) steer him in the direction of some wood so he can make my greenhouse staging. I would give it a go, but I’m possibly one of the most accident prone and cack-handed people to grace the planet, and I think there is an unwritten rule in this house that LUCY MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE POWER TOOLS, UNLESS CLOSELY SUPERVISED BY RICH.
Next week I’m hoping to get some bulbs into the ground under the hedges in the Smallest Smallholding - alliums, daffodils (pheasant eye, lovely), and anenomes. Mum has also give me some verbena bonariensis seedlings to put in for next summer. The bees absolutely adore them so that’s just what I need to boost the wildlife through-traffic next year. Also on my Things To Do list is eventually tackling and pruning the trees and the last flowering gargantuan buddleia. The warm weather has been encouraging new shoot and bud growth and I’m really reluctant to prune it down just yet, on account of the bees that are still sporadically making an appearance. I wonder when we’ll start getting the frosts?
My carrots bear an uncanny resemblance to me at the moment. Not orange and green, no. But a bit harrassed and worse for wear, and not looking particularly pretty.
I raise my hands - I have been a crap smallholder lately. EVERYTHING has gone on the backburner whilst I try and focus my attentions on the gazillion other things and issues going on at the moment. Gah! I’m hoping to get back on track - today was a beautiful day and I really missed an opportunity to get out there and do something constructive rather than following Yoko around.
She’s sort of up and down. The main problem seems to be that she’s not eating properly. I can’t work out whether it’s because she’s been ill or whether she’s just really picky and fussy. She did go to the hopper this afternoon after I changed her layers mash, and actually ate of her own accord rather than being reminded that there is actually loads of food around for her. I think the worming stuff we’ve been putting in the food might have put her off…goodness only knows. This is the thing with animals, you’re having to second guess them all the time.
I keep feeling daunted by the sheer amount of work that has to be done over the autumn and winter. Plus I have this very irritating ‘laissez faire’ attitude to most things in my life at the moment. I go and stand outside with gloves, seccateurs (my weapon of choice) , rake and wheelbarrow and then glibly look around for a good while wondering what on earth I can do. Then I usually get sidetracked into doing something utterly useless. The veg plots have got to be dug out, I’m just going to do a bit of digging (ho ho!) and see if I can find one that can be leant out for free. My motto in life lately seems to be “don’t ask, don’t get”.
Also, my Chatennay and Autumn King carrots have continued to receive some rather severe hair cuts from the hens. The ones under the fleece tunnels should be ok, but I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time until one of the hens works out that with a bit of careful manouvering, access to some more juicy carrot tops is actually quite an easy task.