Journal
Follow along as we work towards becoming more self-sufficient.
What We Are Growing This Year. Part 2: Greenhouse & Salad Vegetables
From the veg patch last year we enjoyed a plentiful harvest with more than enough to share with family and friends. The kids even set up a small business selling fresh produce to our builders and had a stall a few times outside their grandparents house.
What We Are Growing This Year. Part 1: Fruit
As we are now fully into spring and the growing season in well under way we wanted to document what we are growing this year. 2019 was a great first year in terms of produce. Especially given the time constraints we had due to not living on site.
End Of April
A lot has happened over the past month, and it feels like the growing season is well under way now. We’re certainly planting more than we need, and if it all works out, we’ll have plenty of produce.
Spring Update
It feels like spring is finally here, however the joyous feeling it usually brings is somewhat overshadowed by the recent global events. As many of you will know the UK has now moved into a temporary lockdown so we are incredibly grateful for the space and freedom that our land offers us.
Compost delivery, Hügelkultur, and a new Axe
As the temperature drops and the days become shorter our attention is turning to preparing the garden for the winter. Having had a really successful first growing season we are lucky to still have quite a few crops doing well and remaining in the ground.
Fallen Trees
It's been very windy lately and overnight two of the Ash trees in the small woodland area were blown down. The roots were out of the ground, and both trees were leaning over only being held up by the others around it.
Plum Tree Problems
There’s been plenty going on at Mill House in the last few months, the garden is truly in bloom, and the house renovations are still in full swing. It’s a lot to manage and it’s why we’ve been posting less frequently.
A Quick Update
Summer is finally here, and things have been pretty crazy of late. The house is undergoing major renovations, and everything in the garden and veg patch is growing at an alarming rate — especially the weeds and the grass.
Greenhouse Progress, Fencing, And A New Trailer!
There always seems to be such a lot going on here. What with the house renovation, finishing off the Bakehouse and getting the garden and grounds ready for spring/summer, it’s hard finding the time to write.
Cutting The Grass And Hedges
We knew that moving into a property with 2 acres of land was going to require some up-keep, but it was hard to know exactly how much until we’d lived there for a while.
Problems With Germinating
As mentioned in the previous post I haven’t had much experience with bringing things on from seed. In the past I have always sown directly into the ground or bought seedlings to plant out.
What we plan to grow this year
Back when we lived in Hove and grew veg firstly in our garden then later in our allotment we always had a somewhat haphazard approach to which things to grow.
New Greenhouse
This week has been all about the excitement of the new greenhouse. It was designed, built, and installed by the lovely team over at Woodpecker Joinery.
Machine Maintenance
And as if we didn’t have enough to do… the tractor/trailer got a puncture. Luckily, we noticed a sticker on the front, with the name and number of a local servicing company from where the machine was purchased.
Bad Weather Creates More Work
After a really mild dry start to the winter, the weather has been horrible recently. Switching between freezing temperatures one day, and strong winds the next, all interspersed with a lot of rain.
Vegetable Garden Progress
Since we moved in we’ve been steadily getting the vegetable garden clear. This has been high-up on our priority list as we want to be ready to get planting as soon as the weather warms up.
Recycled Wheelbarrows And Electric Chainsaws
As we continue to work on the land we’re starting to really appreciate how having the right, good quality tools for the job really does make all the difference.
General Garden Maintenance
After a few weeks of rain it’s finally been dry for the last few days, and we’ve been trying to make the most of it. The sun was out today so the afternoon was spent outside having a general tidy up.
The “Allotment”
One of our requirements when looking at properties was enough outside space to be able to grow our own fruit and veg. We have a long term dream of being self sufficient as far as possible so this was especially important to us.
