Little Green Space
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Little Green Space |
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January 2009 January 26, 2009 Raspberry Canes I came home from work tonight to discover a big bag of raspberry canes on the patio - a present from my friend Rowena. I have just finished digging the new potato bed, so I can now start on the soft fruit bed. As well as Rowena's raspberries, I have blackcurrant, redcurrant and cranberry bushes to plant. Last Sunday Rich and I joined a group of about 15 people for a Transition Matlock fruit growing workshop at Rob and Jane's place - Fairfield Nursery on Old Hackney Lane, Matlock. They have been growing and selling organic fruit and vegetables for years, and were able to pass us loads of great advice. So I'm feeling pretty confident about my new fruity venture. I also brought home 8 strawberry plants, to add to my fruit garden. January 25, 2009 Bird-Watching and Hedge Planting We did much better this year in the Big Garden Bird Watch. We spotted 11 species in an hour: blackbird, great tit, blue tit, chaffinch, wren, greenfinch, woodpigeon, bullfinch, dunnock, robin, and coal tit. I was particularly pleased about the bullfinch, as we have only seen it a few times this winter, and it is on the "rarer birds" list on the RSPB survey form. After the bird-watching we went to help Andy and Debbie plant 240 hedging trees. It is a native hedge of hawthorn, blackthorn, dogwood, dog rose, crab apple and holly. The weather was fantastic, and we managed to get the whole hedge done in just a few hours. Now Rich and I are feeling inspired and motivated to get our hedge planted around the orchard. January 24, 2009 Big Garden Bird Watch It's that time of year again - time for the RSPBs Big Garden Bird Watch. If you have an hour to spare at any time (daylight hours, obviously) over the weekend, have a go at being part of the world's biggest bird survey. Survey forms can be downloaded by clicking on the link above. When we took part last year we only spotted a paltry seven species in our garden, despite the fact that most winters we are regularly visited by over 20 species, so we're going to do much better this year - I've been watching carefully over the past few days and the birds seem most active between 9 and 10 in the morning. Last year we tried late afternoon and most of the birds had gone to bed! January 22, 2009 Ploughing by Hand It stopped raining this afternoon so I went outside to work on the new potato bed. I read somewhere, or somebody told me (or perhaps I just imagined it? Most likely) that if you have a grassy area you want to grow veggies in, the best thing to do is to dig up the turfs, turn them over, then plant potatoes. Somehow the potatoes break up the earth and make it all nice and crumbly and weed-free. So this is what I'm doing. In the old days, they would have used a shire horse for this job, with something called a plough. (I know this because I have been watching "Victorian Farm" - next episode tonight!) Nowadays, of course, people have tractors. However, having neither horse nor tractor, I'm doing it with a spade. I wonder how long it would take me to do a whole acre? January 17, 2009 Potatoes The last of the parsnips has now been dug up and yesterday I spent a couple of hours weeding and digging and mulching and raking, in preparation for the seed potatoes. I then did a bit of a measure-up, to see how much space I had for potatoes. Allowing 12 inches between each spud, I reckoned there was space for about 40. Hmm. Pity I didn't do this calculation before ordering seed potatoes from Thompson and Morgan: 20 Rocket first earlies, 20 Kestrel second earlies, 20 Golden Wonder, 20 Sarpo Mira. Plus they throw in a free pack of 20 Dunluce if you spend a certain amount. Plus I wanted to do a bit of an experiment to see just how early first earlies would crop if you give them a bit of protection, and I got a bit impatient waiting for the order to arrive from T & M so I popped down to the garden centre and bought 10 extra Rockets, which are now chitting in the sitting room window. Hmm. Today I spent a couple of hours starting a new patch for potatoes. It's going to be a big patch, when it's finished. Well, I did say I wanted to grow lots of potatoes this year! January 13, 2009 Wood Rich is justly proud of the wood store he has built, and we spent today stacking it up with lots of wood. We have tried several different sorts of firewood, and are getting to know which are the best for burning. Ash is generally considered the best firewood, as it gives off loads of heat and doesn't take so long to season as other types. We've also tried hawthorn, which is great - burns slowly, and lasts for ages - as well as sycamore and elder. You can read all about firewood in the new Really Good Guide to Wood. Well, it's quite good, anyway. January 10, 2009 Going Off Grid We have now been without our central heating since shortly before Christmas. Our ancient gas boiler lost the will to live a couple of days after the woodburner had been installed. At least it was good enough to wait until we had an alternative means of heating. Last week the temperature went down to minus 11 degrees. And yet it was surprisingly cosy in our house. Well, perhaps not cosy, exactly - but it wasn't freezing either. The woodburner kept the lounge pretty snug and thanks, I am sure, to our highly efficient new loft insulation, the rest of the house actually wasn't all that bad. And having the woodburner linked up to the hot water system meant that at least we could have a hot bath. It has made us realise two things: firstly that most of us probably have our houses overheated through habit. These days the temperature inside the average home is 5 degrees higher than it was in the 1970s. Secondly we now know that we can get through a really cold winter without our central heating - after all, we've just done it! Having said that, the plumber's coming tomorrow to fix the boiler, and I am quite pleased about that. January 1, 2009 Happy New Year 2008 was a busy year: Little Green Space was launched and we began working with schools to help improve their grounds for wildlife. Restoration and habitat-creation work began at Hackney Leys: orchard and native woodland areas were started, some of the dry stone walls were restored and the Barn Owl project was begun. And then there was the maintenance of the hay meadows, removal of ragwort, clearing the stream and clearing overgrown areas of nettle and bramble to create new tree-planting areas. On the smallholding we started looking after chickens, created an organic vegetable garden with all the planting, maintaining and harvesting that entails, and made cider for the first time. (Which was, by the way, tried today - well, it is New Year's Day - and tastes pretty good!) We also held our first Christmas campaign - Save the North Pole - which was very successful, despite grisly weather. (Photos will follow). And we shouldn't forget the work we have done with Transition Matlock, which has gone from strength to strength, and will continue to do so, I am sure, in 2009. Plans for 2009? All of the above, of course, will be ongoing projects. But also... Some more chickens - ours are a year old, now so we need to replenish our stock to ensure a continuing supply of eggs. Bees - really keen to get some of these little critters, and help the plight of the British honey bee. Plus all that honey... A fruit garden. The blackcurrants, redcurrants and cranberries are in pots on the patio, waiting for their own plot in the garden. I also want to put in raspberry canes and a strawberry bed. We'd like to create an area of flowering plants to attract declining farmland birds. Hedge-planting will take place around the orchard - also good for wild birds. And I'd like a couple more veggie beds - I want to plants lots of potatoes this year. That's all for now - but I'm sure I'll think of a few more by bedtime! Happy New Year! |