Welcome back to Bryngwyn smallholding.
Patch:
Things holding up pretty well, despite being battered by 45 mile an hour winds. Runner beans suffering by losing blossom and giving me dirty looks. However best soft fruit I can remember. Just picked 4 lbs of jostaberries off one bush. Raspberries and redcurrants cropping well. Need a bit of warm dry weather though. Onions and shallots ready for pulling. However experience has taught me that it is best to do this in a dry spell as they store much better. Most veg progressing nicely with courgettes, peas and beetroot coming on line. Planted out some more, yes more, leeks. You have probably gathered by now that I am obsessed with them and believe them to be the veritable prince of Welsh crops.
It’s always a fine judgement to make on shelter versus sunlight. One corner of the patch was going into shade by two in the afternoon so I have bitten the bullet and had a couple of sycamores taken down. I would normally get out the chain saw and do this myself, but these were on the road. Embarrassing if I get it wrong and squash a passing car with a ton or two of falling sycamore. This is considered very poor etiquette in these parts (“Elf and safety gone mad” in my view). Discretion being the better part of valour, we enlisted the professionals. It was great fun seeing the patch from a birds-eye view 50 feet up in a cherry picker. Thanks to Bobby and crew (admin@rsarb.co.uk) - for their skill and good humour. Light much improved. Hope I don’t lose too much wind protection, but they will quickly re-grow to a manageable hedge height.
Chickens and ducks laying well. Incubating duck eggs still looking fine and being turned three times a day. We are starting to behave like expectant parents. Not long now.
Slugs still up to their old tricks. Somewhat bizarrely I have just been offered a £12 donation to the patch tea fund by a particularly enterprising and entrepreneurial slug if I was willing to drop the affordable housing requirement on a development he is putting together on my cabbage patch. Something about stopping some Marxist toads reaping the rewards. I am consulting housing minister the Right Honourable Robert Jenrick MP on how best to proceed on this. Will keep you updated on his advice.
On the Wild side:
Two baby toads have taken up residence in the poly-tunnel, which is nice. Found a fledgling robin trying out Jane’s exercise bike. Couldn’t reach the pedals though, so gave up and safely, if inelegantly, returned to the wild.
In the past I have had considerable problems with foxes and/or badgers crossing seed beds and inadvertently squashing seedlings. I have put up strategically placed sticks in the hope the culprits will take the line of least resistance and swerve round the beds. Seems to be working. If you are urban this might also work with dogs and cats.
Foraging:
This is immensely satisfying. I think it must be some residual memory of our “hunter-gatherer” days. So far this year we have supplemented our diet with wild garlic, dandelions, pennywort, wild cherries and nettles (which Jane turns into a great soup). And now, joy of joy, samphire is ready for picking. We have the great good fortune of it growing profusely in the nearby estuary. Remember to cut it rather than pull it so it can re-grow.
Tip of the week:
First time I tried to grow aubergines in the poly-tunnel they developed nicely and started to form fruit. However, before they had got bigger than a thumb nail they would drop off. Sum total of crop: nil. Not being one to give up without a fight I persevered the following year and found that the secret is to spray the fruit, especially the stalks, with water using one of those house plant mister things. If it’s hot you may need to do this two or three times a day to stop them drying out. It works and I have had some good crops since.
Have a productive week and please share any tips or suggestions. We can all do it better.