There are many advantages to living on the doorstep of a wooded area. For instance, the abundance of wildlife. During the spring pheasants venture from the woods to look for potential mates, often ending up in our garden eyeing up our hens before deciding they are of course not suitable after all. Muntjac deer are [...]
All posts for the month July, 2009
Food for Free
Posted by Karen on July 28, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/food-for-free/
Beefy Beets
The first sowing of beetroot have been ready for harvesting for a couple of weeks, some have grown quite large and beefy looking but still taste very nice. Nothing is wasted, the hens just adore beetroot leaves. There have been plenty of salads with sliced beetroot for lunch and of course cheese and beetroot sandwiches. Mmmm. I [...]
Posted by Karen on July 24, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/beefy-beets/
Cauli Curds
Oh dear, I seem to have hit a problem with my cauliflowers. This is the first year that I have grown cauliflowers and they were going well. The curds developed and started off small and compact. I made sure I bent the outer leaves over the curds to protect them from discolouration from the sun. The curds [...]
Posted by Karen on July 20, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/cauli-curds/
Risky Garlic
I’m feeling quite smug. I took a bit of a risky gamble and planted the cloves from shop bought garlic, it paid off, I was lucky. You see, I did not have any back up cultivated garlic planted, so my garlic harvest this year could have gone very wrong. I did use an organic bulb so [...]
Posted by Karen on July 19, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/risky-garlic/
Gooseberries
The gooseberries are finished fruiting now and the final pickings did not even make the kitchen. Well, there was not enough fruit to make anything from them anyway, so popping them into our mouths was the obvious solution of course. Leaving them any longer was just an open invite for the birds. We have 2 young bushes, Careless and [...]
Posted by Karen on July 18, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/gooseberries/
One Must Support One’s Mangetout
Super easy to grow and the taste is just so much better than shop bought ones. I forgot how tall the plants actually get and now my support system resembles a pathetic mish mash of chicken wire, sticks, string and bamboo canes….all struggling to support the monster plants. Its failing miserably too, its all leaning over [...]
Posted by Karen on July 17, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/one-must-support-ones-mangetout/
Courgettes
The courgettes have been a bit hit and miss really, but I would say more of a hit as we are harvesting them so its all good. Despite hand pollinating as many female flowers as possible, some of the baby courgettes rotted off. On the other hand, perhaps this is natures way of helping the plants cope with their [...]
Posted by Karen on July 14, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/courgettes/
Carrotastic!
We are harvesting young carrots at the moment and very pleased with the results, no forked or odd shaped carrots to be found. Yet! We are growing Autumn King this year and decided to leave the job of thinning the seedlings until the carrots were a decent size. This way we can munch our way through young tender carrot thinnings whilst leaving the rest in the ground to mature until [...]
Posted by Karen on July 13, 2009
http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/carrotastic/
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Welcome to The Garden Smallholder, it's a blog about growing veg, fruit and keeping chickens in a rural back garden.
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