I can't quite believe I've been filming Smallholding Diaries for almost a year but it's week 51 already! Honestly, it's rather wonderful to actually have something to film; the weeks during this winter were mostly about cold, rainy livestock. Now that spring has finally decided to start in the UK, there's some actual gardening to showcase.
So this week on Smallholding Diaries, I've got news on my fruit trees, a little on transplanting and planting out, and a small woe about the start of my ornamental pheasantry...these hurdles come to make the challenge more rewarding right?
You can watch the video below or catch up below...
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Fruit Tree Blossom
I'm pretty thrilled to see blossom on my fruit trees and not only that, the amount of blossom. My trees have been in for three years, and I'm growing them as cordons. BUT...I've not yet harvested any fruit. Last year I had a few flowers but was bitterly disappointed when they fell off - it seems they weren't pollinated. This year, however, there's more hope as my plum and apple are covered in flowers and buds so it's hopeful I'll actually get some homegrown fruit which would be utterly amazing. I really thought I hadn't pruned them right but all the flowers are on the little spurs like they should be for cordon trees so perhaps I actually did something right!
Transplanting and Sowing
With the weather warming up, I've finally begun transplanting a few seedlings outside (albeit under protection) and sowing a few more seeds. I pulled the remainder of the kale from the ground to free up a raised bed, and I'll be direct sowing some radishes here. Last year these were dismal. I worked out it was due to the soil being too fertile so the radishes made lush leaves and no roots. So this time around I'm going to grow them were the heavy feeding kale were in hopes of a better harvest.
I've planted out my coriander, dill and parsley seedlings under protection, and some spring onions too. I spent a sunny day pricking out peppers and aubergines, and now have my tomatoes and salads sown too. My salad mix this year will predominantly be 'salad bowl', 'salad bowl red', 'tom thumb', rocket, sorrel and spinach.
Fighting Pheasants
One of the pleasures of my new job has been the chance to overhaul the poultry and game section. There were two Reeves cocks, so I decided to rehome the younger male, leave the father pheasant at the park and find hens for both. A couple of weeks ago I bought two hens, and my hen (Eve) has been settling in well. However, spring is definitely in the air and I didn't realise how brutal pheasants could be - especially Reeves. Over the weekend and before I went in to pick up the pheasant, they fought and the father killed the son. Lesson learned!
So the start of my ornamental pheasantry has hit a stumbling block and I now have a hen with no mate. The search is on to try and pair her up before the breeding season starts!
So that's a little about my week. How has yours been??
Thanks for reading,
Geoff
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