Fruit, veg, chickens and rabbits If it ain't edible, it's not allowed in! 

March is in full swing and so are the seedlings. Various plants have moved around and emerged. Some seedlings have upgraded to bigger and better pots, and new shoots have quickly taken their spots in our hot houses.

In Lin’s mini greenhouse, 4 of the brussel sprouts came up, 3 aubergines seedlings are poking through, and the nasturtiums went mad and are already awaiting a new home outside. The herbs are now big enough to retreat to the kitchen and the lemon grass is slowly starting to develop roots. The radish and turnips have turned into a small jungle that will soon need re-homing, and 4 hot peppers have come up. Unfortunately though, no sign of the sweet peppers.

Radish Jungle

Also into the mini greenhouse we have some very swift growing courgettes and sweetcorn.

Sweetcorn

Courgettes

Into both of our mini greenhouses we have added some peas and sunflower seeds in a competition to see who can grow the best. Any midnight sabotage counts as immediate disqualification.

In Chris’ mini greenhouse the broad beans have been and gone. The have already been moved out to the veggie plot outside. 2 purple cauliflowers came up, but one was not willing to share the pot and forced the other seedling to lay down and die. The kiwi must have seen this as they have decided not to come up at all. The strawberries are plodding along at their own pace and will be rushed by no man. The melons however have stolen the show. Having outgrown their starter pots, they have now been re-potted and are taking over the mini greenhouse.

Canteloupe Melon

New plants that are being squeezed alongside the melons are 3 types of carrot… sugarsnax carrots, big fat carrots, and little ball carrots.

Carrots

We have decided not waste any waste, and so have employed hundreds of new workers in the kitchen. They seem happy to sleep together under the kitchen table, being as they are all worms!

Wormies

In time we are hoping they will be providing us with superfine compost and liquid ferterliser.

Sadly “Pigeon”, our araucana chicken contracted a virus and unfortunately passed away. We had to move swiftly to make sure the remaining trio didn’t get too comfy with all the extra space, so a cream legbar chicken has moved in to join the gang. She has been named “Dusty” due to her Dusty Springfield hair do. Picture available in “meet the chickens” page.

We enjoyed the spring sunshine with the chickens taking communal dust baths together as we debated where to move the herbs to make way for another raised border. Watch this space…

Communal Dust Bath

Lin & Chris

The weather is getting warmer and the plants seem to know it. Everything has buds on, and the seeds are sprouting nicely.

Being competative, we have gone with the option of a mini greenhouse each.

Mini greenhouse

Linda, buying hers first managed to bagsy the sunniest spot. In that greenhouse, we currently have growing:

• Brussel sprouts
• Aubergines
• Nasturtiums
• Some mixed herbs
• Lemon grass
• Radishes
• Turnips
• Sweet peppers
• Hot peppers

We are particularly excited about the purple radishes we recently purchased here:

http://www.vegetableseeds.net/Radish_Sparkler_p/rad05.htm

Purple Radishes

Chris’ greenhouse has gone more exotic (he enjoys a challenge!). He has gone with:

• Honeydew melon
• Cantalope melon
• Strawberries
• Kiwi
• Broad beans
• Purple Cauliflower

Chris feels that his purple cauliflower (also from vegseeds) will be far mightier than the purple radish. However, what the radish lacks in size, we have made up for by the vast numbers planted. The melons are trying to escape the bottoms of their seed trays so we think it’s probably about time we transplanted them into larger pots. However, the kiwi seems exceptionally shy, and not one has bothered to come up, even though they were planted about 2 weeks ago. We are crossing our fingers that they are just slow starters.

Melons

Outside, none of the seeds we planted mid february have decided to come up yet. It has been pretty mild here so we thought we would at least have a pea plant! We are hoping that the recently transplanted broad beans can show them how its done!

Broad Beans

As for our established plants, the real star of the show is the rhubarb which has gone from nothing to a yummy looking plant in no time. Linda is most definately looking forward to the first rhubarb crumble of the year.

Rhubarb

You may remember in a  previous post that we harvested our Jerusalem Artichokes. Linda came up with the bright idea that they might store better in compost as there was no sand around and there wasn’t enough space in the fridge. Unfortunately the artichokes thought this was a fantastic idea too and now have 2″ shoots on them. We are snapping the shoots off some of them, but we think the rest may now be destined to go back in the garden for a bumper crop next year.

On another note entirely, we have been very excited as “Duck”, our white star chicken has just laid her first egg, which was teeny weeny, but oh so yummy!

The kitchen is going well, and we decided to start growing our own yeast too, in the form of sour dough. After baking the first loaf, we decided that a bread maker was required so we can ditch the shop bought and make our own in a fraction of the time. Sandwiches all round!

Sourbread

Lin & Chris

Jerusalem Artichokes

After pondering what to do with this bumper crop, we decided a few could be used in the making of a meat and vegetable pie…. yum yum!!!

Meat and Veggie Pie... yum yum!

Thoroughly stuffed and satisfied, we reviewed our plans for the season that is rapidly approaching. The week of hard graft and digging has payed off as we now have a new 6 meter by 1 meter raised border to play with.

To make space for the new border we have had to move a few rogue soft fruit plants that were in the way. We have decided we want enough fruit to try making jam (as well as wine!) this year, so we are going to rearrange the left side of the garden, which is currently herbs and fruit, into an uber massive strip of soft fruit. The herbs being evicted of course wont end up homeless. We plan on relocating them next to the chickens, as coop with a food-side view is always more desirable.

Being easily excitable by new plans, we have been looking up new fruits to join our normal motley crew. We currently have planted some blueberries, raspberries, tayberries, blackcurrants, blackberries and a goji berry plant that refuses to have goji berries. We have purchased 2 red gooseberry plants and 1 white gooseberry plant after deciding that neither of us can actually recall ever eating a gooseberry. We may have got carried away a little, after happening across an unusual plant called the honeyberry. It is a member of the honeysuckle family, and is meant to have sweet honey flavoured blueberry-like fruits, so 3 are in the post right now.

The odd looking Honeyberry (Picture courtesy of Google Images)

Also winging their way in the post are a selection of early, main and late season strawberries to add to our collection and act as ground cover around the bushes.

We have decided to split the new raised border in half so that we can plant half each, hoping that our competative sides will force higher yields. The 2 compost heaps from last year have been emptied and dug into the 2 old raised borders so hopefully everything will be off to a flying start.

To prepare for the new season we have already planted some seeds indoors in little plastic greenhouses. So far we have planted:

- Broad beans

- Onions

- Summer Sprouting Broccoli

- Baby leaf lettuce (which will be living on the kitchen windowsil until it gets far warmer outside).

-  Some herbs to keep the lettuce company on the windowsil.

- Mini Aubergines

- Some sweet peppers and hot chillies

- Brussel Sprouts

We are also experimenting with some radish and mini turnips to see if we can trick them into maturing without being put outside at all.

Seedlings

To brave the outside, we have done a small amount of seeds cautiously into the new border:

- Carrots

- Peas

- Broad beans

- Parsnips

We also split up the garlic that had been left in the ground from last year. Now it is seperated and sprouting, it suddenly seems like vast amounts. We have given it plenty of space while the garden is empty, and we will add it to salads and stir fries until it gets back down to a manageable amount.

Looking back at the week as it draws to an end, we are proud of what we have achieved in the garden, and very proud of Suzy the Sussex who has managed 3 eggs in her first week with us.

Lin & Chris

As it was such a lovely day, we decided it was about time that we began digging over the garden for the new giant raised border we had bought when it was colder and gardening was just too chilly. It would of course be unfair to hog all that sunshine without letting the rabbits join us.

On releasing the bunnies, they all immediately bounced off to various corners of the patio in excitement, as this is the first time it has been nice enough for us to go outside with them and guard them from cats.

Toffee's long lionhead mane flaps in the wind as she no longer has to look longingly through the patio doors.

Fudge, our furry dustbin eats everything in sight. If it's green and leafy, it's hers!

Ying Yang has never been outside before so you have never seen a rabbit so bouncy and excitable.

The gang having their first explore of the garden

Princess Pigeon flapping on her stomach in the dirt with a bug hanging from her beak.

Some may consider it unusual to spend a romantic valentines day together trekking across the country collecting chickens, but thats how we planned ours from the outset.

Our first visit was to find the fabled blue egg laying chicken – the araucana! We joke you not… we actually did battle wind and snow to get there! When we got there we found a posh little pigeon looking chicken on the outskirts of Bishops Castle near the Shropshire - Powys border. She seemed so pleased to go in the box as it was a far warmer and drier alternative, so we decided she had to be called “Princess Pigeon”. As we departed, her flock of family hens gathered at the gate to watch us abduct her!

Princess Pigeon

Duck

Light Sussex

Phoenix