SUMMER FINALLY HERE

Arbour Cottage Garden

Clematis on Palm trunk

Surfina Petunia

Rescued Rabbits

Parsley

Patio area

Guinea Pigs & Rabbits

Front Garden Border

Ducks

Front Garden

Front Garden View

Well Summer finally turned up after a very unsettled and miserable spell from March to July 2012.

Though at the time of writing the weather again is still not wall to wall sunshine...it only seems to come in short bursts! then return to rain once again. At least it has benefitted my allotment though, with the Broad Beans and Strawberries in particular doing very well indeed. Though the Fruit Trees are not producing much this year, other than the Apple Trees. No sign of Damsons or Plums as such, which is a shame. Maybe next year they might be hopefully "loaded" with Fruit. On the Pet front , the Ducks have been wading through a lot of mud this year,which suits them i suppose. But it has not been any fun feeding & cleaning them during the rain spells. They are still laying eggs on a daily basis , as are the 4 remaining Hens we have. Eventually we will get a few more rescue Hens from the centre at Coventry. This week i dug up the first two rows of Potatoes on the allotment, which look very good and no slug damage. They finished earlier this year, but again I think the rain was a cause of this. At least the Potatoes are a decent size though. The front garden suffered a bit with the excess rain , but still looks nice I think (photo above) with the pink begonias doing best.  Also the lavenders have been very good and we plan having more of those next year. So all in all, not a bad year on the garden so far, despite extreme bad weather. Just hoping the Winter will not be too severe too.  But first I hope the Autumn will be sunnier than the Summer has been so far!.                                     

Our Home Animal Sanctuary

This is a video of our animals at home, except our Cat "Parsley" who was not around at the time.

All the animals are "rescue" animals, the Hens being from the Hen Trust Rescue centre at Coventry and are ex-battery hens,  The Ducks aquired recently, are from Evesham in the Cotswolds from an animal sanctuary that had to close, due to the land being bought by a property developer, so sadly all their animals had to be found new homes. We also bought 4 Rabbits and 3 Guinea pigs from the same place. We'd already got 2 Rabbits from last year, from the local RSPCA .  Our Cat was also from the RSPCA. So now we have quite a collection of pets. As i write this we have 12 Ducks, including 2 drakes which are a bit rough towards the female ducks.  We get plenty of eggs from the Hens & Ducks of course. There are no plans to add to our  animal population at this point in time!                                                                                                       

Of course having the Ducks meant altering the garden a bit, so the large pond had to go and the surrounding planted areas. But the pond had not much life in it, the frogs had nearly all dissapeared too, though i found a home for the remaining ones. But I still have enough planted area in the garden now, plus the front garden for the bedding plants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The Allotment in 2011

This was our allotment in 2011 , where we grew so many of our own vegetables.

We took over a larger plot, as the previous one was only half that size before. So we could grow so many more varieties which were stored or frozen here to last the wintertime. The Beetroot was also made into Beetroot wine, which was very nice indeed. It was a very dry summer, so we did have to go often to water everything, otherwise everything would have suffered.

On the allotments are water facilities, so you can attach a hose to a tap, which is obviously very handy indeed. This year we will again be growing as much as we can there.

The Rabbits At Home - February 2012

This is a Video of our Rabbits "Apricot" & Cherry", which were both from the RSPCA in the Summer of 2011. They usually are outdoors in a Hutch, but during the Winter here in the coldest weather, they live indoors in a cage, then allowed in the Lounge (Under supervision!) in the evenings. That way they get enough exercise and seem to enjoy themselves too. Cherry is the White Rabbit. We also have a Cat called "Parsley" who was also from the RSPCA and gets along well with the Rabbits.

Springtime is gorgeous in the UK this year with such warm & sunny weather in most areas. It seems April is probably the best month of the year in recent times and 2011 is no exception.

The photos above were taken on April 17th and feature aspects of my garden again.

The Tulips have been lovely and the Fruit Blossom was probably 3 weeks early this year.

So we're hoping that any frosts now will not damage the forming fruits.

Recently planted were more Apple & Pear Trees . Soon an Apricot Tree will be added!

The Allotment is taking shape now also and most of that is also planted out.

The Hens are looking well now and re-gained their feathers, since collecting them earlier this year. They are laying on a regular basis too.

The Greenhouse is full to capacity as you can see above. The Summer bedding plants should be put out to harden in mid-May and set out at the end of May. Fingers crossed no Frosts then!

New Season 2011

Well another gardening season is with us and such a busy time planning what to grow too.
This year we've excelled ourselves with seed packets!.....as we now have a Full Size allotment, having swapped with someone who wanted a half-size one.
So more digging this year. But it is quite exciting knowing we can now grow almost everything we want. So we have seeds for Sweet Corn, Pumpkins , Peas , Broad Beans , Celery, Beetroot, Broccoli , Cabbages, Cauliflowers , Spring Onions, Potatos (3 Varieties) Runner Beans, Lettuces, Radish, Mange Tout , Fennel, Spinach, Carrots, Courgettes, Dwarf Beans, Onions and possibly others i've forgotten about!!
At home we have a few Fruit Trees of Plums, Damson, Pear, Apples & Cherry , plus bushes of Blueberries & Gooseberries and Raspberry Canes and Strawberries too.
The Greenhouse is now starting to fill up with trays of Bedding Plants and Vegetables for the allotment later on. I've also sown my Tomato seeds. So busy times ahead now.I'll continue to chart the gardens progress on here this year with more photos as well.

                                              

                                                   

The Latest Hens

On January 29th we collected 5 more Ex-Battery Hens, from the Hen Welfare Trusts rescue centre, near Coventry. I had only one Hen remaining from my Original Three. So I enlarged the Hen Run to accomodate these extra Hens. They now appear to have settled in nicely, after some early "pecking", which is natural. Hopefully they'll all get along well . I have also made a proper Hen Enclosure at the rear of my garden, so they can run outside in more space on fine days. The latest Hens are named after flowers!... Bluebell, Violet, Daisy, Rose & Lily.

MORE FRUITS OF MY LABOURS

We are now into August 2010 and I'm still enjoying the Fruits of my Labours In the Garden as well as my Allotment plot. Above are a few photos of various produce I've got growing and I've had a steady supply lately. The Tomatos are starting to ripen more and Cucumbers are doing well too. I've just started to put the Strawberry plant runners into pots, to try adding to my Strawberry stock for next year. Easy to grow those and just peg them down into pots of compost, they soon take root. After a few weeks you can "detach" the main runner from the parent plant. The Apples are looking good and my main tree is a "Worcester Pomagne" variety. The other Tree is a "Bramley Cooking Apple", when has a few Apples in its first year here. I've also dug up my Onions from the Allotment and put them on my patio table to dry off (Photo above). Another photo shows my Kitchen Vegetable rack, full of produce off the Allotment. I've still got plenty of Potatoes to dig up and store. Also still to plant there , are Spring Cabbages. Last week I planted some Christmas Potatos , which hopefully will be on my plate on Christmas day!! Most were set in containers , but some on the Allotment too.

Other photos show how my Flower garden currently looks. Its been very colourful again and i'm very pleased with the Front garden Centre piece this year, with the "Double" Petunias and Heliotrope (Cherry pie) Purple flowers. With some White Margerites in the middle. Very effective display. "Hatty" The Hen (photo above) continues to lay her eggs 3 or 4 times a week. I'm still feeding her on kitchen scraps and Veggie leaves from the garden. She's looking very well lately, compared to a year ago! When she had hardly any feathers at all.

MY GARDEN- SUMMER 2010 VIDEO TOUR

I decided to make a Video Tour of this years display and when things were mostly at their Peak for the season. I hope you enjoy viewing it! You might find the Video starts to "repeat" after 10.31 Mins!

The Rewards

After all the hard work of digging and setting plants & sowing seeds, now is the time to enjoy a few rewards, as the Vegetables and Fruit get picked. So far i've had Strawberries, Raspberries & Gooseberries and a few Blueberries off the garden here, with Peas and Spinach & Cucumbers.

On the Allotment its becoming very productive, as the New Potatos, Dwarf Beans, Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Beetroot , Turnips and Cabbages start to get picked too.

Others will follow in due course, but I'm pleased it's not all ready at once!

The rain we had in the second week of July, has helped greatly, as it was a Three week dry spell before that here. So it was a case of daily watering at home.

But things have picked up again after looking so starved of water and the garden is almost at it's best for this season now.

THE ALLOTMENT

This year I started an Allotment, nearby to where I live. When I took it on, it was a mass of weeds and rubbish, left from the previous occupant. So it was a tough task clearing it and digging it all over. The soil was full of "Twitch", like a tough root that tangles everything up.

Thankfully the soil is quite easy to dig and work with , so it was not long before I got a few crops planted. It now has Cauliflowers, Cabbages, Broccoli, Sweet corn, Potatoes (7 rows) Beetroot & Carrots, Swedes & Turnips, Courgettes, Leeks, Brussel Sprouts, Celery and Dwarf Beans and Onions....and Rhubarb.

So hopefully not too long now till i reap the rewards of my work there.

Just recently I added a bench to sit on and a small tool shed and compost heap.

Next year i'll plant things closer together, now I know how big certain things get.

Watering & Weeding are the main things. The weeds seem to appear overnight and we are having a dry spell at the moment, so watering on a regular basis is important.

Lucky for me, I inherited Four large Blue water tubs, that can be re-filled by a hose nearby.

So all in all , its proving a very enjoyable project so far!

How Things Look In June

Well, almost at Mid Summer now and things are taking shape in the Garden. All Summer plants are now in and some are coming into bloom right now. The Greenhouse is looking very promising too, with the Tomatos , Cucumbers, Melons & Peppers in there. Regular feeding will help them along . Outside I have the Vegetable patch which has Peas , Carrots, Beetroot, Garlic and Parsnips. Also my Strawberry bed (Photo above) with straw around the plants, to encourage the sun to ripen the fruits. My Raspberry Canes (Photo above) are showing signs of Fruit appearing too and i've netted it over to stop Birds beating me to the Raspberries!

At the rear of the Greenhouse, are the Runner Beans which are climbing gradually up the canes.

So all in all, things are looking good and should be a productive Summer .

I have also begun doing an Allotment this year, which is close by and soon I'll be taking a few photos to show here, how it is progressing. I've completed the digging and planting there and so now its a case of watering & Weeding it! . But so far that also is coming on well.