New hens won’t go in coop

[Luvachicken]

2 hours ago, Christian said:

About 30 mins away towards the A303😀😀

My friend lives in Ludgershall.

Are you near there ?

She is desperate for a cream tea.

Our birthdays are a week apart in February (plus a year)  so it could be something to celebrate when we are allowed to go out again. 

[Christian]

I’m in Weyhill! You’re literally just down the road. Sadly I don’t think I’ll be open in February at this rate. Hoping to open again in March, subject to Government rules....😀

[Luvachicken]

8 hours ago, Christian said:

I’m in Weyhill! You’re literally just down the road. Sadly I don’t think I’ll be open in February at this rate. Hoping to open again in March, subject to Government rules....😀

Consider a table booked for sometime in the future then 😊

[mullethunter]

I’ve ordered 2 lots of seeds so far and will have one more order to do. Here’s the prettiest list...

[Cat tails]

8 hours ago, mullethunter said:

I’ve ordered 2 lots of seeds so far and will have one more order to do. Here’s the prettiest list...

That’s one pretty list! Your garden will be one flower bomb!

[Luvachicken]

Those all sound lovely @mullethunter

Really like the name of the Magic Roundabout one, and I was going to say the Macaroni Rosso one, but when I just checked how to spell it, I realised it says Marconi 

I found a Nicotiana growing in my front garden the other day, really quite pretty. No idea how it got there or why it is flowering in the middle of winter. I bought a packet of seeds because I thought if it could grow by itself in harsh conditions, then it must be easy to grow in a seed tray.

[Daphne]

Lovely list!  I also like the look of the Magic Roundabout sunflower, its really attractive and a bit different.  Purity is an excellent cosmos, which you may already know.  Its tall, strong and free flowering.  I think you order seeds like I used to, ie loads and loads, but then sanity kicks in and you park the list for a bit, and only actually buy them if you think you can justify the cost to yourself!

[Beantree]

We've decided on a very simple list for veg this season, with no double cropping (probably), just lift the produce, dig in some compost and put weed membrane over the bed to cut down on next years work. Haven't decided on the main crop potatoes yet. First year was Riviera earlies which chipped well but didn't store well. Second year was Spunta main crop which didn't chip well. Last year Bintje main crop, which chipped well but looked very pale and unappetising. Both of those stored quite well though. So this year we'll try something new but not sure what? One thing we did think of was buying a bag of supermarket potatoes, chitting them and planting them out. Has anyone tried that and does it work? Or are the potatoes treated in some way to stop people growing their own from them?

[mullethunter]

From the state of potatoes I occasionally find at the back of the cupboard I’d say you can grow potatoes from supermarket ones - in fact I’m sure the Dogmother does that.

In a rare day on Thursday I dug over half veg beds and emptied the 2yr old compost from one of my bins onto them. I knew I hadn’t done very well at harvesting my maincrop red potatoes (lost interest because they boiled into the water so badly and we weren’t massively keen on the flavour) but I didn’t know there were this many left!! I’ve left them out in the rain this weekend to wash so we will try to eat them! I’m not growing maincrops this year.

Also here’s the last veg standing from last years growing.

[Beantree]

We had some fresh leeks for dinner yesterday; lovely. Didn't grow well though because the soil in that bed is still very poor. We have lots of compost ready to go on.

Had a re-think about the potatoes. They don't sell main crop seed varieties here, which we think is due to the long growth times, the soil temperature and the amount of watering needed. I did meet someone on the plane who said he tried main crops he bought from England; had to dig them out with a pickaxe and they came out cooked! The supermarket potatoes are probably main crops from the North, so it would be at the risk of losing a years worth if we tried them. 

[Cat tails]

Started pruning my grape and I got a new set of hooks and chain to guide it along. Last year one of the chains broke halfway through the season. And some of the hooks too. 
This is the before:

[Cat tails]

After!

[Daphne]

Looking good, CT, you should come over here!  Especially as I spy a fig in the front as well.  How old are the vines?  They have a lot of length on them, so you are obviously doing something right.  I am not good at pruning vines, so I won't offer any comments, except to say Bob Flowerdew always said you couldn't ever cut too much off a vine (I disagree, I am sure I have killed/stunted some by doing it wrongly). I have some about the same length trained over a canopy, and they fruit well, but then they get powdery mildew as there is too much leaf and not enough air (for the canopy), but you won't have that problem.  Are the grapes for eating or wine?  I haven't seen grapes grown on chains before, most people here either have small free standing 'legs', or they are trained on wires between posts.  In the North of Portugal, and in some cold spots, you will see the main trunk trained up to about 1.5 - 2m before they train the shoots horizontally, to avoid frost pockets.

I also have a fence question.  Are solid planks laid on top of each other, like yours, the most common sort in the Netherlands?  In the UK we have flimsier larch panels, where each plank is feathered on top of the one before, so the rain doesn't penetrate so much.  However, I much prefer yours from an aesthetic point of view.  

I like your set-up MT, its very neat and practical.  Over the years I figure I have wasted a lot of time keeping edges of naturally mounding beds free of encroaching weeds and grasses, your method is much better.  And a good looking haul as well! 

Beantree, I don't know specifically about France, but here mostly everyone grows maincrops, 1st/2nd earlies are quite rare.  Obviously it does get extremely hot here, but maybe the difference is that we have incredibly free draining soil, so lifting in the summer isn't so difficult.  My parents lived in the Dordogne for a year, and they used to moan about French maincrops, saying they didn't taste of much, so much so that sacks of spuds would be taken over to them from time to time!  I know things have changed.  The maincrop I buy here, which comes from France (the origin has to be noted) is Mozart (its a red), I used to buy it in the UK too.

 

[Cat tails]

Grape was here when I moved in and together with the pear tree the only things I kept over the years. I had to salvage the grape as it was flopping all over the ground. Think it must have been attached to the fencing at one point, but couldn’t see any of it anymore.
It does very well every year, but not incredibly keen on the result myself... they are an eating grape, but not very sweet or big and it does have pips... yes I’m a spoiled girl! So I tend to leave them to the birds and the chickens get an occasional bunch too.
But it does make for a lovely green fence in summer. And I really don’t do much other than some summer pruning and the big cut back in winter.

Had to redo the fencing completely as it was all rotting away, when I moved here. Don’t think the fence I now have is the most used. The cheaper option is the alternating planks either horizontally or vertically, but those don’t offer much protection and the horizontal ones make for a handy ladder for thieves and such.

Couldn’t find what it is called in English, but this Wikipedia explains the gist:  https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabat_(timmeren)

[Daphne]

Ah, I see, thanks for posting that, it gives me food for thought for the future.  Wooden fences just don't exist here!

[mullethunter]

8 hours ago, Daphne said:

I like your set-up MT, its very neat and practical.

Thankyou. I bought and installed those beds last year after being here four years with three sort of terraces that were slowly collapsing into one big slope. I’ve lost a bit of growing space in real terms but I think having better access actually means I can make more of what I do have. I’ve never had a neat garden before and I do like it.

[Beantree]

The chain and hooks idea is a good one Cattails. Here we have steel wire lines and tie the branches with plastic plant string; a thin walled brown tube which comes in 100 metre rolls. It's time consuming and the plastic does degrade in the sun.

Daphne, I now understand the reason for the choice of potatoes. With well draining soil they can be watered deep and lifted at any time and main crops will give the biggest crop for a given area. Our soil is heavy clay and sets like concrete. It's not possible to water it deeply because a compacted crust forms on the surface and the water just runs off, so the potatoes have to be lifted whilst the soil still has some softness to it. Last year I left it too late and had to water the beds heavily in sections for days before digging out. Basically that's the method we employ to dig a post hole in Summer. Our soil is improving with our compost, but we've put a cubic metre onto the veg plot and still need more.

[Beantree]

Been out buying today, basically because they sell out very quickly here. Trying two new varieties of potatoes, despite Charlotte being a success for us, so a very early (Agata) and a quite late (Desiree), which hopefully won't be so late that I can't get them out? Cut down of the number of onions this year because we had a bumper crop before, haven't used them all and now our land has even more compost in it. Trying two new varieties of F1 hybrid  tomato; Hildares and Harzfew, which mature at different times so should extend the season, rather than having too many in one go. Haven't been able to buy sweetcorn yet, which may be because the population of field voles make it impossible to be harvested?

Strawberries are out because the lizards eat them before we can and no more parsnips because they are too much trouble with the late watering.

[Patricia W]

I dug out one of our grape vines in the autumn.   An early white which got  frosted then mildew.  Had to unwind the other later white from a fence we had to take down so will have to replace its’ climbing frame very soon.  I’ve lightly pruned the two reds, one of which is 40 years old.  I’ve bought and planted 2 new reds ( can’t remember names at this time of night but recommended by our wine cooperative).  Don’t expect much from them for a while.  We produced about 35 kg last autumn but that was down from the previous year.   We should be getting the wine from last year soon!   South Oxfordshire is the new Provence! 

[Christian]

Well seeing as my Cafe is closed until May 🙄 I spent all of last week clearing the allotment and weeding. Just one bed a day to save any back issues but it’s 90% done and looks great. Had a bit of an issue with a resident who faces my allotment, telling others that mine was ‘disgusting’🤬 - it wasn’t disgusting, just an allotment over winter.... she gave me lots of plants to put at the front facing her house when I started the plot to make it pretty for her. 
 

I applied to swap with another plot holder but the parish council said no. Because they can. No reason given except it’s ‘against the rules’ - a copy of which I have and nothing in there says you can’t swap plots. So....I’ve dug out all of the plants she gave me, and found good homes for them. I didn’t really want that many flowers (of her choosing) on the plot anyway. I’ve put up a massive bean wigwam at the front, along with my artichokes and sweetcorn that I’ll be planting there, I’ll have a lovely tall, green privacy screen to stop nosy, interfering neighbours. 😀😀 

 

I finally managed to pick up some greenhouse shading and clips, which only took 10 minutes to do. So much better than the white fleece and tape ive been battling with for 4 years 😂 

Another plot holder gave up his plot and told me to take anything i wanted. Huge mistake 😂 I dug up a red gooseberry bush, took his netted bed covers which are really solid, some plastic pipes to use as supports for enviromesh and a wooden table  he’d made. I gave him lots of eggs as a thank you! 
 

I managed to get my kelvedon wonder peas planted, along with 2 types of beetroot. Plus pelleted autumn king carrots. So much easier to see the seeds when they are pelleted (and white)! £1.50 for 300 seeds so not bad at all. And spaced properly! 
 

Lots of work there last week has paid off. I just hope that when I’m back to work at the Café I can keep it up. I plan to get home, feed the dog and head straight down there most days. It’s only a 5 minute walk and if I get into the habit of going straight down when I finish work it will become second nature. I do love spending time down there. 

[Beantree]

Sorry your cafe has to be closed Christian. One thing we miss is occasional mornings out and it appears that our favourite place with the best coffee has closed completely; been shut for a year now. At least you will probably get everything in before you open.

Just checked our seed potatoes and the earlies must go in tomorrow; it's raining today, which is a relief after three dry weeks. Following those the lates will need planting as well. The beds have been weeded, they just need a bit of compost, tilling to break up the lumps and then levelling off. Todays job is tomato seeds.

Found some sweetcorn but the price of the packet was €5.25 and given that they could either blow over (our Portuguese Laurel hedge isn't established yet) or be eaten by voles, I decided not to bother.

[Daphne]

Gosh, that does seem very pricey Beantree, perhaps its because the French think sweetcorn is for cattle!  We are in the midst of a hot dry sunny spell, its forecast to be 19 here, 21 about 15 miles away and 24 on the coast, for the next week as well.  I have planted a whole slew of seeds, tomato, tomarillo, pea, french dwarf bean, rocket, peppers, chili, lettuce and some flowers for cutting as well.  However, I didn't store my own tomato seed well enough, its not completely dry, so I don't think it will germinate very well, if at all.  I shall have to buy some plugs if necessary.  We had a freezing cold January, the worst for 25 years, and I have lost some shrubs, and the loquats, which have big leathery leaves, have damage, but they will survive.   Judging by the blossom we should have loads of apricots, almonds and plums (but I say that every year and we don't).  The good peach tree appears to be dying slowly, you can count the number of blooms they are so infrequent, but the very old fashioned late peaches might be OK, although they are only good for jam.  Its too early to judge the quince, apple, pear and cherry.

You sound very in touch with your allotment which is lovely to hear, Christian, and I am sending you vibes to ignore your neighbour.  I can't stand all that pettiness, its something which doesn't happen here, at least not for reasons of aesthetics, people get het up about fire risks, fair enough.  My own UK garden was a bit wild, a mix of the hens and my own approach to gardening, which is quite hands off, to allow nature to take its course.  I had one neighbour who was even more in tune with nature, one who was always asking me to cut trees back (fair enough when branches overhung their garden, otherwise not), and one neighbour who was always mowing the lawn and cutting things down to keep them neat.   He lived next door to somebody who regularly won prizes for her garden so you could eat your dinner off her lawn, and I have to say the garden was beautiful. However, Mr Mower started to keep bees, with me, and after a while he changed his views, we planted wild flowers and other things for them, he got going on his veg patch and he became a lot more relaxed.  My super-laid back neighbour once said to me that we didn't have to garden 'for other people'; it was only if we let their comments get to us that we felt we had to change our behaviour, and therefore get resentful and waste our precisious energy being annoyed.  Those words stuck with me, and I pass them on, in solidarity!

I'm sure your cafe will be up and running in the very near future.  I am just like Beantree, I can't wait to do something as simple as go out for a coffee.  Just this morning I said to OH that I'd love to go to the coast, and maybe dip a toe in the water, in all this sun.  Then have a stroll, a coffee, and lunch out.  Today we can't do any of these things, but as soon as we can, we will, and I'm sure all your customers will be waiting with bated breath, we can't wait to spend our money doing something pleasurable and sociable.

Kelvedon Wonder are a very good pea, I hope they do well for you.  The only comment I'd make about the red gooseberry, is to watch out for sawfly.  They stripped mine.

[mullethunter]

I’ve had a busy few weekends of seed planting too.

Ive sown sweet peppers, tomatoes, kale, early purple sprouting broccoli, leeks, onions, dwarf French beans, mesembryanthemums, cosmos, echinacea, viola, verbena rigida and potted up all my dahlia tubers. I’ve cleared 3 of my 4 veg beds and applied nematodes for slugs today. Do still need to wash most of the greenhouse though - really should’ve done that before I started filling it up 🙈

[Daphne]

It sounds like you've been busy!  I planted out a couple of dahlia tubers, only for the cat to think I've created him his own special dust bath.  The other stupid thing I have done is use some especially stinky compost for the seed sowing and potting on and some even stinkier guano on the veg beds.  Now we can't sit out on the terrace when the sun is out.....

[Beantree]

You've both been far busier than us.The ground has been too dry and hard but now the weather here is cold and dark with occasional showers, so we're not inclined to do anything outside. Frosts have appeared on the forecast for the end of the week, so the potatoes might need fleecing immediately.

Stinky compost reminds me of a mistake we made when we first arrived in France Daphne. Bought some rearers pellets not realising that they had used fish by-product for the protein content (should have read the label properly) and the stench within a day was unbelievable; probably like your guano. Needless to say we immediately bought something else and the rest of the bag went in the bin. Poo picked as much as possible then hosed the area to wash it in.