Stinky Cabbage

2012-01-24T15:37:00.001Z

Built myself a cold smoker over Christmas and yesterday gave it a dry run. I managed to get some kiln dried oak shavings from a friend and another friend was interested in the smoker, so gave me a (very) fresh venison liver to smoke, so we could see if it worked, and see what it tasted like.
It certainly worked; we got a small fire going, some coals nice and hot, dumped a few handfuls of shavings on the coals and covered them so they would feed their smoke through the conveniently placed pipe that was linked to the smoker.
After two hours we took the meat out and it seemed a bit smokey, but cooking it and eating it revealed how much it has got into the liver; it was delicious and so I am now curing some pork belly so I can try to smoke that on the weekend.

iPhone Apps for Beekeepers

2011-01-22T22:54:00.000Z

I have an iPhone and there seems to be an App for everything - but beekeeping? Here are some I have had a look at which might interest you. I have not included any that are games - these are all supposed to be educational and instructive...

Biobees - £1.79 from Wizzard Media - Brought to you from the people that put together the barefoot beekeeper podcasts and related website. They are very good and contain we lot of useful information, but do focus on the top bar method of keeping bees. The App has little to offer over the podcasts and website, to be honest, so in my opinion an ok App for top bar hive users, and even then with little long term use unless they provide some serious updates to expand the material. The money goes to a good cause though, so that's a bonus. Check out their website first to see if you like that; if you do, then the app will probably suit you.
RATING: Good.

Beekeeping Guide - £1.79 from PTAJ Marketing - As the other reviews on iTunes point out, this claims a lot but does not deliver; it's an unattractive app with text about beekeeping, but no more, not even any pictures and certainly no high value content like video, audio or interactive graphics. I believe it's a waste of money. The other apps reviewed here have more content, are better laid out and are cheaper!

Mysteries of Bee Keeping

RATING: Poor.

Mysteries of Bee Keeping Explained - £0.59 from DMBC - This is basically an American text book provided in app format. It has a very attractive front page picture of a cyber-style bee, but that is the only picture in the book that I found so far. However, for 59p, this is not a bad buy; it's an American text, so the language and the seasonal references might be a bit off for the non-American purchasers, but this is still a lot of information for 59p. It's also well split up into chapters and subchapters, so it's easy to quickly get to the information you want at any one time. Better to get the free version on iBooks though! Especially as this one seems to be a bit cut down from the original on iBooks and the Andrews UK Ltd version below.
RATING: Average.

Honeybees!

Honeybees! - £1.19 from Smiley Cat LLC - One of the best in terms of pictures; great full colour shots throughout the app, but the content is pretty light and certainly for absolute beginners only. The content within this app could easily be picked up from the internet for nothing and it offers very little help and advice for anyone that actually keeps bees; it's more for people interested in bees but don't intend to have any of their own.
RATING: Poor.

Bee Keeping - Learn how to keep bees successfully - £0.59 from AppWarrior - Impressive title and a very low price, but another to avoid, to be honest. This claims to be an eBook, but there is a disappointing amount of content in the text, would probably amount to no more than 30 pages of a real book. Once again, there are no pictures at all in the app, making it an unlikely aid to helping any beekeepers out there. Not bad if you want to learn a bit more about bees than Honeybees! gives you, but the lack of pictures earns it a low rating from me.
RATING: Poor.

Mysteries of BK M Quimby

Mysteries of Bee Keeping Explained by M Quimby - £0.59 from Andrews UK Ltd - Not to be mixed up with the Mysteries of Bee Keeping Explained provided by DBMC, although it is the same book! This seems to be a more complete version of that book which actually has a huge amount of content (claims the eBook has 720 pages) and lots of useful, if not somewhat dated, advice. It also lets you bookmark pages you want to refer to later. For 59p, its cheap and it even has some pictures, although they are line drawings and there are not many of them. However, if you use the free iBooks app (see below) you can download it for free.
RATING: Good - but get it on iBooks for free (see below).

Honey Health Free! - £free from mmajdi - This is less of a bee keepers app, more an app that explains where honey comes from, what it can be used for, etc. The user interface is a bit clunky and over elaborate in some areas, but there is useful content in here. Remember it is free, so worth downloading and trying out to go through it and see if you think it is worth keeping; I liked the remedies section, laid out alphabetically, although the data was limiting. The beauty section looked like a bit of an afterthought, but could give you inspiration to look on the internet for more information. For free, it's worth a try.

Honey Health Free!

RATING: Average.

Bee Sounds - £0.59 from Elastic Ventures - Seriously? This app claims to provide 9 sounds that bees make, so you can play them as a 'bee lover'. There is no claim that this will help bee keepers, nor do they explain what the bee sounds mean, so all in all, even for 59p, an terrible waste of time and money for a bee keeper.
RATING: Laughable.

Bee Encyclopedia - £0.59 from Nellvii - A very slick looking product that has great colour photographs and could have been a really useful app, if it had much more content. This is a missed opportunity, to go to all that trouble and create something that looks this good, then put virtually no content in there at all? There is such a tiny amount of information in here, it is far from encyclopedic.
RATING: Poor.

iBooks - £free from Apple Inc. - A quick mention for this great app, especially seeing as so many of the 'true' apps reviewed above turned out to be no more than eBooks anyway. iBooks is a great way to get to lots of free titles (modern titles will need to be bought, please note). These include, if you look for them, some bee keeping volumes, like Langstroths 'The Hive and the Honey Bee', which you can download onto your iPhone in seconds. Also worth downloading for free using this app are 'an Introduction to Natural Beekeeping' and 'Mysteries of Bee Keeping Explained by M Quimby'.
RATING: Very Good.

Prices were right at time of writing and may change.

Encouragement from Fellow Bee Keepers

2011-01-22T21:34:00.000Z

It's been a long time since I posted as it's been really busy with the pigs, the chickens, the garden, then the cold set in and I almost completely stopped checking on the bees as it would have disturbed them too much during the freezing temperatures. I made sure they had some feed before the cold set in, on top of the honey stores they had made for themselves. We had a slightly warmer day at the start of January and some of the bees were coming out, doing some housework, bringing out some of the dead bees, good normal stuff; then I noticed there was nothing from the larger colony (Alpha). I decided to check on them and sure enough, they were all dead. The varroa seemed low, there were stores and extra feed available which I had given them, the frames didn't smell like it was foul brood; it just seems that they didn't manage to keep themselves alive over the very cold nights through the end of 2010 (it got down to -12c at least on a couple of occasions). But attending the New Forest and District Bee Keepers Association today gave me a chance to talk to some of the other local bee keepers about it and encouraged me that this happens and if they had feed and the hive was in good condition and they were disease free/very low, then I did what I could. I am just pleased the other colony (Delta) is doing well and although it was a good deal smaller than the colony I lost, it should build well when the Spring kicks in. It's good to see the Bee Keeping Association folk on a regular basis to check your thinking on these things and get some encouragement when things go a bit awry.

First few jars of Honey for the year!

2010-07-13T21:35:00.001+01:00

I took two frames off the Alpha hive last week and spun the honey out to produce five and a half jars, shown here. The process of uncapping, spinning, sieving and bottling was easier than I expected, but it was a nice warm day which makes it easier. The honey tastes great and we have enough to share with some of the neighbours and family, and plenty left for ourselves. It's a good colour, not too pale, a nice fragrance, one friend told me, so we are pleased with this first crop from the Alpha colony. [Update] A few of weeks after this post, I took another couple of frames out and spun another dozen jars worth! It's lovely stuff and some even went into our homemade Rosemary (from the herb garden), Honey (from our bees) and Pork (from our own pigs) sausages! They were lovely, but will probably not last long...

Local Apiary Visit

2010-06-13T21:55:00.000+01:00

Local beekeeping associations often run apiary visits for their beekeepers (especially new ones) to see the apiaries of other local beekeepers, old hands who have established colonies and are willing to go through their hive checks with 20 keen newbies asking lots of questions. It's such a great way to see how someone else does it, what kit they have, how they use it, what tips they have and make some new friends. Today we saw three different queens, how to mark a queen, saw some queen cells too and got to ask many questions. The weather was glorious too. Back home, my new queen arrived in the post and so I caged her and gave her a frame of brood and a frame of stores in a new hive. I shall give them some feed tomorrow too and see if they have time to develop a decent size colony. I shall let you know how that 'Beta' colony develops...

Alpha Hive growing Fast

2010-05-23T22:32:00.000+01:00

Checked the hive today and great to see numbers growing again. They completely finished the Apifonda I gave them last week and hopefully are now building their stores themselves. I have added another super to the hive too, to make sure they have enough room to develop their stores even further. As this picture shows, there are brood cells (the ones with the convex, spherical tops) being hatched too. Haven't spotted the Queen, but I know she is there as she is laying so well. Trying to keep the grass down around the two hives, whilst not annoying the bees, can be tricky. They don't like the noise or the heat of the mower, so it's a good idea to get in and out quickly, so they don't have time to get too agitated.

Where is the warm Spring weather?

2010-05-15T22:39:00.000+01:00

Two weeks of cold weather was unexpected; arctic winds apparently. This has meant that my Alpha colony has not been able to get out and build their supplies. Also, when they have been out, there have been fewer plants in flower compared to usual for this time of the year. When I checked them today, there were high numbers of bees in compared to two weeks ago, but their stores were very low. This means I need to give them some fondant to feed on otherwise some of them may starve before new supplies are available. However, I am delighted to see so many bees and brood in the hive. The queen has been laying well, although I have ordered a replacement queen as she is at least two years old now. There are delays on getting new queens right now as the Ash Cloud hit flights have affected supplies in the UK!

2010-05-14T22:12:00.002+01:00

Had our new chicken house delivered today and spent a couple of hours putting it together with the help of the chickens. Actually, the chickens were not much help. It is an Omlet Cube and will replace the Omlet Eglu we have had for the past 5 years. The new one was flat packed and came in many pieces, as you can see. Actually, it was easy to put together and fits into the existing chicken area perfectly well. The hens were unsure at first about going in there, and the plastic ladder has caused a few slippages, but they were encouraged to go in there for the evening and all five (even the two new girls) settled down for the evening inside. Also a note about the weather - 4 frosts this week! Having to fleece lots of early plants, like courgettes and beans, will be pleased when these arctic winds pass us by!

2010-05-01T21:35:00.002+01:00

I picked up two new chickens from Perfect Poultry (near Woking) this week and brought them home. They will be in quarantine away from the other chickens for a while whilst everyone gets used to each other. Then we will mix them together in a few weeks... and watch them sort out the new pecking order. Buffy is a Wellsummer and Faith is a Bluebell mixed with something else. Buffy is already laying too.

Friendly Neighbourhood Bee Inspectors

2010-04-24T21:28:00.000+01:00

The NFDBKA ran one of their meetings today where about 40 of us met up with three of the local Bee Inspectors. We went to see some hives with them and watched as they went through their inspections of the hives and bee colonies therein. This is very useful as we get to see someone else's site, how the inspectors carry out their inspection and we get to talk to lots of other bee keepers (including the inspectors) and discuss local Bee related issues and tips. It was a very sunny day too, a real bonus. 40 plus people dressed in bee suits can attract attention, but fortunately this site was out in the sticks.

Unfortunately, the bee inspectors found European Foul Brood in some of the hives. This was a terrible blow for the owner, but very interesting for us all to see how an infected colony looked, what to look for and how to use the foul brood test packs. These are kinda like a pregnancy check; you take a sample (in this case, a grub from the hive) and shake it up with a solution. Then a couple of drops are added to a plastic strip which after a minute will change to show whether there was foul brood present or not. The second photo here shows the inspector checking the strip. If you suspect you have any disease in any of your hives, you must by law (in the UK) get the local inspector in to check your hives. And don't forget to register your bees on the BeeBase.

2010-04-22T11:30:00.003+01:00

Well, after so many weeks of rain, it hasn't rained for it seems about three weeks now. The pigs are settled in nicely though. The whole area (they have about 5 metres by 20 metres) is turned over already. If it rains, they will be able to get even deeper. Dean seems to be a bit more nervous than Sam (Dean is in the first picture here) maybe because he is smaller, but he is eating lots and putting on weight, so hopefully he will bulk up nicely despite his size when he got here. Sammy is monster, very friendly and has got over his 'bitey' stage; now loves to have a scratch. With all this sun I have tried to give them a nice wet and muddy patch to wallow in, but it's a bit cold still, so they ignore that and lie in the sun. I might have to get the factor 30 out for them. Their favourite food so far seems to be last years celery from the garden.
Meanwhile, the rest of the garden is exploding into green. I always forget how thick and colourful the garden gets in the summer, when I am stuck in the dark barren days of winter. Most of our seedlings are doing ok in the greenhouse and will be ready to plant out soon, but we are still getting frosts down here, so have to time it right before I commit to letting the seedlings risk the chance of a late frost. The chickens are fine, although we sadly lost Trinny about a month ago to Peritonitis, which is a condition chickens can have which stops them being able to lay eggs and can make them unwell. She roosts in peace. We will probably get a couple more soon to increase the flock, more news on that as it happens!

Asian Hornets

2010-04-21T17:42:00.000+01:00

We get European Hornets in our garden quite a lot once summer gets going. However, there is lots of talk about Asian Hornets at the moment in the news. Apparently the French accidentally introduced them to Europe in imported plants and they are attacking French honey bee colonies. The Japanese honey has an amazing defence against them though, as can be seen from this video - well worth looking at this! Although this article is from 2007, it is one of the most informative on the subject. This article from this month's Telegraph gives the latest news on the subject too. Hopes are that these Asian Hornets do not cross the channel.

2010-04-03T20:16:00.002+01:00

Big news today; me and MrH finished the fencing that is to run around the new pig area and we got the pig ark moved from last years pig area, fitted some double gates so it's easier to move the pig ark each year. We also made some repairs to the fencing on the old area. The rain was not helping, but we ploughed on (sometimes it seemed literally) through the mud and got it done just after lunch.

So I went to get a couple of pigs from S&R's farm and we put them in the new area. They are a mix of Old White and Tamworth; although a lot of Tamworth there it seems. They seemed to like the area enough, started turning the ground straight away. We gave them some apples and some pig nuts and they started to be a bit less nervous. It's great to have pigs here again, let's just hope the rain gives up a bit and they settle in ok.

2010-04-03T19:45:00.004+01:00

It's Easter and therefore time to unwrap the air dried ham that's been hung outside the barn since last October. I have been waiting a LONG time to see whether the whole exercise has been a success. When I unwrapped it, I must admit that it was pretty mouldy, but the instructions I had followed from Hugh F-W's book had warned me that it would be like that, and that I needed to just scrub it with a nail brush and vinegar.
So I did that, and it came up really well. The proof is always in the eating though, so we tried some and it was fantastic; I was so pleased that it was good and not salty like I expected. It's a whole leg and was left in salt for about a month, wrapped in muslin and left outside for about 5 month to air dry; through the frosts and the snow, etc. It's not allowed to get wet outside, but other than that, it was out there the whole time.

Starting Out? Try a Beginners Course...

2010-03-27T21:49:00.000Z

At the start of last year I decided I wanted to seriously look into keeping bees. I looked for a local course and found this one in Bournemouth. It was a one day beginners course and it gave me the chance to learn a lot about beekeeping, ask lots of silly questions, even don a suit and see what a hive is like and whether I thought it would be something worth trying. The courses are a great way to get some confidence and they are run all over the country (and in other countries too, I am sure). I'd really recommend it to anyone who is interested in keeping bees, but is not sure about what they might be letting themselves in for.

New Brood in the Hive

2010-03-27T21:30:00.000Z

It was dry today for the first day this last week, but more notably, it was sunny and warm too. Lots of the bees were out just after lunch, so whilst the sun was out too, I had a look in the hive. My main concern was that last time I checked them, I could see no new brood and was worried the queen was not laying or worse had died over winter. However, after a quick look through the Super, I got into the brood box to see if I could find the Queen, or any brood. It was quickly apparent that there was brood, though, and so I knew the Queen was in there somewhere. As they were a bit agitated, I closed up the hive again, replaced the fondant I had been feeding them to get them going, put on the roof and left them to it. So now the thing is to let them get going over the next few weeks, then at the end of April I will have to keep and eye on them weekly to see if they start to make Queen Cells in the hive, as I think this Queen is due to be replaced. The new hive is ready to go out too, with the new stand made and the hive varnished. I shall keep my fingers crossed for a swarm soon!

Hot Bees and How Bees See Flowers

2010-03-27T20:54:00.000Z

If you didn't see the BBC programme this week 'Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds', then you can see it on the BBC iPlayer (more here too). It was very interesting as it brought up two new facts for me. One was that there are special bees in each colony that are 'heater' bees which help keep the brood warm. They have to be fed extra food as they burn so much energy. They were picked up with thermal cameras and there is great footage in the programme; here is a screen shot that shows two of these heater bees amongst the other bees in the colony.

The other point raised (and illustrated very well) was the way that bees see flowers as opposed to how we see them. This bindweed flower looks totally white to us, but to the bees, they see this pattern and it leads them to the nectar.

Omlet Guide to Beekeeping

2010-03-21T18:07:00.000Z

Added a new link to the link list today, as I found that Omlet have added a very decent beekeeping guide to their website here. Omlet are a great company who started off making urban chicken houses (called the Eglu) and have since branched out into making homes for other pets/livestock... including last year a release of their new design for a beehive, or beehaus, as they refer to it. We have one of their Eglu chicken houses, but I don't have a beehaus, as I had already invested in traditional National Hives before they came out. Anyway, if you are a beginner, the guide to keeping bees is pretty good and worth a look.

Varnishing the New Hive

2010-03-20T22:19:00.000Z

Picked up my new hive this week from Thornes in Stockbridge. I had ordered a bunch of stuff, including a new hive and a travelling box, both of which I varnished today as it was raining all day; so not able to do anything in the garden or check on the bees. I use a very light varnish which is recommended by the supplier; I was not sure whether to use varnish or not, some beekeepers do, some say it isn't good for the bees. I decided to give it a go, it makes sense to protect the outside of the hive, but of course you don't varnish the inside where the bees live! I also picked up a plastic queen excluder to try... apparently the steel one I already have could hurt the bees passing through; I haven't seen any proof of that with the colony I already have, so I shall see how the new one works out. So I am all stocked up and ready for another colony of bees. I have got my name on the 'Swarm List' with the local Beekeeping Association; when a swarm is spotted, the local association is asked to send someone to pick up the swarm. This is only my second year, so still trying to get to grips with exactly what needs to be done every year.

Bumblebee Conservation

2010-03-17T20:36:00.000Z

Well worth a visit is the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. I get so many bumblebees in the garden and they survive very happily in our long grass (I keep areas uncut so they and other insects can nest). They also seem to get on very well with the honey bees. So I was interested to find a great guide to the UK bumblebee population on this website. If you join the trust (£1 a month) you get this poster, and lots of other stuff too.

Snow and Frost

2010-03-16T13:51:00.000Z

Another frost today... and on Monday too. It's been such a consistently cold four months in a row. The snow in December and January (we didn't really get any worth bragging about in February) looked good, but was indicative of what the season was like, even down here in the south of England.

So what affect has this had on the bees? As you can see from the Hive Inspection reports, I didn't bother them very much at all through those months, for fear of robbing them of the little heat they had manage to retain in their hive. The colony was not too large, so their stores lasted them well. They seem to be fairly local bees too, which means they are probably better equiped to deal with the colder weather than their European cousins; although all bees in the UK are now hybrids of varying amounts of the European and original UK honey bee.

First Internal Inspection for 2010

2010-03-14T21:55:00.000Z

On Saturday I made the first proper inspection of the Alpha hive this year as it has been way too cold before now. It was bright and sunny, quite warm, and the bees were coming in and out of the hive, so I went through the whole hive. There were no grubs, so I became a bit concerned. I couldn't find the queen, but nothing new there. I went to Thornes earlier in the week and ordered a new hive, but whilst I was there I bought some Apifonda too. So I gave them a pack of it to get them going and hopefully the queen is there and will start laying. Cleared out the dead bees from winter from the bottom of the hive. Also checked the inspection sheet under the hive (it's a open mesh floor); couldn't see a single mite, even under the microscope. Replaced the queen excluder. Two frames of honey still in the super, though. Made a new stand for the new hive, ready for when it arrives.

How it started...

2010-03-14T20:59:00.000Z

On the 26th of May, 2009, at 19.00, I picked up a swarm of bees from a contact at the local Bee Keeping association. They were in a cardboard box at some local allotments. I put them in the car, with my bee suit on, and drove home. I took them down to the new hive I had recently bought and dropped them into the hive. I gave them a small amount of sugar solution to get them started. I couldn't see the queen, but there were plenty of bees in there looking happy enough. I put the hive back together and crossed my fingers that they would stay there and do well.

I was lucky. They took to the hive very happily and soon started drawing the frames out and soon they were making honey and the queen, who had indeed survived the trip, started laying eggs. The colony was successfully housed and began to grow from there...

2010-02-20T20:35:00.008Z

Such a long time since posting an entry on the blog... but we have been busy. First of all, the rats were getting into the chicken area again (this time under the walls), so the week after Christmas, I dug 6 inches of earth (mud!) out of the whole area, fixed chicken wire from wall to wall at ground level and brought the earth back in to cover the wire. The rats continued to try to dig under for a while, but soon learned they could no longer get through the new wire.

I also got tired of the water sitting on the roof of the chicken area and slowly draining in... this was just making the whole area a mud bath for the poor girls; so I took the roof off, built the front and sides up and refixed the roof at an angle, as shown above. Now the water runs clear of the area at the back and the girls stay much dryer. Should have done that when I built it really, but you live and learn. The snow caused the chickens the usual grumpiness, but it was the bees that I was most concerned about, as they were in their first year with me and I didn't want to loose my first colony!

However, they seemed ok when I checked them two weeks ago on a rare sunny warm day. Quite a relief. The other big job has been to replace the old barn that had big holes in the roof.

The old one really was on it's last legs and was not what I needed either, so I tore down the old one (see inset picture) and invested in having Al building a new one with my help. I just need to take down the old shed now too and the whole area will look much better. Photo of the new barn to follow!

2009-09-27T19:17:00.003+01:00

Last Monday, we sent the boys, Bert and Ernie, off to the abattoir. They boarded the trailer perfectly happily, having wandered down the garden after me without being at all boisterous or over excited. We got the meat back yesterday and I've spent most of the weekend butchering the various cuts into what we want. There was over 160kg of meat between them; that's a lot of meat and more than we expected or were prepared for, but we managed to sort it all out and get in the fridges and freezers. We have made some sausages too and today had a small joint for lunch; I am pleased to report that it was delicious and neither of us had any problem with eating it. Putting them on the trailer to go to the abattoir is one thing, but when it comes back, it all just looks like meat and seems pretty separate from the friendly pigs we have looked after for the last 22 weeks. Now, we can't wait to get another two in March.

2009-08-24T22:51:00.003+01:00

This entry is just an excuse to share with you this video of Bert and Ernie...

...Ernie likes a scratch, and the water trough does provide a vehicle for scratching, umm, certain parts, at just the right height. Bert, the ginger Tamworth, wants a drink, but once he finally managed to get to the water, it doesn't seem to quite taste as he hoped...

2009-08-15T20:56:00.006+01:00

What a rubbish summer... I thought they were telling us we would have a really sunny and warm summer this year? I would prefer the Met Office just told us it would be another wet summer and then if it was sunny, it would be a nice surprise. Anyway, enough moaning... here is an update on how things are going, as it's been a while since I updated the blog. The Chickens are doing well, they are are eating well, as you can see! Although Trinny wanted to make sure I had her good side for this picture. The Bees are doing ok, not warm enough for them really to be growing in numbers like I really wanted... hopefully they will swell in numbers enough so that they survive through the winter. I plan to start feeding them soon so they can get their food supplies up. The Pigs are REALLY getting big now... it's hard to see the difference on the photographs, but they are really doing well and nearly 'ready' to go... I reckon there is another 4 or 5 weeks to go at most... then we will be filling the freezer. Still not sure how we will feel about eating them, as we have loved having them and spending time with them, but we won't know unless we try. They have had a wonderful time to date, eating really well and have lots of room to run around and play (they do play too!). Currently the apples trees and the hazel nut trees are giving them lots of tasty food to supplement their usual pigs nuts... and they love the hog weed too, which we seem to have lots of. We are eating well ourselves, with the garden at full tilt, providing lots of different food for us. The Squashes this year have been a big success, especially the onion squashes which I grew from seeds I got from one I bought from Waitrose and cooked in the winter... I kept the seeds and they came through really well. Here is a photo of some of the other stuff we have been reaping this year. The tomatoes this year have been prolific, so I have been making lots of Roasted Tomato Passata and freezing or putting it in jars. The sweetcorn has been great too, hoping to grow more next year in the area the pigs have been manuring this year.

2009-06-29T22:01:00.009+01:00

After some very hot days the garden is looking very green and lush. Glad I have those big rain water butts. Also managed to finish the 'Insect-abode' this month, with various spare bricks, tiles, logs, turf and straw, so provide a veritable hotel for bugs and insects to make home in. I made one at our last house from an old bookcase, but this one is much bigger and heavier; the first couple of layers are made from old pallets which are a great platform to build the rest on. The pigs are doing well, enjoying the early windfall from the apple trees and the sunshine, although Ernie is still getting a bit sunburnt. They do insist, even in this heat, on lying next to each other too, as you can see. The bees are doing well, and are growing in numbers too. Here is a shot I got of three of them hitting one of our many poppies, which have been prolific this year. They also seem to love the courgette flowers and now the sunflowers are starting to open up, those will likely be popular too. The Hens are happy too, but we are on Fox alert at the moment as S noticed one in the garden last week; no-where near the chooks, but still too close for comfort. Hopefully the proximity of the chooks to the house and us will put it off. They are always locked in at night, but during the day we let them out if we are at home... we would be very upset if the fox got any of them.

2009-06-14T20:53:00.009+01:00

I am pleased to report that the bees seem to have taken up full residence in the hive. I have checked them now a couple of times and they seem to be filling the frames not just with honey, but also with eggs. I must admit, I have not spotted the queen yet, I they would not have eggs in there if she wasn't in there too. The photo here shows one of the frames from in the 'super' box, where the bees are covering the frame with comb and filling it with honey. With any luck there will be some in the next month or so that we can have from them, but want to make sure they have enough first (and need to get an extractor too - they are not cheap). Meanwhile, the pigs are still working on getting bigger. And sleeping, as you can see here in their favourite spot under the sun shade I built them, as Ernie does get a spot of sunburn on his ears if he is in the sun too much. They are great company and love having us near them, preferably in their pen so that we can be on hand to give them a scratch when they want one - which is about 99% of the time. There has also been a significant boost in the veg garden in the last month with the warm weather. Some of the plants are struggling with the heat, but most are ok as long as they have enough water. Good job the water butts are nice and full.

2009-05-28T17:59:00.006+01:00

Did I mention that I went on a Bee Keeping course? Just for a day, in Bournemouth, very good it was too, and gave me the confidence that it was something I could do and would enjoy. So I bought a suit. Then I bought a hive. I set the hive up and got myself on the local swarm list, which means that the local area swarm officer lets you know where a swarm is when it is reported, and you get to go and bring it home (!). Sounds scary - it is a bit. However, a friend called me to tell me one of his mates had a swarm in a box on his allotment - would I like it? So on Tuesday I collected it, drove it home in the car (in my suit!), and put the bees in the hive, hoping that they would take to it and stay there. So far, so good; I checked on them for the first time today since putting them in the hive on Tuesday and they seem relaxed and are beavering away in the hive. Here is a picture of the hive, resting on the stand I made for it from old pieces of timber; the piece at the front on the bottom is a landing pad that the bees can use to settle and make their way into the hive in their own time. You can see some coming out/going in at the long hole in the bottom of the hive, just above the landing pad. I am lucky to get a swarm this early, it will give them time to get the hive up and running, build their numbers and stores for the winter and so are more likely to make it through the cold months. Not likely to get much honey from them this year, though, but next year we should do! Watch this space...

2009-05-14T21:13:00.010+01:00

As you can see, the pigs are settled and a lot more confident with us. They have got much bigger already, its amazing how quick they grow; I was concerned originally that they might not get big enough in 6 months, but no fear. Ernie, shown right here, is very friendly and likes a good scratch on his belly. Bert, the Tamworth, is a bit more aggressive and likes to have a scratch too, but also likes to chew clothes and shoes (whilst you are wearing them). Meanwhile, the chickens are doing well and now the weather is warmer, we are getting a regular three eggs a day. Got a great shot of Suzannah here from inside their chicken food feeder. The chickens are so entertaining, all four of them are great company in the garden. The veg garden is doing well, there is a lot coming through hard now in both the greenhouse and the veg plot. Looking forward to better success with some of last years failures, such as the chillies and the brassiccas. Some things are so lush, like the lettuce shown here; I took this in the rain today, it looked so fresh and colourful. Also trying to clear another area across the garden to make a semi formal herb garden, with box hedging and stuff. It will be good to get all my favourite herbs, like Rosemary, Tarragon, Parsley, Mint (I have 10 types!), Basil, Fennel, Sage and Thyme, all in one place and in an area where they can grow properly, rather than in the scattered pots they reside in right now. I shall take some pictures when it is done...

2009-05-06T19:07:00.004+01:00

Had an interesting and unexpected crop recently; Morel mushrooms have been turning up in my borders. I spotted the first one due to its size, otherwise they are pretty well camouflaged in the bark that lies on the weed suppressant fabric. The one shown here was about 15cm high! That's a pound coin next to it. I looked them up in a couple of mushroom books I have, the best I think is the River Cottage one, which said they are fairly rare in the New Forest although they are finding that the trend for using weed suppressant fabric covered with bark mulch has caused a lot to turn up as their spores (which are airborne) land on a promising looking bit of bark, then find there is no way to get to the nutrients in the soil, so they panic and try to fruit immediately, thereby producing big Morels. We have about 8 patches of ones and twos around the border at the moment. The first lot I picked and cooked in a pie with some local venison. Very nice. So try fabric covered with bark in your garden and see if you are lucky enough to get some mushrooms showing up - thats the Morel of the story!

2009-04-12T19:57:00.006+01:00

Got up early today, despite being an Easter Sunday, to get the chickens out and prepare for the new pigs. Walked over to J's as he is a neighbour who is well connected with local farmers, can help me choose which pigs to select and has transport too. We choose a couple of pigs out of about 35; a mix of Tamworths, Old Spots and Whites. As you can see, we picked out a Tamworth (the ginger one) and an Old Spot. We got them home after completing the paperwork required and into their new run. They were a bit jumpy for a while, but eventually were rooting about happily and even managed to get a couple of siestas in through the afternoon! S has decided to call them Bert and Ernie, despite all recommendations that we should not name them; they are for fattening over the next 6 months and will be slaughtered for meat, so we must try and not get too attached to them. As you can see, this might be tricky...

2009-03-26T17:35:00.007Z

A scurry of activity recently has put us into a position of being ready to buy some pigs now. The fencing went up at the start of the month; I even remembered to leave a big enough gap to get the pig ark in. The pig ark arrived from the Traditional Pig Ark Company in mid March and got lifted and shifted into position eventually, then the fencing completed and gate fitted; ready for the hogs. Unfortunately, it's not that simple, as you have to get a holding number from the Rural Payments Agency and then have registration with the Animal Health Registration people too; but it's not hard and they are keen to help you with the process, I must admit that it was painless and everyone I spoke to was helpful and friendly, full of advice and not at all officious. There is a great guide that takes you through what you need to do on the DEFRA website.

2009-02-02T18:18:00.008Z

I have been shockingly slack in terms of updating the blog through the winter, so it is time for a well overdue update on the last few cold, wet months. We have had plenty going on, despite the weather and a seasonal bout of colds. For a start, two new chickens were picked up from Longdown to be slowly and carefully introduced to our existing two; Trinny and Suzannah were unimpressed by the new recruits, who were named Penelope (a Black Rock) and Henrietta (a Warren). Shown here with Trinny, who is the fat one on the left and is, for a change, not trying to peck them; the new girls are on the right and recognisable by their short combs and slightly concerned looks. We bought them the week before Christmas and they are pretty much settled in now, only the occasional peck from the other two to keep them in line. We hope they will start to lay in about two weeks.On the building front, I decided to bite the bullet and build a proper sized compost area on the area underneath our Maple, which was used by the previous owners to dump stuff on; old bits of machinery, tins and bottles, several burst footballs, discarded dog toys, large amounts of roofing felt and an impressive collection of used crisp packets circa. 1982. It was nice to finally get rid of all that junk and turn the carbuncle of the garden into a useful area. The second part of the exercise was to build the structure that would hold in and separate the four different compost areas, each about 1.5m square. I only got around to taking a picture of it today, so you get it in it's wonderful snow-covered state. Also managed to finally get the old Apple tree chopped up; it had falled well before we moved in and had just been left to rot. Now its a big heap of wood to burn next winter when we get our wood burners fitted in the house. The next big job is to use the fencing you can see resting in the compost area above and use it to fence in the new pig area.

2008-10-31T21:53:00.007Z

It's great in the forest around here at the moment as there are lots of pigs roaming around free, eating up all the crab apples and acorns on the forest floor. Even at 6 in the morning, or in the dark, we have seen them running about, I don't know how they don't freeze. We are still planning to get our own pigs next year, but before then I need to erect all the fencing they will need to keep them in. We are getting on with clearing up more of the garden, but also found time to build a platform in the chicken area for the chooks to get up onto. They seem to like getting up there, I think because they can see much more at that height - they are quite nosey and don't like to feel they are missing out on anything. I will try and get some video of them soon, everyone seemed to like the last one! Halloween tonight too, but we are using ours this year to eat, some roasted, but they make such great soup, that is my favourite way to use the flesh. The use of coconut milk is key, so make sure you get some, and use some double cream too.

2008-10-18T20:52:00.006+01:00

Another dry and sunny day today, so spent some time in the garden tidying up a few areas and planting some more salad in the greenhouse. Due to the recent sun and lack of frost (at least down here in the South!) the peppers in the greenhouse are still growing and ripening. See these in the picture - and they taste great. Also the lettuce and spring onions in there already are doing very well. There is so much coming out of the garden still, the photo shows what we pulled out today; carrots, parnips, leeks, courgettes, peppers and the very last of the tomatoes. Also today I made some sausages with the new mincer I got recently. This was the first time I tried it and it worked really well. This is the one I have and it has a sausage attachment, so to speak. I made them with apple and sage in them (both apples and sage from the garden, of course) and once I had experimented a little, got the seasoning right - I used the River Cottage Cook Book for some information on what might need to be needed in the mix, it was useful to get some tips as I haven't done this before. We tried a couple and they were great. If you fancy trying it yourself - I'd recommend it!

2008-10-14T14:10:00.009+01:00

Just down the road from us we have a restaurant called Terravina that is well worth a visit if you are in the New Forest and fancy treating yourselves. It is a hotel with a restaurant that accepts booking from non-residents. As the name suggests, it specialises in fine wines, but this should not concern you if food is your focus. We ate there very recently to try it out and found that the menu was varied, locally focused and difficult to select from - it all sounded very good. My favourites included their lobster risotto starter which was generous, rich and fragrant, and their chocolate tart dessert with pistachio ice cream; perfect to end with and not too sweet. The service was friendly and responsive and the dining room overlooked their lawn that falls into the thick wooded expanse of the New Forest. It exceeded my expectations, especially on price; I was pleased to find that the bill was very fair. Highly recommended for a special occasion. Although we didn't sample more than a glass of wine, the wine list looked to me (someone who doesn't know much about wine, despite the efforts of some friends!) very well stocked. It got busy by eight o'clock, though, so I'd recommend an advance booking. They have just had their one year anniversary too, so they opened about the same time as we moved in. It's a great place and one I am sure we will return to soon.

2008-10-13T11:46:00.018+01:00

Caught another rat this weekend. The manual, traditional, snap-shut traps are by far the most practical, versatile and effective. Poison only killed one, electronic one didn't get any and the traditional traps caught all the others (6), so I have bought more since. They have recently been trying to dig under the slabs surrounding the chicken area to get to the chook-food. Little buggers. It seems this is an ongoing battle between me (fortification manager) and them. They cannot climb in to the chicken area now, so the hard slog of digging is the last option. The fight continues. On non-rat related issues, the last fruiting tomato in the greenhouse is just finishing. It has been by FAR the best fruiting, sweetest and hardiest of all the tomatoes; a small orange version called Orange Pixie. It is brilliant and highly recommended. All the Money Makers got blight, although Sweet Million deserves a mention as another success, also Tigerella, which has striped skin and lovely dark flesh (many people have told me they look good but taste poor - we found they tasted great!). I can't believe there are still Cabbage White butterflies laying eggs! I took the protection off in September, and saw loads of CWB's this weekend! Die damn you! The brassicas are still needing regular checks, therefore, for hungry, hungry caterpillars. Collected the last of the Bramleys (I think they are Bramleys - here is a picture - email me if you think they are not!) this weekend and made a big batch of Apple Sauce to see us through the winter. Also have lots of the eating apples ready right now - hundreds in fact. So trying to pack 'em and stack 'em for the next few weeks. They didn't store well last year in the shed, so trying them in the house this year - hopefully without too much pungency to bother my wife!

2008-09-09T09:58:00.001+01:00

So, I'm glad I bought all those water butts; obviously the water shortage that gripped us this summer has made them especially important. Except, of course, that we have not had any sort of a hot and sunny summer. Global warming? I guess they didn't mean it would be sunny though. Despite all the rain, especially recently (see here where I have been trying to mow the lawn!), we have had some successes in the garden this year. I thought I'd mention some of the best and some of the worst. First, the Maris Piper potatoes did really well and have left us with enough to last, I would estimate, to December, if not longer. Courgettes, and the Pumpkins, seemed to deal well with the wet weather; we ended up making a lot of courgette soup! The Onions and the Leeks (which are still growing) also reacted well to conditions although there was a little onion fly to put up with. The Raspberries (Autumn Bliss) put in this year have provided us with lots of fruit for the last 8 weeks, and look ready to carry on well into September. Sunflowers have been huge, up to at least 3 metres! And finally, a special mention to the small amount of Sweetcorn I experimented with that was fantastic; so planning lots more of that next year! However, Carrots (all varieties) have been a hit and miss affair, mostly miss. The Cucumbers had a short spurt of fruiting, but not really reliably and one plant (FemSpot) hardly fruited at all. The Cabbages were ravaged by caterpillas, like the rest of the brassicas, but the cabbages suffered the worst.Anyway, lots of lessons learned this year, and looking forward getting more growing space ready between now and the Spring. At least the rats seem to have disappeared... for now...

2008-07-15T11:00:00.005+01:00

We've had a problem with Rats for a while now. They say that if you have Chickens, you should expect to come across rats at some point and living where we do, it was soon clear that they were taking more than a passing interest in first the compost heap, and then the chickens. More specifically their food. So the chicken area that I built has had all its boundaries strengthened, the door has been braced and tightened and the roof has been nailed and screwed down even more. This is because we found that the rats were finding even the slightest gap and getting through it to steal the chickens food. They were even climbing up 6 foot of chicken wire to get to gaps where the roof met the top of the walls. You can leave no gap unplugged! That was phase one of the rat offensive.
Phase two consisted of some work in the extermination area. I bought three things to try and help with cutting down the numbers of the rats before they got out of hand. These were:

Traditional Rat Trap
Electronic Rat Trap
Basic Rat Poison (from B&Q)

So far the rat poison, which is tricky to use as you don't want your pets or friendly wildlife eating them, has had limited success that I know of. I have found one rat dead from the stuff, although there may be others that made it further than the confines of my garden before keeling over. Don't like the stuff much, but if they eat it, it does work. The electronic rat trap I thought would be great, it had good reviews, but it is really for indoor infestations rather than outdoor use and even in the barn or shed (which has no door) and filled with peanut butter, bacon or chicken feed, it has killed not a single rat. So the traditional rat trap was the one I found to be the most effective. I used peanut butter to no effect at the start, but when I put chicken feed on it, two in one day. Then another a few days later. They are cheap, easy to use and providing you manage to find the taste of your local rats, devastating. I have provided a rat count on the blog now to keep a track of how many I manage to catch.
Interestingly, both my Dad and I have caught the chickens taking on the rat population, if they catch them in their run. The rats are quite big, not as big a chickens, of course, but big nevertheless. And not the kind of animal you want biting or scratching your chickens, despite their bravado.
For more information on how to deal with rats in chicken areas, try here on the Omlet Forum.

2008-06-30T11:45:00.007+01:00

Recently, my father bought me a pump action weed sprayer, one of those big 5 litre ones. I think it was a subtle hint to get my weeds under control. Anyway, it was gratefully received and I have used it a few times on the weeds on our drive. However, this weekend I had it for the first time in the back garden, where the chickens are. As usual, they were as near to me as they could get, to see what was going on, whether there was any food going, that kind of thing. I had just filled the weed sprayer and started pumping it to get some pressure going to use the spray, when Susannah, one of our chickens, went nuts.
She is pretty calm, except when grapes are on offer, and was not at all bothered by the pump itself, we think it was the noise or the action of pumping that she REALLY didn't like. See for yourself...

It was a full display, wings out, 'BOK BOK BOK'ing at the top of her voice. And the other chicken, Trinny, was not at all bothered; didn't have the slightest reaction. I wonder what this sound (I think it was the sound that bothered her) represents in her brain?

2008-06-17T13:07:00.009+01:00

I've done some more work around and in the pond; some more planting and general tidying up of the area. The shot here shows how it looks right now. There is also lots of pond life already taking up residency, including three or four types of dragonfly, diving beetles and the like, water boatmen, even some water snails. How do they get in there? Fingers crossed now for some frogs and/or newts.

I have been making my way around the lawn to incorporate a border with weed suppressant matting and new plants, but not got far yet as so many other things to keep up with, although the plants we bought from the Dorset Garden Show are pretty much all in now, so shouldn't die due to being left in their pots for too long. We were a bit disappointed with the DGS this year, smaller than we expected and no show gardens, despite advertisements that there would be. We shall go to Malvern next year, instead, I think.

Trinny has not laid an egg for a while now, her broody behavior running into weeks. She can't wait for Suzy to lay her egg so that she can jump on it and sit there for hours on end, or until we find her and turf her off it. Doesn't seem to have impaired her appetite though, much.

The main event at the moment is the vegetable patch. The potatoes dominate the area, but we will soon be through all of them to store in Hessian sacks (bought on eBay!). Onions and carrots (good companion planting) are doing well, and the leeks are ready to go in once the potatoes are removed. Broad and Runner beans are rampant, whilst the Borlotto beans have been slower and the French beans produced poor growth. Courgettes are growing well, already eating them, and the Pumpkin plants are HUGE, but not much sign of fruits yet. The Brassicas have been slow after the first batch got hit by a late frost, but the second lot are on their way and the netting is up to keep out the (bloody) pigeons. The Garlic looks good, but bulbs need to swell a lot more yet, and the Parsnips are finally showing some gentle growth; they are always slow to germinate though I find.
The next big job is to turn this area into a herb area with box hedging and gravel pathways. Whilst there is so much going on in the rest of the garden though, it is unlikely that we will have time to do it in the summer, so until then we have things, like our Mint collection, in pots (althought the mint will stay in pots in the herb garden, sunk into the ground, so as not to spread and mix with each other and the other herbs.

2008-06-03T20:03:00.013+01:00

This weekend I decided that the weather would hold long enough for me to be able to create a pond in the top corner of the lawn. Here are some photos to show the progress... the first one here shows the lawn before I started...
...so the first thing to do was to lift the turf in the area and get rid of that. The pond was planned for this corner as the new beech hedge, shown down the right hand side of the picture, will mature to give it a backdrop... ...and here the turf is lifted and I have just begun to dig out the top soil, playing with the shape of the pond. I was trying to find the right shape that fitted well in the corner, was large enough to have impact, but not so big that it dominated......and in the next picture above, I have settled on the shape and started to dig down, in levels, to 70cm. The levels wind down, like in a sea shell, to allow planting at different levels. The level is strapped to a piece of timber so I can check the sides are level all the way around, otherwise you get the water level looking lopsided... ...then I removed all the rocks and roots, so they don't puncture the liner, then covered the area with 3-4cm of builders sand to protect the layers of liner some more. The white sheeting is further protection to stop roots pushing through into the liner......which is what goes in next. For this pond, which is about 2m by 3m, I used a 4m by 5m liner, to make sure there was plenty around the edges once the water had pulled the liner in and around the edges. I stood in the pond as it filled to ensure the creases were even and controlled. I also made sure I filled the pond with rain water, which should help the pond reach it's natural balance sooner rather than later. That was all done in one day, so the next day......I was left with the fun jobs of adding the stones and pebbles, some planting in the pond and on the shelves and making sure the overflow at the back feeds into the bog area at the back where you can see the Gunnera... and that was it! It all cost about £250 for the materials seen here. Phew...!

2008-05-06T11:31:00.007+01:00

Well, April went by in a flash, but it was productive. We have finished the chicken area and the chickens are in and seem very happy with the bigger, covered area. We have had some testing weather since and it is still up! The other big news (big in a relative way) is that, after some arm twisting by my father, I decided to have a crack at building my own fruit cage rather than buy one at over £300, which is what they cost for the size I need. The materials cost me about £60, so considerably less than a bought one. It took me about a day and a half in all to get the whole thing up and finished. The netting took the bulk of that time, it should be noted. It is very fiddly and hard to get it look aesthetically pleasing at the end. Anyway, here is a shot of it. Tricky to see the detail, but at least the netting does a fair job of blending into the background and the wooden frame I built suits the raised beds and the rest of the garden. I built it so we could walk around in it comfortably, but anyone over 6 foot will be less comfortable. Everything in the fruit cage seems to be happy enough, too, although the pigeons tried to eat the blueberry and cranberry plants! Bloody pigeons. The veg patch is in full swing too, with the potatoes dominating at the moment, but the broad beans and courgettes are catching them up. The onions are coming through a bit slow, but steadily, and in the greenhouse the cucumbers and the grape are doing well, whilst everything else is just at a seedling stage, really. I have also made a scarecrow, not that I expect it to do too much scaring (I have lots of CDs on string to try and actually deter pigeons). It moves well with a bit of wind around it, but it is yet to be tested in harsh weather! It may well end up in the paddock next door if it gets very breezy! I made it from Hessian sacking that I bought on eBay. And a bit of straw...

2008-04-06T20:24:00.012+01:00

Well, not made much progress today due to the amount of snow that has hit the area. This is how the new chicken area looks at the moment, but there is still the chicken wire and the roof to do yet. It was not so much the snow as the wind that stopped me today. It has snowed on and off all day, but it seems that all the new stuff in the greenhouse has survived anyway, despite it not being heated. The chickens were not too sure about the snow this morning; they made it out eventually though and once they got used to it, they carried on scratching and pecking about like it was perfectly normal. Each time it started to snow again, they retired back to their Eglu run and hoped on their handy perch to watch from under cover... can't blame them. Hopefully next week I can get the chicken wire and the roof on the new chicken area and Chicken HQ will be complete...!

2008-04-04T21:25:00.006+01:00

Been very busy, despite the damp weather over the last few weeks. Some more flooding across the new hornbeam hedge, hopefully they will be ok. The main new job was to build the new chicken area so I can get them out of the herb area (or at least what will become the herb area!) and into their new, and permanent, home. The first thing to do was to bring down the bulk of an old and very tall conifer. I didn't dig it out as I thought the chickens would like the odd branch to perch on. You can make out what is left of it at the back, near the hedge, in these pictures. It was huge and blocked out lots of light - not any more! As you can tell from this first shot, I used my imagination to hold up the walls whilst I put them together; it is possible to build this kind of thing on your own if you don't have someone on hand to hold them up for you. This second shot shows the frame complete, pretty much, with the door on too. All it needs is some horizontal bracing and then the chicken wire. Oh, and the roof! I plan to use clear corrugated plastic so the light can come through, but not the rain. I shall post another picture once it is complete.
I have also planted out onion sets, potatoes and asparagus. The rhubarb is already looking good and the beans and peas in the greenhouse are looking great, nearly ready to go outside.

2008-03-12T16:41:00.006Z

Just a quick post to make sure you are aware of Wille Harcourt-Cooze's programme on Channel Four, which is about his cocoa bean farm in Venezuela and the great 100% Cacao he produces from his own beans, right here in the UK. The programme is put across as a 'Jimmy's Farm' for chocolate with some Nigella Lawson style cooking periods for good measure. Not sure this is what anyone other than C4 wanted, but I can't help but find the product development and family interaction compelling. I have got some from Selfridges and will be trying it out over the weekend - I shall let you know what I think...
...well, I made some truffles with the Cacao and they are really good, easily the best we have tasted (and we've tasted many!). I know since the last programme that Willie has had some more problems with his machinery, but hopefully those are sorted out now and he is churning the stuff out; soon to be seen in Waitrose maybe!

2008-03-09T20:09:00.009Z

Although I have not posted for a while, I have been busy in the garden. First of all, I have finished the vegetable area now and I think it looks great, even if there are no vegetables in it yet. Like the fruit area, I used long treated wooden boards to break up the six sections of the area with paths filled with chippings made using my new shredder. You can see the rough fence I have made at the far end that is the only side not protected from the wind. I also have the bamboo up ready for the runner beans (Daniels Defiance), which I have seeded today in the greenhouse. I have also planted box along the path, which should create a short hedge over time, between the short breaks of grass that link the path to the veg area bark paths. Finally, you can just make out (click on the photo for a bigger view) that all along the top of the perimeter of area I have nailed reclaimed copper pipe in the hope that it reduces the population of slugs and snails in the area! I shall let you know how I get on with that. This was the area that the chickens were on, but they are now clearing the herb garden for me. They have both been really good through the Winter, keeping me company in all weathers in the garden, especially when I am digging and there may be worms around for them. Another reclaim job was getting some free guttering from my father-in-law who had his house guttering replaced, so I took the old stuff and fitted it to my new shed. It went up really easily and is well worth the effort; I fitted it last weekend and both 300l water butts are full! The photo here shows just the one side of the shed, but the guttering is on both sides. The planting area directly in front of the shed there has a single Thornfree Blackberry, propagated from the one I had in our previous house, that should send canes across both sides of the shed and give us lots of lovely blackberries. There is also a birds house there that I made for blue tits and it has been used as a nest every year since I made it three years ago. They are really easy to make, give it a try now and it will be in place in time for nesting in Spring.

2008-02-15T12:58:00.005Z

After finishing the fruit area, which needed to be done first as I had so many of the plants ready to go in, I have started on the veg area. There are six, three foot wide, planting areas, separated by one and a half foot paths. The area at the top (far left to this picture) is also for planting, although it is distinctly grassy at the moment. I have had the chickens on this area for the last four months, so they have done some work in terms of clearing it for me, but it still needed digging in the planting areas. It is still not completed, but it is nearly there.
Here is the fruit area, completed all but for the netting, which is not needed until there is something in fruit anyway. The cloches are made from those big water containers at office water fountains; these were broken and so could not be re-used, so I managed to scavenge them, cut the bottoms off, and they work really well. They are covering two Blueberries and a Cranberry, in the Ericaceuos area. There is also a line of (very young and small at the moment) box that hopefully will create a nice, short hedge to protect from the path. All the posts are in now and the canes are there to support the Gooseberry cordons. We have had the hedges cut too (over 1000 feet of them!) and so have a lot of clearing up to do before we can move ahead again with some of the more fun jobs. The potatoes are chitting away nicely in the utility room, so they will soon be ready to go out in the veg area in a few weeks. Have to give the grass a cut soon, too, but have to pick up all those hawthorn cuttings first, otherwise I shall have flat tires on the lawn mower! Also, I have been having a go at making a parma style ham, as one of my neighbors gave me some of his that he had made and it was great. Here it is, cured and wrapped ready for the fridge. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

2008-01-21T17:12:00.001Z

Although the weather is a bit dull and wet, the weekends seem to have been kind and allowed me, for three weekends in a row, to get lots of work done. Most of this time has been spent constructing the fruit area in the garden, between the Shed and the Orchard. It is now finished, bar the netting that does not need to go up until there is actually fruit on the go! As you can see, I used the boards from Jewson with some spare batten to hold them in place. The board is about 22cm wide and about 7 cm is below ground too - they should not be going anywhere too soon. Then I dug the turf out (the chickens loved this, lots of worms, but they did get in the way a bit!), dug in lots of horse manure from the paddock next door and planted the fruit. Then mulched over the top with compost from the council tip and then my own garden shreddings. The pictures show a kind of halfway house where some are done, some not started (i.e. still grass) and the ones in the middle are nearly done. The paths were covered with black plastic (I used the bags from the compost turned inside out) and then covered with gravel (pea shingle). This area of path used one ton of shingle, so don't mess about with those little bags of the stuff, get them to deliver one of those great big bags that get power lifted off the lorry. Much cheaper and you will want to use at least that much for this type of area. I already have the raspberry in, and the gooseberry that Dad propagated from his stock for me. Dad-in-Law did the same with his Blackcurrant stock too and I added one Redcurrant in that row too. As you can also see, the Gooseberries already have their supports up, these were recycled from another part of the old garden; the Raspberries need some too soon. These are not concreted in, rather I used the post ram and it worked a treat. The final row I decided to dig little 3x3foot holes with a foot in between each - I got four in the row - and then dug out to a 2 foot depth, then filled with Ericaceous soil (for acid loving / lime hating plants) so that I can have another crack at Blueberry and Cranberry. I have had limited success with these before, so wanted to try and do it properly this time to give them a real chance. With all the structure and paths done now (still some planting to do) it looks great.

2008-01-11T09:25:00.001Z

Just a quick one to remind you to sign up to the River Cottage 'Chicken Out!' in case you have not already done so. Just click on this picture or this link and you will get details on how to sign up for this great cause which is trying to reduce the amount of intensively farmed chickens in the UK and get them out into free range farms. It accompanies the TV series that was on this week. Read more on the website! And don't forget to sign up !!!

2008-01-05T23:32:00.000Z

The soil is still pretty damp, but trying to get some of the raised beds prepared for the soft fruit area of the garden (behind the new shed in the pictures). This is about 4m square, divided into four rows with paths in between. I plan to have Raspberries, Gooseberries, Blackcurrants as the main three crops, then a mix in the last plot of one cranberry, maybe a blueberry, to see how they do in the environment. Eventually, once it is all dug, composted and planted, I hope to build a cage to keep the birds out (mainly the pigeons!). The chickens were very excited to see the turf being lifted and helped where they could by scratching the dirt and eating the worms. Lots more to do, but made a good start with the treated wood used to lift the raised beds, which was bought (and delivered on the same day!) from Jewsons. You could also try Sydenhams in you are in the Dorset/Hants/Wilts/Somerset area, as another quality supplier. Anyway, once I have finished the area I shall post a picture to show how it looks. Here is a picture for now that shows the area before I started; I had used various materials (black plastic and old curtains) to kill off some of the turf and weeds before I started.

2007-12-29T22:09:00.000Z

Happy new year, nearly... it all seems to have rushed by as usual, so trying to catch up on a few jobs in the garden that I wanted to have done before going back to work. One of these jobs was pruning the two apple trees in the orchard that really needed attention. This took quite a while, as they were both well over grown (first picture illustrates the 'before' and the second shows how it looked after I did some significant pruning). However, we have ended up with a fair amount of good wood for the fire and some good branches for peas and for fencing. Other than that, I have also built a new log store to hold all the freshly chopped wood using the new log bench my father made me for Christmas. It is perfect for the job, making sawing the big logs we have much easier. I will publish a picture of it soon. Both the chickens are laying now too and so we have loads of eggs!

2007-12-02T09:47:00.001Z

It is very windy today and we have seen a lot of rain over the last few weeks, but everything seems to be holding together with only a few leaks in the barn, although we do get very soggy chickens now and again. Despite the weather, I have had to venture out and plant the 53 trees that arrived last weekend. There 25 Beech (green), 25 Hornbeam, one Conference Pear, one Victoria Plum and a Morillo Cherry (last two pictured here). I planted the fruit in first after getting a load of manure from the paddock down the road - very useful to have all the rotted horse manure I can carry! The fruit trees have been planted in the 'Orchard' and should be fine next to the two Apple trees already there. Since then I have also dug new trenches, part filled them with manure, then planted the Hornbeam and Beech, filled in and provided more manure and compost on top for both rows which will form the dividing lines either side of the herb garden. Hopefully they will do well and future pictures will illustrate my vision! I finished planting the last of those yesterday and the rain today should do a good job of soaking them in. I have been very happy with the trees I ordered from J.Parker, they arrived in great condition, well wrapped and perfect for what I needed.

2007-11-18T08:34:00.000Z

The chickens are doing well in the garden, despite the recent rainfall! Suzannah has started laying now, but Trinny (shown here) is a little younger, we think, and not quite ready to lay. It is great going out to get the eggs, like we used to with the last set of chickens we had, although one day this week I collected one that seemed to have been laid the night before and it was frozen solid! The first one Suz laid got a bit damaged too; there was a big pecked hole in it where she had obviously wondered what it was and gave it a peck to find out ('if in doubt, peck it' seems to be her m.o.). The rest of the garden is doing well; we got the holly hedge planted at the back of the orchard and are waiting for the other hedging to arrive so we can plant the other strips of hedging up the garden that will separate the different sections. I have added a photo-spool on the side bar here on the blog to show progress on the garden since before we moved in. The earliest one is the one with the bannister in shot at the bottom of the photo. I shall add more as the garden progresses, all taken from the same spot, so the development of the garden can be visually shown.

2007-10-19T12:57:00.001+01:00

We have had the chickens (Trinny and Suzannah) in the garden for a few weeks now and they have settled in very well. We bought them from Fox Field Farm, in Ringwood and their characters are already showing through, although they are still young and pre-egg laying. Suz seems to prefer to stay in the Eglu most of the time, though; she really likes it! It is quite different to the farm they have come from, but they seem very happy and get spoilt rotten. Hopefully all this attention will produce good eggs! The garden is slowly turning from a paddock into something that has some form and structure, but this is going to take a long time to metamorphosis completely. At least we are still enjoying the crop of apples from the orchard and lots of salad leaves that are growing happily in the new greenhouse.

2007-09-03T16:07:00.000+01:00

So the lawn was playing on my mind too much and all the time it was growing as a concern as well as in height. So I bit the bullet and bought this. It is an ALKO T15-92HD (for those that might know the difference), basically; a 36 inch cutting width, 14.5 bhp ride on mower. In red (of course). Purchased from some very helpful people at New Forest Garden Machinery who delivered and provided full training too; not that this is a complicated thing to use, it really is simple and is very good at what it does - e.g. cutting grass quickly. I did not like the idea of getting one and disliked the idea of spending time cutting grass even less, but I have to admit that not only is it a relief to get one, but cutting the grass is actually enjoyable. I never thought I would enjoy cutting a lawn, but this really does make it such an easy and relaxing chore, you cannot help but enjoy it. This one is ideal for anything up to about an acre, apparently, and has many useful features AND is lacking seriously in things you just don't need, like a speed gauge. It is just practical and functional. Ideal. Now I can get on with the rest of the garden...

... the greenhouse is up and so is the shed. But most of my time has so far been spent on clearing out all the rubbish that the previous owners left behind in the garden; in hedges, buried (or at least partially), up trees, on roofs of out buildings, down the sides of the house, etc etc. Let's just say me and the boys at the local tip are now on first name terms...

2007-08-15T22:38:00.000+01:00

Well, we finally got moved in ok a couple of weeks ago. Since then it has been manic getting unpacked and doing jobs around the house, and garden. And we have not had broadband until now, and so I have not been able to update the blog. Anyway, here is a picture of the garden last weekend. There is a lot of work to do and a lot of junk to get rid of. There is a new shed and a new greenhouse on the way, and then I can concentrate on planting, but for now I am busy worrying about the size of the lawn. The sooner I can reduce the size of that lawn, the better!

2007-07-27T15:15:00.000+01:00

Ate at Chino Latino this week, in London. There are a couple of others in the UK; one in Leeds and another in Nottingham, I think. They are all based in the Park Plaza hotel chain (which are pretty good, by the way). As the name suggests, these restaurants are supposed to be a fusion of Chinese and Latin-American tastes, although there is precious little Latin-American influence on the menu, it seems to me. However, liking Asian food, I was still ready for a good meal, especially at the prices indicated. Things did not start well when I was presented with my main course (which happened to not be the main course I ordered) before the starter turned up. I started with the Baby Octopus with Shallots and Chili Coriander Sauce. There were a lot of Octopi, and they were tasty enough, not bad, but they would have been a lot better if there had been any other taste in the sauce other than tomato (not indicated on the menu description); there was not a shallot in sight and there was no chili or coriander taste in the sauce at all. Having finished this, or as much as I could manage of a dish that just tasted of nothing except octopus and tomato, I was presented with one of my main course dishes again; looking suspiciously like the one I has been offered before the starter ('it was very hot when first served' I was encouraged by the waiter 'so it should now be cool enough to eat'!). I admit to giving up eventually with the waiter the subtle difference between Rock Shrimp Tempura (which I had ordered) and Seafood Tempura (which I was being offered) as each time I tried to say 'no, I ordered SHRIMP Tempura' he just nodded and pointed to the two shrimp tempura that were part of the seafood-combo. I ate what I could of a generous tempura feast, but there is only so many small pieces of crab and cod in thick batter that I can manage. Finally, recognising I had given up, the waitress replaced the tempura with the signature dish of the restaurant; the Chino Latino Roll, which was a rather predictable crispy duck in Hoi-Sin sauce affair, but nevertheless quite tasty. Not encouraged, I side stepped the dessert menu and rushed to the bill. Three dishes and two cranberry juices produced a bill of very nearly £40. I'd advise that you either walk down the riverside to Ping Pong or eat in the bar where the Butterflied Chicken Wings are divine. Why are they not on the menu in the main restaurant? Expensive, poor service and predictable, although pleasantly quiet (not surprisingly).

2007-07-21T10:34:00.000+01:00

Raining again?! Oh well, I managed to get up at a reasonable hour to get some jobs done in the garden before it started to rain really hard. One thing I managed was to pick the blackberries from our Thorn Free Blackberry plant - I picked nearly 3 pounds from just the one plant this morning! It fruits grandly despite the poor soil and being grown against a north facing fence panel. It does not seem bothered about being in the shade all the time and the fruit is still sweet and plump. We like to make Blackberry Tart, which is a traditional Welsh recipe, but a good alternative is this recipe below.

Blackberry Clafoutis

3 tablespoons fine wholemeal flour, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 3 large eggs, ½ pint milk, 1 tablespoon walnut oil (or similar), 1 tablespoon sherry, knob of butter, 2 lb blackberries.

Butter an 8" ceramic tart mould. Mix the flour, sugar, eggs and milk together to form a smooth batter, then stir in the oil and sherry. Cover the buttered mould with the blackberries and pour the batter over. Bake the clafoutis for 20 minutes at 190°C and a further 10 minutes at 170°C. The clafoutis should just wobble when you remove it from the oven and not be set solid. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving - best served lukewarm.

2007-07-17T11:32:00.000+01:00

Our carrots have done especially well this year, they love the sandy soil we have, although the depth is not what it could be. I grow Tarragon in our herb bed almost exclusively to eat with carrots, as we love them in Tarragon butter...

Steamed Carrots in Tarragon Butter

As many carrots as you can eat, Generous knob of butter, A few teaspoons of fresh tarragon chopped finely, Freshly ground pepper
A bowl to toss the carrots in the butter

Peel and slice the carrots to your preference (I like them sliced lengthways) and steam them in your steamer or put them over boiling water in a fine steel sieve for about 5 or 6 minutes. Take your bowl and the butter and chop the butter into small cubes, placing them in the bowl. Chop the tarragon finely and throw this into the bowl too. Once the carrots are done, drain and drop them straight into the bowl. Then take a big wooden spoon and gently mix the carrots up. They will quickly melt the butter and mix in with the tarragon too. Add pepper to your taste and serve immediately.

2007-07-16T08:15:00.000+01:00

Our courgettes have recovered from all the rain now and are enjoying the sun, giving us some tasty fruits. Try this recipe (enough for two as a starter or side dish) that is our favourite for any bumper crop of courgettes...

Baked Courgette with Honey and Feta Cheese
Two Teaspoons of Honey, 100g of Feta Cheese, Diced, Olive Oil, Freshly Ground Pepper, 4 Medium Size Courgettes

Chop the courgettes in half and then length ways in long quarters. Take a baking dish and drizzle some olive oil into the dish. Set the oven to about 180c. Chop the feta into small centimetre cubes. Put the courgettes into the dish and toss in the oil. Sprinkle the feta over the courgettes. Get a small spoon and drizzle some honey over the feta and courgettes. Add some coarsely ground pepper to your taste (I like lots). Put them in the oven for about 20 minutes, but keep checking after 10 minutes to make sure that you get them out just as they start to catch the burn, like the picture shows. This gives you the clue that they are perfect. Serve immediately.

2007-07-13T22:22:00.000+01:00

Finished the book 'Fat' today. It is by Rob Grant, of Red Dwarf fame. It is fiction, of a sort, but well researched fiction laced liberally (no pun intended) with politics and food scare tactics used, allegedly, by various organisations. I don't want to spoil the plot, the twists or the humour, but would recommend that you read it. There are some great lines too, but I shall leave you to find them yourself. So if you like a good novel that has a good dose of humour and also manages to expose some important things about the food we eat, or don't eat, then give this one a go.

2007-07-04T09:17:00.000+01:00

If you enjoy growing produce in your garden or allotment (or wherever!) then do consider joining Garden Organic. Did you know that the EU bans the selling of any seeds that have not passed their own testing process and regulations. This means that all the seeds in the shops, internet, etc, that can be legally purchased, are controlled by the EU. The process is expensive and there is no guarantee that the seeds will pass the process, either. Therefore, lots of old varieties of produce have been disappearing, especially the weirder and more wonderful, the older and less common, varieties. Garden Organic set up their Heritage Seed Library to collect and share these seeds, which are illegal to sell, by requesting a small membership fee and then GIVING the seed away to members (which is not illegal). Have a look at the website and learn lots more. And you get a bumper bonus set of seeds when you join along with a catalogue from which you can choose which seeds you want to be sent. There is also a network of seed 'guardians' that will provide you with free seeds by post too! A fantastic idea and the more people that join, the better it works.

2007-07-02T14:10:00.001+01:00

There is only one month left now before we move. Already we are trying to get some things packed, so we do not have a huge task towards the end. The trick is not packing something we need between now and one months time - sounds simple, but I manage to do it every time. Meanwhile, in the garden the carrots are ready to eat; we had some on the weekend and they were fantastic. The broad beans are pretty much over now (great while they lasted), as are the raspberries, but the blackberries are coming through; I like to freeze lots of these and use them as ice cubes in Pimms, which is simply the best drink for the summer. I find that, mixed with lemonade, lots of cucumber, fresh mint from the garden and the frozen blackberries, it is a great accompaniment to a few hours in the garden, or sat in front of Wimbledon. Try their website for more ideas for Pimms related cocktails.

2007-06-29T12:02:00.000+01:00

Well, I am officially annoyed. For the record, I am not a lover of pigeons in any way at all. I don't like them in the cities where they destroy wonderful buildings and make a terrible mess everywhere (it is illegal to feed them too!). I also don't like them when they encroach on my garden either. They are destructive and a nuisance. All the other birds are welcome, even the Seagulls and Magpies and Rooks, but no PIGEONS. The reason for my current outburst is that I have just been out to pick this years crop of Gooseberries. I have been looking forward to Gooseberry pie all Spring; it is one of my favourite things to eat as a pudding. So off I went to pick the berries I have been watching develop over the last few weeks. What did I find (are you ahead of me?)? A fat, stupid pigeon sat in one of the bushes munching away. When it saw me flying towards it, it followed suit in the opposite direction at a pace. It seems the local pigeon squadron had discovered them this morning and have not only stripped the bushes bare (I have 6 Gooseberries left, which does not a pie make), but their fat, stupid bodies have snapped lots of the carefully tended branches too! So it seems I shall have to net my gooseberries now like I have to with all my cabbages, raspberries, etc. all because of fat, lazy, stupid, destructive, greedy pigeons.

2007-06-28T22:29:00.001+01:00

Still making plans for the new house and garden; one of the most interesting is what we want to do about livestock. We will certainly have more chickens, but might actually get some ducks too (we will need another eglu!). Also, we would really like to have some pigs eventually too. I have been looking at lots of useful website, like the Rare Breeds Survival Trust site. It would be great to have some animals that were traditionally kept on smallholdings, but the choice is considerable and many of those pigs look very big! I think we need to put a lot more thought into the whole pig debate.

2007-06-22T15:52:00.000+01:00

This week I went with L&M to Culinaria, hot on the heels of its recent award from Which? as an independant restaurant. They initially tried L's patience with being a bit slow taking our main order, although they were quite busy. Once ordered, it arrived quickly though and we all started with the Langoustine and Crab risotto, which was thick with meat and very encouraging. They both went for the Bourride, which they insisted was terrific. I tried the Roast chicken, tarragon, brandy and cream; the chicken was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender, and the sauce was strong with the taste of fresh tarragon, rich with the cream. Very nice and balanced well with some broad beans, peas and carrots. I ended the meal with a splendid St. Emilion au chocolat which, like the preceding courses, was full of flavour. They also have a modest but well priced selection of wine. The menu is not extensive, but there was plenty that tempted me at each course. Well recommended if you are in the Bristol area and not at all expensive. Interestingly, they also have a 'take home' area where you can select a number of single portion dishes and take them home to eat, as well as offering a small selection of accompaniments (oils, bread and pastries, etc). An original and clever idea that will keep this place popular for a long time... recommend booking...

2007-06-13T12:30:00.000+01:00

In celebration of finally exchanging on our house, I went into La Maison Du Chocolat to get us some of our favourite chocolates. If you like chocolate, then you must try these at least once. They are not cheap, but they are divine. They have a great shop in Piccadilly where you can choose from their amazing selection of ganache chocolates as well as their other products and even treat yourself to a hot chocolate. They also have a counter at Harrods. My personal favourite is the mint ganache that they call Zagora, but the Salvador (raspberry, shown in the picture) is also brilliant. However, they don't use preservatives, so they have a short shelf life! You will have to eat them within a few days - ganache are made with fresh cream, so they don't last long (up to about 4-5 days, I find). If you manage to not eat them all before then, I would be surprised. I like Ganache more than any other chocolate; interestingly the word is French and means 'fool', this came about as the recipe was discovered (apparently) by a junior chef who accidentaly mixed fresh cream with chocolate which annoyed the head chef who shouted 'fool!' to the junior chef, until they realised what had been created. Myth? Not sure... great chocolates... definitely.

2007-06-11T18:01:00.000+01:00

Took S to Fishworks on the weekend recently, one of our favourite places to have lunch. If you have never tried it, please give it a go - they have great resturants in a number of places, including Christchurch and Bristol. I've been to both of these several times and never had a bad meal. Do start with their freshly baked bread and dips, the taramasalata is exceptional. The specials are always worth a shot, but I usually have the spagetti with langostines, as a main course, as it is my favourite of all. I have tried to recreate the dish at home and got fairly close - I must put the recipe on the site some time. The portions are good and there is also a good selection of wines too. The new London sites are apparently struggling - I hope they find their feet as this is a great brand that has been built carefully outside the capital. As an additional treat, they sell fresh seafood on the front counter too! Good value in clean, crisp surroundings. Highly recommended.

2007-06-06T15:36:00.000+01:00

Last night went to Quaglinos again with M. This is an attractive place to eat with a superb bar that overlooks the dining area, despite being basement level itself. The bar is an excellent place for pre-dinner drinks whether you are eating here or not, such a great variety (including my favourite vodka, Belvedere Vodka). Getting a table has never been a problem for us in the week, but no doubt it is busy on a Friday. Worth booking just in case. They have a bias towards seafood, but not too much - I ate a decent enough steak last night (although I enjoyed more the side order of french beans) whilst M tucked into a more attractive pork belly dish. We both went for the mackerel and leek terrine starter, but this needed both more leek and more horseradish in the accompanying crème. We ate there last week too and I enjoyed more the fish in batter from that night, a huge piece of fish that defeated my appetite, despite the quality of both fish and batter. Also that previous occasion I started with the mushrooms on toast - simple, but a strong and pleasing flavour. In summary, not too expensive and worth a try for the mushrooms on toast alone.

2007-06-05T10:12:00.000+01:00

Ate at the new Ping Pong resturant last week with R. This is a new place for them, at the Festival Hall, but they have other places dotted about London, I am assured. The service was prompt and friendly, although R said this was an improvement on her last visit. She dragged me here, though, for the Dim Sum. I was dubious to begin with, being a fan of Roka, how would this place stack up? Well, not bad. It's not Roka, but then the price reflects that. It is perfectly pleasant, imaginative drinks, succulent chicken pastries, prawn toast that is not over-greasy and ribs that allow you to taste the tender meat rather than nothing but a BBQ sauce. However, the pancake rolls were a little over cooked, didn't have that 'made on the premises' taste to them. Being a short snatch of a supper, we sidelined the sweet menu, although tempting it seemed. Beks finished with a jasmine tea, which they serve as the jasmine flower in a glass and bring a kettle of hot water to open the flower and it's flavour. Nice touch. Worth a try, good value, great location for that meal on the way home...

2007-06-04T13:42:00.000+01:00

Decided to shift from my bespoke yahoo website to a blog for ease of update. You can see the original website that is still on Yahoo Geocities by selecting the picture here (all the pictures on that site are ones I have taken myself - even the cookery shots). As I leave my old house and garden to start again with a new house and garden, so I leave the old website and upgrade to this blog. I intend to keep an ad hoc diary of events, activities and progression with the new garden and also to post any interesting stuff I find along the way - garden and cooking related or otherwise. The old garden has provided us with so much in terms of education; and on a scale that we were able to deal with without feeling under too much pressure. We managed to grow so much with such a small amount of space, although we had our problems too, such as pigeons attacking our crops and foxes attacking our chickens. The effort and education (often trial and error) was worth it to see the evidence in the kitchen, though. The variety of stuff you can grow in even a small amount of space in a garden or even on a patio is huge - and the pleasure you get from doing it is just as important. So we decided to expand our plans and move somewhere that gave us the space and freedom to do a whole lot more...