Why I shouldn't be allowed to multi task

Aren't clouds amazing!

Its been an eventful day here at the garden in a number of ways.

Coco and I have spent most of the day outside cutting grass, harvesting veggies and planting our melons out under cloches as it's turned rather cold here, well I've been planting Coco has been unplanting.

Right from the day I bought the seeds cheap in Focus, I thought you will have a lot to contend with my little beauties and I didn't expect much from them at all. I was pleased that they had even germinated.

Now if they produce anything it will be amazing, they have all been planted at least twice some three times.

Who ate the runners?

Sunday is roast day and we were very proud to have produced Potatoes, Carrots, Peas and Purple Curly Kale to have with it.

There is certainly a sense of achievement in harvesting, preparing, cooking and eating your own stuff.

We should have had Runner Beans as well but they sort of got eaten on the way back to the kitchen, didn't they Coco?

Now, to make our lives easier Nanny Southwellski has prepared a monthly menu for us so we know what we are having every day and it's brilliant! So today was roast chicken (not one of ours) with veggies.

As it was a beautiful day we decided that it would be best cooked on the BBQ using the spit and we would have it with salad and new potatoes. I balanced the chicken on the spit beautifully, turned on the burners, put the lid down and went to prepare Coco's dinner. She normally eats with us but time was ticking on etc etc so she had something else.

While she was eating I thought I'd make a loaf of bread and a cake (cake for the ofsted man!) and watch Coco and cook the chicken. Easy peasy!

To make it more of a challenge,  I took Coco for her bath (she had finished eating).

Chicken cooking, bread proving and all the ingredients ready for the cake, Coco in bath, marvellous!

Nanny Southwellski came and took over after how long I'm not really sure but Coco was turning prune like.

I walked into the kitchen to see smoke billowing from the BBQ. I went out, turned the burner off and lifted the lid to find the chicken on fire! I had been calm up until then.

Anyone in Hockwold waiting to see the Olympic torch pass through was not disappointed as it was on our deck and I was carrying it!

I like mine well done please.

In fact what I was doing was running around waving the flaming chicken on a spit about to extinguish the flames. It worked a treat.

The chicken however was slightly singed but it was only skin deep and I have to say it was delicious.  This is the second one we have done on the spit and it certainly stays moist and tasty

Lunch tomorrow - sorted!

The cake turned out a treat, but then Delia is a Goddess even if she does support Norwich City she has never let me down.

The Dough for the bread I divided between two loaf tins and then realised I had only made enough dough for one, Doh!

So I scooped it out and kneaded it again stuck it into one tin and it's turned out great.

Now all we have to do is get by the Ofsted man and it's on with the summer holidays!

And this is relaxing??!!??

I've read all the books and Coco and I have had long conversations about gardening and if it really is relaxing.

Now Coco will probably tell you that her idea of gardening is having a ride in the wheelbarrow, trying a freshly picked carrot or peas straight from the pod or having a go on her swing or a chill out with Uncle Luke in the hammock.

Uncle Luke is back from Aberystwyth for a few weeks, he is studying Genetics, poker and alcohol at University there. We are all very proud of him and probably don't tell him enough but then that's what parents, especially Dads do. 

Uncle Luke

Great Grandpa Southwellski would always tell me how well my brother Colin was doing and tell Colin how well I was doing and it was only after Great Grandpa Southwellski passed away that Colin and I spoke about it and realised that he was equally proud of us both. 

So Luke if you read this I am proud of you and all that you are doing and Coco has a very cool and chilled Uncle, even if you are a tad untidy!

Anyway is gardening relaxing?

The argument against.

I have developed a very individual war dance for when the dogs and cats stray onto the veggie plot, it would strike fear into Cochise himself.  

And when it rains from absolutely nowhere just as I am watering the peas which I stupidly placed as far away from the tap as I could and have to carry a watering can to them because the hose isn't long enough I go a decent shade of puce!

Monty

When my parsnip seeds on a strip (that are impossible to sow on a windy day and I resemble a gymnast doing a ribbon dance) only germinate every 6th seed I tend to feel a bit miffed.

Or when Monty creeps up behind me and barks just as I am removing that trickily placed side shoot just below my very first tomato of the season, which I have called Trevor by the way.



 The argument for.

Nanny Southwellski and Monty all smiles!

When Coco and I get up in the morning and let the chooks out and the birds are singing, the sun is shining and all the veggies are standing proud and glistening with early morning dew it makes me stand and look and feel good.

When Monty and Nanny Southwellski smile in unison it makes me feel warm inside and when Coco points at the carrots and peas and says 'This' as only she can, it makes the carrots taste so much sweeter. 

Trevor

 

And when our plants that we have nurtured from tiny seeds, battled to protect them from the chooks, dogs, cats and birds, watered religiously day in day out, talked to sung to and encouraged from the very start, when they start to produce the hard work is forgotten.

We have called our first tomato (left) Trevor for no reason other than it begins with 'T'.  Trevor is an Italian plum tomato who will end up in a pasta sauce of some sort.  You won't feel a thing Trevor.

Pea processing Southwellski style!

We harvested our first peas today, expecting a heavy crop we took our largest trailer (right) down to the peas and commenced picking.

Coco quickly took charge of quality control marking each suitable pea with a tooth mark, just to let me know that she had checked them all you know.

We seemed to have about twice as many pod shells as we did peas, I suspect I will trace the missing peas in tomorrows first nappy!

Our potatoes are the sweetest new potatoes you could wish to eat with just a hint of our home grown mint added at the end of cooking they are divine and the hard work in the cold of digging the plot, planting and then replanting after the chooks had dug in a fashion Time Team would have been proud of, being hit by a late frost which took them almost back to the ground, all that seems a dim and distant memory and well worth the effort.

So I guess I have answered my own question really, the fruits of Coco and my labours are more than enough to make us forget the stress and toil we have gone through to get here.

Yes, gardening is relaxing!

Tyred and tired!

My M10 Tank Destroyer

The lighter mornings and evenings have meant that Coco has changed her clock and our day now starts at anything from 6.00am to 6.45am.

So when Uncle Robin came over for modelling club last night (not that kind of modelling, miniature military modelling! See right), we arranged to meet him at Listers Farm this morning and collect a tractor tyre to use in the play area of our garden as a sandpit. We thought it would make our morning go quicker.

So we got up nice and early, did our chores of letting the dogs out, feeding and watering the chooks and feeding the cats before getting our breakfast ready. Now at just over thirteen months old you will probably wonder what Coco's role in all this is, well, she strokes the dogs and cats, puts the chicken food in a cup for me, (some of it actually gets in the cup as well!) and tells Brutus the cockerel to be quiet by giving him a really loud "Ah!".

Waiting to go

After breakfast we set off in the van and went along a very bumpy dirt track to get onto the road to Uncle Robin's farm at Southery.  Coco was jolted about in her car seat like jelly on a plate and she laughed and chuckled all the way.

I need a cushion!

We got to the farm and had a look at and in all the tractors, Mr Bumble our Norwich terrier came with us and he was soon searching for rats around the farm buildings, he didn't find any though.

Coco had a sit in the cab of Uncle Robin's tractor and wasn't phased at all, even when Uncle Robin sounded the horn. When we look at Coco's books at bedtime we call every tractor Uncle Robin's so this probably prepared her for seeing them.

Piece of cake!

We didn't get to go in the biggest tractor because that had been used for spraying and we didn't want little fingers getting into contact with it.

We then went to choose a tractor tyre for the sandpit and found one that was nearly as tall as me. The tyre only just fitted in the back of our van and was very dirty but with a wash we are sure it will make a fine sandpit.

Once we got home we had toast and it was time for Coco's nap so I did a bit of potting-on in the potting shed and put my plants out to harden off.

My Morning Glory plants were a picture of health and vibrant green happiness and sitting there in the sun they made me feel very proud.

When I came back about an hour later there were fourteen leafless stems sitting in moist compost and one very smug looking chook! I explained the process of stuffing a chook prior to cooking and the smugness disappeared, she'll not do that again! I should add that no harm was done to the chook in any way what so ever, however that does not mean it wasn't thought!

With that I worked on the fence between the chook run and the front drive.

It's a real joy to be outside and again I thank the stars that I am lucky enough to be able to do it almost whenever I want, jobs for Nanny Southwellski permitting of course. Having said that as we are planning to increase our level of self sufficiency it is important that we get the work done outside.

Faster Grandpa

I mentioned our turf disaster well it's starting to come good, I think, or is it wishful thinking.

In the picture you can see the turf,  it looks worse on the photograph than it actually is, honest!

Coco and I had just come through the forest garden from the bottom veggie plot where we had just put the canes in for the runner beans and prepared some ground for our parsnips.

Our veggies are looking good and the seeds in the potting shed, which I also use as a greenhouse, are coming up nice and strong.

It's truly amazing to spend an hour or so in there of a morning and then return later in the day to find that the tray of compost that has sat there for two weeks is suddenly alive with green shoots.

I recently planted two plastic barrels with Charlotte potatoes, and they have since yesterday sent up strong dark green leaf clusters. Never tried this method of growing before and as the previous occupants here have left a number of tatty grey plastic barrels around  I thought recycle and re-use!

On the note of recycling, whilst Coco and I were at the farm this morning Uncle Robin said we could have some old car tyres as well, I said "No" initially but something he said last night about worm compostors and tyres being good for that purpose has made me rethink and I will be looking around the garden tomorrow to see where we could put them.

It's the Royal Wedding on Friday so we are having a few friends over for a wedding watching and a barbecue. It's almost beyond belief that some groups asked for permission to protest outside Westminster Abbey on the day of the wedding, how do they think that will help their cause? Ah well, it's a funny of world innit!

Hopefully it won't rain, although we desperately need some for the garden, especially the turf I laid this week.

Sunset over the weaves.

I took the dogs into the paddock this evening for a game of ball and found myself just watching the sun slowly sink and leave the most beautiful sunset, suddenly the Morning Glory plants weren't that important after all.

Into the 21st century!

I need a cushion Grandpa!

It stays lighter in the evening until later and its light in the morning when we get up at about 7.00 for breakfast but there seems to be fewer hours in the day!

No, I don't understand it either.  When we moved onto BST (British Summer Time) I thought 'Great!' more time on the plot.  Instead it's more like losing the plot.

Never mind, we joined the space race today here at Grandpa Southwellski's garden we bought a Westwood S800 ride on mower/garden tractor. Now don't be thrown by the shabby exterior, remember the Delorean in Back to the future 1, 2, 3, 4, ....... 27, 28 etc etc.  I will say no more, other than we have 8.5 horses under the bonnet!

Okay, so it's not new, but it's ours and we bought it from a local church so we know it's fairly legit, don't we?  I managed to break the battery clamps this afternoon and it has no petrol but apart from that it's a beaut!

Cluck,Cluck, Cluck woof! I am a chicken now feed me!

More news from the garden, the chooks have been confined to quarters after unplanting most of our onions and levelling our potatoes, but they are laying 7-8 eggs a day so they have got off quite lightly this time.

We bought a second coop before we got the last chooks but they all insist on sleeping in one coop which is supposedly designed for 6 tops.

The chooks weren't impressed with the fencing but it kept Mr Bumble in!

We have had some stunning sunsets just recently, this (below) was a few days ago. Where we live we are lucky enough to be on the top of a hill and get the sunrise and the sunset all under a wide Norfolk sky.

Even on grey days the skies here are stunning, and the way nanny Southwellski designed the kitchen means we have the maximum light all the time and the sunsets as well.

Its made a difference health wise as well, we were all much more relaxed this winter.

We have worked on the Forest garden and the middle level trees I orderedlast weekend arrived and have been planted.  We have three nut trees, two Red Filberts, and an Almond all of which shouldn't grow too tall so won't challenge the taller fruit trees for light and will offer some protection to the ground cover plants and fruits.

We also planted two apples, one pear and a plum. Our raspberries are yet to arrive and we are planning to split these between the garden and the forest garden.

We have a scarecrow on the veggie plot now, Frosty our long standing snowman is now a permanent resident to keep the birds and animals off our veggies.

The chooks love him and make a bee line to say hello to him in the mornings, and just for good measure they dig up the onions while they are there.

Well tomorrow is fast approaching so it's off to bed, Coco was asleep hours ago so will no doubt be up nice and early.

Go Girls!

We made another trip to Little Hen rescue on Sunday and collected another 6 hens to add to our flock.

It would be good to say they all got on famously from the minute the new arrivals stepped out of their crates, but that wouldn't be the truth.  In fact poor old Brutus aged about twenty years in the first hour from running around stopping fights, rounding up the ones who were wandering off.  It was hard work, this I know because as Brutus was stopping one fight I was stopping another!

But I take my hat off to the boy, he knew what he was doing and did it very well, and very calmly until one of the new hens went under the trailer at which point he just gave up and walked back to the flock.  Mr Bumble helped to shift the reluctant hen from under the trailer and got a peck for his troubles.

Two days on and I just went out to lock the coop doors and all 10 hens and Brutus are crammed into one coop and very contented noises they were making too.

Egg production is up as well we have rocketed from 2 a day to 7 a day and very nice they are as well.

On the downside I have replanted my onions at least twice now, and in the case of the poor little onion closest to the hen houses, at least a dozen times!

Nanny Southwellski suggested that we introduce the dogs to the hens and I thought she was a little premature but I followed her instructions and the dogs have developed a very healthy and wise respect for the beak.  Mr Bumble has had a couple of pecks on the noggin and that was more than enough for him.  He now keeps out of reach.

The plot is taking shape very nicely now and a handful of corn scattered in the right place means I get the grass stripped up by the chooks leaving me to turn the soil over. The sunsets have been beautiful these last few days although a bit of rain, more than the few drops we had today, would be very welcome.

Our strawberries are in and under fleece cloches now, to keep the chooks away as much as protect them from the weather. Our potatoes are also in and the runner beans that didn't get frazzled are almost ready to go out.

I ordered the middle level fruit and nut trees for the forest garden at the weekend there are some good offers out there at the moment if you look for them.  I used D T Brown, I bought my hedging, strawberries and potatoes from them and was very pleased with the quality and prompt service they provided.

I also finished the deck at the front of the potting shed so that Coco and I don't have to tiptoe across the bearers anymore and it gives us somewhere dry to stand as well. While I was doing that Coco dismantled all of my neatly stacked pots and emptied my compost all over the floor, bless her!!!!  It looked like we had been burgled.

If the good weather holds it will be more digging tomorrow.

Never look a gift farmer in the mouth!

When Coco and I started work on the plot it seemed the right thing to dig it all by hand.  Uncle Robin, our farmer friend had offered to come and cultivate the plot with his tractor and cultivator.  It felt really good saying "No thanks, we'll dig it by hand".  What we should have said is "Please, please, please come and do it for us!" Ah well, lesson learnt. So today we have been digging the plot for the potatoes to go in.

Digging for Victory (Well potatoes actually!)

We had one plot already dug over and we planted our garlic and onions in there this afternoon.  While we were doing that Uncle Robin and Auntie Angela arrived for a visit, so while Nanny Southwellski and Auntie Angela chatted the three of us started digging the potato patch.

It wasn't too bad digging the plot, it had been covered by our caravan while we renovated the bungalow so all the grass had died off and the digging was easy(ish).

Less click click Nanny, more dig dig!

Coco did really well digging but got very tired and just watched for a little while from amongst the canes which mark the rows of onion sets and garlic.

Nanny Southwellski was busy taking photographs of the progress in the plot, (you can see these on Southwellski on Flickr) and Auntie Angela came and played with Coco they went went indoors to help Nanny  make some tea to have with hot cross buns.

Faster Auntie Angela!

On the way Coco and Auntie Angela took a little detour and they played on the swing for a while.

Uncle Robin and I kept digging until we had finished the potato patch and now all Coco and I have to do is take out the clumps of grass and rake it over.

The chooks were very good at scratching up the grass clumps on the onion/garlic patch so we hope they will do the same on the potato patch.

Stop thief!

We have been taking time to introduce the dogs to the chickens and today we brought Mr Bumble and Scarlett, our two Norwich Terriers, through into the garden.   

They have been through before but today we had more time to supervise them.

Mr Bumble is the leader in our dog pack and felt that he should now have the chooks under his 'wing', however when they first met Brutus had a quiet word and now you can see the mutual respect between them. Except when there is a stale crust of bread about.

Just another chook.

Scarlett is a regular visitor and we are sure she just thinks the chooks are dogs just like her.

Our other two terriers, Monty and Blossom are a different matter altogether, as they are both very highly strung we will take a lot more time to get them used to the chooks.


Blossom managed to clear the dog run fence on Thursday and get in with the chooks but I was able to stop her before any damage was done. In all honesty I was more concerned about what the chooks would do to her than the other way round.  The dog run fence is now doubled in height!

Our two old girls, both cross breeds and both 17 years old are almost oblivious to the chooks although we do keep an eye on Lou as she has previous for killing chickens.

Anyway back to the garden, we have planted 9 bulbs of garlic and about 50 onion sets this afternoon, 8" (20cm) apart in rows also 8" (20cm) apart.  The soil is really good and Coco and I are really pleased with how it has cultivated into a really nice crumbly soil.

We have a dog show tomorrow but when we get back its all hands to the potting shed to plant some more runner beans to replace the ones we lost last week. We also have some peas to get sown as well and as these are Coco's favorite veg they are high on our list of important jobs. Off to bed now, early start tomorrow.

Its been a while I know but....

Brutus!

Its been a busy couple of weeks, hence an abscence of news from the garden.

We have 5 new additions to our menagerie, 4 ex battery hens and a stunningly handsome Cockerel called Brutus, no other name seemed to fit.

The girls are settling in extremely well, although they seemed a little overwhelmed by the amount of space around them on the first day we got them home, but now, almost a week later they are happily exploring the paddock which is their new home.

They also seem to have got Brutus exactly where they want him, it's a cold night here in Hockwold and when I checked on them a little while back, all 5 were crammed in one of the nesting boxes in the hen house, and who was in the middle? Brutus.

Two of the girls

 The girls aren't looking their best just yet, these pictures were taken a few days ago, but already we are seeing a change in their confidence, and they also seem to be putting on a bit of weight.  They have given us 10 eggs so far and very lovely they are too.

They now follow Brutus around and its lovely to hear the gentle clucking coming from the hen house in the morning. Coco and I go and let them out first thing, fill up the feeders and put down fresh water.  

Coco has got the hang of throwing some corn down for them, that is now she has discovered its not that nice to eat it and it is in fact a bit hard to chew when you only have four teeth!

We got the Chooks, as Nanny Southwellski calls them, from Little Hen rescue, at Flordon near Norwich.  Their website is www.littlehenrescue.co.uk and even if you don't want hens you can find a whole wealth of info about chickens, and while you're there why not put your hand in your pocket and donate something or better still get some chooks!

This isn't our first experience of ex battery chickens, we had three a few years back, they came to us after our dog, Lou a Rottweiler cross, killed our two young hens we had only just acquired. She thought she would try and do the same to the three ex batts.  When she tried they cornered her, and we found her penned in tight against a fence and squealing like someone had beaten her. She never went near them again. Beanie, the leader, had real attitude and on more than one occassion fronted up to me. If she was human she would have carried a knife!

We hope the new chooks are as happy and live as long as Beanie, Irene and Ida.

One piece of advice though, and ignore it at your peril, if you have chooks, DO NOT GO NEAR THEM WEARING CROCS!

Anyhow, we are planning to start planting tomorrow on the garden, our onion sets will be going out, and we should finish the bed for the potato's, we did have a bit of a disater, our runner beans which have been living happily on the shelf in our potting shed protected from frost by the pariffin heater got scorched by the sun on the one really warm day we had last week and we have halved our plants.  Never mind we can plant some more.

Anyway enough for now, busy day tomorrow.

Day one!

Welcome to Grandpa Southwellski's Garden.  We, Coco my Grandaughter and I hope you enjoy your visits with us and see how our garden is growing.  We're new to this so don't delete those gardening websites from your favourites just yet.

We have a potting shed, two wheelbarrows, you can see Coco in one here, two spades, a fork and a load of compost.

We planted the privet hedge around the garden today, 50 sticks that looked rather unhealthy to Coco and I, but we followed the instructions, measured each one and used a string line to keep them straight.

We chose privet for two reasons one because we want the birds and insects to have somewhere safe to hide, and secondly Great Great Grandpa Southwellski had very tall privet hedges around his bungalow which was called, yep, High Hedges!

Our runner beans are sown, our potatoes are chitting (Robin our farmer friend told us that's what they do) all we have to do now is dig up all of that grass.

We think its been a great first day in the garden so keep watching because its going to be interesting, educational, and most of all good muddy fun!