overwintering Overwintering veg One of the real assets on our smallholding is our polytunnel. It came with the house when we bought it and, whilst we were initially unsure if we'd use it all year round, we've found it ideal for getting the growing season off to a good
vegetables Summer harvest As well as rearing our own pigs, lambs and poultry for the table we also enjoy growing as much of our own fruit and vegetables as time permits (we are only part-time smallholders after all). Despite a slow start (thanks to a cooler-than-average June) the warmer weather in July and
growing Leaps and bounds Whilst the weather’s been a bit cooler this week, the warm sunshine we’ve been enjoying of late has really helped to move things along in the veg patches. Everything’s coming on leaps and bounds (including the weeds!) so we’ve been spending at least an hour or
vegetables Weeding, digging and sowing It’s been a busy couple of weeks in and around our veg patches with plenty of weeding, digging over and sowing having been done. The patch to the rear of the polytunnel is now nice and tidy and ready for more planting over the next few week. Regular visitors
vegetables Broccoli and cauliflower It felt like spring had arrived on Saturday as we were working away in one of our vegetable patches in the warm sunshine. The weekend’s main activity was to plant out the broccoli and cauliflower plants that we’ve been overwintering in one of our greenhouses since October. They
vegetables Giant squash One of the biggest surprises (and I do mean BIG) that we've had since moving to our new house is a squash plant that's growing out of a compost heap near our main veg patch. It appeared, or at least we first noticed it, around the
