It's cold outside.

Nice to have some help in the garden...

Even it Big Boy didn't make it out, despite assuring me he wanted to help!
Trying to sort out the beds, need to plant a bunch more bulbs, and get set for sowing some onion seeds (they're going to be winners you know...)

Raking it in.

Well.  I tried last year, and failed.  I thought I'd try again.  Raking up the leaves is a pretty tall order if you happen to have an orchard.

It's also not that straightforward when you have children.  They do sometimes like attention.
What complicates things further is the chicken population.  When they insist on going up to your carefully piled leaves and kicking them all over the place...

... you start fantasising about pies.  (Not really, I love our hens!)
But this was as far as I got before Little Boy demanded my attention, and the sun went down (thus the different exposure - my phone camera struggled with the light)

Not bad.  Probably nudging a couple of hours work.  Saves going to the gym (and I can't really take the boys with me to the gym, but I can have them in the garden!)

It's the fork that counts.

I don't know how I can joke about it really.  It's actually quite sad.

I was tidying up the front bed this morning, when disaster struck.  Either the ground is too hard, or I am.  Or perhaps a combination of the two.  Either way, the fork wasn't up to the battle, and gave way.  It was a nice border fork too.  Ok, so the tines weren't exactly in line any more, and the top of the handle could pinch your hand something rotten, but it still had a good few years service under its belt. 
The silver lining is that I now have a large hand fork (or will, once I've separated the handle completely) as well as a dibber perfect for planting leeks.
What's more, I could also get a nice new fork from Christmas.  It is approaching apace, after all.

That time of year again.

Cannot.

Get.

Enough.

Of.

This.

Amazing.

Tree.

Chickens!

Which came first?
The chickens.  Obviously.  But before them, came the coop.

This is in the orchard (I'm hoping there aren't any foxes reading this...)
The chickens came from Highfield Happy Hens.

They were transported in potato boxes in the back of the car...

With veg trays for lids.  Apparently that's luxury compared to what some people take them home in.  I thought it was nice to set the bar high :)
They were then released into the coop...

They had a little potter around and seem to be happy with their new accommodation.  They arrived last Thursday, and we've so far had four eggs from them.  I expect production will pick up the more settled they get.

Big boy is so far the only one to have sampled them, but I intend to try one out soon!  Still don't really know what we're doing in terms of how to look after the chickens, and am hoping that our ignorance doesn't kill them off...

Gazania

Seedy business.

What's the difference between seed envelopes and dinner money envelopes?
Well, the most obvious thing seems to be the price...  I ordered a pack of each.  At the time of ordering, the seed envelopes were £3.90, while the dinner money envelopes were £3.99.  For the extra nine pence, you got 80 more envelopes.  Now, I have to admit that the seed ones do seem to be a bit higher quality - more robust (I suppose a dinner money envelope usually only has to last until lunchtime...)
But anyway, I started using them today.  I collected some lavender seed, some seed from a nice flower (probably technically a weed, but who cares?!) that sprouted along the drive, and a whole bunch of poppy seed.  They're in the dinner money envelopes. 
Other stuff that's been done in the garden recently includes:
Harvesting the carrots (they were purple),
Harvesting some spuds,
Trimming leaves off tomato plants (helps the fruit ripen, apparently),
Potting the fuchsia up into bigger pots,
Cutting back the lavender,
Pruning the wisteria,
Turning the compost,
Watching the sweet peas die back and waiting for an abundant harvest of seeds.
Dead heading the sunflowers out the front,
Emptying all the dead pots of compost (failing seedlings and the like) into a big trug, with the idea of planting a fig tree in it and sinking it into the ground (apparently they grow really big if unchecked)
And probably other stuff too...

Compost

Just a quick compost post.  To be honest, I thought the compost was a bit of a write-off.  It didn't seem to be doing what I thought it should.  For some time, I'd been meaning to turn the compost, as that apparently speeds up the process.  (Monty Don said, 'any gardener who goes to the gym doesn't turn their compost often enough.)  Well, today I got around to it.  (Strictly speaking, I started yesterday, but genuinely did less than 20 seconds before being called away...)

j

It's quite a large compost area.  There are three pairs of pallets, on end, which create two compost areas.  The idea was that they were 'year 1' and 'year 2' areas, to allow the garden waste time to do its thing (become compost!)  I've pretty much used up all the compost on the right hand side, and the left hand side is the stuff that's been added over the course of this year.  I therefore figured I'd 'turn' the compost from the left side into the right.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.  Although the surface (top photo) doesn't look like much is happening, as soon as you dig down a bit, you find what could reasonably be mistaken for compost! 

Some of the bits are still a bit big, so it might have to be sieved, depending on where it's to be applied, but all in all, I was pretty chuffed with the quality of it.

So this'll be applied liberally around the garden in the coming months.  Some for winter mulch, the rest of spring feeding.  Yay.

Are you bored of sweet peas yet?

Well, mum mentioned in a recent 'phone call that grandad had once had 5 blooms on one stem.  I thought this was pretty impressive.  Today, I found this:

Ok, so it's past its best, I'll grant you.  But there are (were!) clearly six blooms hereupon.
Yay :)

Marathon Garden day.

Yesterday was pretty immense in the garden:
Front beds had some sunflowers put in to replace the (mysteriously) damaged ones.
Also planted some pansies (got enough from seed!!) in the useless front bed that will probably suck the life from them.  If they work, it'll spruce up the drive a little.
Pruned the wisteria so it no longer looks like it's trying to gain entry to our house.
Replanted most of the pots on the front step to tidy things up a little.
Attempted to annihilate an ant colony on the front step.
Potted up some:
Pansies,
More pansies,
Sweet peas (bushy type)
A random rudbeckia
'Honesty'
Planted out:
A rudbeckia in the climbing frame bed.
Three 'honesty' (Lunaria Annua) in the rose bed, around the drain.
Sunflowers in the bed next to the rose bed.

Also:
Made up the four wedding-anniversary-present-chairs from Anna's parents.
Tidied the sideboard of solution a little.
Sadly, although there are still plenty left, many of the pansy seedlings died while we were away, because I forgot to put them on the table (where they'd get rained on) and so they dried and died.  Oops.

Those sweet peas again...

I think that they look better from this angle.  This is the view from the South (so it's logical that they look floweryer)

This week I've:
Planted out the tomato seedlings,
Planted out a b'nut squash and 'yummy pumpkin' seedlings,
Netted the red cabbages,
Harvested a few raspberries,
Harvested loads of plums (jam tomorrow)
Found some flowers growing! (photos some time...)
And probably other stuff too, which I've forgotten.

Sweet (pea) aroma.

Well, looking at the last picture of the sweet peas, posted on June 11th (ok, so it was, strictly speaking, a picture of the rose, and the sweet peas just happened to be hanging around in the background...) I thought I should perhaps update you on their progress:

I'm going to be bold and perhaps a little unhumble and say that I'm sure they actually look better in real life.  And the smell of them is such a large part of their appeal that a blog post could never do them justice.
Other things that have happened in the garden lately:
Loads of people came for drinks and nibbles in the garden.
The raspberries have been netted.
The cherry tree has been netted (partly in response to the text I received last week from the friend down South we gave an identical cherry tree too, saying she was enjoying her first bowl of cherries of the year - ours are still somewhat green)
Courgettes and squashes have been planted in the orchard beds.  (Maybe I said that already)
Beans have been planted in a new orchard bed.  (Maybe I said that too...)  And one replaced following its predecessor's consumption by unknown aggressor.
Red cabbages have been planted in the orchard, then attacked by the birds, and are now in the process of being netted and, while they wait, are covered in fleecey stuff.
On the flowers front, some of the zinnias have been spaced out a bit more evenly.
Most of the gazanias and rudbeckias that were heretofore in pots are now in the ground. 
The pansies are flourishing in their modules, and should really be dealt with ASAP.

Yet another update...

Remember this rose?  It now looks like this:

 

 Ok, so it's not a very clear shot, but the close-up shot with the camera phone was overexposed.  The fact is, I'm really quite pleased that where I planted a twig, I now have a rose bush.

All along the wall is a mass of sweet peas.  They're growing steadily and will hopefully fill up the netting placed there for them to climb.  Should look quite spectacular...

And the lavender, which arrived in a tray about 6 inches by 10 inches now looks like this.  Sure, we lost a few along the way, but given they started life as mini plugs a couple of seasons ago, it's nice that they've made it as far as this (again, it's not a hugely clear shot, but it's the strip of green at the bottom of the hedge).

 Some of them have even had the courtesy to produce flowers.  Last year we had one single flower along the entire row (I think there are about 60 plants), and this year most plants have a number of flowers each!  What progress :)

Very pleasing, all in all.  The runner beans are poking their heads out of the pots, the toms sown recently are about an inch or two tall.  Nothing from the pumpkins yet, nor the b'nut squash.  The pansies are growing steadily.  We continue to lose a bunch of them, but given they're from seed from last year's pansies, they are completely free.  Sunflowers are a bit ropey - considering sowing some and planting others along the long bed out the front (where the marigold were last year).
Anyway, bedtime.

Behold a revolution.

It has arrived.  The sideboard of solution has landed.

Yes, it does take up an extraordinary amount of space on the patio, but so does the junk that's there at the moment. You'll see there are five drawers along the front (which is why I'm calling it a sideboard rather than a table).  These very drawers are cunningly going to hide much of the detritus.  (I know what you're thinking; you're thinking, 'he doesn't mean detritus, he's just trying to be fancy'; you're thinking, 'detritus is matter produced by erosion, what erosion is happening on Nick's patio?!'  Well, it's the erosion of order and harmony, if you must know)
This is a seminal moment for the outdoors space.  It is a turning point.  I strongly suspect that once the patio is better organised, I will be able to begin to make headway into the equally important matter of world peace.  So it's really all for the best.

Over the last week...

We have:
sorted the orchard beds (except the T one)
Sorted bean poles (need another stake though...)
Sown Turks Turban seeds in the L shaped bed.
Weeded the raised orchard bed
Potted on a lot of pansies from seed tray to individual modules in a tray (over 100 so far, and only about half way through...)
Potted on the sunflowers from modules to pots (8cm Vipots)
Potted on the chinese lanterns from modules to minipots (but still loads in modules)
continued to fail with the parsnips
Planted out some of the Gazania and Rudbeckia
Planted some spuds in the bins
Harvested some rhubarb (it's not doing famously well...)
Planted the last gooseberry (containerised, not bare root)
Sown toms in pots (cherry, 'normal' and big)
Sown butternut squash in pots
Sown more sunflowers (Joshua's from school)

Some pictures...

Oh, just a boring old update.

I keep realising that I set this up so that I could read what I did last year and learn from it.
So far, I haven't read last year's entries, and certainly haven't learnt from all last year's mistakes.
Anyway, latest projects include:
Sorting out the irises, which had been left to slump all over the garden for winter, so needed a drastic haircut before the new growth came up.  Caught them just in time a couple of weeks back.
Sowing sweet peas in the bed by our 'front' wall.  Staffordshire compost and a bit of seed compost too.
Having Anna build a mini greenhouse (is that a shocking thing to say?)  It was altogether altruistic - she was clearing my garden detritus out of the kitchen :)
Build climbing frame.
Sow herbs in golden syrup tins.  (Still not much success - causes some confusion)
Hoeing places (now there's a blog title for later...)
Employing a gardener (is that cheating?)
Wishing my tiny mind could remember all the other things

... you're very busy, man ...

So, having filled up the wheelbarrow with old bush (I was told it wouldn't have taken too kindly to the cold, so I chopped it out - it's twin is still in there)

I cleared the space a little and popped in some gooseberries.  Two in, one still to arrive.

Then I cleared away the carrot fly barrier and hoe hoe hoed, also emptying the colourful tubs of their weeds and plants remnants.

The plan is to have a lot more flowers in this bed this year, and use the raised bed outside for veg, as well as the other beds in the orchard.

RHS, how I love you.

How cool is this:

I sent off for my seeds from the RHS, and they arrived this morning.
Yay.  Now I have to find space to sow them all, and then more space to plant them...  But what a fantastic deal anyway.  £12 for 20 packets.  All collected from the RHS gardens around Britain.
I'm sure they'll come up again in due course...

Fool!

Gooseberry fool, that is.
Today saw the delivery of two gooseberry bushes.  One is yet to come.  Today's were Invicta and Hinnomaki Yellow (I think... They're downstairs and I can't be bothered to check)
The question (and it's rather pressing now) is where to put them.  The two options are:
Next to the raised bed (I was going to make it bigger, then figured that wasn't necessary - I could just plant things like gooseberries in well prepared holes, rather than have a whole bed for them...)
Behind the raspberries.  Slightly more complex, as this would necessitate the removal of a large bush, which I'd rather put off moving.  Logically, however, this is probably the preferable spot for them...  It's likely to get a little more sun in summer, and is in the main garden.
So, if I can muster up the energy, that's what I'll do.

We're also having the fencing people around tomorrow, so that'll be a hit to the old bank balance...  I'll have to start selling gooseberry fools to cover it.  (To cover the cost, that is, not to cover the fence in pudding)

And as for the seeds, we've got a good hit rate with the Gazanias, the rudbeckias are starting to catch up a little, some delphiniums are showing, and the sweet peas are about 8 inches tall.  The physalis modules still appear empty...  21-30 days it said, and we're only a few days off the 21.

The herbs on the windowsill aren't doing that well.  Parsley's doing ok, but the rest are a bit ropey.  I can't seem to keep them damp, but then I don't know if I'm drowning them or dehydrating them.  Ah, the traumas.

The shallots got dug up (maybe I mentioned that) and nibbled by squirrels.  If only I had a gun... 

The snowdrops are looking fab at the moment.  Probably going to start dying down soon.  Could Spring be on its way?

Sow good.

Well, helper and I have been busy.  We've been popping lots of seeds into seed trays and hoping for the best.  Simple process - poke finger in seed compost (yes, I buy seed compost), put seed (or seeds, if the packet's got millions) in poked hole, cover hole, water lightly (I actually put them in a box of water to allow the water to come up through the compost, rather than top down...) and put in the kitchen.

They were then promptly neglected while we went away for a few days.  And this is what they looked like today. 

Far box is sweet peas.  Middle one is chinese lanterns on the left and delphinium on the right.  Near one is Gazania on the left and Rudbeckia on the right.  As you can see, some are further on than others, although the Gazania, which thought they'd germinate after 14 days (according to the packet) are actually out after just a week, so you never can tell...
Needless to say, I'm pleased with their progress so far...  Though the next thing is probably for them all to go weedy and fall over and die :)
Oh, and if you're wondering, this is the start of the cutting garden.  We're expanding from vegetables and fruit...

The bed's made, now what?

Well, some blackberries have gone in now.  You'll be pleased to know that I've straightened up the far one since looking at the photo!  They're supposed to spread about 6 foot, so will have to spill out perhaps, but hopefully will crop nicely...  They cost a total of 9 quid.  Can't write more now - other things to be done!

Projects for the year.

Well, apart from the fact that I should really be blogging more often, here are a few things in the pipeline for this year:
We're going to put a fence around the hedge in the garden.  This sounds pretty straightforward, but there's a lot of hedge, so it's a bit of a mission.  Excitingly, we've got someone coming to help with it!
The bed where the parsnips were dug up with a pickaxe is (perhaps unsurprisingly) slightly messed up, so needs sorting out.  It's going to have some flowers in it, and some of the veg are going to be moved outside into a...
Raised bed in the orchard.  This is getting more into the realms of dreams, but I'd really like to have a raised bed in the orchard.  I bought some blackberries to go in it, and will get some gooseberries too.  We'll also go for things like red cabbage out there (might construct the raised beds with the ability to be netted)
Peony needs to be planted out.
Zillions of flowers for a cutting garden.
Tempted by some Mahonia but resisted (so far)
The hedge needs to be planted (thankfully the team will do that, not me!)
And loads of other stuff.

The green manure is chuntering along ok.  Hopefully it will work!