Smallholderific

Final day of clearing for fencing project done today, after a hiatus due to soggy ground. First new posts going in tomorrow! Has been a long time coming/in the planning so really exciting. 😊

😵‍💫 indeed! Well, we're a similar latitude and our seedlings look to be a similar size, so perhaps this year will shed a bit more light on those conflicting claims!

Got my replacement broadies for rotted overwintered ones in the ground today too. Couldn't find Express locally so went with De Monica which apparently are also fairly speedy. If not speedy enough will source Express for next year!

Completion! (some of bark chips were wet, some dry, hence the two-tone effect!)

How to bake: Saffron peach cake Dan Lepard makes saffron peach cake

(This one, in case anyone likes the idea).

Also peach, almond and saffron cake. Knew it was a good idea to freeze some of our peaches.

Well, third-to-last, if you count me.

9 and a bit litres of rhubarb wine, in its second-to last vessel.

Progress!

Happy up to habaneros, but superhots are just not my thing!

Once I've cut and knocked in posts on the other side of the bed, plan is for the grass path between the beds to be chipped & to cut a narrow bed on the far edge inside the arches.

No more useless grassy sloping bit to mow, another m² deep bed, plus a narrow one and some vertical growing space! 😆

Veg area shenanigans today, reusing some of the non-rotted tops of the old half-round fencing removed from the field. Also, a 1m long metal tunnel for beans or squash, done on the cheap with three of the cheapest arch kits I could find (£12 each), connected with cableties.

One sunny day yesterday and look what happened to the tomato seedlings which were scarcely visible the day before! Fortunately they can be potted on (today!) a touch deeper.

Nice colour, although imagine it might be a bit Scovilley for me...

Despite that, he is a "lovely boy" (as I frequently tell him while he enthusiastically karate kicks me, thrashes with his wings and tries to joust the watering can.)

Mr Fantastic is getting into the spring spirit, which, alongside stomping all over the hens, seems to involve pecking our feet at every opportunity and demonstrating his strength by violently picking up small twigs.

My other two east of England varieties are well established now, so hopefully in a year or so Laxton's #1 will look this lively in early season too...

Superb news: my backup crown of Laxton's #1 Bedfordshire rhubarb has a shoot! Was kindly provided with this rare variety by a national collection, so was gutted when drought and a misjudgement of how much watering was needed did for the first crown I put in. Will be watching this one like a hawk!

As the ash from Bonfire, Devourer Of All Things, originally created 10 or more days ago, is still relightable by a little waggle with a garden fork, I have been getting some other big orchard pruning/clearing bits done, as clearup is currently somewhat easier than usual. #twistedfirestarter 🔥🔥🔥

Sadly the only bit of cuttlefish most people encounter in the UK, despite hundreds of tons being landed each year and it being delicious.

I'll get a perfect crop one of these years!

Hope all your trees doing well - I need to start on winter pruning soon, or will run out of time... 😬

Good to know, cheers. We grow in the ground & have had some challenges with common scab here, so hoping that adding a ton of mushroom compost and varieties thought to have some resistance might get us a cleaner crop.

Still, if I ever fancy a 24,000 mile round trip and navigating what are likely to be near-impossible customs and import regulations for plant material, perhaps I'll pop over and pick up some seed potatoes one day. 😆

Just looked it up, apparently PBI-bred two further "Maris" varieties of spud: Maris Anchor and Maris Page. Not seen either in UK, but looks like Anchor is still grown in NZ! Funny how that happens: same with one of the Laxton Bros blackcurrants ("Laxton's Tinker"). Not in UK, widely sold in NZ!

Started seed potatoes chitting today, although these look good to go already. Shame it's February! Growing a Cambridge Plant Breeding Institute duo this year: Maris Bard (first early) and Maris Peer (second). If I grew maincrops, I could have done the excellent Maris Piper to complete the set!

Nice jars! (contents sound good too 😂)

Fair enough, your dinner your choice!

My guess is the potato starch and palm fat in stock cubes is needed to make the cube-that-dissolves format? Much like a (cheap) beurre manié?

I often make stock, but don't always have it in. A cube is 8g, so personally am comfortable with 1 or 2 grams of palm fat in a vast vat of soup!

Solid investment! Drainage and water management is definitely on the list here too once boundaries are sorted.

Thankfully our no-dig veg area is no longer one of the issues: after two years with big loads of mulch it has come through all this year's rain with no waterlogging.

On the plus side, while we currently don't have a perimeter fence, we do more or less have a moat. 😂