For various reasons, January has been a bit of a write off – weather/money earning work/wee holiday. Today was the start back in earnest!

Our Sasso/Black Rock crosses are now 14 weeks old -they could easily have been outside earlier but a good friend was looking after all the hens whilst we were away for a long weekend and I did not want to cause any unnecessary work for her, so today was their liberation.

I separated the cocks from the hens – I think I got it right! Fairly easy at 14 weeks mind. The hens joined their mothers  and father in the big run in the field. Very soon, the father and the pure Sasso hens will be separated from the main flock so  I can hold back pure eggs for incubation/sale.

I then made a wee run against the shed where the cocks could get out and get some sun on their backs. It’s odd to see them outside for the first time -  they just stand an huddle  “What the hell?” I was very surprised to see them all  inside the shed at dusk. Normally you spend a good few nights trying to shove them through the pop hole. It’s like trying to thumb a marshmallow into a piggybank. The hens were all inside their new house too – albeit in the furthest corner from the establishment. A few days and they will all be in their new pecking order.

I not only managed to tidy up a few beds in the tunnel but I also sowed two cell trays of onions – Bedforshire Champion just to see how it compares to Kelsae which were tried last year and faired OK given the dreadful weather.

Tomorrow starts the construction of a wee barn/car port to keep my Landy dry!

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At the moment, I am working (as in paid work!) 4 or 5 days a week. It’s a shock to the system, but as there is no veg to sell (see the flexibility tab!) I need to take the extra cash.As a result of working so much, I don’t have time to take our 2 Berkshire pigs to the abattoir. The could have gone this coming week had I the time to take them.

Yesterday, we moved them out of the woods and onto the area that our (drowned) potatoes were. They make short work of rooting out the marble sized spuds which if left to thier own devices, will sprout in the spring and ruin my crop rotation.

Moving pigs when you have electric fencing is fairly simple. No posts to bash in to the ground and no wire staples to fiddle with. You unclip the electric wire from the plastic posts, wind the wire onto a reel, move the plastic stakes to their new position and reel out the wire.

The hardest part is actually getting the pigs to leave their old domain. They won’t cross the old fence line voluntarily, so there’s no rush in erecting the new fencing. I had to spend quite a while coaxing them over the old fence line with a bucket of feed. Once moving though, they happilly ran at my heel across the field to thier new site.

At about 7:30 last night, something told me inside to go and check the pigs. Just as well! Once I got up to the field, I was surprised to see one of the pigs standing in the new run. I could also hear the tell tale ‘click………click………click’ of the electric wire shorting out on the ground. I was very surprised to see that most of the wire was lying on the surface of the soil! The best theory I could come up with is that a deer was crossing the field and got snagged in the fence. The wire had been pulled from most of the plastic posts so there must have been a bit of a struggle! This must have unnerved the pigs – hence one being up and about in the dark.

It only took a moment to re-fence, but I am glad something made go and check – it would have certainly given the pigs the chance to escape from thier new run as the boundary of the wire would not have been established with them. If it had happened on the old run, I am certain they would have stayed put, possibly for days!

They are at the correct weight to go to slaughter, but I won’t get a chance to take them for another couple of weeks. By then, they will have rootled up all the tatties, mucked the field for us and put on a few more pounds!

A photo will follow!

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both here, and in Aberdeenshire. Stonehead has been picking his onions, whilst I have been picking our shallots.

Our pickling recipe is different, and is taken from Mary Norwak’s excellent book, From the Garden To The Table. Published in 1977, it’s packed with simple preserving recipes and techniques. So here’s the shallot one:

4lb of small onions or shallots
3 pints vinegar
3 teaspoons of allspice
3 teaspoons of peppercorns

The allspice and peppercorns were stirred into the vinegar and brought to the boil this morning and left to go cold. Then tonight, I peeled the shallots which were dug on Thursday and have been drying in the polytunnel since. The peeled shallots were packed into 2 clean jars.

The cold pickle mixture was then poured over the shallots and the lids sealed tightly. There’s still some pickle left, so I will bring some more down from the tunnel (I have pickled the smallest ones so far) and do them tomorrow night.

Mary recommends waiting 3 months before eating. It’s beetroot next!

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When planting out herbs in the tunnel yesterday, I noticed some juicy aphids on the red basil. Time for my Pooter, I thought.

I spotted the Pooter in a Bob Flowerdew book a few years back and have spent many hours scouring the undergrowth for Ladybirds. A stubble field is best, or the area where I was scything yesterday – it was hoaching with Ladybirds!

So, here’s my Pooter:

It’s simple to make – the photo needs little explanation, apart that the holes for the 2 pieces of pipe need to be a close match for the diameter of the pipe – you could of course seal them with some silicone/glue/chewed scone. There should be a piece of gauze (I cut the corner off a new dish cloth) on the shorter piece of pipe – this stops the Ladybirds ending up in the back of your throat.

Once it’s made, put some grass in the jam jar and screw on the lid. Then away and search for Ladybirds! Once the Ladybird is located, put the short piece of pipe in your mouth and position the end of the longer piece of pipe over the Ladybird. A short, sharp suck is all that’s needed to relocate the Ladybird into the safe repository of the jar.

It becomes pretty addictive (even Brook barks enthusiastically as the Ladybird shoots up the pipe!) and after 20 minutes groveling on my knees, this was the result:

Easily 50 aphid munchers ready to be released into my polytunnel. Come on Ladies, dinner time…….

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You may remember that I have some courgettes in the soil outside, but protected by an old tyre with some glass on the top. I also planted 5 courgettes in a bed in the tunnel to see which plants would do best.

At the moment, it’s almost even. I would say that the plants in the tunnel are only a day or two ahead of the ones in the tyres.

Outside

Inside

It’s very close though!

During the day, I have been taking the glass off the tyres to begin hardening the plants off. I have several Butternut Squash and Pumpkins which were recently potted on (into 4″ pots) and these will need to go outside in a week or two. I will need to whip they tyres off the courgettes then though!

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I actually find sowing tray after tray of seeds therapeutic! There is something very satisfying when they poke their wee heads through the compost.

Although far more laborious, potting on seedlings is very satisfying when it’s done. I do like to see the shuttle trays full of wee plants eager to grow away. I give them a bit of a help with a foliar feed of seaweed extract. I really think this helps the plants get over any shock of being potted on.

In the foreground there are various green leaves which will be used in our salad bags. These are very quick growers and invariably stick their heads through the day after being sown. In the three trays which look empty are Fennel. These take a little longer to germinate. In the posts on the right are curly and plain leaved parsley. Those on the left are Kelsae Onions, watch me win a prize at the Innerwick Show with these in August!

On the bench from the foreground back are: Parsley, lettuces (still to show) red basil, coriander, lettuce leaved basil, Sweet Genovese basil, Mesembyanthmums (for the garden honest!), lettuces, leeks, spring onions, beetroot, spinach, more lettuces, and in the background: onion sets and courgettes. Not pictured are marrows, pumpkins, winter squash, kale, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, dwarf and climbing French beans, marigolds (which get planted beside the tomatoes to ward off evil white fly!) peas, both ordinary and sugar snap. Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are still in the hotframe which is just out of shot. Phew!

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Some of you may recall them pesky rabbits who ate their way into the tunnel and attempted to dig up my overwintering onions.

Well, the onions don’t seem to have taken any hurt!

April 12th:

May 4th:

Only a couple of casualties but the rest are doing well!

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Some of you may recall that our peas are sprouted for a few days in the house, and then planted into rhones which are positioned out of the reach of mice.  The old school train of thought is to soak them overnight in paraffin so they don’t taste nice to mice. Not sure what the Soil Association’s view on this will be though!

Once the peas germinate and are a couple of inches tall, a rhone sized drill is drawn with a hoe and once the peas in the rhone have been watered, they slide out of the rhone and into the drill easily. A good watering in and they romp away, reaching for the netting which I erected the other day. The photo below was taken on Friday and by Sunday, the flowers had started to open. It wont be long until there are some early peas!

I have sown a couple of drills of sprouted peas direct into adjacent beds. I sow these quite thickly. I think the saying goes: One for the Rook, One for the Crow, One to rot and One to grow. Of course, neither the rook nor the crow will get at these inside the tunnel, but the mice will. I just have to keep the drills moist to ensure that the sprouted peas don’t stop growing!

In a week or so (after the forecast rain!) I will plant sprouted peas outside, direct into the warming soil. Not only will the mice get at these, but the rook and the crow, and no doubt the partridge and rabbits too! Thick sowings will be the order of the day.

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The tomatoes are doing nicely in their hot frame. They are showing signs, however, that the compost they were potted on into has no feeding left in it. You can tell as the leaves are not as vibrant and green as they should be. They get a regular top up with seaweed extract because the first flowers are just beginning to form and I don’t want to pot them on at this crucial stage. Fingers crossed, the flowers will have opened next week and at that stage, they can be planted out into their final positions.

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This is the first year I have tried growing my courgettes by this method. In previous years, the plants have been grown in the tunnel but they take up precious space.

I collected 15 old car tyres from my friendly garage owner, Ford Ferguson (apt name for a mechanic eh?). He would otherwise have to pay £3 a tyre and take them to the Lafarge Cement Works just outside Dunbar. If my memory serves me correctly, this is about the only place where tyres are recycled in Scotland. They are chipped and used to fire the cement works. The resultant ash is then used to make something, pet food or fertiliser, I can’t remember which!

The courgettes are sown on edge in 4″ pots and kept in my hot frame inside the tunnel. They grow away quickly and are soon ready to be planted out. The planting spot is enriched with our home made compost as courgettes are greedy feeders and like moisture retentive soil. Once planted into the prepared spot, a tyre is placed over the plant and an old pane of greenhouse glass is placed on the top. The black tyre protects the plant from cold winds and absorbs heat. The glass on the top is positioned to enable some ventilation to the plant below. A kind of mini greenhouse! I did learn the hard way that the glass will blow away, so if you intend to try this method, put some stones on the glass to weigh it down!

You do need to water the plants manually as the glass stops any rain getting in. So far, its been successful and in a few weeks, I will take the glass off, and shortly after, take the tyre away. The wee plant will have had the best of starts. I have planted 5 courgettes in a bed in the the tunnel – it will be interesting to see which ones crop first!

   

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