Sunday 16 June 2013
Steve's birthday weekend
With the usual gang we did a bit more demolition and Si gave a great fire twirling show.
Sewage leak eek!
Unfortunately over Steve's birthday weekend it turned out that our pipes were blocked and we had sewage overflowing over the drive! When he inspected the cesspit it was dry so it would seem it has been blocked for a very long time if not the whole time we have been here!
Steve set to, to try and unblock the pipes but unfortunately it was 4 days of rodding later and a bout of water jet spraying that finally cleared it all.
Needless to say we will be checking the pipes more often from now on ;0)
Steve set to, to try and unblock the pipes but unfortunately it was 4 days of rodding later and a bout of water jet spraying that finally cleared it all.
Needless to say we will be checking the pipes more often from now on ;0)
Spring has sprung
Finally although very late this year we have had a bumper crop of bluebells and some of them are still out now. It looked so magical I though I would share a few photos.
R.I.P Julio
Unfortunately we lost Julio the duck in April to a fox after she had escaped through Ben's gate. Babs was lost without her and so we quickly sought to find him some new mates.
Please meet Cassio (butterscotch crested) and Peia (shetland). It took a while for them to settle in and I think we will need to get one more to help keep the balance but for now they are ruling the courtyard!
Please meet Cassio (butterscotch crested) and Peia (shetland). It took a while for them to settle in and I think we will need to get one more to help keep the balance but for now they are ruling the courtyard!
Cassio
Peia
A new discovery
We have buzzards nesting in one of the trees on our boundary down by the stream. The eggs have recently hatched and Steve managed to get a shot of one of the chicks.
Comet gives birth
Comet had begun to look fat so we thought she must be eating lots of mice at night...unfortunately no it turns out she was pregnant! We didn't realise that she was in season so young and hadn't got around to getting her spayed yet. Also there are hardly any other cats around here.
After a couple of months she finally gave birth on 3rd May to 9 kittens! 1 of them was still born and 2 didn't make it so we have ben left with 6, they are 6 weeks old now and starting to get up to mischief!
We are unable to keep any of them due to our allergies but hopefully can re-home them to loving homes shortly.
After a couple of months she finally gave birth on 3rd May to 9 kittens! 1 of them was still born and 2 didn't make it so we have ben left with 6, they are 6 weeks old now and starting to get up to mischief!
We are unable to keep any of them due to our allergies but hopefully can re-home them to loving homes shortly.
Sneaky rabbits
The cheeky lil rabbits are now coming into our courtyard. One of them had managed to get into the ducks enclosure so it looked like we had a pet rabbit!
The Orchard
Finally after gruelling weekends of bramble slaying we have cleared the area at the end of our garden which is to become an orchard. Although we still need to dig the root balls up it is still good progress and we have planted an apple tree to get us started.
Our first apple tree
The Veg Patch
Over the last few months we have made good progress. We are not 100% operational but we have managed to plant around 100 plants.
Unfortunately we are not sure what some of them are as our little plastic greenhouse blew over in the strong winds back in April and all our seedlings got muddled!
So far we have : Courgettes, squash, rhubarb, broad beans, peas, sugar snap peas, mangetout, dwarf beans, beetroot, kale, broccoli, red cabbage, lettuce, carrots, radish, alpine strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants.
We have dug a fence in all around it so it is rabbit proof which was the main aim as the little blighters get everywhere, but unfortunately the birds have had a few plants already ;0( We also found two lovely wrought iron gates lying around the land which have made great exits.
Things aren't growing as well as they should be, we are not sure if it is due to the hideous weather we have had so far this year or if our soil isn't great...
Yesterday I found that some kind of maggot had eaten its way through all our radishes, so I am not hopeful the beetroots and carrots will survive, we'll see, this year is a kind of trial and error, next year we plan to have all sections fully up and running. We are planing to do companion planting, where we plant veg's next to each other along with other flower plants that aid each others growth.
See our progress below:
Unfortunately we are not sure what some of them are as our little plastic greenhouse blew over in the strong winds back in April and all our seedlings got muddled!
So far we have : Courgettes, squash, rhubarb, broad beans, peas, sugar snap peas, mangetout, dwarf beans, beetroot, kale, broccoli, red cabbage, lettuce, carrots, radish, alpine strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants.
We have dug a fence in all around it so it is rabbit proof which was the main aim as the little blighters get everywhere, but unfortunately the birds have had a few plants already ;0( We also found two lovely wrought iron gates lying around the land which have made great exits.
Things aren't growing as well as they should be, we are not sure if it is due to the hideous weather we have had so far this year or if our soil isn't great...
Yesterday I found that some kind of maggot had eaten its way through all our radishes, so I am not hopeful the beetroots and carrots will survive, we'll see, this year is a kind of trial and error, next year we plan to have all sections fully up and running. We are planing to do companion planting, where we plant veg's next to each other along with other flower plants that aid each others growth.
See our progress below:
Seve's home made greenhouse made from old windows found in the barns
Grow my pretties!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)