The end - For the time being.

Sadly, I have to announce that I will officially be putting the blog on hold for the foreseeable future. The reasons are threefold.

1. A garden like this takes time to work on and because of this, I don't really have the time to write this blog.
2. I've got one follower (one of my mates - Hi again Paddy!). Although the blog was originally set up as a memory aid for myself, I had hoped later on that it was going to get more views and despite a little bit of advertising (well registering the blog with sites etc.) didn't appear to get much feedback. As for a memory aid... well, I'll just have to use my memory.
3. Last, but certainly not least, I'm going to be a father!!!! Baby Owen is due on the 5th November this year (2010) and I'm winding down my commitments elsewhere as I'm preparing my life for one hell of a change.

Maybe - and it's a big maybe - sometime in the future, when all my landscaping is complete (never I hear you say!) and I set aside a bit of money each year for someone else to strim the dyke AND I have brought up a team of my own little gardeners, then maybe the blog will return. But until then, let me take this opportunity to thank anyone who may have visited - if only briefly and if anyone would like to know about current goings on at this little part of Lincolnshire, don't hesitate to send me an email.

Thank you

SG.

Those Pesky (but delicious) Bunny Wabbits!

As I mentioned in my last but one post, I had planted my broccoli into larger pots. Soon after I had done this (the week before Easter), I got called away to Ireland for a few days. All the time I was away, my hundred or so broccoli plants were outside on the ground soaking up the rain and thriving - getting used to their new pots. THEN on the morning after I arrived back, we had an visitation - well more like an invasion - in the form of little fluffy, twitchy nosed, leg thumping, breeding machines... yes.. Rabbits. Lots of the cheeky little ba****ds. Last year when we moved in, the first thing our next door neighbour's boy said to us was "If you have any trouble with rabbits, just let me know and I'll sort them for you". If only we had listened - as this year we are reaping the results of last years "aww look at those cuties". We've got several families and they all seem to be in warrens beneath the summer house and the chicken house. Needless to say, my broccoli was eaten (all of it) and I went from Watership Down fan to follower of Elmer Fudd overnight. I got our next door neighbour's kid on the case and he has to date trapped and shot over 20 rabbits - one of which my wife skinned (first time - and did it very well), and we had it casseroled on Easter Monday. THOSE WHO EAT MY CROPS BEFORE I SAY SO GET EATEN!

Dyke 2010

This week heralded the beginning of this year's mammoth task of keeping the dyke manageable. As I spent way too much time last year on the dyke - bordering on the obsessive, I've decided to only keep the garden side of the dyke mowed... as well as a foot or so on the verge beside the road. The bloke down the road from here keeps it this way an although the road side of the dyke is left to nature, it looks like it was left deliberately instead of looking totally neglected. I have the longest dyke in the street - in total measuring well over 100m and compared to most households down here, I'm the only person working on it. I'm working full time this year too.. and have a greenhouse full of crops to tend to.... and have half an acre of landscaping to finish... and have over an acre of lawns and nearly half a mile of flower beds to attend to.

**News Flash** Just been informed that my new 10'x10' metal lockable shed will be delivered this Saturday afternoon... This will be going down at the end of the garden, beside the big gap in the fence at the back of the greenhouse. The fence will soon be filled in down there as part of the big landscaping plan already well underway. The weekend before last, I hired a minidigger (yet another digger!!) - a really small one this time to dig out the path to link the path at the back of the summerhouse with the path at the back of the greengouse - through a series of twists, turns, bends, raised (mountainlets)(soon to be planted with groundcovering shrubs. and trees. Moving the soil was so much easier this time round than the time Rob did it in December. It was dry for one thing.

Spring is definitely here!

Clocks went forward last night. Although I've been waiting for this day for so long throughout the harsh winter we've just had, I kind of felt a little cheated. Totally forgot about it until this morning when I woke up. I had the alarm set for six so I could get loads done in the grounds - but it turned out to be seven! Although I lost the hour, I still had one hell of a productive day. But before I talk about today, I've got to catch up on the happenings over the last few weeks since my last post.

All seedlings have been up for the past week or so... Peppers and Chillies were the last to germinate. Full list as follows.

Broccoli (Now pricked out into larger pots, worried that they look a little dead, but hopefully I'm wrong)
Cauliflower
Kale (No idea what to do with this. Must read)
Beetroot (Beautiful red seedlings)
Radishes (Crop 1 and 2 are already planted out in the greenhouse, did that last week and yesterday resp.)
Courgettes (Massive primary leaves on seedlings, not much germination from a packet of seeds)
Peppers
Chillies
Carrots
Leeks
Rocket
Lettuce
Potatoes (Maris Bard, Rocket & ? just starting to chit)
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatos
Mange Tout

Spent last weekend - after sorting out seedlings, tidying up the flower beds, tidying up old dead foliage and planting a few things (Stargazer lily bulbs and a rose that we got as a houseplant and no-one was watering) AND mowed the little back lawn for the first time this year!

The lawn that I sowed near the dyke had turned really yellowy brown over the winter as I believe it wasn't getting enough water as the ground was permanently frozen, but luckily that is beginning to turn green and get a little more healthy looking. The lawn nearest the main road really needs to be mowed now, but I've delegated that to my Mother In Law's partner to do during the week. Not started the mower in a few months so I hope he doesn't have too much of a problem with it.... like I've had with the rotavator.

Other signs of spring.... Daffodils are FINALLY flowering... saw my first one last week. Shows how harsh the winter was, when they weren't even sprouting on St David's day! (Not sure about Wales though) We had a visitation from a pair of ducks last weekend. They stopped their waddling around the grounds only momentarily to have a few slices of mouldy bread - kindly donated by my wife. Probably looking for a place to nest, but their visit was only fleeting (about 4 hours). Buds have appeared on practically every tree except for the late foliates - beech etc. The dyke will probably need its first mow soon - and will need to spray the broadleaf weeds soon too. (Decided that as I spent way too much time last year on the dyke, I'm only going to look after our side and let the other side grow - apart from the strip along the road side. Another reason is that tortoiseshell butterflies seem to lay their eggs on nettles)

Anyway - on to today.

Only did two things today. Made about 20 paper briquettes (about 50 odd now) and totally marked out the entire path at the end of the garden, all the way from the back of the summerhouse near the chicken coup all the way - through the 'hills' (and far away) way past the bricks and round to join up with the other path at the back of the greenhouse. Included in this, I also marked out the circle for the feature just past the pot shed. I didn't just mark it out, I dug a 6 inch trench either side of the path down the entire length (apart from in the circle where the clay was as hard as concrete.). Total length of path, about 100m. Total length of trench digging - about 200m. Needless to say. I'm totally knackered.

Photos - and hopefully video to follow. Which reminds me, I've been taking a lot of footage of the garden lately and may do a monthly video podcast at some point in the future.

Right... Sunday roast!!

Spring is here... I think.

We've had a few days where you'd think spring has sprung, and then mornings with heavy frost appear out of nowhere. It's only just turned March so it's least to be expected.

I only have one day a week now to work on the grounds, which is probably a little amount for most gardens, let alone one this size. But nevertheless, I use the time wisely. The Sunday just past, I heeled in over 30 bare rooted trees and flowering shrubs (into pots) and cleaned the inside lower panes of the greenhouse. Back breaking work but needed to be done. The greenhouse is covered in the usual green slimy algae that comes with winter. Cleaning it off - as well as giving my crops more light, gives me a sense that I'm clearing away winter and getting ready for the new year... The new growing year that is. I just used a hand held squeegee and and spray bottle of water and it did the job. As for the trees, we now have a good selection of deciduous, and three spruce saplings, which will be planted out when the soil gets a little warmer.

In other spring-ish news, last week snowdrops, crocuses and one primula (in our roundabout) have flowered. Granted, only these have only happened in the most sheltered of spots, but at least its something. Daffodils and surprisingly a few tulips have started to sprout too. Heard on the radio last week that because it was a particularly cold winter, all early spring flowers are going to bloom at once this year making it the most colourful spring in 30 years. Lets hope so.

As for the greenhouse, the first veg to germinate was the broccoli (last Saturday) with the cauliflower and radishes a close second - first noticing their sprouting on Monday morning, the day I surprised my Mother-in-Law by actually sweeping the greenhouse.

Jobs to be done this week is to clear the dyke of rubbish and cut back the pampass grass - the 20ft giant that will go rotten in the middle if not cut back every year or so. The ones down the street have been cut back and are already starting to grow again so it won't be long before it's back to it's majesty and splendour as on of the major focal points at the east of the garden.

In other - non grounds related news, work is being done on the annexe to include a kitchen, French doors to the north and new master bedroom with en suite. This should be completed in about a month. The exterior work has just been complete.

A little spring-like behaviour.

Bought trees & fruit bushes yesterday. 2 x apple, 1 x pear, raspberry, blueberry, grapes (white seedless and red table), orange, lemon & Kiwi. Planted them all out. The grape vine stumps I planted in the corners of the greenhouse, the lemon, orange and kiwi in large porcelain pots - which will remain in the greenhouse and are hardy down to -4 supposedly. Planted the raspberry cane and the blueberry bush (only 2 inches hight at the moment) outside by the other soft fruit bushes (which in my estimation are dead because of the lateness of planting and the richness of compost). Have yet to plant out the apple and pair trees - as I'm undecided where to plant them and I read that it's best not to plant them when the ground is waterlogged/still susceptible to frost. Got my spuds out chitting. Rocket, Maris Bard and Maris Piper - Earlies, Main, and lates.

A cold and damp couple of days.. A little snow fall today but nothing settled. Nothing as bad as a month or so ago.

The last few months

Seems like a lifetime away that we moved in here. Cold winters always make the last summer more distant and the next summer impossibly slow to arrive... but it always does eventually.

Just awaiting another snow fall. Snow started this year on the 18th December, most of it had melted by new year's eve, when we had the biggest brightest moon I'd ever seen, bright enough to give the conifers a well defined shadow. Apparently it was a blue moon too, the unusual occurrence of a second full moon in the same month and on top of that, there was a lunar eclipse too. So while the rest of the world was partying or watching Jools on the telly, a once in a hundred year event was happening outside. Anyway, it was very cold, so I don't blame them. The snow, by the way, was back a few days later.

September, when I finally got back into the garden psyche after all the personal stuff in Ireland going on, found me raking, seeding and rolling the lawn at the front of the oil tanks, the piece of land that the previous owner used as another veg patch but had more recently just been extra work. All but a small patch near the fruit tree at the far end has been lawned... although it has been covered with snow for the last month.


Started to lay more paving slabs in front of the wood shed/oil tanks and did my back in. This was in October and my back still hasn't recovered. May have to see an osteopath. The rest of the slabs we had lying around the garden (including the ones in the chicken run), were then laid by my cousin when we were waiting for the digger to arrive (see next paragraph). Still require about 3-4 and a half more slabs to complete the job (the half for around the wood shed) but I'll probably use a roller truck to shift them next time!

The digger work we had done in August was a great job, and it's fantastic that we moved the old muck/compost heaps away from the dyke side, however, the other side of the garden really wasnt levelled enough for a lawn and we had the huge heap of gravel/brick/weed membrane at the far end to be shifted. I had thought about getting a skip in and getting the whole lot carted away, but then I had a better idea. My cousin needed work and I needed a job done, so I went out and bought a second wheelbarrow for the job. Five days into it, we decided that it was futile sliding around on wet clay with wheelbarrows to shift about 100+ tonnes of muck even if I had been introduced to the random joy that is BBC6 Music on my cousin's newly bought (a bargain at £30) second hand Sony DAB radio - of which I am still sorely jealous). It was, therefore, decided unanimously, that hiring a minidigger was the best option. £60+vat for the day got us a digger and it didn't take cuz long to figure out how to use it. It was extremely cold (even for me who was nothing more than tea/sandwich/roley maker and pointer outer of potential landing sites for the half tonne mud aliens) and I could tell by the end of the hire period that cuz was getting fed up with it. Not surprising since he'd been shifting the brown goopy porridge around the garden for half of one day and half of the next, however there has never been a more satisfying sound than dropping half a tonne of wet clay with a digger bucket from a height of 30 feet. If you can imagine a "SPLWOP" but with groundshaking sub-bass, you'll be half way there. About an hour before they were due to collect the said earthmover, we decided to have a bit of fun with it. Video available to Facebook friends only - and contrary to urban legend, I did not pull my cousin's arms out of their sockets. I spent a the whole time doing the mother-hen bit, telling cuz not to damage anyone's fences or the greenhouse with the digger.. only to put a hole in the pot shed myself when alighting from the vehicle with my coat wrapped round the lever. Karma. Result: Levelled land for lawn & two great big raised areas for use either as rockery or to provide a base for the Spalding Mountain Climbers Association.

The greenhouse: Harvested 4 carrots (one deformed and two tiny), 2 heads of broccoli (about 2" long) and several spring onions. Apart from the beans which I didn't plant, the mange tout that my wife planted, and the spuds/plums that the previous owner planted, it wasn't the best of harvests. I think I need to do a bit more reading. All the bean poles have been pulled up and the rest of it totally rotavated, ready for the early spring crops (due early March). I'm drawing up a 4 year plan at the moment to help me with crop rotation. I'll talk about this in another post. A decision has been made to move the beans to the bit where the stawberry patch currently resides and grow strawberries in a tub (or one of those strawberry buckets made from sliding panels) as they don't freeze that well and nice though they are, there's not much point having a huge harvest of them when I could use the land for something else. I may change my mind later on. The bit between the greenhouse and the pot shed, I'm still undecided what to do with - only that it needs weeding and rotavating and with the large amount of fire ash I've been poring on it all winter, it should be nice to till soon. It still has the raspberry and gooseberry canes on a tiny bit next to the greenhouse, but I'm not sure if they've survived the winter (or indeed the manure I planted them in). Speaking of manure, I really need to speak to some horsey people to get some fertiliser pretty soon, for both the mushrooms and for use as mulch.


Bought two plastic compost bins at the garden centre about a month ago. Cheaper than Focus (and online if you consider deliver charges of such bulky items)at £20 each. I gave in to the fact that my compost heap building skills leave a lot to be desired and knocked down my handy work with the digger. I really need to start preparing the ground down the end for the permanent resting place of these bins, but the snow has hindered everything. But hopefully will have my own mulch for the 2011 growing season. Oh I can't wait.

Have a plan to make paper briquettes for next winter as a substitute for maybe at least one delivery of logs. Heating oil and wood bills have been horendous this year but then again it has been the coldest snap in nearly 30 years (so far).

Watch this space

I must apologise to all my readers for the lack of posting lately.

The fact that it is Winter should be no excuse as there are a lot of things to do in the garden during Winter and Winter varieties of crop to tend to. OK so it's our first year here and I may be being a little harsh on myself when I say that I must be really lazy not to be out in all weathers, but I recon I could have done a little bit more than I have done over the last 6 months. In my next post, I will try to summarize everything I've done so I can give myself a clean slate on which to work on... whenever we get a good day... (steve - no excuses!)