A BIT OF THE GOODLIFE - A Diary of a Gardening year

I have always wanted to be the proud owner of chicken's. As a child my grandfather kept chicken's which gave me and my brother lots of fun and laughter. They can be quite comical creatures, the way they walk and peck around but one of the greatest joys was looking for and collecting the eggs which my grandmother would boil for tea and serve with bread soldiers. I remember once we had taken our cousin with us to see the chickens we locked him in the penn he was screaching in fright and me and my brother were falling about laughing (yes it was mean but funny).
As you can see from the photo above the area that I have sectioned off is not very big but the coop I have purchased will only house 4-5 hens so the area will be big enough and the chickens can be classed as free range. The cost so far for this project is £150.00 and all I have to purchase now are the hens and the feed. You could save money by building your own coop, but my husband and myself are not the best at DIY and so I felt it would be much easier to purchase a coop, which had clear and easy to follow instructions on how to put together. Next week 27/03/2011 I will show you the completed hen area complete with hens!!!

27/03/2011 Well the chicken penn is almost complete, due to bad weather yesterday we had to down tools and come inside. But the good news is we only have the gate to build and put on which means i will be getting my girls next weekend!!!! I can't wait. Make sure you pay a visit to see the photos.

05/04/2011 Hmmmmmm still waiting for the penn to be finished off, I have been promised that it will be done by the weekend so I can go and fetch my girls at the weekend. Keep a lookout for the new photos!

06/04/2011 Finally the chicken penn is finished and I am picking up the hens on sunday

08/04/2011 I went to pick up my girls this morning. I am now the proud owner of 5 loverly hens. I have got 5 different breeds an Amber star which is a white hen with brown specks and she is called Octavia. A Bovans Goldline which is a brown/red hen with white flecks and she is called Bell. A Bovans Nera which is a black/bottle green with a russet neck and she is called Matilda. A Peid suffolk which is a black hen with a black and white speckled head she is called Perdy and finally a Redco which is brown/red hen with black flecks and she is called Dory. They seem very placid and quite happy with thier new surroundings. They are only 18 weeks old and hopefully we will have our first eggs in 6 weeks time. Clyde the black labrador who usually stays in his bed has been on hen watch since they arrived and max the chocolate labrador has not shown much interest and continues to want to play ball allday!!!
I purchased the hens from Landbase Poultry in Ardliegh, suffolk. The lady there was most helpful and gave me lots of advice on keeping and looking after chickens. They also sell all you need for keeping chickens from coops to feeds. All the hens looked healthy and happy with plenty of room to roam. A happy hen makes a happy egg!!!

10/04/2011 Well the girls seem to have settled in, there is definatley a pecking order going on Octavia is the boss, she is the first to come out and chase and peck at the others whenever they go near the food or water. Dory is the quiet shy one and remains in the coop most of the time and when she does venture out she gets a peck off Octavia and Matilda! Just as we were about to put the girls to bed Matilda decided to take flight and flew over the penn fence to the decking. Lewis procceded to give chase and coaxed her back into the penn much to my amusement.

11/04/2011 Another eventful evening! I was in the kitchen sorting out dinner when I glanced out of the window and saw Dory sitting on the fence and deciding whether she should jump or fly I yelled a chickens got out and we all went flying outside to catch her when Bell decided to make a quick escape we managed to get Dory back in the penn but Bell was on top of the coop ready to hop on the boudry fence into nextdoors!!!! Adam grabbed Bell and we put them all in the coop. They now all have one clipped wing thanks to Jason and Adam, hopefully this will be the end of thier flying antics as I don't want to be chicken chasing all day!

13/04/2011 The girls are well and truly settled...I think. They are feeding well and pecking and preening however at 7pm every evening we have to do the chicken run and catch an escaping chicken!!! Matilda and Bell are the main culprits and Dory has also made a dash for freedom. So this weekend we shall be increasing the height of the penn as I don't want them eating all my plants on my vegetable plot!

14/04/2011 Well more escapades today at lunchtime Dory got on top of the hen house making for nextdoors garden at lunchtime I managed to catch her before she flew/hopped over the 6ft fence! and again at 7pm tonight Octavia decided to fly the coop only Perdy has not tried to fly out yet. I think a trip to the DIY store is on my todo list tomorrow to get more wood to build up the height of the penn. I will also have to place netting over the top to keep them from climbing from the coop and getting over into nextdoors as I don't think they will be too pleased seeing the hens peck thier flowers and vegetables to pieces!!!

17/04/2011 As of today the girls will no longer be able to escape!!! We raised the hieght of the penn and put netting over the top so they are unable to venture into nextdoors to ravage their vegetable plot and flower beds. The girls are becoming rather vocal especially Matilda and Perdy clucking away to thier hearts content. Both Perdy and Matilda are the largest of all the girls and I think they maybe a week or two older than the others. Bell is the mischevious one always the last one to get in the coop for the night making me chase her pound the penn!

19/04/2011 So much for not escaping, as I was cleaning out the coop Matilda, Ocatvia and Bell decided to escape into my vegetable plot!!! I now have trampled carrots and beetroot! I have now put netting on the other side to prevent them getting there again. Perdy is being very vocal clucking constantly I'm not sure if she thinks she's a cockeral the amount of noise she makes.

25/04/2011 The girls have really settled in everynight at 7.30 Matilda starts clucking and making noises and one by one they make thier way up into the coop and by 8pm they are all snuggled up in the coop for the night. Octavia is still the boss and all she does is eat and drinks and peck at the others. Perdy often sits there clucking and making a right racket especially if a large pidgeon lands in the garden and the dogs go flying out barking scaring everything in sight.

27/04/2011 EGGTRA EGGTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!!!! I could not believe my eyes my son as usual when he comes home from work asked if we had got any eggs yet I was about to reply no when low and behold nestled on the ground right at the back of the coop sat 2 yes 2 little eggs! I'm not sure which of the hens laid but as Perdy and Matilda are quite a bit bigger than the others and thier crowns are much more prominent I think it was them. How d' like ya eggs in the morning!!!!

02/05/2011 EEEEEEEEEgggggggcellent!!! Well we have two definate hens laying Perdy is one of them but not sure who the other ones is yet. Perdy who is the largest hen is laying small eggs and the other hen is laying much larger eggs, so I am on egg watch!!!

03/05/2011 Well what a surprise! When I looked in the nesting box today I had three eggs! Two were large and one small. I'm still not sure which hens are laying as they all keep going back up into the coop I'll have to keep a close watch tomorrow to find who my layers are.

05/05/2011 We are getting three eggs aday and I know who my layers are!!! Pedry, Matilda and Dory. The eggs keep varying in size one day we have two large and one small and then the next we are getting two small and one large. The eggs were poached for breakfast yesterday and all the large eggs were double yokers!!! So far today only one egg has been laid but as I write perdy is presently in the coop clucking!!!

06/05/2011 Whoopieeeeeeeeeeee today we had four eggs!!! They were queing up to lay today, they had emptied out one nesting box of straw, so they all wanted to lay in the same box. I took a peek in and both Matilda and Dory were squabbling in the nesting box and Perdy and Bell were queing on the ladder, and as usual Ocatvia was busy stuffing her face! I am so pleased I have finally got my chickens they bring so much joy and make me laugh as they are all so comical in their own little ways and of course the loverly eggs.

08/05/2011 Yummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! We all had poached eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast this morning, it was the first poached egg I have eaten for several years as the smell of cooked eggs always made my stomach churn, but I can honestly say it was very tasty and I shall be having poached eggs more often! Yesterday we had another four eggs but today we only got two. I have treated the hens to mixed corn and mealworms which they feed from my hands, all bar Octavia are timid and gentle where she on the other hand pecks like mad and nips your skin! When you read the blog on her breed the White Star it states they are timid and feed little well Octavia must be a one off as she is neither of those!

11/05/2011 Egg production has fluctuated, We have gone from four eggs to two then back upto three Octavia is still yet to lay. No eggs have been laid yet today, but Dory is presently sitting in the nesting box.

12/05/2011 The girls must know the weekend in coming, we had three eggs yesterday and four today so poached eggs, bacon and toast all round on sunday! Octavia the greedy chicken has still yet to lay an egg!

13/05/2011 OHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYY what a big surprise I got when I went to collect the eggs this afternoon! there nestled in the straw was the usual sized small egg and rolled out onto the perch area was the biggest chicken egg I have ever seen! And as I was out I don't know who laid it, could it have been Octavia? Well I will be sure to be on egg watch tomorrow to see who goes in to lay.

15/05/2011 We had an escapee yesterday, one minute Perdy was inside the penn and the next she was outside! They had made a hole in th nett and perdy had somehow stepped through, she was as shocked as we were, and kept running into the fencing to get back in. I waited by the gate as as she came near opened it and she ran back in. The hole has now been repaied and hopefully they will not be able to get out again.

16/05/2011 BREAKING NEWS! Octavia has finally laid her first egg! It's a little white egg with brown specks, as we have not had a white one yet I can only assume that Octavia laid it. So far today we have had four eggs.

17/05/2011 Octavia is sooo greedy! Everyday I give the hens a handful of corn and a handful of mealworms, Octavia pecks at these with lightening speed and consumes over 50% of what I give them, the others are left in her dust!

20/05/2011 I don't know why, but the girls insit on filling up thier water drinker up with soil! they scrab around in the dirt and end up burying it! So we have now bought them a stury galvanised one, which has been raised of the ground. I no longer have to clean and refill it six times a day! We are getting on average three eggs aday, with Perdy crowing and clucking after every egg she lays.

15/04/2011 Now is the time when things start to get going. Once your seedling have developed and been hardened off you can then start planting them in the ground so they can grown big and strong ready for harvesting. Make sure you have given the ground a good feed and that it is weed free to give your vegetables a good start. Today I have planted out cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and brussell sprouts as it is still quite cold at night and still the chance of frost I will be covering them with fleece just to be on the safe side as I don't want to lose them. The vegetable plot is filling up now and there is only room left to plant my french beans which will probably be in 3-4 weeks time. At this time of year weeds also thrive so keep up the weeding, it's a tedious job but a necessary one. I have done mine today but as I only have a small plot it does not take me long and I tend to do it by hand rather than a hoe when I have just started planting as I don't want to chop off the heads of the vegetables I have just planted!

17/04/2011 For some unknown reason my rhubarb seems to have wilted I have been watering it and also placed crushed eggshells round it to prevent the snails having a munch. If anyone can give advice on the reason why I would be most grateful. The brassicas I planted don't appear to like the move into the ground I did cover in fleece but I let it lie on the plants rather than propping it up. So today I have put in supports to keep the fleece up off the plants, hopefully they will recover and take root. I have sowed more in modules in the summerhouse so I will still have a supply if I lose them. I think I am rushing things and need to take more time to let the plants adjust or grow for longer in the summerhouse before hardening off and take longer to harden off than I have been. As I said at the begining it's all a learning curve and trial and error and a re-read of the text books is in order.

19/04/2011 The past two days I have been busy in the garden. The peas have been staked and a second lot have been sown. I have planted some more potatoes and planted some broad beans. I also sprinkled some mixed salad leaves in the container that the garlic is growing in by the back door. In the greenhouse I have got kale, cauliflower, brocoli and cabbages that I have just sown and I have also sown some more flower seeds. I have moved the tomato plants from the greenhouse into the summer house they seem to be taking ages to grow i'm so impatient!

24/04/2011 Where do I begin, it has been a very busy few days in the garden. The pidgeons nicked my broad beans so I had to sow some more, but this time I placed a net over them for protection. The tomato plants have been repotted as they have rapidly grown as have everything else. The salad leaves are poking through and all the seeds I sowed are starting to emerge. I have sown some runner beans in large pots making wigwams with canes for supports. I have also planted some more seed potatoes, by staggering the planting of the potatoes means I will be able to dig them up when needed and hopefully will have several weeks supply. I planted out the sweetpeas behind the chicken coop, hopefully the chickens will not get at them, I have placed them against trellis but there is also netting to prevent the chickens getting through to my vegetable plot and something for the peas to cling to as they grow. I have sowed some marigolds to place on the vegetable plot to attract bugs away from the vegetable plants and to attract bees for pollenation. I also put in some beer traps to keep the slugs and snails from munching on anything green! I have removed the netting from the onions as the stalks were poking through and are now big enough so that the birds will not think they are wigglyworms poking out of the soil. Today we built the raised bed it is quite big 8ft x 4ft and 18 inches high so as you can imagine it is quite large and is going to take a lot of compost to fill! I have two large composting bins that can go in but I will probably have to get some topsoil from somewhere to fill it right up.

25/04/2011 It has been such a wonderful weekend weatherwise and what else can you do but potter about in the garden!!! I have planted out some more strawberry plants and have also added to my herb collection. I had an old watering can which i have put drainage holes in and have planted the garden mint in and placed it on the vegetable plot to attract the wanted bugs to get rid of the unwanted ones. My husband thought me quite mad when he saw me potting up some nettles!!! this again is done to attract the bugs away from the vegetables, by putting them in a pot it prevents them from spreading on to the rest of the garden. I am trying to be as organic as I can where bug and pests are concerned. We also lined out the raised vegetable bed and emptied out the compost bins into it and now it is half full so I just need to keep alook out for some topsoil. The good thing about raised beds is that you can control what goes in and if you have bad ground soil like heavy clay or too sandy raised beds are a great way of having the perfect loamy soil that all gardeners yearn for.

26/04/2011 It was rather chilly in the garden today and we have been forecast rain in the very near future so I thought it was probably a good time to repair the drainage to my waterbutt. We are on a watermeter so every bit of rain captured to water the garden saves me money. At the end of the garden we have a summerhouse which has guttering and a downpipe with a special adapter to route the rain water into a waterbutt. The bottom clip had broken so this was replaced and the guttering was cleaned out and had netting placed over it to prevent the catkins from the tree filling it up and blocking the pipe. The decking has been scrubbed clean and ready to be stained so the garden looks all spruced up for the summer bar-b-ques. As I have now filled up the small back flowerbed with broad beans I shall be placing lots of pots and containers round the garden and on the decking to add colour. For the past few years the garden has just had the basic care needed to keep it clean and tidy and as we have not had very good summers the garden has not been used as a space for entertaning, hopefully we will have better weather this year and get lots of use out of the garden and if we don't I will stand outside under an umbrella admiring my own handiwork!

02/05/2011 Just loving all these bank holidays!!! The garden is really starting to look good now. The decking looks like new and the patio is now weed free I have just got to sand and cement the gaps and it's all sorted. I have also put together and stained the new garden bench and placed it under the tree so I can sit and get the last sunshine of the day. I have also planted up 2 hanging baskets which are sitting in the greenhouse to hopefully flourish before I put them out and also I have planted up four containers which are going in and out of the summerhouse each day to harden off. I'm now off to net my peas as the pigeons are having a feast!!!!

03/05/2011 I have spent the afternoon pottering about in the garden, I have planted out the runner beans in containers and the french beans are planted and have been netted to protect them from the greedy pidgeons on the vegetable plot. So far only one broad bean has emerged I think the birds have eaten the others so I have planted some more in pots and hopefully these will grow and then I can transplant them into the garden once they are big enough. The aubergines that I thought were never going to grow have now flourished, I have now got nine seedlings which I have repotted and I have moved them from the hot greenhouse to the cooler summerhouse. I had given up hope of growing chillies and bell peppers this year I never thought I was going to see anything green in the seed trays but today when I had a look at them I saw green shoots!!! and had a little dance of joy the neighbours must surely think i'm mad!

04/05/2011 Today I decided to tackle the front garden as it looked a bit neglected. And what a task it was! The weeds had taken hold I pulled out as many the I could by the root and the others that were not so willing I sprayed with Roundup as the dogs do not ventutre around the front garden. I weeded the front flowerbed and the summer flowering bulbs that I had planted out earlier in the year are now starting to emerge but there is still plenty of space for flowering bedding plants that I have growing in the summerhouse. The raised central bed was looking sad and rather untidy. I origianlly planted this about five years ago so I felt it might be a time for change, I dug up all the shrubs and the lemon scented leylandi tree which when purchased was 2ft high and shaped into a ball had grown to over 4ft and into a conical shape, this was such backbreaking work as their roots had grown so far down, but with much huffing and puffing I managed to get them all up. I dug over the bed and now all I have todo is decide what I am going to put in there.

06/05/2011 Wow everything seems to be growing rapidly now. When I looked in the greenhouse this morning it seemed that the cabbages, cailiflowers and broccoli have had a growth spurt overnight! I have also got ten pepper plants, looks like I am going to have lots of plants left over to sell and put the money towards new seeds for next year. I still need to get some topsoil as the plants will soon be ready to plant out and there is only the raised bed and pots left to plant things in. I'm now off to sow some squash seeds Happy gardening all!!!

08/05/2011 I was at a bit of a loose end yesterday there didn't appear to be anything for me todo in the garden, it had been so dry that even the weeds are not growing! So I decided to have a root through my seed box to see if there was anything in there which i had not sown yet, and there were some basil seeds which my mum and dad had gotten for me from the Eden Project in Newquay a couple of weeks ago I had requested a basil plant but instead I recieved three packets of different varieties of basil seeds. So I sowed ten seeds of each variety in a seed module tray and we'll wait to see if anything grows as I have read that growing herbs from seeds is not easy. After watching Gardener's World the other day I knew what I was going todo with the central flowerbed in the front garden. So once again rooted through the seed box and got all the packets of flower seeds out and in a little pot poured some seeds from each packet and mixed in some sand to make it easier to spread the seeds more evenly. I raked the soil then randomly scattered the mixed seeds over the flowerbed and gently raked it over to ensure an even spread then I gave a good watering. Hopefully as Monty promised I will have a nice block of colour which will then re-seed itself again for a few years. So keep an eye out for the resulting pictures. I had been hardening of my cougette plants and today I planted them out, I have planted three on the vegetable plot and put two in a growbag. I planted out six cougette plants last year on the vegetable plot and got a good crop from them but as I am limited for space this year as I am growing lots more different crops that lots of things this year are being grown in bags, pots and anywhere else I can find. It is still a little early to plant these out but I have cut soft drink bottles in half and placed one over each plant to protect it and to act as a little cloche.

11/05/2011 Even though the weather has been very dry the plants are still flourishing because of my diligent watering every evening. As I write it has turned very dark outside and looks like we are in for some much needed rain. The peas have started to flower and the potoatos that are in the growbags are huge, so hopefully it won't be long before we are eating our first fresh produce from the garden. The salad leaves are almost ready too as are the raddishes. The runner beans are crawling up the wigwams so my patio no longer looks like an empty pot shop! The compost has been ordered and will be delivered on saturday which will then enable me to plant out the lettuces and other brassicas that really need to be planted out now. The seeds I sowed in the hanging baskets have started to germinate and will be ready to hang out in June. The flower containers that I planted up are coming on nicely and have been going in and out of the summerhouse like a yoyo, but it will all be worth it in the end when the garden will have lots of beatiful colour.

12/05/2011 It's amazing one day you look and no weeds then the next there's loads so this morning I weeded the vegetable plot and inspected the vegetables for bugs and so far so good. I took the mesh of the brassicas and was surprised by how much they have grown. After I had weeded I replaced the mesh to keep the cabbage white butterfly off as every other year I have lost all my greens to caterpillars! This year I am determined I am going to get my greens on the table! I had run out of compost yet again thats ten bags been used this year so far (must invest in another compost bin!) I wanted to plant up some more hanging baskets and the lobelia and petunias I had sowed had died a death so I went off to the garden centre and succumbed to the plant area. I purchased one tray of trailing lobelia, one tray of petunias and 3 fushias. I managed to do four hanging baskets with these, I don't like to cram them in, and the baskets I had were wall ones which are only half the size of a standard hanging basket. I had to go to two garden centres as the first one I went to had no growbags left! Everyone must be growing their own vegetables. I managed to get the three I wanted I have put one next to the one I already has and have gave it a good watering ready to plant two more courgettes and the others are for the greenhouse to plant aubergines and peppers, but I don't have the space yet as the greenhouse is still full of seed trays and young seedling which will be moved to the summerhouse in two weeks to enable me to plant up the growbags. My back is now aching after staggering around with a 75ltr bag of compost, never a strong young man around when you need one! So no more gardening for me today... well not physically I'm off to watch the gardening programmes on tv!

13/05/2011 I have not spent much time in the garden today, but I did manage to plant the courgette plants and tie the runner beans to their stakes. The potatoes in the special grow bags have grown so large that I have put twine round them and tied to the vegetable fence to hold them up and to stop the stalks from breaking. The topsoil is being delivered tomorrow so I will be scooting back and forth shifting three tons... Wish me luck!

15/05/2011 What a busy weekend it has been. Shunting 3 tonne of soil and muck round the garden is no fun! Especially when you have way over ordered (not going to listen to hubby again!) I have bags, buckets and piles stacked wherever there was space and I even off loaded 9 barrows to a neighbour. I filled the raised beds and scattered it all over the flowerbeds and around the vegetables on the plot and I also gave a top dressing to all the pots and containers. Today I spent the afternoon potting up plants I done about 60 plants which I hope to sell. I also planted out the tomatos and placed soft drink bottles over them for protection. I planted up two more containers with flowers so thats all the flowers sorted, I just have to put all the brassicas in the raised vegetable bed and once the greenhouse is empty then i can put the cucumbers, peppers and aubergines in there. I went to a carboot sale this morning and bought over 100 flowerpots for £2.00 a bargain! and I also bought two old wooden boxes which I have lined with plastic and planted lettuces in them, they cost £5.00 for the two but they look quite rustic and good sitting on the decking.

17/05/2011 After cleaning out the chickens, I set about using up the rest of the water in the water butt as I wanted to move it to another part of the garden, so everything has had a very thorough watering today. I also made supports for the tomato plants using a combination of garden canes and sticks I collected when walking the dogs. The broad beans I had planted in pots to replace the ones planted in the ground that the birds ate have now been planted out. Last night we had our first edibles from the garden, we had mixed salad leaves, which were very tasty.

20/05/2011 Wednesday evening we had out 1st bit of rainfall for weeks, it was not much but enough to make my patio look like a snail highway! I went out at midnight to let the dogs out before I went to bed and I could not believe my eyes. So there I was out shaking the slug pellets all around my much treasured plants (much to the neighbours annoyance probably at the rattling shaking noise) The two beer traps I had put down would not be able to deal with this amount of snails so I had no choice but to use the pellets to stop the green munching greedy snails, but they had already munched through my rhubarb and were heading for the broad beans!

24/05/2011 Everything is growing very well, the peas are full of flowers and pods. The first early potatoes are ready to harvest and I have one red strawberry! I have built a frame for the raised bed as I want to plant brassiccas in there and want to put net over to protect them from the greedy caterpillars. We Still have not had much rain, so my water meter is going like the clappers!

27/05/2011 Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy finally the sky opened up! The garden is looking much healthier despite the wind. All my brassiccas have been planted, only a few veggies left to plant out then the boys (might) have the summerhouse back.

30/05/2011 Well at least the garden is looking green and lush. I managed to get out there yesterday and tackle the weeds that had also flourished. I have also sowed some more carrots and some swede and sowed some raddishes in a pot, so hopefully they will not be eaten by some bug! The pots I planted up are also out on the decking so fingers crossed there will soon be plenty of colour out there. As for the flower bed that I scattered some seeds on, the dogs keep going on there so I don't hold out much hope for anything surviving there! I have been given six cucumber plants and i have placed two in a growbag in the greenhouse (hope they don't grow too big) and the other four I have planted in growbags outside, I'm not sure if they will succeed but one can only try.

01/06/2011 OOOOOOOOOo what lushness, all that rain had done the garden the world of good. Have staked the broad beans today, I didn't think they were going to come to anything as I planted them a bit late but so far so good. You would never think that netting brassiccas would be so difficult, I managed to get in a right tangle and the net decided it wanted to be on everything apart from where I wanted it! An hour later the job was done. The chickens have a nice clean henhouse, they are such mucky buggers! They keep taking the straw out of the nesting box and scattering it all over the place!

03/06/2011 fabbbbbbbbbulous the seeds that I sowed a few weeks ago in the central flowerbed in the front garden are gradualy emerging,hopefully soon it will look great and add lots of wonderful colour to the front garden! The broad beans are flowering an the runnerbeans are growing rapidly so all is looking really good.

Here are my top 5 tips for saving money when growing your own.

1) COMPOSTING: By composting all your garden and kitchen waste you can get a rich compost and it's all free! You can either invest in a compost bin or set a small area aside and just make a heap. I have 2 compost bins so when one is full and still rotting I can thern start to fill up the other one. To get the most out of composting it is best to add thin alternate layers of green and brown waste and to move the contents about every 2-3 weeks to aid air circulation. Green waste is things like grass cuttings and kitchen waste and brown waste are things like woody plants and carboard/paper.

2) POTS and CONTAINERS: Instead of spending out on pots to grow seedlings in look at what you throw away. Youghurt/dessert pots, Soft drinks bottles, meat packaging trays, toilet roll inners are just a small example. If you are a frugal gardener think about what you are about to put in the bin and ask yourself what else can I use this for in the garden? Not only will you be saving money but also saving on landfill sites. Also asking family and friends to save these items for you, you will soon have a ready supply of pots and can sow extra seeds which you can then sell and make some money to buy things that you really need and can't get for free. Plastic Paint pots once cleaned out make great containers for small plants and herbs. Using a drill put a few drainage holes in add a layer of broken crock or ploystyrene broken up into bits and away you go.

3) SEED SHARING: Get together with a friend who also wants to grow thier own and between you decide what you want to grow and make a list, divide the list in two and you only have to buy half the amount of seed packets. Each grow enough seeds for each of you and then swap. Another great way of making savings is by swapping plants/seeds with neighbours or other allotment owners.

4) TOOLING UP: If you are just starting out on growing your own but find the cost of tools too expensive, go to bootsales and look on sites such as Ebay, Amazon market place and free sites such as freecycle. I got all my gardening tools from bootsales and you often find these are better quality than you would get if you buy new and cheap tools. For tools that you will only need to use very occassionally why not buy with a friend again halving the cost.

5) MAKING YOUR OWN LIQUID FEED: This handy tip i got from a gardening magazine called Grow Your Own. You need 2x2ltr plastic soft drinks bottles and a smaller plastic bottle. Cut the bottom 2inches of the 2ltr drinks bottles, take the lid of 1 bottle and place this inside the other, leaving the lid on the bottle that is on the outside. Gather some weeds (nettles are best) do not put any flowering heads in. Have the bottles upside down so the lid is at the bottom and the cut opening at the top and put the weeds inside the inner bottle. set this to one side. Fill the smaller bottle with water and replace lid. Lean the 2ltrs bottles against a wall so the will not tip over(remeber lid is to be on the ground) and place the waterfilled bottle ontop of the weeds to act as a weight. Leave for a 2-3 weeks and hopefully you will have a great liquid feed for your plants, dilute the feed 1 part feed to 10 parts water. ( a photo example can be found on the picture gallery)

If you know any good ideas then share them with us all on the How does your garden grow section

21/05/2011 Well I think I have seen it all now! The girls kept burying their water feeder so hubby bought then a solid galvanised steel one which we placed on top of an empty quality street tin to prevent the dirt from getting in. So I had the bright idea to do the same with thier food, but to my dismay as the feeder is plastic they kept knocking it off the tin and spilling the food. Anyway this afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen and I could here this dink, donk donk. The girls were pecking at the quality street tin and it sounded like they were playing the drums! Made me giggle anyway.

09/06/2011 Ha! I have found out the culprit for making the hen house all messy! She eats the most, pecks everyone, not lay any eggs and yet she's the one making all the mess. Yes you've guessed it, it's Octavia! I clean all the house out make it all nice and comfortable and by the next morning the nesting boxes are all empty of bedding and it's all on the pooping tray along with the freshly laid eggs, as there is no where else to lay them. Today I picked up every peice of straw and paper cleaned up all the poop and within 10 minutes she was in there scrabbing away paper and straw flying beneath her feet, head down and bum up! I give up!

12/06/2011 Well It's finally happened, I saw Octavia lay her first egg! we had five eggs yesterday for the first time.

14/06/2011 Five eggs again yesterday yipeeeeeee! All the girls seem happy and contented. Octavia is still the boss, as soon as i go outside they are all by the gate thinking they are going to get some goodies (they usually do) Octavia flies up at me hopeing to be the first to get whatever I happen to have.

17/06/2011 We have one very broody hen. Matilda insists on sitting on the eggs for long periods of time. Today she has been sitting on them for over five hours, I eventually lifted her off then and put her outside. She was not impressed and went off grumbling and clucking in protest! We had five eggs again today, so plenty for breakfast for the weekend.

19/06/2011 Matilda is one very broody hen!!! Four days in a row she has been sitting on the eggs! Everyday I have to go in and move her of them so I can collect them and also to make her go outside to eat and drink. I have read that this can be a lengthy ongoing process, hopefully she will snap out of it soon.

22/06/2011 Matilda is still egg sitting everyday! But at 12 noon I go and lift her off the eggs and put her outside so she will eat and drink otherwise she swill just stay in the nesting box all day. I wait til 12 noon as the egg laying is all done by then. I shut the nesting area off as she goes straight to the ladder and up into the nesting area again. So now she goes up the ladder and clucks as the door is shut but comes down again and goes to the feeder muttering to herself! If only they could talk I'd swear she would be having a right moan.

26/06/2011 I think Matilda is snapping out of her broodiness. For the past couple of days she has come out of the nesting box on her own and I have left the door to the nesting box open and she has not returned to it. So fingers crossed she is back to normal and egg production will increase again as we have only been getting two or three eggs aday when we were getting four or five.

30/06/2011 Matilda is no longer an egg hugger! However egg production is still down, we are only getting two or three eggs a day still. I don't think the dramatic weather changes are helping the situation either. I have cut down on the amount of scraps they have so they will eat more of the layers pellets which they need to lay the eggs. So hopefully things will start to improve soon.

05/06/2011 The girls are being rather naughty again! I have caught them eating their eggs! Now I know why we are getting less. For some reason they are also laying them at night or very early morning and I find a partial shell. I have been reading up on this subject and it has been recommended to inject an egg with chilli powder which will put them off eating another egg once they have tasted the chilli filled egg. So I will give this a try and hopefully it will work.

06/06/2011 Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy five eggs today and one of them was huge! twice the normal size.Hopefully we are back to normal

27/07/2011 Oh the joys of chicken keeping. The day before I was due to go away Octavia seemed unwell, she was unable to stand or walk and had to be lifted out of the nesting box so she could feed, I was rather worried and spoke to a fellow chicken owner who advised to leave her and see hopw things go and if she was no better within a day or two that my sons could ring him and he would come over. So I went on my holiday worrying about her and when I phoned my son the next day he said she was fine walking about and feeding normally! I'm sure she only done it as I was going away and they would miss out on their treats! Matilda has gone all broody again and has to be lifted off the eggs everyday and the nesting box closed off. Like last time egg production is down again only three eggs aday, hopefully she will snap out of it yet again...until the next time...

03/08/2011 Matilda is over her broodiness for now, however egg production is still down only three eggs aday. I'm not sure if it is the heat, but I am hoping it will pickup again soon as there are not enough eggs for all for breakfast!

15/08/2011 Egg production is up again four to five eggs a day, yipee!!!

19/08/2011 It appears that I have a major infestation of red mite in the chicken coop, I clean it thouroghly everyweek and change the nesting/bedding three times a week, however when I was away the boys never sprayed or cleaned the coop just changed the bedding once, so I think it probably stems from there as it was quite warm weather when we were away. I have spent the day scrubbing out the coop whilst the chickens were locked in the summerhouse. Adam my son had the job to catch them to put in the summerhouse and again to put back in to the coop, it was rather funny watching him chasing the chickens. they certainly were not amused!

The mites have a severn day cycle so I will have to repeat the whole process again next thursday. The chickens went into the coop on thier own tonight whereas the past couple of nights Dory and Bell had to be put into the coop. Hopefully I will erradicate these blooming miteswithin a couple of weeks

28/08/2011 I have repeated the treatment of the chicken coop, and this time there were a lot less mites than before. It looks like the treatment is working thankfully, the hens seem quite content even though egg production is down. This could be a combination of both the rather cool weather we are experiencing and the distubance of moving the hens to and from the coop so I can ttreat it.

05/12/2011 Well it has been an eventful summer with the girls. Today Perdy my Pied Suffolk and my biggest girl sadly passed away today. She seemed not herself the past couple of days. Last night I had to lift her into the coop, and she was up and about this morning, however when I went out later this afternoon, she was under the coop area. I brought her inside and wrapped her in a blanket and she took her last breath a few hours later.

05/06/2011 Well we are nearly halfway through the growing season (I think) the weather has been so strange that most things have grown quicker than they should. We have had our first lot of potatoes and they were gawwwwwwwwjus. Next week the first harvest of peas will be ready along with more potatoes. Had my first few strawberries and I have to say they were the best (of course!) The whole garden has been taken over by vegetables so I am hoping for a bumper harvest this year! Today I have potted up some sunflowers to add colour and height to the garden as everything is ground level except for the hanging baskets and the runner beans that have already reached the top of 8ft wigwams.

07/06/2011 The heavens opened yesterday and the garden looks all the better for it. The hens were not very impressed with the downpour, they stood in the rain looking like drowned rats, silly things have cover but just stood there getting soak and wet! Had a walk round the garden this morning and everything looks like it has grown since the weekend! I dug up some potatoes and picked some peas for todays roast dinner. I sowed some more parsnips as the ones I originally sowed in march have dissapeared and I also sowed some more swede as this is a vegetable that everyone eats. I potted up the basil that I sowed, I now have 40 basil plants! They always say sow extra to make sure you get some, well everything has germinated into a healthy little plant and now I have lots and lots of everything, looks like a plant stand at the bootsale is in order within the next two weeks.

09/06/2011 Not much todo in the garden just weeding and watering as there is no more room for anything else to go! The second lot of peas are starting to flower as are the broad beans and runner beans. I gave mother-in-law some potatoes to take home, she was quite impressed by thier size, just hope she will be as impressed with thier flavour, I thought they tasted fantastic, but then as the hubby and boys said I'm biased. The sunflowers I planted up in pots are now dotted around the garden and are growing quite fast, and the other flowers I potted up are starting to fill out as are the hanging baskets. I have just cut some herbs that are now being baked in some herb bread, it smells deliscious! The flowerbeds in the front garden are flourishing, the have been de-weeded today and I planted out some dahlias in the centre bed, the seeds that i casted out several weeks ago are starting to emerge, it was difficult to tell what were weeds and what were seedlings, so I might have discarded a few seedlings today.

10/06/2011 Well the rain came again today, but mustn't grumble the vegetables could do with it. Before the rain this morning I had a walk round the garden doing my daily inspections and noticed that I'd got carrot fly, so thats the end to my carrots! I have also planted some between the leeks and onions so hopefully these will be ok as the fly does not like the allium family so they should be protected. So as the rain layed off play in the garden I did some bakng instead yum yum!

14/06/2011 The garden is looking great with all the rain we have had, and now a day of glorious sunshine. Everything is flowering, so it won't be long before we have fresh vegetables everyday. We have used up the first batch of potatoes that I grew, I gave some to my mum and dad with a sprig of mint for thier sunday roast, and I was told the were scrumptious! I have already filled the potatoe bags with more seed potatoes, which will probably be ready about august september. The swede I sowed last week are showing but the parsnips are still not energing. I am wondering if the seeds are a bad batch. The lettuces are ready for picking as are the peas. All looking good!

15/06/2011 Picked some peas today and made a pea rissotto, very tasty and all liked it apart from Ben (no surprise there!) As all the bean, peas, cucumbers and courgettes are flowering I fed them all today with some of the liquid feed I made and the rest with tomatorite liquid feed. It took me ages to water as it all had to be done with the watering can rather than the hose. The liquid feed I made was strong smelling and very dark, hopefully it will give the plants the boost they need to produce a good harvest. I'll have to take my gardening gloves and a carrierbag with me on the walk with the dogs tomorrow so I can collect nettles to make more feed as the plants will need feeding everyweek now until they finish fruiting. I'm hoping to go strawberry picking next week, as only three of my strawberry plants are producing fruit. I want to have a go at making some jam and the fruit from three plants is nowhere near enough. I noticed that all the blackberry bushes on the walk are full of flowers, the most I have seen for years, so it looks like it will be a bumper year for blackberries (and of course thier free!!!!) So blackberry jam and crumbles all round, and both neighbours have apple laden trees, I'm sure they can spare a few, just need to pluck up the courage to ask!

17/06/2011 I have not been able to get in the garden the past two days due to the weather. I know we needed the rain, but I wish it would rain through the night instead so at least I can get out into the garden and tackle the weeds that are growing at a fast pace. The vegetables are really benefitting from all this rain. The second lot of peas that I sowed have pods forming and everything that should flower is doing so. Hopefully the sun will shine for a bit tomorrow then I can get out and sow the sweetcorn.

19/06/2011 The rain came yet again! All the foilage on the plants is looking great, and pods are starting to form on the second sowing of peas, runner beans, broad beans and dwarf french green beans, I am so looking forward to the first harvest of these vegetables. The root vegetables are not doing so good, but I never seem to have much success with these. All the greens are looking lush and the cucumbers and courgettes are also full of flowers. Although the rain has been much needed we also need that sun to keep the soil warm and to help the plants to keep flowering and to keep producing the vegetables. So far this year everything I have sown apart from the root vegetables are doing really well and the best I have ever grown, so all in all I am one happy gardener!

20/06/2011 I managed to get out in the garden for a short while today. I repotted some of the peppers and sowed some more lettuce and weeded the raised vegetable bed. I watered all the bags and containers and then the heavens opened up again. The parsley is growing much quicker than I can use it, so today i cut some and tied it up into bundles and hung it up to dry in the summerhouse. I potted up the thyme that I had sown, it smelled loverly! The parsley and corriander that I had also sown from seed did not fair to well, but I will try sowing some more and hopefully will have better luck.

22/06/2011 It has been so wet I have not been able to do much in the garden. I had an hour out there today, I picked some peas, cleaned out the chickens tied up a stray cucumber plants had a quick inspection round the garden and the heavens opened up yet again. I have just seen the weather forecast and it is going to be much the same tomorrow. Hopefully it will be better on friday so I can tackle the ever growing weeds that are emerging with all this rain! One good thing about the rain is that everything looks loverly, infact the best ever!

23/06/2011 After a very wet day I managed to get into the garden at 8pm! I noticed that my barssiccas have been nibbled so I sprayed them with a natural pest killer made with rhubarb leaves, hopefully this will sort the problem. I also noticed that I have several courgettes on my plants and also pods on the broad bean and runner bean are growing strong. I purchased some more strawberry plants yesterday, but I don't have anywhere to put them! Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so I can have a sort out and find a home for them.

26/06/2011 What a glorous day!!! I spent the whole afternoon in the gardenand thoroughly enjoyed it. I sweated buckets digging out the chicken run and laying slabs to make it less smelly and easier to clean, well thats the plan anyway. I weeded the vegetable patch, side border and the raised bed. I planted some more strawberries, lifted the garlic and planted some herbs and flowers on the fenced edge of the vegetable patch. And I also gained a small patch at the end of the border as that was where the slabs were stacked, so I planted some dahlias, asters and zinias, which all produce great flowers for cutting. Earlier in the day I went strawberry picking so tomorrow I am going to try and make some strawberry jam.

30/06/2011 The jam was a great success! I managed to make five jars and I did not make too much mess. All the plants are growing and producing lots of vegetables. All the bean plants are bursting with pods, the raised bed is overflowing with all the different types of greens. I have four courgettes ready for picking and I have had four lots of pickings from the peas. The carrots are still tiny though, but the ones I have planted in a bag are sprouting so hopefully I will get to eat come carrots soon.

01/06/2011 Just finished watering the garden and noticed that the dwraf french beans are ready for picking! Everything is growing so quick at the moment, I have more couregettes than I know what to do with.

02/06/2011 Arghhhhhhhhhhh I thought I was being clever in protecting my brassiccas with netting, but the damn cabbage butterfly is very sly and clever! Even though all is netted the blighters are still getting through the holes of the netting. My cabbages ect are now full of munch holes. Note to self get smaller holed netting for next year! I am now going to have to spray them all to get ride of any eggs that have been laid. I am using an organic pesticide made with rhubarb leaves water and hand liquid soap.

02/07/2011 Had a very productive day in the garden today. I have picked the last of the peas from the first sowing and planted out some more peas. I have picked some french dwarf beans and a couple of courgettes. I have picked some lettuces for my mum and sowed some more. I also picked all the raddishes otherwise they would have gone to seed, I have sliced them and pickled them (don't know if this will taste nice) but giving it ago anyway. I have pulled up all the beetroot and the carrots as they had just produced leaves and no roots plus I had carrots fly. However the space is now filled with all year round cauliflowers and broccolli. Now off to give the garden a good watering!

05/06/2011 Yesterday I moved and spaced out the leeks as they were big enough to move. I now have about fifty leeks! I put about twenty odd on the compost heap as they were twisted and mishapen plus I had run out of room. I gave them a good watering first before I dug them up to move as the ground was quite dry and I didn't want to damage them. Using a dibber I made holes and dropped a leek in. Once I had finished plopping the leeks in the holes I gave them a good watering to settle them in (just as my book says to do!). I have had a look this morning and was praying that they hadn't all wilted and there they were all looking good and fairly upright. There are french beans, broad beans and runner beans all ready for picking so I shall pick some tomorrow and make a mixed bean rissotto. I have five cucumbers that are about four inches so hopefully by the weekend we shall have some for the weekend. The tomato plants are full of flowers, it's going to be an excellent crop this year. All my efforts appear to be paying off. I had three large courgettes which I picked yesterday and I made a potato and courgette soup which is very yummy! Thats lunch all sorted.

06/06/2011 Lots of veg picked, cut or dug up today, runner beans, broad beans and dwarf french beans. Spinach, courgettes and potaoes. 90% of this evenings meal was produce from the garden and was enjoyed by all. I also made some potato and courgette soup and a batch of courgette chutney as I do have rather alot of courgettes!

07/07/2011 Lots of rainfall during the night, vegetables well and truly watered. The courgettes have grown since yesterday, perfect to pick at the weekend. I bought some plastic containers today so I can freeze the soup if need be, and they will also come in handy for when all the tomato's are ready for picking and I can make batches of pasta sauce for freezing. My tomato plants are rather bushy and making watering them difficult so I removed some of the lower leaves to make watering easier. I have also sowed some more lettuces. I'm hoping to lift some more potatoes tomorrow, but i might rummage with my hands first to see if they are big enough before lifting the whole plant.

10/07/2011 A busy weekend of harvesting, broad beans, runner beans and dwarf french beans have been picked par-boiled and frozen. We also had some for dinner today. More cougettes were turned into chutney and a trug full of potatoes have been lifted. I also picked my first cucumber, it was a bit curved but was very tasty all the same. I weeded the whole vegetable patch today and whilst doing it I spotted my first cauliflower head, I was so pleased, it's only the size of a marble but I'm over the moon and shall be watching it eagerly as it grows.

12/07/2011 Wow everything is growing so fast, it's hard to keep up! Another four corgettes have been picked eaten and also frozen, more beans of all types have been picked eaten and also some frozen. I looked at the cucumber plants today and counted over twenty cucumbers on one plant! Looks like all the extended family and friends will be feasting on cucumbers! The pumpkin and squash plants do appear to be growing but no fruit has set yet, there are several flowers forming on each plant so hopefully I will get to harvest something from them. I have tried to grow pumpkins in the past but never got any fruit, but I have planted them earier and given them rich soil to feast on so hopefully this year will produce some. I can't beleive how successful everything has been so far this year, it certainly pays off to put the effort in and the pleasure of producing a meal from tha garden brings great satisfaction.

27/07/2011 It seems ages since my last post, I have been away on holiday and left the care of the garden with my 18 year old twins. I will not moan and grumble that the hanging baskets looked dead and all the pots and containers seemed rather dry! ( well just a little moan) However most of the vegetables managed to survive, I have had endless supply of broad, runner and french beans, cucumbers and courgettes. The tomato plants are weighed down but due to the lack of sun are still green. I have about six pumpkins on the two plants, but the squash has not beared any fruit as of yet. The chillis and peppers have not produced any fruit either, I have been watering and feeding but no flowers have appeared, so I think these maybe a lost cause. The potatoes have been really good, I am now using my main crop and the second lot of maincrop that I have planted will also soon be ready. I have lifted the first and second lot of peas which produced quite a big harvest and the third lot I planted don't seem to be doing so well, but there is still time. The green are coming on really well, the broccoli heads are forming and the cabbages are firming up, I am hoping to use my first spring cabbage at the weekend. Another thing that has grown very well whilst I had been away was the weeds! So I have spent several hours in the garden today combating the weeds, my back is now aching, but at least I have got on top of them again.

30/07/2011 The broad beans have finished so I lifted them today, gave a stalk to the chickens which they soon devoured! So now I have my first bit or bare soil in months. I am going to give the ground a good feed and at the end of october I shall be planting garlic in this space. I was given a carrier bag full of plums today, so I have made some jam and stewed the rest and frozen it to use at at later date. As I had another glut of courgettes I also made some more chutney.
I am going to look at a friends allotment tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to, it will be great to see what others are growing and hopefully pick up some good ideas and tips for next year. I am already planning out my growing space and what I am going to grow, most of it will probably be the same as this year, especially as most of it has grown really well. I am hoping to have raspberries next year and shall be growing more onions and probably less greens and less courgettes as I did plant nine courgette plants and we have had so many. It is recommended that you only need three courgette plants to feed an average sized family.
I am still waiting for my tomatoes to turn red, they plants are laden down with fruit, but ti is still green, if we don't get some sunshine next week I shall place some ripe bananas amongst the plants as they release a gas that will accelerate the ripening process. One of the pumpkin plants has got six pumpkins on it. so I have nipped out the end as the plant will just keep on growing and setting more fruit and will not be able to cope and end up producing a very poor crop. The other one has three pumpkins on. I am waiting for one more then I shall also nip out the end. So far the butternut squash still has no fruit, it has produced lots of male flowers and I am hoping that it will soon have a few females which then turn into the fruit. Tomorrow I will be harvesting my first ever cabbage, I felt it today and it is really firm. I shall also be harvesting some runner beans and potatoes to go with it for sunday lunch.

03/08/2011 A busy few days in the garden, lost of harvesting of yummy vegetables, including french beans, runners beans, courgettes, potatoes, cabbage and broccoli. The pumpkin plant seems a bit stressed as the emerging fruit is shrivelling apart from one which is growing quite large, so I have removed all the fruit apart from the one that is growing. I'd rather have one really good pumpkin than lose them all. I sowed some more dwarf french beans in the space vacated by the broadbeans, they are a fast growing variety so hopefully I will have a good crop in semptember. Once these are finished I shall be planting garlic in their place. In the summerhouse I have sown some savoy cabbage and some spring cabbage which will be planted in the spaces vacated in the raised bed of other brassicas. Today I decided to move one of the compost bins so that they would be beside each other making it easier to transfer from one bin to the other the help with the compost process, it is very difficult to turn the compost in the bins and by moving it between the bins will hopefully speed up the decomposing of the contents. I should of done it mush sooner as both bins were rather full and it has been really hot today so it was a hard and sweaty job! Halfway down the bind the contents was rather dry and I have been told that urine is very good for the compost. I have told everyone they have to pee in my bucket, and I have to say they are not impressed and think that I have gone bonkers! But I will persevere or maybe even bribe!

06/08/2011
Pulled up the dwarf french beans yesterday, there was no more flowers appearing and I have had a good crop off them. I have removed all the weeds that had grown under the plants and laid down some topsoil with chicken muck raked in and covered it with a weed suppresant membrane, which will stay in place until next year when I want to use the space. I am going to grow my brassicas in this space and giving the soil some extra fertilisation now will really benefit what I grow next year. I snipped the beans of just above the soil leaving in the roots as they really nourish the soil.

11/08/2011
It has been a busy few days in the garden, tidying up the brassicas, removing the lower rotting stems, whilst doing this i noticed a cauliflower the size of a tennis ball, so I am keeping a close eye on that.The strawberries have all finished and have been cut back to the crowns. The tomatoes are still green, I cut back many of the side shoots and leaves to give them more light and air circulation, fingers crossed they will soon be turning green. My one and only pumpkin is growing very well and is now the size of a small football, I am hoping to get another pumpkin on the other plant, there is a couple the size of marbles, just need them to be pollunated. I might do it myself using a male flower to be sure of getting another one. The runner beans are starting to slow down and will be pulled up in a couple of weeks making way for the over-wintering onions. This was the first year that I have grown runner beans and I have had a good crop, the freezer is full and we have eaten loads and given away plenty. Today I harvested more runner beans, courgettes, cucumbers, salad leaves, potatoes and some sring onions. Yesterday I harvested some broccoli which I have par-boiled and frozen. I only harvested the broccoli as it would have gone to seed otherwise, but now that some has been picked it will produce more. The cabbages are firming up we have had two already, it's the first time we have had any greens from the garden as the caterpillars have usually munched their way through them, going through the trouble of netting obviously worked!
At the beginning of the week I expanded the flowerbed in the front garden, lots of digging and shifting of gravel but very pleased with the end result (photos to follow once I can get them loaded!) I went to the local gaden centre and got several bargains some were from the casualty department, this is where the plants look a little unwell and are drastically reduced in price, once taken home and planted up and given some TLC they soon perk up and look like new. So if you are looking to buy some plants and your on a tight budget, don't just bypass these poor plants, give them a chance and some tlc and you can have a great looking garden and save money at the same time!

15/08/2011
Yesterday I pulled up all the onions and set them on racks to dry off ready to string up. It was the first time I had grown onions, I had planted thirty and twentyfour made it until the end. So I would class that as a success and shall be planting out more onion sets to overwinter and also planting some more out in march 2012. The space that the onions were in has had been dug over composted and covered in cardboard and will be uncovered again next year ready for planting. We had potatoes, runner beans, french beans and curly kale from the garden to go with our roast dinner. It was the first time I had tasted kale and I must say it was quite tasty. The cauliflowers are getting bigger, I can't wait to taste the first one.
The french beans that I sowed about two weeks ago are now about four inches high, it's amazing 3 days ago there was no sign of them and yesterday there they were, standing proud! I now have two butternut squahses on one of my plants, I just hope they set, unlike the pumpkins that keep dropping off. They are the size of peanuts at the moment, so fingers crossed they will stay and grow.

17/08/2011
Today I dug out two of the potato bags and there was about 3lb in weight of potatoes, which is a decent crop, I have eight more bags that are still growing, so I should have enough potatoes for a couple of months or so. The runner beans are still producing as are the courgettes, they seem to be having a second flush. The courgettes in the growbags looked as if they were about to die but have grown new green stems which are producing plenty of fruit. I have already frozen lots for use through the winter, and we have also eaten plenty and given some away and several jars of courgette chutney sit in the cubboard. I grew nine courgette plants this year but will be only growing four next year, but will have to different types, a yellow one and a round one, i'm not sure of the names yet as there are so many to choose from.

I weeded the vegetable patch today, the leeks are coming along well, plenty to last us through the winter months. The cabbages are firming up and the brussle sprouts are beginning to form on the stems, just need to keep the bugs under control and we will have lots of greens to last through the winter too.

21/08/2011
I have had a busy day in the garden today. I weeded the whole vegetable patch and moved the brassica, that I had planted out a while ago to their final growing place. I now have large parts of the vegetable patch composted and covered up until they are needed next year. I have strung my onions together and they will finish drying off in the garage. I have dug up most of the potatoes and they are drying off in the summerhouse before they can be bagged up for store.

The hanging baskets had passed thier best and so I emptied them out today and put them away until needed next year. The flowers in the flowerbed are still going strong with plenty of blooms, adding plenty of colour to the garden.

28/08/2011

29/01/2012
Well, where does one begin as the main growing season draws to an end with a fair few bountiful crops and a few failiures too. I lost my whole crop of tomatoes to blight as did my neighbours, what with the lack of sun and the very wet weather we had was the main cause. My butternut squashes came to nothing and I managed to grow one solitary pumpkin! The cauliflowers were also a disaster, the curds started to form early before enough foilage had grown, I'm not sure what I did wrong but will be reading up on the growing of this vegetable as we all like it and I would like to try growing them again.

The sprouts and broccoli produced rather well and we had sprouts from the garden for Christmas dinner! The swede only produced tops and no roots, but then I find it hard growing any root vegetables in my garden, but I will be trying again next season. The pepper and chilli plants produced a few fruits, hopefully next season will be better.

In November I planted out onion sets and garlic, which are growing quite well. I planted some onions directly in the ground of the vege plot and some in pots, the ones that were planted in pots seem to be bigger and stronger, I think that this i because the soil is not as moist as the ones in the ground. The garlic was also planted in pots and is also growing rather well, however once they are harvested I will know how well they have done by the size of the bulbs. I also planted some peas which have been under fleece, I had a peek last weekend and they have been growing well. I planted some broad beans in pots which I moved into the vegetable plot two weeks ago and staked. They have also been covered in fleece since sown and are already 12inches plus high. I had some spring cabbages that I had planted out in november in the raised bed, I moved these to their final growing place in the vege plot and they seem to be doing fine. They have been protected with 2ltr plastic bottles, which will remain in place for a few more weeks.

Two weeks ago I sowed my first seeds of the year, cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks, red onions, sweet peas and brussell sprouts. I have sown the seeds in modules using John Innes No1 compost. They are in the summer house with a sheet of plastic over them for warmth. Nothing has sprouted yet so fingers crossed!

I have dug over and composted part of the vege plot where the brassicas were. The raised bed is also now empty and has been dug and composted with my homemade compost out of my composters. The area of vege plot that I composted and covered in Semptember still remains covered until I need to use it, however I did uncover a small area to plant the spring cabbages and the soil seems to have improved in texture and also weed free! I will be doing the same this year when I have harvested the crops.

The girls are still producing eggs but only one or two a day. I do have some sad news however, Perdy became unwell one day and I brought her indoors and wrapped her in a blanket and placed her in the large dog cage I purchased. Sadly she passed away later that night, I'm still not sure what was wrong, but she had become egg bound earlier in the year and she never fully recovered. Her clucking is sadly missed. On a brighter note I am hoping to obtain a couple of ferterlized eggs for broody Matilda to look after and hatch.

I am about to purchase my long awaited greenhouse. I am getting a 6ftx6ft, which will fit perfectly in the area I have waiting. So I shall have some extra growing space. Myself and hubby also built another raised bed, it has been filled with home made compost and some of the over ordered topsoil! I covered it with cardboard to keep the weeds at bay and I am going to plant one or two pumpkins in it. I also purchased and planted out bluberry, gooseberry and tayberry bushes. These have been planted in the side border where I planted the rhubarb. Unfortunatley the dogs trampled down the tayberry bush, but I am hopeing it will grow.

Well I hope you enjoyed following me on my growing vegetable experience, I know I did. I hope you will join me again this year, I am going to try growing new varieties of vegetables to last year as well as some of the same and hopefully will have better results and less failiures.